Vork

fork [noun] [de vork, de vorken] [‘vork‘] Iconspeaker_3

"Vork" is used for both the cutlery or any other mechanical fork
shaped part. The diminutive is also quite common in case you are
looking for a fork to go with the pieces of cake that you’re serving on
your "verjaardag" or something 🙂

A few common expressions exist with "vork", see below.

Examples:
"Ork, ork, ork, soep eet je met een …"
("Ork, ork, ork, one eats soup with a …")

– "Ik ben vanochtend aangereden, en nu is mijn voorvork compleet verbogen."
("I was hit by a car this morning, and now my bicycle fork is
completely bent." Here ‘voor’ is used to indicate it’s the fork at the
front. Note that "aangereden" implies being hit by any kind of vehicle,
but it is usually a car in this case.)

"Gebruik de vorken Bart, gebruik de vorken!"
("Use the forks Bart, use the forks!" This is a pun on the Star Wars ‘use the force’ that occurs in ‘The Simpons‘ episode ‘Mayored to the Mob‘. Of course the pun doesn’t translate to Dutch 🙂 )

Expressions:
– "Weten hoe de vork in de steel zit": to know the ins and outs of the matter. A "steel" is a stick shaped handle (in this case).

"Te veel hooi op je vork nemen": stemming from agriculture this
literally says "to take too much hay on your fork". Now it is commonly
used when you are taking too many tasks upon you.
– "Een vorkje prikken": literally "to jab/prod a fork" this is an
informal expression for "to have dinner". We don’t encourage the use of
this expression, since it is a bit over-the-top popular speech, but you might hear it.

Example:
  – "Zullen we vanavond samen een vorkje prikken?" – "Nee ik kan niet, ik ga al eten met Angharad."
("Shall we have dinner together tonight?" – "No, I’m not available, I’m
already having dinner with Angharad." Note that it’s common to use
"gaan eten" or "uit eten gaan" where ‘uit’ is only used if you go to a
restaurant.)

Related words:
– "Riek": the big fork used by farmers (2-3-4-pronged).
– "Bestek": cutlery.
– "Mes": knife.
– "Lepel": spoon.