2014年3月23日 · To me (from Southern China) however, 勺子 means something larger than 调羹 (actually my vocab is 瓢羹), that is, suppose you have a big pot of soup, and you use a 勺子 (such as a ladle, called 瓢 in my hometown vocab) to distribute the soup into small bowls for everyone at the table, and then each person uses a 调羹 (tablespoon) to pass the soup into his mouth.