Calibramus et Coquimus · Est. 2026 Share an observation · director@eubanks.institute
The Eubanks Institute Wendell, North Carolina
The Eubanks Institute

The Eubanks Phenomenon

Eubanks phenomenonnoun

The habit of squeezing a pair of kitchen tongs open and closed, usually twice and with an audible click, right after picking them up and before using them.

You have almost certainly seen it, and you have probably done it. Until now, it has not had a name.

What it looks like How to cite
The Behavior

Click, click. Then cooking.

Someone walks up to a grill or a stovetop and picks up a pair of spring-loaded tongs. Before touching any food, they squeeze the tongs shut and let them spring open, usually twice in quick succession. Then they get on with cooking.

  • Happens before first useIt comes after the tongs are picked up and before they touch food.
  • Comes in a short burstUsually two clicks, sometimes one or three.
  • Is fast and automaticPeople rarely look at the tongs while doing it and often don't remember doing it.
  • Is not taughtNo recipe or tong manual asks for it, but it appears to be widespread.

The term applies specifically to spring-loaded culinary tongs. Similar pre-use checks exist for other tools, such as clicking a pen or snapping scissors open and shut. Where it's useful to group them, we call these Eubanks-type behaviors.

Open Questions

Why might people do it?

Nobody knows yet. The behavior has not been studied directly. Here are a few plausible explanations, each drawn from established research on how people use tools. None of them has been tested on tongs.

  1. Calibrating grip to the spring

    Every pair of tongs has a different spring stiffness. People adjust grip force to the object in hand using fast feedback from the skin (Johansson & Westling, 1984) and internal predictions about how a tool will respond (Wolpert & Flanagan, 2001). A couple of quick squeezes may let the hand learn this particular spring before it matters.

  2. Making the tool part of the hand

    Using a tool changes how the brain represents the body's reach, temporarily extending it to the tool's tip (Iriki, Tanaka, & Iwamura, 1996; Maravita & Iriki, 2004). Clicking may be a quick way to bring the tips into that map.

  3. Checking that the tips meet

    The click is audible proof that the tips close fully. Sound is known to shape how we perceive food-related actions (Zampini & Spence, 2004), and the click may serve as a small acoustic check.

  4. Habit or ritual

    It may serve no purpose at all and simply be a satisfying, contagious habit.

These ideas can be tested, and we would welcome anyone who wants to test them.

About the Name

A name for something everyone does

The term Eubanks phenomenon was coined in 2026 by Doug Eubanks of Wendell, North Carolina. As far as we have been able to find, the behavior had no established name, so he gave it one.

The Eubanks Institute is an independent project that documents the phenomenon, collects observations of it, and maintains this definition.

Doug Eubanks

Founder

Doug Eubanks noticed the behavior over years of backyard cooking with family and friends in Wendell, North Carolina. He realized that nearly everyone did it, and that nobody had a word for it. He founded the Eubanks Institute to fix that.

Share an Observation

Seen it in the wild?

Have you seen a notable example, a regional variation, or a tong that seems to resist it? Or do you know of an earlier name for the behavior? We would like to hear about it.

observations@eubanks.institute
How to Cite

Using the term

Eubanks, D. (2026). The Eubanks phenomenon. The Eubanks Institute. https://eubanksphenomenoninstitute.org

When writing about the behavior, Eubanks phenomenon is preferred, with a lowercase p in running text. The Eubanks double-click is an acceptable informal synonym.

References

  • Iriki, A., Tanaka, M., & Iwamura, Y. (1996). Coding of modified body schema during tool use by macaque postcentral neurones. NeuroReport, 7(14), 2325–2330.
  • Johansson, R. S., & Westling, G. (1984). Roles of glabrous skin receptors and sensorimotor memory in automatic control of precision grip when lifting rougher or more slippery objects. Experimental Brain Research, 56(3), 550–564.
  • Maravita, A., & Iriki, A. (2004). Tools for the body (schema). Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(2), 79–86.
  • Wolpert, D. M., & Flanagan, J. R. (2001). Motor prediction. Current Biology, 11(18), R729–R732.
  • Zampini, M., & Spence, C. (2004). The role of auditory cues in modulating the perceived crispness and staleness of potato chips. Journal of Sensory Studies, 19(5), 347–363.
Contact

Contact the Institute

For general and press inquiries, write to the Director. For sightings, use the observations address.

The Eubanks Institute
PO Box 399
Wendell, NC 27591

director@eubanks.institute
observations@eubanks.institute