How did eating utensils become known as flatware? Have you ever tried to eat cereal with a flat spoon and forks? It doesn't sound right.

"Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments."

http://www.answers.com/topic/cutlery

One can't take the "George Carlin" approach to defining flatware...or one will run aground:

Flatware -- Spoons, forks, and serving implements used at the table. The term flatware was introduced toward the end of the 19th century. Strictly speaking, it excludes knives, which are classified as cutlery (q.v.), although in common American usage knives are generally included.

Flat·ware (fl?t'wâr')
n. 1.Tableware that is "FAIRLY flat" and fashioned usually of a single piece, as plates.
2.Table utensils such as knives, forks, and spoons.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/flatware

Flatware is stamped from steel, like a cookie cutter, but you can roll dough out and use it again--steel you can’t. By fitting the greatest number of pieces on a single sheet of steel, Kerr kept costs down, and minimized waste. The result is flatware whose specifications--the quality of the steel, the finish, the thickness--match those for sets that retail for three times as much.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/flatware