Have you ever heard of the legendary Everleigh Club in Chicago, a house of ill repute in the early 1900s? There was an article about it today in the Chicago Tribune. I loved this description: It was in a "three-story brownstone at 2131-33 S. Dearborn, furnished with brass beds inlaid with marble, gold cuspidors, Oriental rugs and a library of leather-bound books." I also liked Minna Everleigh's quote when the authorities wanted to close the place: "If the ship sinks, we're going down with a cheer and a good drink under our belts, anyway."
But related to our discussion board, I hadn't heard the word "cuspidor" in awhile, and I rather like the sound of it. Shu tells me it was James Joyce's favorite word. It may be my second favorite word.
Cuspidor is the Portuguese word for "spitter" or "spittoon", from the verb cuspir meaning "to spit".
I'm not surprised you've not heard it for a while. Manners have changed somewhat. Chewing tobacco is a lot less popular and there are far less cases of TB than at the start of the 20th century, so cuspidors/spitoons are pretty well redundant. Unless you're a wine taster or dentist it's unlikely you'll see a spitoon/cuspidor at all regularly.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Perhaps in England but its popularity among baseball players is making it a favorite of many youngsters, especially since some varieties are candy-covered (to appeal to a younger lement?).
I'd imagine that if the youth over there are anything like those here, they'd be highly unlikely to use a cuspidor/spitoon anyway, even if made of gold. Perhaps if someone made an iCusp, with internet access, music storage/playback, and texting abilities, they might start using one.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
