Katie in Tallahassee, Florida, saw a friend cooking with what she called a Scottish spurtle, a kitchen utensil that looks like a wooden dowel with a knob on the end, used to stir hot cereals and rice. Soon after, her husband saw an infomercial on YouTube for an Amish spurtle, which was also made of wood, but was flatter and slightly curved. What’s the origin of spurtle, and why does the same word apply to different kinds of utensils? In Scotland, a dowel-shaped spurtle is also called a thivel, a flat one is called a couthie spurtle. The origin of spurtle is unclear. It may be related to other “flat”-related words spatula and spade, but it might be formed by metathesis from an Old Norse word that also gives us sprit, meaning “stick,” as in the bowsprit of a boat. Serious Scottish spurtle fans gather each year for the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship. This is part of a complete episode.
When a British tabloid reporter writing about a crocodile attack needed a synonym for crocodile, he went with knobbly monster, now a joking term for similarly creative ways of avoiding repetition. Juliet and Matthew Maguire, described by The...
Sara in Camden, New Jersey, wants a word for those people who are more than acquaintances, but not quite friends. She calls them friendlies, but wonders if there’s a better term. Fracquaintance, maybe? The Danish band Mew has an album called...
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