In Cantabrigian tradition, a wooden spoon was jokingly awarded to low achievers in mathematics. That practice later extended to other types of competitions. It’s also key to a heartwarming story about a charitable organization that arose from a friendly spoon-swapping rivalry between English and Irish rugby teams. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Wooden Spoon”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello.
Hi, who’s this?
Hi, this is Archie from McKinney, Texas.
Welcome to the show, Archie. How are you doing?
I’m doing great. And you?
Excellent. Thank you.
What’s on your mind today, Archie?
So a few years ago, right, I was sitting with my colleagues at work, right, and it was during the Soccer World Cup, right? And, you know, I work for a company that’s a multinational company, so there’s a lot of people from different countries. So some of my colleagues are from Sweden, right? So they went and they bought these T-shirts to support their team, right? And they bought these T-shirts from a shop called the Wooden Spoon in Plano, Texas.
They bought it from a shop called the Wooden Spoon, did you say?
Yes.
So I told them, how can you buy your shirts from a store called the Wooden Spoon because you’re going to jinx your team? And they said, why? And I said, that’s because the Wooden Spoon is something that’s given to somebody who comes last in a contest or somebody who loses a contest. And everybody looked at me really funny. And I said, no, I mean, this is a typical English word, right? Wooden spoon means you give it, you know, somebody who comes last in a contest. And one of my colleagues has an English wife, right, from England. And he said, I’m going to call her, right? He called his wife, and the wife said she has never heard of anything like this. So you can imagine my embarrassment, right? And, you know, I insisted that this is something that I know, right? Wooden spoon is like a politically correct way to say somebody lost a contest.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. There’s a long tradition that started at Cambridge University in, I think, the early 19th century of giving somebody who finishes last in a particular class a wooden spoon as sort of a joke, is sort of a booby prize, if you will, right?
Wow. So this is something that actually exists.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah. There’s a long tradition of that, and it’s been associated with sports. And there’s also a really uplifting story that has to do with something called the Wooden Spoon Society. Have you heard of that?
No.
Well, this is a cool story. Back in 1983, there was a big rugby championship where the English lost to the Irish very badly. And so all the fans went to a pub afterward, and the Irish were celebrating their victory, and the English were drowning their sorrows, of course, in pints of beer. And what happened at this celebration-slash-morning was that the Irish fans presented to the English fans a wooden spoon wrapped in an Irish scarf on a silver platter as a joke. You know, you’re the losers. Here’s a wooden spoon for you. And the English accepted it good naturedly, but they said, let’s have a golf tournament in order to settle this once and for all, to settle who gets the wooden spoon. And so they ended up having a golf tournament, and they raised enough money at this golf tournament because they turned it into a charitable competition. They raised enough money at this golf tournament to buy a bus for a local school that served kids with special needs. And they continued this tradition every year of having a golf tournament where somebody got the wooden spoon. The loser got the wooden spoon. And since 1983, they’ve raised millions of dollars. And that’s the Wooden Spoon Society.
Yeah, yeah, you can find them online. Isn’t that cool?
So out of Cambridge University in the early 1800s, we get this tradition of a wooden spoon going to the last place honors person in a particular exam.
Yeah.
Right? To this, which is great.
Yeah, yeah, sort of a prize for the loser.
So, Archie, even though your friends hadn’t heard of it and the English wife hadn’t heard of it, it is a thing.
You’re right. Wooden spoon as a thing that goes to the last place finisher is a real thing in parts of the English-speaking world.
Wow.
Okay.
Okay, this is going to be very exciting to go to office today, I can tell you that.
Oh, well, that’s good.
But you were right to make a joke out of buying something at the Wooden Spoon to cheer on a team.
Yeah.
Well, Archie, we’re really glad to help you. Archie, thank you so much for your call. If they protest, you have them give us a call. We’ll straighten them out, all right?
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I’m going to be rubbing it in their faces today. Give them the Wooden Spoon for losing the argument.
That’s right. Take the Wooden Spoon.
Thanks for your call, dude.
All right.
Thank you, guys.
Bye.
Bye-bye, Archie.
Okay.
All right.
Bye.
