Runcible  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

"Runcible" is a nonsense word invented by Edward Lear. The word appears (as an adjective) several times in his works, most famously as the "runcible spoon" used by the Owl and the Pussycat.

In popular culture

The whimsical feel of the word "runcible" has led to its appearance in diverse arenas.

Fiction

Used as an adjective

• In Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat series, an errant robot declares, "The runcible rhythm of ravenous raisins rolled through the rookery rambling and raving."
• In C. J. Sansom's novel Dissolution, set mainly in a monastery to be dissolved by Thomas Cromwell under Henry VIII, the lead character, Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer working for Cromwell, sups with the monks in their refectory "where a great haunch of beef was served with runcible peas." In this case the word is a version of "rounceval" meaning a large pea or marrowfat pea.
• In Claire Messud's novel When The World Was Steady the character Virginia describes her boss in this way: "Truth be told, she had never found Simon in the least physically attractive: he was squat and runcible and slightly foolish."

Used as a spoon or other device

• In the board game Kill Doctor Lucky, a runcible spoon is one of the weapons players can use to kill Doctor Lucky.
• In Neal Asher's series of novels, including Gridlinked, runcible is the name given to an interstellar wormhole generator/teleporter, most probably as an homage to the ansible. The central field for these devices is also known as the runcible's spoon.
• In Neal Stephenson's novel The Diamond Age, Runcible is a code name for the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, an educational computer.
• In Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, an exhibition fight with runcible spoons is held.
• In Lemony Snicket's The End, an island cult eats using only runcible spoons.
• In the TV series Dead Like Me, Rube (a grim reaper) is trying to run the kitchen of Angus Cook (whose soul Rube took), with Angus haunting the kitchen until a replacement cook can be found. Angus lectures Rube on using the "runcible" with eggs, and further identifies it as "the spoon with the holes".
• In Alfred Bester's novel The Computer Connection a runcible spoon is used to feed the captive Capo Rip during his rehabilitation.
• In the webcomic Girl Genius, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach uses a "hand-cranked runcible gun" that shoots sporks during a staged fight.

Used as a character name

• In Ian Irvine's Runcible Jones series of books, Runcible Jones is a boy who is unhappy at Grindgrim Academy, the worst school in the country.
• In Evelyn Waugh's novel Vile Bodies, Runcible is the last name of daft, drunken Agatha.
• In the Doctor Who serial "The Deadly Assassin", Runcible is a Time Lord.
• In the roleplaying game Changeling: The Dreaming, "Runcible Shaw" is the name of a Pooka historian and scholar.
• In Jasper Fforde's novel The Eyre Affair the character Dr. Runcible Spoon discovers that Mr. Quaverley from Martin Chuzzlewit had mysteriously disappeared. Dr. Spoon later appears in the subsequent books of the Thursday Next series, of which The Eyre Affair is the first.
• Philip K. Dick named several characters in his novels Runcible or something similar: Louis Runcible in The Penultimate Truth, Leo Runcible in The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike, and Glen Runciter in Ubik.
• In Peter David's series of novels "Sir Apropos of Nothing" there exists a character named King Runcible.
• In the webcomic Questionable Content, J. Edward Runcible (an amalgamation of "Edward Lear" and "Runcible") is the name of a 19th century conspiracy theorist.
• In the webcomic Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire, Professor Runcible Spoon is an elemental-researching mage.
• In the 1994 live-action film adaptation of the Harvey Comics comic book character Richie Rich, directed by Donald Petrie, the name of the Rich family's butler is Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury portrayed by Jonathan Hyde.

Used as a place name

• In the TV series Ed, the name of the pie shop that Ed and his friends frequent is called The Runcible Spoon.
• In an episode ("Just My Bill") of the British Sitcom The Good Life, Tom Good tries to sell some of his excess vegetable crop to a restaurant called The Runcible Spoon.

In the Liaden Universe by Lee and Miller, there is a "Runcible System" in the novel "Ghost Ship".

Music

• In the Pretty Things song "Baron Saturday," (album S.F. Sorrow) the words "You've lost the runcible spoon" are used.
• Paul McCartney's album Driving Rain includes the track "Heather" which features the lyrics: "And I will dance to a runcible tune / With the queen of my heart". McCartney has explained the connection to "The Owl and the Pussycat" in various interviews since its release.