--The Spork--
A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four tines. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manufactured since the late 19th century; patents for spork-like designs date back to at least 1874. Sporks are used by fast food restaurants, schools, prisons, the military, backpackers and in airline meals.
The word spork combines spoon and fork. It appeared in the 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, where it was described as a trade name and "a 'portmanteau-word' applied to a long, slender spoon having, at the end of the bowl, projections resembling the tines of a fork". The word "spork" was later registered as a trademark in the US and the UK.
I accept that the word Spork involves a clever idea of making a single word by combining the beginning of the word spoon and the end of the word fork. The fact that it is clever and the fact that the meaning of Spork could be said to be obvious once it is explained does not mean that it is obvious what it is. Indeed, I would have thought that if one asked a person in 1975 what a Spork was, he or she would not know. If one then explained what it was and how the word came about, one might then be told that it was obvious or that it was clever.
Don't you love my meaningless information included in this geocache? While the spork is fascinating its just another eating utensil to shovel food into your mouth. You really just want to get any info you can to find the cache. Am I right? I could go on and on about sporks but you just want to know that its a black altoid type container using magnets to attach to the scoreboard. Now lets get to more interesting info about materials used to make sporks!
Materials such as stainless steel, silver, aluminum, titanium, and polycarbonate plastic have been used in spork manufacturing. Plastic sporks are common in prisons in the United States because they are difficult to form into shiv-type weapons to attack other inmates. Prepackaged meals may come with a disposable plastic spork. Sporks are also frequently used by backpackers, Boy Scouts and other outdoorsmen as they are a lightweight and space-saving alternative to carrying both a fork and spoon.
--The Spork--
FTF goes to Dragon Eye.