The definition of spatula has fuzzified over the years. When I took home ec in 1967, a turner (a.k.a. pancake turner) was wide enough to hold most of the width of a flapjack or a burger, but a spatula was no more than 1.5" wide, and long. You used it to frost cakes (this was before offset spatulas). The flexible scraper used for getting all the contents out of a bowl or pan was only ever called a rubber scraper. Nowadays, it’s more often called a spatula/rubber spatula. Rubbermaid makes a handy, concave one called a spoonula.
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Your definition is the same as that for Dexter-Russell (largest American professional cutlery maker):
I’m sure it’s a regional/dialect thing, but I personally agree with the other posters. To me, a spatula is a rubber paddle for scraping the sides of a bowl or a dull, flexible steel blade for spreading pasty things. A turner (or flipper) is a wide metal, plastic, or wooden blade for flipping things over in a frying pan or on a griddle. (However, a quick Google image search doesn’t really support my personal usage.)
The Food Network or OXO or something carried at Kohl’s makes one also, black handle, white scraper. It’s about an inch wide, perfect for scraping stuff out of cans.
Speaking of Kohl’s, any suggestions for nifty kitchen items to get with those $10 gift certificates they send me just about every month? I have more turners, flippers, spatulas, etc., than I know what to do with.
