Fork Chute (noun).
[fork sut] ; rhymes with pork and loot
Definition:Ý A receptacle into which one tosses his or her silverware at the end of each meal at most Cornell Dining Halls.Ý It is found by the dishbelt near the exit of the dining halls.
Attested:Ý I first heard this word in Jansen's, the West Campus dining hall at Cornell.Ý A student was commenting on how dirty the fork chute was.
Example:Ý "I was aiming for the fork chute, but I missed and threw my spoon against the wall."
Etymology:Ý This term is derived directly from the function of the object it refers to.Ý Although it seems that a fork chute would be reserved only for forks, the expression has come to encompass all silverware; most likely, this results from an effort to simplify speech, because "silverware chute" is quite a mouthful, as is having to call each chute by its specific type of content (i.e. "knife chute" and "spoon chute").Ý
- Briana Gordon