# runcibility **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 10, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233 "2006-05-10T16:07:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Creek.Feet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Creek.Feet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creek.Feet)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/1 "2006-05-10T16:07:33Z")
Cecil’s column of November 8, 1996, is a stirring defense of the nonsensicallity of the word “runcible.” Since “runcible” is pure nonsense, the people who claim that a runcible spoon is the same as a “spork” should be runciated. * * * MODERATOR COMMENT: Link to column: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1228/whats-a-runcible-spoon](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1228/whats-a-runcible-spoon) Folks, please note: this is a thread from 2006, revived in July 2014 in Post #8 (since the column has been re-run as a classic). That’s OK, we’re fine with such resurrections of threads, but please just be aware, and don’t get all worried about responding to 8-year-old posts. – CKDH ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/2 "2006-05-10T17:29:10Z")
[Link](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961108a.html). ---
**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 10, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/3 "2006-05-10T17:46:33Z")
Run, Sybil, run! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/4 "2006-05-10T20:29:28Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Run, Sybil, run! 😛 This way and that! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/5 "2006-05-12T16:06:56Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Run, Sybil, run! 😛 Call me a pussy, cat, but I think that was owlful. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/6 "2006-05-12T17:33:00Z")
Never mind the runcible spoon, show me the Bong-tree! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/7 "2014-07-15T03:33:40Z")
Bumping because Cecil’s article is runcibly back on the front page. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/8 "2014-07-15T03:34:42Z")
I see Wiki has a whole page on the concept: [Runcible - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runcible) ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/9 "2014-07-15T12:39:43Z")
> [@](#): > > In the 1920s one self-appointed runciologist announced that "a runcible spoon is a kind of fork with three broad prongs or tines… . I read this and thought, “Hey, isn’t that a spork?”. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/10 "2014-07-15T13:50:36Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > . > > I read this and thought, “Hey, isn’t that a spork?”. Thanks to the clarity and vision of Slug, we can see that it’s apparently a spork-duck. A “spuck”. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/11 "2014-07-15T14:56:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I see Wiki has a whole page on the concept: [Runcible - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runcible) The wiki source cites the Straight Dope as a source - a perfect circle of attribution. 😃 > [@](#): > > The Straight Dope, while treating “runcible” as a nonsense word with no particular meaning, claims that an unspecified 1920s source connected the word “runcible” etymologically to Roncevaux — the connection being that a runcible spoon’s cutting edge resembles a sword such as was used in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The Straight Dope adds that “modern students of runciosity” link the word in a different way to Roncevaux: The obsolete adjective “rouncival”, meaning “gigantic”, also derives from Roncevaux, either by way of a certain large variety of pea grown there, or from a once-current find of gigantic fossilized bones in the region.[9][10] ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/12 "2014-07-15T20:13:59Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Never mind the runcible spoon, **show me the Bong-tree!** 😃 [Here ya go.](http://artylicious.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/bong-tree/) ---
**Author:** ![Bongo1959](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Bongo1959](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongo1959)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runcibility/356233/13 "2014-07-17T20:02:16Z")
A runcible spoon does look a lot like a spork you get in many fast food place. I always throw them away and get a regular fork and spoon. Bongo1959