I was just reading this article, When would I prefer a shovel with a rounded blade over one with a pointed blade?. The answers said something like, "That's a spade not a shovel".
So what is the difference between a spade and a shovel?
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Seems it depends where you live! In the UK, a spade is most definitely not a shovel, they're two different tools intended for different usage. A shovel is broader, more curved from left to right, and sometimes longer in the blade, sometimes slightly broader at the sharp end, sometimes with a sort of ledge running either side down to the tip. Occasionally you find a shovel with a pointed tip, and the other difference is, they come in numbered sizes. It's the sort of thing builders use when shovelling sand or concrete into a mixer, or mixing cement by hand, for instance, or for shovelling coal, or shovelling loose topsoil from a pile into a wheelbarrow. A spade is what's shown in the pictures under the question you refer to, whether it has a rounded tip or not. Its shape and weight are designed for digging in the ground - try doing that with a shovel, and you'll quickly discover the difference between the two, apart from their appearance. Googling 'shovel' should produce images of actual shovels... at least it does when I do it. |
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At least in America, distinctions fade with distance from our more rural past. Today the words are used interchangeably except by specialists, but the spade is for digging, the shovel is for scooping. This difference manifests itself as an angle in between the handle and blade of a shovel while the spade is more or less straight from handle to blade. The snow shovel is a good example to imagine. You hold the handle and the blade approaches parallel to the ground so you can slide it under the snow. A spade has a nearly straight handle for the same reason a chisel has a straight handle, so you can easily judge the angle the blade is entering the ground to control the shape of your 'excavation.' A spade would be used to break up the ground and then a shovel would be used to heave the dirt out of the hole or into a wheelbarrow. Its just digging though, no one will complain as long as you move the dirt. |
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That's correct. In the US, most dictionary definitions follow those clear and different descriptions ... although colloquially both are frequently called shovels. When people in the US talk about shovels, it's important to know whether or not they call a spade a spade. |
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