Topic: Vocabulary: Describe this wine-glass in not less than 100 words!

[krsilber]

I imagine some of the problem may "stem" from the fact that different manufacturers (and historians and authors) used different terms for the same thing.  You will find plenty of synonyms, as I'm sure you're aware!  Maybe it would be easiest to choose a group of terms from the many available that you think covers the range of your glass features adequately, and offer a glossary of those.

What are penny licks?

[KevinH]

What are penny licks?

The Wikipedia defintion is probably as good as it gets, but I am not convinced about the "disappointment" bit. The comment about the glass appearing to have more than it actually held is also said to be the case for a "toast-master glass" - so that the toast-master did not get as drunk as everybody else but appeared to be taking the same amount! I have to say that when I put some orange drink in that type of glass there was virtually no "deception" at all - it just looked like the same glass with a small amount of drink in it! So maybe not all those glasses were up to the job!

However, since I do like to question things on occasion ...

 ... Why is it that in my books on old(er) glass (including some by American authors), the term "Penny lick" does not appear? Even Newman's Illustrated Dictionary does not include it, and that book covers many things from many places. Was it perhaps just a "novelty" American thing? Is it a more recent term that has been applied to 19th C items?

[deco.queen]

Here's what I found on penny lick from this page  http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com/ice_cream_glasses.htm.
It was the growing commercial ice trade in the 19th century that meant populations of towns and cities could be introduced to ice cream as a new and special treat - the ice cream vendor. These ice cream sellers could keep their ice cream chilled and fresh to offer people and and in the UK they used small glasses for a taste at a penny each. These became known as 'penny licks'. However, as the penny lick became established as a popular treat, it became clear that hygiene was also an issue to be considered. The 'penny lick' glasses were simply wiped clean when handed back before being re-used! So, in the interests of public health, they were (sadly) banned in 1926.

[Anne]

Interesting that it says penny licks were banned in 1926, as my mother who was born later than that, remembers them still being used in Lancashire when she was a child in the 1930s.

[josordoni]

Maybe they were allowed to be used in the Icecream parlours that had facilities for washing them, whilst the icecream vendor with a cart could not? 

I believe that the commercial production of wafers also helped end them for the cart vendors, as the wafers and cones were much lighter and took up less room than the glass.

[David E]

More likely the penny lick, being a 'deception' glass was not considered legal.

[Jay]

I knew that I wouldn't be the only researcher facing these questions! ;-)

However, I was also thinking that the forum here gives us a unique opportunity to do some standardisation.
The shortcomings of previous attempts are rooted in the fact that a single author with a single approach ends up very specific in some areas whilst omitting others entirely.
Their own bias creeps in! For example; who decided on 'inverse baluster'? Which way is up?

and David who decides when it constitutes a 'deception' and when it's just a small portion?? LOL!

If we want to use terms like 'ogee' then we need a clear understanding of how this relates to the way the term applies in furniture.
If we make references to egg-shape or eliptical, recurve or convex, then we need to use the same vocabulary as readers and other authors.

In this forum we have the DIVERSITY of disciplines which might make the task worthwhile, and allow our collective researches to be in a more standardised and (therefore interactive )form ?!

The only audience I care about communicating with is the present company, not some 80 year old tome which is gonna be totally out of date in it's useage and context (?!)

[Frank]

Variety is the spice of life.

[Anne]

Maybe they were allowed to be used in the Icecream parlours that had facilities for washing them, whilst the icecream vendor with a cart could not? 

Heck Lynne, I don't think my mum ever went in an ice cream parlour as a child, it was always off the cart. I'm seeing her later in the week though so shall ask her some more about this. Where she was raised was a poor Lancashire cotton mill town - I don't even think there was a cafe there when she was young!

[Frank]

When I was at Portobello one of the neighbouring stalls was a specialist in novelties including Penny-licks, they are a huge collecting field with immense variety.