Grub-hoe

Practically every day in the French Republican Calendar is named after a plant, animal, mineral, or farm tool, collectively known as the “rural calendar.” Today, Décadi, Brumaire 20, is being reported on Twitter, er, X, and the various apps as being “Grub-hoe” day. Grub-hoe? What is that? How is it different from a regular hoe? 

I consulted the font of all wisdom, Wikipedia. It turns out that all the names are actually in French. The actual name for today is hoyau. “Grub-hoe” is listed as a translation. But what does the French word mean? According to French Wikipedia:

A hoe in the sense of hoyau is a tool with a strong, flattened blade, with two prongs, used for breaking up land and for small-scale cultivation which requires the most strength. Whereas a proper hoe generally only has one flat blade.

All the photos and descriptions on Google show that a grub hoe has one flat blade. Photos of a hoyau all show a forked hoe, usually with two prongs, what Wikipedia calls a “fork hoe.”

It seems that, not only is Wikipedia wrong, but so is everyone else. I suspect that they may all have gotten their info from Wikipedia. I have noticed before that errors on Wikipedia can spread far and wide. We are told in school not to trust Wikipedia, which can be edited by anyone, but people do anyway. This article is not about hoes, but on trusting Wikipedia. Well, since anyone can edit it, I will, myself.