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.

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I hadn't heard the word "cuspidor" in awhile

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.

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Chewing tobacco is a lot less popular

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.

Most of them use an iDixie cup.

Or the sidewalk...