When I was in college, I had this party trick that I would trot out ever so often. I would ask people to show me their favorite pen, and then I would intuit facts about their personality based on their pen choice. It worked best when people were slightly intoxicated, as a few well placed guesses could really wow them when they were slightly incapacitated.
Yesterday, Julia Langbein wrote a post on Gourmet's Choptalk that made me think about this old trick of mine. She claims that the best way to learn about a person or family is to take a peek at their coffee mug cabinet. Apparently, you can tell a lot about the people who live in a particular space by the type of mugs they have. Thinking about my own cabinet, I realize that my mismatched hand thrown mugs (mostly thrift store purchases), the freebie blue NPR mug and the one with my sister's face printed on it do say certain things about me.
What do your coffee mugs say about you?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-11-2008 @ 11:32AM
peggy said...
Mostly i drink tea from a nagene as a hand warmer/giant teacup. plus it travels well on the bus and max. but i love my hand painted mugs from mexico, and all my starbucks cups that go on sale. i go for the biggest ones i can find. so, what does that say about me?
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1-11-2008 @ 11:38AM
Lindsey said...
That I worked at Shoney's a long, long time ago (because the gold rim has worn off), that I love wild birds and that I need to be able to get all four of my fingers through the handle.
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1-11-2008 @ 12:10PM
Tamer Brad said...
Novelty mugs are a scourge of the Earth.
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1-11-2008 @ 12:56PM
brigidkeely said...
We have two sets of matched mugs (one cobalt blue, one black) and a very small amount of loose mugs. So I guess someone would see we don't use mugs very often. Now, if they looked at our collection of glasses they'd find evidence of personality.
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1-11-2008 @ 3:02PM
Gian said...
Hmm...never really thought about this but I'm a Tour Guide and my coffee mugs are Starbucks City Mugs from all over the world. Each one brings back a memory of a place or a person....nice way to start the day.
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1-11-2008 @ 3:11PM
kfober said...
Thank you so much for sharing your mug cabinet! I LOVE to peek into people's lives like this. I am not much of a coffee or tea drinker, but I do love to have mugs around for the occasional cups of those plus hot chocolate which I do love (Wal-mart store brand is actually pretty good...I know, I know, evil Wal-mart...). There's something about a mug that makes me feel all cozy. So here's what I got: 2 cute Halloween mugs that were on sale at Starbucks; 1 huge logo mug from a trip to the original Starbucks in Seattle; 1 red plastic mug with a little rubberized dessert scene all the way around it and the word "Tucson" on one side and "Kimberly" on the other (that's me) from our trip to Arizona last year; mug in the shape of a terra cotta pot from the garden shop at Biltmore Estates (I thought it was too expensive and wouldn't buy it for myself when we went there last year...but my mom did when she and my dad went a couple months later); a big white mug with a silly cartoon of spazzy multi-colored cats that says "Party Cat" just inside the rim (I still remember my mom letting me pick out one item at the Current card and gift store. I must have been around 10 or so and that's what I picked); a big pink one with my initial in brown (a gift given to all the cast members in a community play I was in last year); and one small white plastic one that looks a bit retro (my husband loves it). These are about all we have space for. Analysis, Ms. McClellan?
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1-11-2008 @ 4:12PM
Natalie Z said...
mine would say that i'm nostalgic, since i get mugs from places/events that are meaningful to me and that i want to remember.
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1-11-2008 @ 4:40PM
sarah gilbert said...
Here's a glimpse into my mug cabinet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cafemama/535734225/
I guess I'd agree :)
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1-12-2008 @ 2:59PM
tavo said...
"Novelty mugs are a scourge of the Earth."
That'd make a great mug.
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1-12-2008 @ 6:38PM
Karen said...
That is really a good observation. By looking at mine, I have determined that I have a wide range of interest. I have Starbucks, of course; then a few vintage cups and a few LSU sports cups. My children have cartoon characters on theirs and I have a few for christmas.
Thanks for making me look.
www.thecajunchef.blogspot.com
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1-14-2008 @ 3:56PM
Fash said...
Hahahaha - Hilarious, tavo! That totally cracked me up.
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1-15-2008 @ 9:46AM
agent54 said...
my mug drawer here at work has 2 inhabitants, a big ugly purple and yellow thing and one shaped like jack skellington's head. i smile every time i drink out of the skull. draw your own conclusions.
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1-15-2008 @ 8:00PM
Amy king said...
You stole this picture from me. This is my coffee cup cabinet. You are just a wanna-be. I have worked hard to get this collection and you just steal the picture and pretend you have interesting mugs. Shame on you.
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1-15-2008 @ 8:08PM
Marisa McClellan said...
Amy, I apologize. It wasn't my intention to steal your picture or pass it off as my own. If you click on the image it takes you to your flickr page so that anyone could see exact who's image it was. I had also put a credit on the picture originally, but that system has been a little buggy, so for some reason the credit hasn't been appearing. I've reinserted the credit, so it should be appearing now.
Currently your flickr account allows fair use of your images under a creative commons license. If you don't want anyone to use your pictures, you should change your license so that all your rights are reserved.
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1-15-2008 @ 8:20PM
Merbearlandon said...
Thankyou for the credit. 1/15/08 8:12 pm EST
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1-16-2008 @ 11:10PM
Julz said...
They should re-name it from 'coffee mug' to 'hot coco mug'. Got a new one as a gift over the holidays from my grandkids and yes it has a pic of them on it....just love it and it also keeps my hot coco hot.
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1-18-2008 @ 1:45AM
Jacqueline Harrington said...
Marisa - I have enjoyed your blog and your cousin's restaurant - but...you both have an attitude problem. You can't steal someone's work and then kinda sorta say sorry you didn't protect your stuff with distain!
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