Talk:Runcible

(Jokes re Photo-request tag)
That should be a runcible photograph, of course. Mvdleeuw (talk) 14:27, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I'll see if someone can send me one via there Runcible gate. Cheers,  Dloh  cierekim'''  02:03, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

(Real-spoon hypotheses)
In reference to the citation needed around "runcible spoon" referencing a spork: this is what I was told by my mother as a child (in the mid 1980's) and is independently verifiable by questioning other individuals. Do we particularly need a citation for something that could be considered "general knowledge?" Since this appears to not be factual, how would we identify this as folklore (since that's at least as difficult to find citations for)? Thanks, Dhobsd (talk) 14:36, 19 October 2008 (UTC)


 * On a similar note, my father told me a "runcible spoon" was a draining spoon, and that the joke was the near-impossibility of eating mince with one. After learning there were about six alternative explanations, none of which were confirmed by Mr Lear, I assumed this definition was restricted to my family, until I read in the article that Dead Like Me calls it "the spoon with the holes". 92.21.44.225 (talk) 15:44, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Might just be me, but seems that "runcible" in the poem and its initial use describing the spoon implies something designed for multiple, but ostensibly contradictory, purposes. For instance, the article's illustration might be taken to indicate a spoon-straw combination (why else hold the end in the mouth? Yeah, I know, duck doesn't have hands, but go with me on this.) I thus imagine a runcible hat would be a type of hat intended to double as a wallet/purse, useful when wearing outfits without pockets but likely hard to keep balanced in place due to the head-space being stuffed with lumpy items; or perhaps just a reversible hat supposedly useful as both raingear and formalwear. In reference to the aforementioned "runcible gate", I imagine a door designed to swivel on opposing hinges, either as a stage gag or maybe in a spacestation where it could swing both left-right and up-down. And the runcible cat... well, being unfamiliar with the context, all I can think of is the cartoon character "CatDog".

[Sorry, forgot to sign previously.] KhyranLeander (talk) 11:25, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Khyranleander (talk • contribs) 11:17, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

(VP discussion)

 * The comment referred to below may now be found at Village pump (miscellaneous)/Archive 22.Jerzy•t 03:40, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Contributors to this page may be interested in this comment. Skippy le Grand Gourou (talk) 16:54, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Redirected to Runcible
Since Runcible and Runcible spoon were almost word-for-word identical, I've redirected Runcible spoon over to Runcible. Since (as the articles already stated) Lear used the word "runcible" to refer to several things other than spoons, this seems like the right way to redirect. The Runcible article contains a fair bit on spoons specifically, but I don't believe there's enough specifically about spoons to merit two separate articles. --Quuxplusone (talk) 06:59, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Ruddigore
The entry
 * * Sir Runcible Murgatroyd is a common name for one of the supernumerary ghosts in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Ruddigore.

was added by a one-time IP editor and has been tagged for lack of a reference for six months w/o effect. The ghosts in question are those of the deceased bad baronets of Ruddigore. They are not played by supernumeraries, but by a chorus required to further the plot of (the authentic version of) the operetta. There may be a tradition in one G&S company (or even more likely, several companies who rely on the same stage director) of using names for them -- probably solely between the players and stage director, as a means of communicating how the blocking and stage business should go among the ghosts and Robin Oakapple a.k.a. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (and perhaps Ruthven's faithful retainer, if he appears in the scene centered on "The Ghosts' High Noon"). While tradition (e.g. "Basingstoke was the site of a mad house" -- well, no, it was just a station stop that WSG or AS was accustomed to hearing called by the conductor) is a big deal among Savoyards, only traditions of long-standing spread far enuf among them to be notable; this sounds like at best a minor, localized tradition not worthy of encyclopedic recording. And it is quite plausible that an editor sufficiently over their head as to confuse a super with a chorister would be similarly in error about the frequency of a "common" bit of back-stage improvisation. --Jerzy•t 03:40, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

9 Chickweed Lane
In the August 20, 2011 comic strip "9 Chickweed Lane" the Good Lord refers to eating a repast of "mince and quince" if he can find the runcible spoon. I would like to see that added to the reference section, but don't know how to post a link to the source.

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/9-chickweed-lane-slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252F9-chickweed-lane-slideshow%252F20110820-cw110820-gif-photo-050328372.htmlTry this link — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.73.110.152 (talk) 11:15, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Runcible - intelligent object
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlo8jHHeP8Y

This should be added. Thoughts?Terrorist96 (talk) 05:41, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

18th century runcible poem
Edward Young(1683-1765)was a cleric, a politician, and a very minor poet. I found this verse in 'The Stuffed Owl', by D. B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee. It was addressed to Voltaire. So it appears that Lear did not invent the word. A Runcible Thought

O! How disorder’d our machine, When contradictions mix! When Nature strikes no less than twelve And Folly points at six!

To mend the movements of your heart How great is my delight! Gently to wind your morals up    And set your hand aright! 67.0.46.66 (talk) 04:07, 13 December 2016 (UTC) A. Brown

Nonse word
No comment on the edit itself, but it seems they meant to write "nonce word". Opencooper (talk) 05:46, 9 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, I'm familiar with that idea from cryptographic nonce. My old Shorter OED does not list "runcible" but another dictionary here does, and it says "nonsense word" (the dictionary accords with what the article says by giving a definition that was probably never intended). I don't see any support in sources for nonce word although the sources for nonsense word are also pretty slim. Johnuniq (talk) 06:12, 9 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Fair points, I just wanted to make sure the typo wasn't the main problem. Thanks for looking into it. Opencooper (talk) 06:42, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

Spelling mistake?
Is this a spelling mistake?

"Alernative origins" 2A02:C7E:3F3C:C100:B95B:3051:DA28:F84F (talk) 01:35, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Just corrected the spelling. Random56653 (talk) 01:54, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Nonsense word
The assertation that this is a nonsense word is wrong and could be linked to the assumption that nonsense poems must be based on nonsense words. A runcible spoon is the description of various oddly shaped spoons and can refer to slotted teaspoons, tined teaspoons, variious serving spoons. spoons with a serrated edge etc. etc. Elsewhere on the internet it's said to have had references as early in 1817, predating Lear's poem by 54 years. Reading further up the page here a poem going back at least a century before is mentioned.

It's noteable that the other word in the poem that people might assume to be nonsense, the bong tree, is actually a pine variety tree that has its habitat in Malaysia, the Philippines and various other east Asian regions.

Some nonsense poems, like Caroll's "Jaberwocky" and his longer "The hunting of the Snark" rely upon nonsense words either solely or heavily to provide their nonsensical nature. Others, such as "The Owl and the Pussycat", "The Jumblies", and "The Quangle Wangle Quee" rely more heavily, or in the case of "The owl and the pussycat" entirely on the nonsensical nature of the circumstances therein.

Namely that owls and pussycats are more likely to attack each other than dance. That it's both ridiculous and Gross to use a nosering from a pig as a marriage band. That a 5 pound note, even of the larger size found in 18th Century Britain, is not a sensible thing to wrap up honey and other money in. That referring to "the land where the bong tree grows" is far too nonspecific when there are a number of parts of east Asia that it could be. It's the absurdity of the situation. Yes Bong trees and runcible spoons SOUND like nonsense words, but they exist.

In time I will find sources in order to correct this misleading Wikipedia entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2a02:c7c:c219:f00:18fc:bed2:ac92:be5 (talk • contribs) 11:29, 30 May 2024 (UTC)