# What soes "snopes" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514 "2005-01-25T01:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [January 25, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/1 "2005-01-25T01:40:27Z")
I know that it’s the address for the Urban Legends Reference pages, but, where did they get that word? And why is their main clearinghouse section called “Tales of the Wooden Spoon”? Is there any explanation for this posted anywhere? Is there even an Urban Legend that addresses it? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/2 "2005-01-25T01:44:15Z")
From the Snopes FAQ: > [@](#): > > Q: What are ‘snopes’? > > A: Snopes is the name of a family of characters who appear throughout the works of American writer William Faulkner. See the Faulkner on the Web glossary entry for Snopes for more information. Don’t know about the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/3 "2005-01-25T01:46:36Z")
I forgot to add… from the Snopes glossary: > [@](#): > > # Snopes > > The Snopes were a family of characters weaved throughout the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer William Faulkner. When David Mikkelson, creator of [snopes.com](http://snopes.com), first came onto the Internet in the late 1980s, he worried even back in those relatively uncrowded days that no one would remember yet another David. He was thus inspired to adopt a nom-de-Net, selecting one that honored those fictional Faulknerian characters, and began signing his newsgroups posts as “snopes.” > > Over the years snopes established quite a fearsome online reputation for his ability to thoroughly research and debunk false claims. When it came time to name our domain, [www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) seemed the obvious choice. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/4 "2005-01-25T01:50:06Z")
Thankee. Now, on to the Wooden Spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/5 "2005-01-25T02:32:44Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Now, on to the Wooden Spoon. IIRC, it’s from a time when storytelling was done around the kitchen table while mom or grandma was cooking, typically stirring the pot with a wooden spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/6 "2005-01-25T02:46:55Z")
My favourite section is the **T** reasury **O** f **L** ost **L** egends. I’m sure there’s a good reason for that name. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/7 "2005-01-25T02:50:12Z")
Uh, that’s **T** he **R** epository **O** f **L** ost **L** egends. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/8 "2005-01-25T02:51:13Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > IIRC, it’s from a time when storytelling was done around the kitchen table while mom or grandma was cooking, typically stirring the pot with a wooden spoon. Ummm, no. The name arose because Barbara Hamel (later Mikkelson) was famous for threatening to paddle miscreants on the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban with a wooden spoon for their misbehavior. Please see this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=183317) where Barbara Mikkelson herself is quoted as saying > [@](#): > > chukhung has it. > > When snopes first talked me into putting some of my writings on the > site, I had this hodge-podge of articles to work with that were about > everything and anything. We decided that at least at the beginning > we’d set up a special grab-bag category, with an eye towards moving > the stories from there to proper categories once we had them set up. > > The question of what to call this new section then arose. After a > short yet memorable career of threatening to use virtual wooden spoons > on various deserving backsides in AFU, my name became firmly associated > with the implements. Since there was no good name for this new > category anyway, we figured this would do. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soes-snopes-mean/286514/9 "2005-01-25T03:01:08Z")
"The Snopes were a family of characters weaved throughout the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer William Faulkner. When David Mikkelson, creator of [snopes.com](http://snopes.com), first came onto the Internet in the late 1980s, he worried even back in those relatively uncrowded days that no one would remember yet another David. He was thus inspired to adopt a nom-de-Net, selecting one that honored those fictional Faulknerian characters, and began signing his newsgroups posts as “snopes.” Over the years snopes established quite a fearsome online reputation for his ability to thoroughly research and debunk false claims. When it came time to name our domain, [www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) seemed the obvious choice." –From the FAQ’s