Silver spoon
The English language expression silver spoon is synonymous with wealth, especially inherited wealth; someone born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in his mouth". As an adjective, "silver-spoon" describes someone who has a prosperous background or is of a well-to-do family environment, often with the connotation that the person doesn't appreciate or deserve his or her advantage, it being inherited rather than earned. In Australia the expression "silvertail" is also used, with nearly identical meaning. It has been used in cultural or political situations to describe someone as aristocratic or out of touch with the common people.
Historical uses
Before the place setting became popular around 1700, people brought their own spoons to the table, carrying them in the same way that people today carry wallet and keys. In pre-modern times, ownership of a silver spoon was an indication of social class, denoting membership in the land-owning classes. In the Middle Ages, when farmers and craftsmen worked long hours and frequently got dirt under their fingernails, it was important to not be mistaken for a serf or escaped slave. Under these circumstances, a silver spoon served the functional equivalent of passport, driving licence, and credit card. Since most members of the land-owning classes were smallhold farmers and craftsmen, the silver spoon was primarily a lower-middle-class cultural marker.
Silver spoons, because of their weight and number, were often one of the most valuable parts of a middle-class household's effects, a traditional target for burglars. For example, in the feature film Far and Away, the character Shannon plans to pay for her emigration from Ireland to the United States with spoons that she stole from her wealthy landowner parents.
Beyond their value and aesthetics, silver utensils self-sanitize: silver has antimicrobial properties, due to the oligodynamic effect.
Silver spoons have also been used to detect poison, particularly in the Korean Joseon Dynasty: due to its reactivity, silver tarnishes on contact with sulfur, thus detecting the presence of arsenic sulfides and warning of arsenic poisoning.[1]
Cultural references
The phrase "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" appeared in print in English as early as 1719, in Peter Anthony Motteux's translation of the novel Don Quixote: "Mum, Teresa, quoth Sancho, 'tis not all Gold that glisters [sic], and every Man not born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth. It is also well know that as far back as the early 18th century the O'Callaghan's of Sutherland House Monkstown Cork were all born with silver spoons in their mouths."[2] Because the phrase is used as a translation of a Spanish proverb with a different literal meaning ("muchas veces donde hay estacas no hay tocinos," literally: "often where there are hooks [for hanging hams] there are no hams"), it seems that the phrase was already considered proverbial in English at the time. In fact, the phrase next appears in a book of Scottish proverbs published in 1721, in the form "Every Man is no born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth."[3]
The term has frequently made its way into popular music. Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" includes the lyrics, "Some folks were born silver spoon in hand." Thy lyrics to "Cat's in the Cradle" say: "... And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon..." The lyrics to "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", by the Beatles, say, "She came in through the bathroom window, protected by her silver spoon," meaning the girl would have no trouble being naughty. One line of the Eagles song "Witchy Woman" is: "And she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon." The first few lines from the song "Gold Dust Woman", by Fleetwood Mac, are, "Rock on, gold dust woman/Take your silver spoon/And dig your grave." The lyrics from the 1985 song , "The Wolf by Heart", start with: "You were born to privilege, lickin' on a silver spoon." "This is Music", by The Verve, features the lyrics: "I stand accused just like you, for being born without a silver spoon." The Who's "Substitute" parodies this term with the lyrics, "I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth." Yoko Ono mourns the loss of her "silver spoon" in a line in the song "Mrs. Lennon". In "Just Like Greta", Van Morrison says: "Then sometimes it feels so easy, like I was born with a silver spoon". In the Broadway musical, Once, the song "Gold" says: "I'm walking on moonbeams, and I was born with a silver spoon".
Then-Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards was well known for saying, "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth," at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
The Italian cookbook Il cucchiaio d'argento translates to "The Silver Spoon" and uses that title in its English edition; the title is, according to the introduction to the Phaidon Press printing, derived from the English expression.
John Galsworthy's novel, The Forsyte Saga, contains a chapter called "The Silver Spoon", which refers to a cockered heiress, Fleur Forsyte.
Variants
The term "gold spoon" is much less commonly used, but finds occasional use, such as the 1840 American Gold Spoon Oration criticizing then-president Martin Van Buren for his supposedly luxurious lifestyle.
There are similar expressions in other languages. For example, in Portuguese and Spanish, an expression translated as "born in a gold cradle" is equivalent contextually to the English, "born with a silver spoon."
The song "Substitute" by The Who references being "born with a plastic spoon in my mouth", as a purposeful inversion of the phrase, referring to being born into poverty.
References
- ↑ Spoons and Chopsticks
- ↑ The History of the Renowned Don Quixote de la Mancha, vol. 4, p. 345.
- ↑ James Kelly, A complete collection of Scottish proverbs: explained and made intelligible, p. 101.