Dinglehopper

The dinglehopper (fork) is an artifact from the sunken ship which Ariel and Flounder explore early in The Little Mermaid. It is in fact a fairly ordinary object, but Ariel prizes the dinglehopper as it is an artifact of the human world. Due to his lack of knowledge of the human world, Scuttle gives this strange name to the object rather than the more-accurate "fork."

The Little Mermaid
Scuttle, whom Ariel and Flounder consult after their discoveries, identifies this object as "the dinglehopper." According to him, it is used to comb the hair and thus achieve an aesthetically-pleasing appearance.

In reality, the dinglehopper is an eating utensil; a three-tined fork (presumably made of steel or silver as it shows no signs of rust). Ariel later discovers this when presented with another one while dining with Prince Eric and Sir Grimsby, to her minor embarrassment.

Usage
Ariel displayed the dinglehopper in a candelabra between a knife and spoon in her undersea grotto. It was perhaps d e stroyed by King Triton, along with most of the other objects therein.

However, the dinglehopper lives on in other  Little Mermaid merchandise such as the NES video game, in which it is a treasure worth 800 points. Additionally, due to the success of the initial film, "dinglehopper" has entered the English lexicon, at least where the Disney fandom is concerned.

Trivia

 * The dinglehopper has been noticeably spared the decay which has befallen every other metallic object in the sunken ship, and thus it is probably made of silver. Even silver may tarnish (oxidize, though not rust) eventually, but it in all probability cannot be made of stainless steel (any other kind would have rusted). Though French metallurgist Pierre Berthier noted the corrosion resistance of iron-chromium alloys and recommended their use as cutlery in 1821 (when Ariel was 10-11 years old), the process would not be adequately perfected until the 20th Century.
 * While the dinglehopper was probably destroyed by a targeted energy blast from Triton's trident, the far-more-fragile painting, Georges de La Tour's Penitent Magdalen and the Smoking/Shooting Flame, must have survived the king's rampage as it is currently on display in the Art Museum of Los Angeles County.
 * Both of the film's "dinglehoppers" are three-tined during sequences of normal animation, and four-tined in introductory still shots.