Mignon Fogarty

Some people call these the same thing, and other people have different names for them — and it can depend on where you live!

That's just one of the cool things you'll learn this week from my chat with Joan Houston Hall, former editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English (often called DARE).

WATCH: https://youtu.be/F6dYztdHnG8?si=fbziIA7D-tXJBrwQ

READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1165/transcript

LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

(I call them both a spatula.)

Mar 6 at 4:47pmWeb
Show threadArtemisMar 6
@grammargirl yup, both spatulas. Rubber/metal or soft/hard if I have to differentiate
Show threadcategulario 🐍 🦀 🦎 🇵🇸Mar 6
@grammargirl in spanish (at least in México) the first one is a "miserable"
Show threaddz🌵🦇Mar 6
@categulario @grammargirl ay wey nunca habia oido eso. De que parte de Mexico eres?
Show threadcategulario 🐍 🦀 🦎 🇵🇸Mar 6

@dinozombie @grammargirl así le llama mi señora madre. O sea imagino que si no intersectas el mundo de la repostería podrías no conocer el nombre?

Mira, cito mis fuentes jaja https://listado.mercadolibre.com.mx/brocha-miserable#D[A:brocha%20miserable]

Show threadcategulario 🐍 🦀 🦎 🇵🇸Mar 6
@dinozombie @grammargirl nótese que no es lo mismo una miserable que una espátula de silicón. La miserable es más flexible y sirve para quitar un líquido espeso (como masa) de un traste con más precisión.
Show threaddz🌵🦇Mar 6
@categulario @grammargirl wow hahaha o sea si te creí nomás nunca lo había escuchado
Show threadMariya DelanoMar 6
@grammargirl FYI: the “Read” simplecast link shows a 404 error on my end
Show threadNickMar 6

@grammargirl Spatula (l), fish slice (r).

Edit: should add, I’m from the north of Ireland, from a part with a significant Ulster Scots influence on the dialect.

Show threadJonathan SmithMar 6
@Nickiquote @grammargirl Same here (Yorkshire). Mind, I've never seen anyone slice a fish with it. It'd be more appropriate to call it a fry-up flipper...
Show threadHedgewizard 🐈Mar 6
@smithjonathan @Nickiquote @grammargirl
And same here - couple, North of Ireland and Gloucestershire
Show threadPeter JanesMar 6
@grammargirl Every item advertised by Spatula City seems to be the one on the right, so that's definitive for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVrRfiG6C3E&t=3
UHF (1989) | Spatula City Commercial | MGM

YouTube
Show threadAlan is @cogdog 🇨🇦Mar 6

@grammargirl I think of spatula (right) as what you use to flip things in a fry pan or grill. The thing on left is more like for stirring batter. I have seen them listed as “scraper” (and spatula).

It’s more fun with disagreement.

Show threadBodhipaksaMar 6

@grammargirl Left: "silicone spatula, but never just "spatula."

Right: "fish slice" is what I would have called it growing up in Scotland. Now, living in the US, I'd call it a "spatula."

Show threadMatthias BürcherMar 6
@grammargirl spatule (FR)
Show threadQueen of AnxietyMar 6
@grammargirl Rubber scraper and spatula. But I know the one on the left is sometimes a spatula, too.
Show threadPhogna BolognaMar 6
@grammargirl okay, some of us named Turner are really feeling left out in the comments, here
Show threadAnne OminousMar 6

@bransonturner @grammargirl

yeah, i call the thing on the right a turner, usually. (sometimes, a slotted spatula)

Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsMar 6

@grammargirl

I'm going to listen to this! But first, before I get biased, I've always thought it weird that they were both called spatulas. In my world, the one on the left is usually a "rubber spatula". One of the saddest things I ever heard was that some people refer to those as "child cheaters", i.e. you use it to wipe the cookie batter bowl clean instead of letting the kid lick the bowl.

Show threadChris A MoodyMar 6
@grammargirl I call them both spatula's also
Show threadEliza MBMar 6
@grammargirl
the one on the left doesn't have a name; it's a scraper, you could call it that if you like.
the one on the right is a fish slice. all other answers are wrong.
Show threadmuddleMar 6

@grammargirl Since nobody has mentioned it, I'd say both are spatulas but I'd also call the one on the right a "flipper."

[edit: ah, I see it's mentioned in tfa]

Show threadmuddleMar 6
@grammargirl also, anyone reminded of the Spatula Heaven scene/ad from UHF?
Show threadPeedieweeMar 6
@grammargirl @Nickiquote the one on left is a spatula, one one the right is a fish slice. i'm scottish.
Show threadnotsoloudMar 6
@grammargirl
Danish: Dejskraber (doughscraper) / spatel (spatula)
Show threadAndy HortMar 6
@grammargirl Spatula and fish slice. I probably got the latter from my mum, who was from Yorkshire.
Show threadBill, organizer of stuffMar 6
@grammargirl
"spatula"
"no, the other spatula"
Show threadA. Lee Bennett Jr.Mar 6
@grammargirl Y’all seem to not know a basic “bowl scraper” when you see one. 😂
Show threadNoursMar 6
@grammargirl
In french the first is "une maryse" and the second "une spatule"
Show threadCarolynMar 6
@grammargirl Language is wild and interesting. :)
Show threadscribblansMar 6
@grammargirl Occasionally, either of them can be 'fly swatter'.
The rest of the time it's left spatula, right fish slice. Southern UK.
Show threadTim ChaseMar 6

@grammargirl

Left: "spatula" or "rubber-scraper"

Right: "spatula" or "flipper" (or "pancake flipper")

I tend to use "spatula" if the context is unambiguous ("may I lick the spatula when you're done making the cookie dough?" is clearly a rubber-scraper in this context), or go for the more awkward naming if I need to disambiguate ("could you hand me the pancake-flipper from the utensil drawer (where the rubber-scrapers also reside)?").

Show threadMax LeibmanMar 6
@grammargirl I grew up (Nebraska) calling the both a spatula. The parody “Spatula City” commercial in the film ‘UHF’ would agree. Nowadays, I mostly call the one on the right a flipper, just to be understood by my wife’s family.
Show threadPomegranate_StewMar 6

@maxleibman @grammargirl

Funny. We called them spatula (left) and turner (right) where I grew up in Iowa. I never heard the right one called a spatula until I moved to Nebraska.

Show threadKim Possible Mar 6
@grammargirl I gravitate between spatula and turner, because I've moved a lot.
Show threadGenerally SaltyMar 7
@kimlockhartga @grammargirl the thing on the right is a spatula. I don't know what the thing on the left is called, a scraper?
Show threadAllanMar 6
@grammargirl
They're the same picture.
Show threaddxzdbMar 6
@grammargirl
Left: scraper or as my parents called it: “Scotch spoon"
Right: spatula
Show threadkatzenbergerMar 6

@grammargirl

In German:

  • Left, a "Teigschaber" ("dough scraper")
  • Right, a "Pfannenwender" ("flipper for pans")
Show threadPink! Polonium!Mar 6

@grammargirl Middle school home ec teacher trained us to call the one on the right a “turner.” Four decades later, I still can’t get myself to do it.

Left: Spatula
Right: Spatula

Show threadRonnieMar 6
@grammargirl Spatula
Show threadCurmudgeonMar 6

@grammargirl

If those are both spatulas, then what is this?

Show threadJonas  Mar 6
@jetton @grammargirl That's a snuff spoon. And a chic one if I may say so.
Show threadCurmudgeonMar 6

@Jonas @grammargirl

I assure you that you would not want to insufflate any of the powders I've measured out using such spatulas.

Show threadJoyce LionaronsMar 6

@grammargirl

Left = spatula
Right = pancake turner

Show threadRaymondMar 7

@grammargirl left = scraper

Used for scraping liquid-adjacent food from rounded parts of a pan or bowl.