# What do you think of as a "spatula"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [May 22, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375 "2023-05-22T01:01:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/41 "2023-05-22T11:29:53Z")
I think it is. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/42 "2023-05-22T11:32:24Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > noted, but if i’m there to be asked to do such a favor, i will add/guess at context visually regardless. but at any rate my personal hierarchy thinks first of a relatively rigid metal/wood/plastic flipper device, with the flexible rubbery ones a very close second I thought about asking what kind they wanted, but then I remembered it was a hypothetical response to the OP to illustrate that I would be slightly inclined to see the metal turning tool as a generic spatula over the more specialized rubber type. ---
**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 22, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/43 "2023-05-22T13:16:56Z")
Until recently (like within the last five years) I only knew the first thing as a “spatula.” I also never grew up around the rubber type, and I don’t think I even owned one of those until the last decade. I called it “that rubber spreader” or something like that. Now I know that type is what is properly a “spatula” and the metal one is perhaps a flipper? Someone help me out. So, to recap: historically,only the first was known as a spatula to me. Now, especially if I feel I’m being tested or quizzed, I would answer the second is a spatula. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/44 "2023-05-22T13:20:43Z")
I think in American English they are all various types of spatulas. There are a lot of types of spoons and forks and knives, to too, if you think about it. For that matter, knitting needles and sewing needles aren’t all that similar. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/45 "2023-05-22T13:20:59Z")
To clarify: > [@SCAdian](#): > > I would call the flipper a pancake turner, and the spreader/scraper a spatula. I would call the flipper a pancake turner, and the spreader/scraper – whether rubber or metal – a spatula. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/46 "2023-05-22T13:25:49Z")
First, an aside - who uses a _lifter_ to turn pancakes? That’s what flipping is for. > [@Riemann](#): > > It’s all different in British English, fwiw. I can’t remember what we call the primary thing for turning burgers/pancakes - I think it’s a fish slice? But certainly not a spatula. In SA English, it would have been an _egg lifter_ or a _fish slice_, depending on length and shape of blade, until internationalization let the creeping spatulas in. I think of a fish slice as having a longer blade. The plastic or steel thingy for cake decorating would be a _palette knife_ to me (same as the artist tool) but they’re what my [local baking supplier](https://thebakingtin.co.za/shop/spatulas-lifters-servers/) calls a _spatula_. My _first_ thought, however, would be the same as your first experience - labware. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m still trying to guess why a fish-frying spatula is called a “slice”. It wasn’t originally a _frying_ utensil, but a _serving_ utensil - I’m assuming for bigger fish that were cut into slices with the edge. Historic ones [were pretty much identical](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O346545/fish-slice-josiah-wedgwoods-factory/) to cake lifters (cake slice to Brits) > [@DPRK](#): > > Now I find myself wondering whether a palette knife can be a spatula. Yes. And vice-versa. Look at some of the kitchen ones in the store I linked above, [they’re identical](https://thebakingtin.co.za/shop/spatulas-lifters-servers/12/teardrop-shape-spatula/) to [artist’s paint knives](https://www.deckleedge.co.za/product/winsor-newton-palette-knifes/). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/47 "2023-05-22T13:30:19Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > the creeping spatulas Band name? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/48 "2023-05-22T13:36:23Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > A plat metal device for turning burgers/pancakes? A rubber or flexible metal device for emptying jars/spreading frosting? For me, the first (I assume that’s “flat metal”?) is a pancake turner. (Though I turn a lot of things with it besides pancakes.) The second is a spatula. I know people who call them both spatulas; but I don’t know how they ask somebody else in the kitchen to hand them one or the other. They don’t do the same sorts of thing, though there is a bit of overlap. Lived most of my life in New York State; probably learned the terms from my mother, who grew up in Nebraska. > [@Riemann](#): > > I can’t remember what we call the primary thing for turning burgers/pancakes - I think it’s a fish slice? TIL! I also think I may have only seen the term in Wodehouse. I just assumed it was some sort of utensil and didn’t bother trying to figure out which one; but I also assumed it was some sort of specialty thing only used with fish. > [@Riemann](#): > > We (Brits) also call the triangular implement shaped like a slice of pizza with a handle attached a “cake slice”. I’m trying to figure out what Americans call it - maybe a “pie server”? Yup. Though my mind is trying to bug me that I know an additional term, but not producing it right now. > [@MrDibble](#): > > First, an aside - who uses a _lifter_ to turn pancakes? That’s what flipping is for. Any klutz who doesn’t want their pancake to land on the stove or the floor. Seriously, it never occurs to me to throw my food in the air in an attempt to turn it over. At least, if that’s what you mean. I know there are people who have that skill, but it always seemed to me to be both a more difficult and a less precise way of doing what even a klutz can easily do with a pancake turner. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/49 "2023-05-22T13:40:11Z")
I’m old enough to remember when the only spreader/scraper we had in the kitchen was a butter knife (which did the job poorly). So my default for “spatula” would be the flipper. My British born wife has introduced me to many useful kitchen gadgets including a multitude of individualized spreading and scrapping spatulas but I’ve never heard her call the flipper anything other than a spatula. This thread is the first I’ve heard of a fish slice. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/50 "2023-05-22T13:42:21Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I would call the flipper a pancake turner, and the spreader/scraper a spatula. Agree, only I’d call the pancake turner a flipper! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/51 "2023-05-22T13:43:24Z")
Wait! Flipper? Fish? I’m seeing a pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/52 "2023-05-22T13:49:43Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I call at least three different items in my drawer a spatula: > > - A silicon thing for stirring and scraping > - A flat-bladed metal thing for spreading frosting > - A broad flat thing for flipping burgers and eggs (and i have a narrower all-metal one that i often use for eggs that is halfway between the burger one and the frosting one.) > > If you said a spatula with no context, i would assume the silicon one, probably because i use it the most. Same three here, although the last one would be the default with no context as it’s the one I use the most. I don’t do a lot of baking and when I do it’s usually cookies (which also require the use of the flipper one). ETA: It is never a bad thing to link to “Spatula City”. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/53 "2023-05-22T13:50:12Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Any klutz who doesn’t want their pancake to land on the stove or the floor. I can honestly say this has never happened to me in 35 years of making pancakes. > [@](#): > > Seriously, it never occurs to me to throw my food in the air in an attempt to turn it over. At least, if that’s what you mean. I know there are people who have that skill, but it always seemed to me to be both a more difficult and a less precise way of doing what even a klutz can easily do with a pancake turner. A lifter makes the pancake fold or tear. I am talking actual [pancakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannenkoek#Regional_variations) here, not flapjacks. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/54 "2023-05-22T13:52:03Z")
The rubber thingie. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/55 "2023-05-22T13:54:40Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I am talking actual [pancakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannenkoek#Regional_variations) here, not flapjacks. I have no idea what distinction you are trying to draw. I cook pancakes on an electric griddle at the table so we can all eat them super-fresh. That requires a spatula. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/56 "2023-05-22T13:58:24Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I can honestly say this has never happened to me in 35 years of making pancakes. By which I conclude that you are not a klutz. > [@MrDibble](#): > > A lifter makes the pancake fold or tear. I can honestly say this has never happened to me in roughly 60 years of making pancakes. > [@MrDibble](#): > > I am talking actual [pancakes] here, not flapjacks. Aha! That’s a crepe, here, not a pancake. I think what you’re calling flapjacks is probably what I (and much of the USA) calls a pancake. I agree that it’s possible to tear a crepe with a pancake turner. But it’s still easier for me to turn one without tearing it than it would be for me to throw it in the air and have it land properly back in the pan both flat and upside down. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/57 "2023-05-22T13:58:36Z")
With no context at all I would assume a burger/pancake type flipper, flat metal blade (hopefully not plastic). It’s hard to imagine there’s no context at all, you don’t use the rubber scraper type with a hot pan on the stove, you’d have a bowl of some kind for that type. In some cases you might have multiple cues to confuse things, pancakes being an example. Someone might be stirring the mix in a bowl with a rubber bowl scraper type spatula while heating up a griddle to begin cooking those pancakes at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/58 "2023-05-22T13:59:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > you don’t use the rubber scraper type with a hot pan of some kind on the stove There are silicone versions designed to be used in hot pans. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/59 "2023-05-22T14:06:24Z")
True. Not very likely to happen in my kitchen, but it could because my wife buys plastic cooking utensils from time to time that luckily do not last for one reason or another. I keep a few wooden utensils around for specific purposes but otherwise everything I use that will be exposed to heat is all metal. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375/60 "2023-05-22T14:09:42Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@MrDibble](#): > > > > the creeping spatulas > > Band name? Sound more like a horror movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-as-a-spatula/984375.md?page=4)