# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/81 "2017-05-25T20:46:25Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > Seems like parents hardly teach manners these days, let alone the finer points of table settings. Snerk! > [@DesertDog](#): > > [Sez you](http://www.saveur.com/weird-victorian-forks#page-10). (It’s Victorian, of course.) Scroll down to the bottom “beef 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 25, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/82 "2017-05-25T21:18:06Z")
Funny, I eat at [Katz’s](http://www.solveisraelsproblems.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/When-Harry-Met-Sally-620x310.jpg) fairly often, and must have missed it. FTR, a cousin had a deli for decades at Grand and Essex, right next to Kussar’s Biyalis ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/83 "2017-05-26T14:05:32Z")
Back at Cornell I was part of a team doing a multi-week scavenger hunt with one clue given each day. I can’t remember the full clue but part of it was “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Tine.” Knowing the original was “… Thyme” we assumed this was a clever way of directing us to the dining hall at Sage Hall. We spent most of lunch and part of dinner scouring the rooms there including removing a painting of Rosemary to search behind it, much to the chagrin of the staff. Eventually we approached the clue a different way and found that day’s object in a location that had nothing to do with Sage or Tines. With proof of our success in hand so he would know he wasn’t giving anything away we approached the clue writer to ask what the heck Tines had to do with the clue as we could make no connection between Tines and the solution. He admitted the entire line was simply for color, he simply misheard the line from the song when he used it, and he was unaware of the meaning of either Tine or Thyme. We resisted the urge to strangle him. So, if you’re keeping score, for us it was 80%. Four team members well aware of what a tine was, and one clue writer who was blissfully ignorant. ---
**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 26, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/84 "2017-05-26T19:00:01Z")
Undressing my dog, this thread came to mind with these [end-attachment thingies](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41O02M9d9sL.jpg) that squeeze together and expand within a receptacle to lock. It occurred to me that an important feature of the etymology and current usage of prong _and_ tine is incorrect with those things, and I stumbled momentarily on the name of those little bits, one of which (prong, I’ll go with) broke a bit off and doesn’t catch. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/85 "2017-05-26T20:35:46Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I know “stiles” as the steps that allow people to climb over a fence across a footpath while preventing animals from getting out. And there was a mysterious affair at one of those places;)… ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/86 "2017-05-26T22:10:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Which styles of cabinets do not have stiles? Coffee ones, for one. > **[Coffee cabinet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_cabinet)** > > A coffee cabinet is an ice cream-based milkshake found almost exclusively in Rhode Island consisting of coffee ice cream, coffee syrup, and milk. The ingredients are mixed in a drink blender or milkshake blender. > Among the famous Rhode Island creameries which serve them are Delekta Pharmacy in Warren, and the Original Vanilla Bean in South Kingstown. Newport Creamery, a chain of family restaurants found almost exclusively in Rhode Island, serve a variation of cabinets made with ice milk under th... ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/87 "2017-05-26T22:40:43Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Undressing my dog, this thread came to mind with these [end-attachment thingies](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41O02M9d9sL.jpg) that squeeze together and expand within a receptacle to lock. Those are known as side release buckles, in case you want to google them. Not sure what they call the three projections. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/88 "2017-05-29T04:13:47Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Also, watching an Australian TV show (Bondi Vet) a lot of the same colloquialisms are completely shared with North American English. How did that happen? 1. We watch a lot of TV from NYC 2)Aus was a significant trade destination (wool), and had significant contact with the American West Coast. A lot of Australians went to California for the gold rush. A lot of Californians came to Aus for the gold rush. ---
**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 29, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/89 "2017-05-29T04:22:32Z")
Is that the link to the fact (a stunning one to me when I learned it) that the consummate sheep herding dog, the [Aussie](http://thelife-animal.blogspot.com/2012/01/australian-shepherd.html) (Australian Shepherd), is an American breed but named by (for?) its main owners? Now _this_ is a hijack… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485/90 "2017-05-29T04:28:45Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Today, two English speaking Canadians (one from Montreal, one from Toronto) astonished me by never having heard the word “tine”. I won’t say it is the commonest word in my ideolect, but both my wife (from NYC) and I (from Philly) are certainly familiar with it. So I am curious now. Is it used, say, in Idaho? Across the pond. And it you don’t use it, what do you call the tines of a fork? Prongs, maybe? As another data point: I’m from the same area as the OP (actually the Philly 'burbs) and I’ve always known those parts of a fork as tines. It’s not a word that comes up in conversation much, but it’s hardly obscure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-tine/786485.md?page=4)