A runcible spoon is a utensil that appears in the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear. More generally, the word "runcible" is also used of objects other than spoons in Lear's work. It is fundamentally a nonsense word. A spoon. ... Nonsense verse is a form of poetry, normally composed for humorous effect, which is intentionally and overtly paradoxical, silly, witty, whimsical or just plain strange. ... Edward Lear, 1812-1888 Eagle Owl, Edward Lear, 1837 Another Edward Lear owl, in his more familiar style Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an artist, illustrator and writer known for his nonsensical poetry and his limericks, a form which he popularised. ... Nonsense is an utterance or written text in what appears to be a human language or other symbolic system, that does not in fact carry any identifiable meaning. ...

Origin

Illustration by Edward Lear of The Dolomphious Duck, who caught Spotted Frogs for her dinner with a Runcible Spoon

Lear's best-known poem, The Owl and the Pussycat, published in 1871, includes the passage Image File history File links Lear_Runcible_spoon. ... Image File history File links Lear_Runcible_spoon. ... Edward Lear, 1812-1888 Eagle Owl, Edward Lear, 1837 Another Edward Lear owl, in his more familiar style Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an artist, illustrator and writer known for his nonsensical poetry and his limericks, a form which he popularised. ... Edward Lears illustration of the Owl and the Pussycat The Owl and the Pussycat is a famous nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871. ...

They dined on mince and slices of quince,

which they ate with a runcible spoon.

Another mention of this piece of cutlery appears in the alphabetical illustrations Twenty-Six Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures. Its entry for "D" reads

The Dolomphious Duck,

who caught Spotted Frogs for her dinner

with a Runcible Spoon

Lear often illustrated his own poems, and he drew a picture of the "dolomphious duck" holding in its beak a round-bowled spoon containing a frog (see right).

Other runcible objects

The word "runcible" was apparently one of Lear's favourite inventions, appearing in several of his works in reference to a number of different objects. In his verse self-portrait, How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear, it is noted that "he weareth a runcible hat". Other poems include mention of a "runcible cat", a "runcible goose", and a "runcible wall".

Attempts to define the word

Lear does not appear to have had any firm idea of what the word "runcible" means. His whimsical nonsense verse celebrates words primarily for their sound, and a specific definition is not needed to appreciate his work. However, since the 1920s (several decades after Lear's death), modern dictionaries have generally defined a runcible spoon to be a fork with three prongs, such as a pickle fork, which is curved like a spoon, and also has a cutting edge. It should be noted that this definition is not consistent with Lear's drawing of a "runcible spoon", mentioned above, nor does it account for the other "runcible" objects in Lear's poems. Nonsense verse is a form of poetry, normally composed for humorous effect, which is intentionally and overtly paradoxical, silly, witty, whimsical or just plain strange. ... For other uses, see Dictionary (disambiguation). ... Assorted forks. ... Cucumbers gathered for pickling. ... A spoon. ...

Latin runcāre = "to weed", "to thin out", and:- For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

• If a Latin noun runcibulum existed (as an error for runcābulum), it would mean "tool used for weeding".
• If a Latin adjective runcibilis existed (as an error for runcābilis), it would mean "capable of being weeded out".

Other references

The whimsical feel of the word "runcible" has led to its appearance in diverse arenas including fiction, music, and business. For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... A small business may be defined as a business with a small number of employees. ...

Fiction

• In the board game Kill Doctor Lucky, a runcible spoon is one of the weapons players can use to kill Doctor Lucky.
• Professor Runcible Spoon is an elemental researching mage in the web-comic Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire.
• In Neal Asher's novel Gridlinked, runcible is the name given to an interstellar teleporter.
• In Isaac Asimov's novel The Currents of Space, the character Rik and the other workers of Florina Kyrt factories use a (de facto if not by name) runcible spoon to eat.
• In Neal Stephenson's novel The Diamond Age, runcible is a code name for the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.
• In Evelyn Waugh's novel Vile Bodies, Runcible is the last name of daft, drunken Agatha.
• In the Doctor Who serial "The Deadly Assassin", Runcible is a Time Lord.
• In Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow," an exhibition fight with runcible spoons is held.
• In the roleplaying game Changeling: The Dreaming, "Runcible Shaw" is the name of a Pooka historian and scholar
• In Lemony Snicket's The End, an island cult eats using only runcible spoons.
• In Jasper Fforde's novel The Eyre Affair the character Runcible Spoon discovers that Mr. Quaverly from Martin Chuzzlewit had mysteriously disappeared.
• In the musical Too Much Caffeine by Steve Delchamps, the setting is a small coffee shop called "The Runcible Spoon."
• In Ian Irvine's Runcible Jones, The Gate to Nowhere (2006), Runcible Jones is a boy who is unhappy at Grindgrim Academy, the worst school in the country.
• In the TV series Dead Like Me, Rube (a grim reaper) is trying to run the kitchen of Angus Cook (whose soul Rube took), with Angus haunting the kitchen until a replacement cook can be found. Angus lectures Rube on using the "runcible" with eggs, and further identifies it as "the spoon with the holes".
• In the TV series Ed, the name of the pie shop that Ed and his friends frequent is called "The Runcible Spoon."
• The character Louis Runcible in The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
• In an episode ("Just My Bill") of the British Sitcom The Good Life (Good Neighbors in the U.S.), Tom Good tries to sell some of his excess vegetable crop to a restaurant called The Runcible Spoon.
• In the webcomic Questionable Content, J. Edward Runcible (an amalgamation of "Edward Lear" and "Runcible") is the name of a 19th century conspiracy theorist[1].

Kill Doctor Lucky is a humorous board game designed by James Ernest and released in 1996 by Cheapass Games. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is a daily fantasy web comic by Michael Mookie Terracciano that begun in 2002. ... Neal Asher (born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, England) is an English science fiction writer. ... Gridlinked is Neal Ashers first novel. ... Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920?[1] – April 6, 1992), IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American Jewish author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ... The Currents of Space is a 1952 novel by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... The Diamond Age or, A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Vile Bodies is a novel by Evelyn Waugh. ... For other uses, see Doctor Who (disambiguation). ... The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 30 to November 20, 1976. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... Gravitys Rainbow is an epic postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973. ... Changeling: The Dreaming was part of White Wolf Game Studios original World of Darkness role playing game line. ... Púca and Puca may refer to: Púca (also Pooka, Phooka, Phouka, Púka, Pwca in Welsh, pouque in Dgèrnésiais, also Glashtyn, Gruagach), a creature of Celtic folklore, notably in Ireland and Wales Púca, used in Ireland for the hallucinogenic Liberty Cap mushroom (Psilocybe semilanceata). ... Lemony Snicket is a pseudonym used by author Daniel Handler in his book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well as a character in that series. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this book-related article may require cleanup. ... Jasper Fforde (born in London on 11 January 1961) is a novelist and aviator living in Wales. ... The Eyre Affair, published in 2001, is the first novel published by Jasper Fforde. ... Martin Chuzzlewit is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels, which was written and serialized in 1843-1844. ... Ian Irvine (born 1950) is an Australian fantasy/eco-thriller author and marine scientist. ... Dead Like Me is an American television comedy-drama starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers in Seattle, Washington. ... Ed was an NBC television program produced by David Lettermans Worldwide Pants Incorporated from 2000-2004. ... The good life is an ambiguous term for the life that one would like to live. ... For other uses, see The Good Life (disambiguation) The Good Life was one of the most successful British sitcoms of all time, produced by the BBC during the mid-1970s. ... Webcomics, also known as online comics and internet comics, are comics that are available to read on the Internet. ... Questionable Content (abbreviated QC or Q.C.) is a slice-of-life webcomic written and drawn by Jeph Jacques. ...

Music

• In the Pretty Things' song "Baron Saturday," the words "You've lost the runcible spoon" are used.

• Paul McCartney's album Driving Rain includes the track "Heather" which features the lyrics: "And I will dance to a runcible tune - With the queen of my heart". McCartney has explained the connection to The Owl and the Pussycat in various interviews since its release.

The Pretty Things is a 1960s and 1970s rock and roll band from London. ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. ... Driving Rain is an album by Paul McCartney, recorded and released in 2001. ... Edward Lears illustration of the Owl and the Pussycat The Owl and the Pussycat is a famous nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871. ...

Business

• Runcible Spoon, a chamber jazz ensemble
• Runcible Spoon, a kitchen store in Rhode Island
• The Runcible Spoon, a restaurant in Bloomington, Indiana
• The Runcible Spoon, a bakery in Nyack, New York

Computer science

• RUNCIBLE is also the name of a compiler for an early (late 1950s) programming language. Donald Knuth published the flowchart of the compiler in 1959; this was his first academic paper.

A diagram of the operation of a typical multi-language, multi-target compiler. ... Donald Ervin Knuth ( or Ka-NOOTH[1], Chinese: [2]) (b. ... A simple flowchart for what to do if a lamp doesnt work A flowchart (also spelled flow-chart and flow chart) is a schematic representation of an algorithm or a process. ...

Other nonsense words by Edward Lear

• Scroobious is an adjective which he applied to people in some of his verses, including the unfinished "Scroobious Pip." It seems to imply disapproval of their conduct, although the Pip is "the wisest" of whatever sort of beast he may be. It may be a pseudo-Latin derivative of screwball. The word has since been used by other people.

For the hip-hop group from Queensbridge, see Screwball (group). ...

See also

• spork

A titanium spork A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with the addition of the tines of a fork (usually three or four). ...

References

• The Straight Dope: What's a runcible spoon?, 8 November 1996
• The Owl and the Pussycat Full text online
• Twenty-Six Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures Full text online
• How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear Full text online (note the "runcible hat")
• The Pobble Who Has No Toes Full text online (note the "runcible cat")