04 March 2019

It's not a urinal. It's a "speibecken"


Essentially an enormous German emesis basin.   Note the large-diameter discharge pipe and the convenient handholds on the wall.  Not sure if the metal plate is a headrest (?), but it seems to contain a motion detector for the flushing.

Discussion thread at the whatisthisthing subreddit:
"These make sense in bars but they actually have these in the jockey quarters at Churchill Downs for the jockeys to vomit before racing in the Kentucky Derby to further minimize their weight. Seriously."

"Mostly in every brewery in Germany. And some bars do have it. In breweries you normally do a guided tour and afterwards you are allowed to drink as much as you want for a certain time. So that’s when the vomit „urinal“ comes in handy."
Wikipedia page on Speibecken (auf Deutsch).  (auf English)

12 comments:

  1. It's a common misconception that a Roman vomitorium had something to do with throwing up. It didn't (the Wikipedia article notes this). Here's a good explanation: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/greatmomentsinscience/latins-most-misused-word-vomitorium/7857798

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  2. please, actually read the wikipedia link for vomitorium.

    compounding the misinterpretation/legend while linking to TWO articles which clearly state that it IS one is just strange.

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    1. Done. Guilty as charged. Busy day.

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    2. thanks for being so busy for us readers ;)

      fwiw, you put the 'wrestler' in the animals category in the linkfest - but that might not have been in error?

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  3. Your link to the Wikipedia page on "vomitorium" explains that your usage of it here is a misinterpretation - "There is a common misconception that ancient Romans designated spaces called vomitoria for the purpose of actual vomiting, as part of a binge and purge cycle."

    A vomitorium is actually just a stadium exit ;D

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    Replies
    1. It also shows that I don't always read the links I insert. Fixed. Thank you, Rob.

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    2. That is why the exits at four cardinal points around arena stage style theatres are called vomitoriums, or “voms.” Stage directions will be to “Exit North Vom,” et cetera.

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  4. So now corridors leading to EXITs will have VOMIT signs?

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  5. 'Mostly in every brewery' and free-for-all drinking after a tour is complete nonsense. I have been to the majority of breweries within a 60 mile radius here, and I have done about five guided tours to breweries.
    I have not seen a single Speibecken, and exactly one brewery had a beer sampling at the end, and that was part of the Groupon deal, where you got to take home a case of their beer of your choice.
    The people that can't hold their beer (or overconsume) are typically youngsters and tourists. Your average German knows his or her limit.

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  6. I know this item as the steering wheel of the porcelain bus

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  7. As a lap-banded person for whom "pb"s (productive burps) are a semi regular occurrence, this would be a useful installation both at home and at work!

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