We all get used to the sizes and shapes of our favourite cutlery. Opening the cutlery drawer in the office kitchen often results in a moment of hesitation as you scan the available teaspoons for one which most closely matches your accustomed dimensions.
I propose that teaspoon manufacturers worldwide should organise a conference and agree on a small set of standard sizes for teaspoons. This would greatly reduce the amount of time and office productivity that gets lost to these hesitations.
Once the true scale of this lost productivity is made clear to the directors of Fortune 500 companies I'm sure they will have no hesitation in arranging to fund this conference.-- Wrongfellow, Sep 02 2010 5 ml 'poon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaspoon [po, Sep 02 2010] First they came... http://en.wikipedia.../First_they_came...Softly, softly... [8th of 7, Sep 02 2010] use for toothpicks... http://farm1.static...4620_a700b00fb2.jpg [xandram, Sep 03 2010] This wouldn't make sense, as anyone wanting their *accustomed dimensions* would require a *custom* spoon, not a standarized one.-- xandram, Sep 02 2010 The plan is that after a few years of only using the standardised sizes, everyone would be accustomed to one of them.-- Wrongfellow, Sep 02 2010 It is the diversity of teaspoon design which enables me to select an appropriate spoon for the purpose at hand.
I use a pointy one for extracting the last of the honey, a square shouldered one for scraping peanut butter from the upper corners of the jar, a voluminous one for measuring sugar into my first cup of coffee, a long handled one for imparting maximum velocity to small projectiles and a light one for rapping upon the forehead of a perpetrator of poor humour.
Without the array of tools available to me, each of the above tasks would be compromised.
Also, with standardised spoons, the Chinese offspring in the old joke would all be named Ping-Ping Ping.
If you had an appropriate teaspoon, you could use it to remove this fishbone.-- Twizz, Sep 02 2010 Great. Next thing you know, you'll be getting you door kicked down by the Spoon Police....-- 8th of 7, Sep 02 2010 Clearly [Twizz] needs the new Swiss Army Teaspoon.-- Wrongfellow, Sep 02 2010 "Cucullus non facit monachum"-- 8th of 7, Sep 02 2010 [Ian T]: Your country regulates the sale of teaspoons? Wow. And I thought the Brussels Eurocrats were bad.-- Wrongfellow, Sep 02 2010 They are.-- nineteenthly, Sep 02 2010 "They came first for the knives, and I didn't speak up because I didn't use knives.
Then they came for the forks, and I didn't speak up because I didn't use forks.
Then they came for the tablespoons, and I didn't speak up because I didn't use tablespoons.
Then they came for the teaspoons; and by that time I had nothing left to stir my tea with ..."
<link>-- 8th of 7, Sep 02 2010 I spoke to my cutler about this, and he pointed out a problem.
Teaspoons are often used to measure dry ingredients (such as sugar), in which case they are seldom filled level. Consider two 5ml teaspoons, one with a deep, narrow bowl, and the other with a wide, shallow one. When "heaped", the former may carry 7ml of sugar, but the latter would carry 10ml.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 02 2010 You've not??!-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 02 2010 At one time, the US (Federal) Bureau of Standards developed a standard length for toothpicks. This idea is sensible by comparison.-- mouseposture, Sep 02 2010 even if they did standardized toothpicks, toothpick rebels can find other sizes. [see link]-- xandram, Sep 03 2010 random, halfbakery