Hi! Alexander,

On 16/04/14 17:51, you wrote:

 PQ>> I have seen this 'ritual', in at least one film. The use of a

 ak> Do Russians like flowers on china saucers? ;-)

I cannot be certain.  I do (like flowers on them).

 ak> In Russia we also produce china caps. Such a cap always has a handle. So
 ak> it is more difficult to produce it. In hard time, especially after WW2
 ak> when all utensils were broken  glasses and saucers (and tea spoons)
 ak> became the main mean for tea drinking.

Caps?  China cups.  Yes.  I used to have my own (favourite) tea cup and saucer
in my teenaged years.

 ak> It must be said that there also was another tea set. It consisted of a
 ak> glass (with a teaspoon) and a special metal glass holder (podstakannik
 ak> in Russian). It has been widely used in trains, canteens etc. A waiter
 ak> takes a tea tray, puts glasses on it, in glass holders, and carries it
 ak> along the train, canteen etc. As you can see if they would use glasses
 ak> with saucers they could carry much less glasses per one tray.

I have seen this metal glass holder at least once in a film.  I've spotted its
use at the 33 minute mark in the 'The Hunt for Red October' movie from 1990. I
have seen such things used in other films as well.  E.g. I suspect a senior
Police official may have been using one in the 'Gorky Park' film from 1983 but
I don't have a copy to check.

Yes, I can imagine that a cup holder would essentially turn a glass into a
shape similar to a coffee cup.  Such things would be more useful, and less
awkward, than cups & saucers.

Thanks again, Alexander.

Cheers,
Paul.

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