Soup spoons

We are a mix of nationalities living here and English etiquette is not high on anyone's list. For example our cutlery set (aka silverware) has two sizes of fork, one for main and the other for desert. But who uses desert forks now-a-days? So we don't differentiate. And the  Americans amongst us leave their knife and fork in random positions when done, so when clearing plates you have to ask "have you finished?" which seems to me vulgar. And they are used to different sizes of spoons than we have.

So why, oh why do they put out soup spoons when we have soup for lunch? In case you, my reader, are from other climes where perhaps you drink soup from the bowl, in the picture the soup spoon is 5th from the left.

In England and one supposes also in Ireland etiquette demands that one sips soup from the side of a soup spoon. Which (a) is hard to do and (b) takes an age to consume a bowl full. You are not meant to put the whole thing in your mouth and to do so is uncomfortable - they are too wide. So in defiance, and for comfort, I always get myself an ordinary desert spoon (3rd from left) when we have soup. But I'm the only one that does. I must do a survey and find if folk do the sipping thing.

The smallest spoon in the picture is a tea spoon, for which there must be an international standard because recipes use them. Next is the American I-don't-know-what-they-call-it but it is used for deserts and soup - our desert spoon is not common over there. Which makes eating pudding (aka desert) too slow. Strange people!

The largest in the picture is of course a table spoon - for serving, not eating from. No confusion there.