According to Webster’s, a shovel is a long handled tool that is used to scoop up dirt, sand, snow, etc so that it can either be carried away or thrown to somewhere else. Alternatively, the word can be used for the scoop part of an earth moving machine or snow plough that picks up the “material”. You will not find any mention of digging in the entry for shovel. If you want to dig; then Webster says that you should use a spade.
Don’t Be So Pedantic
Webster has not got it wrong. It is just that we regularly misuse our own language to put our thoughts across more succinctly. Sometimes the words we use might not make sense if taken out of context – the listener has to judge the whole meaning behind a string of words and not only look at each individual word in isolation.
Digging requires that the hand held implement enters the dirt more or less vertically. Shovelling, on the other hand, is almost a horizontal operation – usually into a heap of whatever it is that we wish to shovel. For this reason, a shovel will tend to have curvature to its blade to avoid too much (dirt) slipping off when we lift the shovel. Generally, shovels do not require a flat portion at the top of their blades for us to push down on with our feet. The shovel blade can be straight or pointed but does not need a sharp cutting edge.
Spades need foot pressure to be applied to force them into the ground and a cutting edge definitely helps. Generally, there is little or no curvature to the blade on a spade.
You Can Call A Spade A Shovel And Many People Do just That
One thing that spades and shovels do have in common is that they would both be useless without a handle coming from the top of their blades. The length of the handle is not all that critical to the digging or scooping up operation and it does not matter overmuch if the handle is simply a straight rod or has either a “T” piece or a “D” handle at its top end. Handle choices are somewhat individual preference and they can be made of traditional wood or a modern, (fibreglass) “plastic” material. The important thing is that they must always remain tightly fixed to the blade – even during the toughest use.
So, you can call a spade a Wooden Handle Digging Shovel and use it to make a hole in your back yard but, it might not be much use for shovelling snow. Contrariwise, a snow shovel won’t dig much of a hole in the ground.
The Wooden Handle Digging Shovel known as the Earth Talon has a unique blade shape to make it the perfect digging tool. You can buy these online by browsing the following website
