Fish? No, scone please

Starbucks caught me unprepared this time. I ordered a plain scone and I got it with a fish-knife, a special kind of knife with a spatula-shaped blade designed for eating fish. Etiquette generally imposes never to put the knife in the mouth (not only is dangerous, but also rude and inelegant): fish-knife are an exception to the rule. You can put them in your mouth without causing a stir! (ideally they should server as knife and spoon simultaneously)

What does justify the presence of this type of knife at Starbucks in Korea? Perhaps the intention is to provide a tool which suits better the purpose of spreading butter and jam on the bread (which is the case) and decreases the risks of cuts for improper usages. Nevertheless, definitely this type of knife is associated (for me) to fish and not bread and jam.

This is a good example of interaction history: I grew up associating this knife to fish and using it only in the particular circumstance of eating fish, never thinking (not even for one second) of alternative plausible usages. Here in Korea, where people is not used to this type of cutlery, makes perfect sense for them to use it as an enhanced knife which works better for spreading butter and jam on the bread. Objects which don't belong to the local culture, are stripped of an unnecessary layer of conventions (the interaction history with that object) and new usages are more likely to be found by just analyzing the properties (affordances) of the object.

I wonder though what do those people, who only have experinced this knife as the the butter-knife, think once they travel to Europe, and ordered a fish, they find it is served with the butter-knife!