8 ms·

Mystery of the ketchup cups

64 points by dementik 8y ago

justtopost 8y ago
I adore deep digs on obscure subject like this. One wonders if the idea goes back even further, before registration. Perhaps some 1880's cafe was cranking them out with a diy divice. Seems like it would be a device you produce for practicality first, and 'you ought patent that' later when its utility was manifest.
- nickelcitymario 8y ago
  More entertaining than the deep dig is the passionate position the author took: "The entire cult of those who open their ketchup cups is build upon lies, misinterpretation and shitty journalism." Remember that scene from Knocked Up when Paul Rudd (I think it was him) talks about how much he wishes he liked anything the way his kid likes blowing bubbles? I feel like there's an inverse here: I wish I was opposed to anything as much as this author is opposed to the improper use of ketchup cups.
  - stevenwoo 8y ago
    I interpreted the statement as a tongue in cheek joke. One of the ever present dangers of the printed word, we can look at one sentence and come away with different meanings.
romwell 8y ago
Great investigation! However, the inventor of tea bags never intended them to be used for brewing tea either[1]: >First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed about 1908 by the tea and coffee importer Thomas Sullivan from New York, who shipped his silk tea bags around the world. The loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers, but they found it easier to brew the tea with the tea still enclosed in the porous bags. That is, the "correct" usage of tea bags came from the customers misusing the product a century ago. Who can say that unfolding a ketchup cup doesn't follow the same pattern? [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag#History
- liberte82 8y ago
  Unless the story that tea bags was originally meant to be removed from the bags, is itself a myth based on one person's personal theory that slowly morphed into fact. :)
anon49124 8y ago
Blow into a ketchup cup to make it even more conveniently sized.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
horatiocain 8y ago
It turns out we've been doing journalism all wrong!
IvyMike 8y ago
P.S. The real trick is to take a large soda lid and pump the ketchup onto it. (You may want to use two nested lids to prevent leakage through the straw hole)
JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Worse yet, Culvers uses plastic ketchup cups. Not only can't you dip your burger in them, you can't get the ketchup out and onto your burger. It just sits in there, a gelatinous blob clinging to the sides of the cup. Useless. I mentioned this to our local Culvers owner the day the place opened. No change in years. Sigh. At least with the paper ones, you can crush them and squeeze the ketchup out like toothpaste onto your bun or whatever.
liberte82 8y ago
When I was a kid, before these paper cups were widely used at restaurants for ketchup, my parents used to use empty cream containers. I used to like drinking the cream to empty out the containers. :/

64 points by dementik 8y ago

I adore deep digs on obscure subject like this. One wonders if the idea goes back even further, before registration. Perhaps some 1880's cafe was cranking them out with a diy divice. Seems like it would be a device you produce for practicality first, and 'you ought patent that' later when its utility was manifest.

nickelcitymario 8y ago
More entertaining than the deep dig is the passionate position the author took: "The entire cult of those who open their ketchup cups is build upon lies, misinterpretation and shitty journalism." Remember that scene from Knocked Up when Paul Rudd (I think it was him) talks about how much he wishes he liked anything the way his kid likes blowing bubbles? I feel like there's an inverse here: I wish I was opposed to anything as much as this author is opposed to the improper use of ketchup cups.
- stevenwoo 8y ago
  I interpreted the statement as a tongue in cheek joke. One of the ever present dangers of the printed word, we can look at one sentence and come away with different meanings.

romwell 8y ago

Great investigation! However, the inventor of tea bags never intended them to be used for brewing tea either[1]: >First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed about 1908 by the tea and coffee importer Thomas Sullivan from New York, who shipped his silk tea bags around the world. The loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers, but they found it easier to brew the tea with the tea still enclosed in the porous bags. That is, the "correct" usage of tea bags came from the customers misusing the product a century ago. Who can say that unfolding a ketchup cup doesn't follow the same pattern? [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag#History

liberte82 8y ago
Unless the story that tea bags was originally meant to be removed from the bags, is itself a myth based on one person's personal theory that slowly morphed into fact. :)

anon49124 8y ago

Blow into a ketchup cup to make it even more conveniently sized.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

horatiocain 8y ago

It turns out we've been doing journalism all wrong!

IvyMike 8y ago

P.S. The real trick is to take a large soda lid and pump the ketchup onto it. (You may want to use two nested lids to prevent leakage through the straw hole)

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

Worse yet, Culvers uses plastic ketchup cups. Not only can't you dip your burger in them, you can't get the ketchup out and onto your burger. It just sits in there, a gelatinous blob clinging to the sides of the cup. Useless. I mentioned this to our local Culvers owner the day the place opened. No change in years. Sigh. At least with the paper ones, you can crush them and squeeze the ketchup out like toothpaste onto your bun or whatever.

liberte82 8y ago

When I was a kid, before these paper cups were widely used at restaurants for ketchup, my parents used to use empty cream containers. I used to like drinking the cream to empty out the containers. :/