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Why Forks Have 4 Tines

From an excerpt of At Home by Bill Bryson, which appeared in the Guardian on Saturday: "Eating forks were thought comically dainty and unmanly - and dangerous, too, come to that. Since they had only two sharp tines, the scope for spearing one's lip or tongue was great, particularly if one's aim was impaired by wine and jollity. Manufacturers experimented with additional numbers of tines - sometimes as many as six - before settling, late in the 19th century, on four as the number with which people seemed most comfortable. Why four should induce the optimum sense of security isn't easy to say, but it does seem to be a fundamental fact of flatware psychology." [via Kottke]

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13 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, May 18, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Tagged: Bill Bryson, forks, trivia, utensils

9 Tasty Foods Named After People

[Photograph: Robyn Lee] Increase your knowledge of food trivia and history with Mental Floss's list of 9 tasty foods named after people. And now I know that nachos were invited by a guy named Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya....

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6 Comments | Posted by Robyn Lee, November 17, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Tagged: trivia

Online Quiz: Discontinued Ben & Jerry's Flavor or MySpace Band Name?

Here's a pop quiz from Mental Floss reminding us how much discontinued Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream flavors sound like MySpace band names. Or is it the other way around? Rumor has it Jerry himself only scored an eight out of ten on this tricky test. While "Apple Butter" might make a great autumnal flavor—mmm, cinnamon and roasted apple chunks—it's actually the name of an experimental rock group from Baton Rouge....

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4 Comments | Posted by Harold Check, August 1, 2008 at 9:45 PM
Tagged: Ben and Jerry's, ice cream, music, trivia