"About as much use as a chocolate teapot ..."

by Alexa Smith Banned

Posted: 10 years ago 22 replies

OFF TOPIC

Over here, this is a very common idiom for something being completely useless.

But maybe no more: experts were challenged to prove the sarcastic phrase "as useful as a chocolate teapot" wrong. The result was a hand-crafted, working receptacle made of dark chocolate containing 65% cocoa solids. When put to the test the teapot survived, albeit pouring tea with a "hint of chocolate".

The full story (would hate to hide away such an eminently newsworthy article as this): BBC News - Chocolate teapot proves useful

("It is not known if tests are now to be conducted on the efficiency of the similarly-fabled chocolate fireguard"

).

.

Frank Donovan

10 years ago

Great. Now all we need is for a one-legged man to win an arse-kicking contest, and we'll be all out of phrases.

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lanfear63

10 years ago

"About as useful as a turd in a swimming pool"

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alistair

10 years ago

They had a piece on this on The One Show on Monday night. When they went to pour the tea from the chocolate teapot (in the studio) they had to pour it from out of the top as the spout had some kind of malfunction which was it had probably melted and clogged or something.

Originally Posted by lanfear63

"About as useful as a turd in a swimming pool"

I 'd like to see them disporve the phrase "you can't polish a turd".

Edit: Funny, I just searched and it seems like some programme called Mythbusters has tried this already. I'll watch that later.

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Richard Van

10 years ago

Originally Posted by alistair

I 'd like to see them disporve the phrase "you can't polish a turd".

Edit: Funny, I just searched and it seems like some programme called Mythbusters has tried this already. I'll watch that later.

I was just going to say that! I watched it a while back. It polishes up beautifully too.

If I recollect it has to be a specific animals turd though.

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seasoned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Richard Van

I was just going to say that! I watched it a while back. It polishes up beautifully too.

If I recollect it has to be a specific animals turd though.

One way or another, you can probably polish ANY! They PROBABLY meant that evenif you DO polish it, it is STILL a ...

Steve
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- Richard Van 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by seasoned
  
  One way or another, you can probably polish ANY!
  
  Well in that case Steve, you're now hereby officially challenged live on the Warrior forum to polish a dog poo.
  
  Feel free to start a new thread on completion of your task.
  
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seasoned

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

The full story (would hate to hide away such an eminently newsworthy article as this): BBC News - Chocolate teapot proves useful

("It is not known if tests are now to be conducted on the efficiency of the similarly-fabled chocolate fireguard"

).

.

HOW does this disprove the myth? They said they PUT HOT water in it! They said the INSIDE melted chocolate PROTECTED the OUTSIDE! So they did NOT heat the water in the pot! I cry FOUL!

Steve

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Alexa Smith

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by seasoned

they did NOT heat the water in the pot!

Eew, well ... you're not supposed to heat the water in a teapot? You boil it in the kettle and then pour it into the teapot?

Originally Posted by seasoned

I cry FOUL!

Ooh, you may have a point ... but at least it was dark chocolate, that's the thing? That's good for you, anyway?

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seasoned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Eew, well ... you're not supposed to heat the water in a teapot? You boil it in the kettle and then pour it into the teapot?.

OK, then it depends what the original person meant, etc... In the US, at least most of the time, people heat up the pot, and often get it to the temperature there as well. IMAGINE if you had to reheat it, or even warm it.

ANOTHER THING! SUPPOSE you needed to pour for a NUMBER of people. Eventually, and you may not know when, a defect or weakspot may occur, and it will leak, or the whole spout will just FALL OFF! You would be most likely to notice that at the WORST time! I hope you pour it over the table. Otherwise, it could be embarassing and possibly painful.

Steve
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sbucciarel

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Eew, well ... you're not supposed to heat the water in a teapot? You boil it in the kettle and then pour it into the teapot?

Really? I've had teapots (whistling teapots) that I put on the stove, boil the water in them and make tea, although I hate tea, so only made it for company that likes it. But yeah ... putting huge amounts of chocolate in tea might make me like it.

EDIT: Ok ... I do have a china teapot that you wouldn't put on the stove ... I assume that's what you mean.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Really? I've had teapots (whistling teapots) that I put on the stove, boil the water in them and make tea

You made the tea in the same pot in which you boiled the water?! Over here we call those "whistling kettles" but we don't make the tea in them.

You obviously need a nice chocolate teapot, to go with them ...

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tagiscom 10 years ago

Yes, reminds me of the man powered helicopter in the warehouse!

Fascinating to watch it work, as well as prove, to many, including myself that it was possible!
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sbucciarel

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

A lot of us Americans don't take this tea thing too seriously and I just throw a teabag in a cup and put the boiling water from the whistling tea pot in the cup and let it steep and then remove the teabag. Is there something I'm missing? lol.

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lanfear63

10 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Being British I missed the good tea we have, stronger and with more flavor.

So I was very happy to find cheap Tetley British Blend imported tea in a Texas supermarket called HEB. The real thing.

We have a Krueg so I put 2 teabags in the hole, shut the lid and press the button. Instant brew, makes the fastest good mug of tea ever. Once you add a little milk and sugar of course.

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Richard Van

10 years ago

Originally Posted by lanfear63

I bet you miss a nice cup of Twinning English Breakfast tea.

You do don't you, I can tell. Hmmmm. I have one here now.

Mwahahaaaaa!

Having said that, if they dumped all the Earl Grey down the sewers I think it'd make the sewers smell worse. Can't stand the stuff.

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Cali16

10 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Nope, I do the same thing (or maybe we're both missing something?!). Except I call the whistling thingamajig a "tea kettle". When I get old and have my little old lady friends over for tea, then perhaps I'll invest in a proper teapot to serve it in!

I'm not a big tea drinker either, but adding chocolate could certainly change that! Starbucks briefly had the most decadent non-coffee chocolate drink a few years ago. It was a hot drink but nothing like traditional hot chocolate. It was super rich and a bit thick. I think it was called "chocolate decadence" or something like that. Soooooooooooo good, especially for a non-coffee drinker / chocoholic like me! (Actually, it was probably a really good thing they discontinued it!)

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Alexa Smith

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Cali16

Starbucks briefly had the most decadent non-coffee chocolate drink a few years ago. It was a hot drink but nothing like traditional hot chocolate. It was super rich and a bit thick. I think it was called "chocolate decadence" or something like that. Soooooooooooo good

Oooh, that sounds excellent; much better than tea. Must find out if they do that over here ...

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Cali16 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Oooh, that sounds excellent; much better than tea. Must find out if they do that over here ...

Alexa, I just did a Google search, and I got the name wrong. It was called "Chantico drinking chocolate".

Starbucks Gossip: Starbucks describes Chantico as "decadent ... dramatically different from hot chocolate"
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sbucciarel

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Cali16

Oooo ... wish I had known when it was available. I'm an avid coffee drinker, but love a good chocolate drink as well.

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DJL 10 years ago

Over here, we say, "As useless as tits on a bull," which I don't think has yet been disproven.
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- whateverpedia 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by DJL
  
  Over here, we say, "As useless as tits on a bull," which I don't think has yet been disproven.
  
  That's a common saying world-wide.
  
  Another one is "As much use as an ashtray on a motorbike".
  
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alistair 10 years ago

It seems to me as though there's some confusion between teapots and kettles. I don't know what they call them abroad but here in the UK we boil water in a kettle, usually an electric one.

Or it could be a metal kettle that whistles, that is boiled on the gas stove or electric hob, such as this one below.

What heappens next is that we would put teabags in an empty teapot and then fill the teapot with the boiling water from the kettle. The teabags in the teapot are then left to "brew" for a few minutes and then the tea is poured into a tea cup.

Myself, I just put a teabag in a cup, boil the water in the kettle and pour straight into the cup.

Edit: Sorry about the formatting but can't be bothered playing about with it.
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"About as much use as a chocolate teapot ..."

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