
Mystery of the ketchup cups - dementik
https://medium.com/@vervalkon/mystery-of-the-ketchup-cups-1e3091b9e6ff
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romwell
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)

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liberte82
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. :)

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justtopost
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.

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nickelcitymario
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
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.

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JoeAltmaier
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.

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liberte82
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. :/

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IvyMike
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)

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

