# How widespread is "tine"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485 "2017-05-12T21:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/61 "2017-05-15T03:22:13Z")
I’ve lived in the upper Midwestern U.S. for nearly all of my life. I know what “tines” are, in the context of a fork, and that’s the term I’d use to describe them on a fork, on those rare occasions when I’d have to refer to them. I don’t think that I ever use the term otherwise, but then, I have little experience with pitchforks (and other farming implements) or forklifts. 🙂 I think I’d be more likely to use the term “prong” for anything other than the tines on a fork. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/62 "2017-05-15T13:18:48Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > … > > I don’t think that I ever use the term otherwise, but then, I have little experience with pitchforks (and other farming implements) or forklifts. 🙂 I think I’d be more likely to use the term “prong” for anything other than the tines on a fork. But you’d be WRONG! … a 42 inch wide model 5000 rider reach truck manufactured by Crown Equipment Corporation … includes a power unit including a battery compartment, an operator’s compartment, a mast assembly, an overhead guard 35, and a pair of forks carried by a fork carriage mechanism [illustration citations removed] cite: Patent: [Straddle arm for fork lift truck US 6199665 B1](https://www.google.com/patents/US6199665?) - Researched and posted before finishing morning coffee so now I and **kenobi** and the TM know something for certain that was hardly even with checking \* ETA: And **UDS** is WRONG too. ETA 2: What’s that? Yeah? Well prove it. Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/63 "2017-05-15T13:26:57Z")
Hardly even worth checking unless you’re filing a patent or buying a forklift or parts and then they’d know they have a sucker on their hands. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/64 "2017-05-15T16:03:30Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > In the silver set we had when I was growing up, the salad forks had three tines and dinner forks had four and one must understand this. Around my house, if it has four tines, it’s a “fork,” and if it has three, it’s a “threek.” ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/65 "2017-05-15T18:00:29Z")
One for the Tolkien-nuts: a principal peak of the Misty Mountains is that called in the Common Speech [English], Silvertine (Elvish, Celebdil; Dwarvish, Zirakzigil); from the summit of which IIRC, Gandalf finally casts the Balrog down. One would infer that said mountain’s topmost peak is rather pointy in shape. (If anyone ever had a big vocabulary, JRRT did for sure…) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/66 "2017-05-15T18:49:14Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Around my house, if it has four tines, it’s a “fork,” and if it has three, it’s a “threek.” I have a friend who talks about his fivehead (a forehead plus a receding hairline). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/67 "2017-05-15T22:20:20Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Around my house, if it has four tines, it’s a “fork,” and if it has three, it’s a “threek.” > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > I have a friend who talks about his fivehead (a forehead plus a receding hairline). 🙂 and 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/68 "2017-05-15T22:39:29Z")
A wild night out with St. Michael wielding his sword at Old Nic the devil and screaming at him, while deaf (Fr. “sourd”) to his pleas: “Mickmichael’s soords shrieking shrecks through the wilkinses and neckanicholas’ toastingforks pricking prongs up the tunnybladders. ” Sword/(toasting fork) gives us Wilkins razors, naturally, and is swung through the welkin (a word used in Shakespeare for “the space outdoors”). ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/69 "2017-05-15T22:48:48Z")
To the best of my knowledge, “welkin” means “sky” or “the heavens”. None of my dictionaries define it as anything like “the space outdoors”. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/70 "2017-05-15T23:08:13Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > To the best of my knowledge, “welkin” means “sky” or “the heavens”. None of my dictionaries define it as anything like “the space outdoors”. Going on memory of\* Twelfth Night.\* Where, in fact, the dialogue essentially is on what the hell does “welkin” mean, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/71 "2017-05-15T23:11:16Z")
You’ve got it all covered, but for one more joke. I heard a comedian say that unsalted saltines should just be called 'tines (or was that 'ines? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/72 "2017-05-16T02:31:30Z")
Frankenstein, not Fronkensteen. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/73 "2017-05-16T04:01:13Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Going on memory of\* Twelfth Night.\* Where, in fact, the dialogue essentially is on what the hell does “welkin” mean, anyway? Hm, David and Ben Crystal’s _Shakespeare’s Words_ defines “welkin” as “sky, firmament, heavens”, but has a separate entry for “out of one’s welkin” (used only in _Twelfth Night_) meaning “out of one’s element, none of one’s business”. The great C.T. Onions’ _A Shakespeare Glossary_ defines “welkin” as “sky” but adds a note “used ludicrously in T[welfth] N[ight] _out of my welkin_”. The line comes at the end of a long sequence of word plays by Feste, and the Riverside Shakespeare suggests that he’s here playing on the fact that “element” and “welkin” can both mean “sky”, but “out of my element” is a common phrase while “out of my welkin” is not. The Riverside’s footnote on this line says “Feste gives a final example of how words can be made ‘wanton’.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/74 "2017-05-16T23:53:55Z")
I might add that of the two Canadians who had never heard the term, I used in the connection with the the things that stick up in my dishwasher, two of which had broken off. I still think it appropriate to call them tines and somehow prongs seems wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/75 "2017-05-17T23:04:12Z")
74 posts and only one mention of the tines on a rake? I thought that would be more commonly used than tines on a fork I used mine this morning to clear the leaves from the street gutter and catchpit. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/76 "2017-05-24T20:54:54Z")
I am familiar with tine, but use it rarely. I, too, love the song “Tine after Tine”. I also love the one that goes: Are you ringin’ in the ears Stowin’ away the tines Are you gatherin’ up the tears Have you had enough of mine Because dropping lots of forks makes that ringing sound that’s hard on the hearing. > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Patent: [Straddle arm for fork lift truck US 6199665 B1](https://www.google.com/patents/US6199665?) However, the patent document has neither prong or\* tine in it, so I must be missing something. Now as to what is a tine and what is a pring - a spear is collection of “tines” when 1) each spear is adjacent to other spears, and 2) spear separation does not exceed two spear widths, and 3) each spear length does not exceed 10 spear widths. Any other spear arrangement is composed of “prongs”.^ I think those two Canadians that didn’t know “tine” were just pretending to be Canadians. They were probably Belgians sneaking in to Canada from the US. - [sub]I _ **so** _ want to use ‘nor’ here[/sub] ^ [sub]_and I am unanimous in that!_[/sub] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/77 "2017-05-25T14:16:54Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Didn’t anyone watch _Cagney & Lacey_ or _Judging Amy_? Those shows used “tine” daily. This was terrible. Bravo! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/78 "2017-05-25T14:49:39Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > This was terrible. Bravo! Ok. Help me out with the obvious joke or pun I’m missing. It’s been driving me nuuts. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/79 "2017-05-25T15:27:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Ok. Help me out with the obvious joke or pun I’m missing. It’s been driving me nuuts. Tyne Daly, actress. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/80 "2017-05-25T15:46:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Tyne Daly, actress. Ah. I’m terrible at actor names. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485.md?page=5)