What does Merry Widow mean in a cue ?
- Thread starter PoolFan101
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Nice! Is that one in the center from one of John's creations from Coos Cues?
Yes.
I had John make this cue.
It is cocobolo with a sindora burl handle and it is cored with purple heart. He made three shafts for it and an extension.
The top and bottom cues are Jackpots.
The top one is ebony with a camphor burl handle that was cored with purple heart by Larry Vigus.
The bottom one is ebony with a maple handle.
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Buyers were very happy, because she offered them at prices that her husband originally told her.
A “merry widow” traditionally refers to a strapless corset named after a famous operetta “The Merry Widow, 1905.” The corset style was simple and elegant compared to more decorated fashion. Cue making companies borrowed the term to describe cues that were stripped down no points, no inlays, just straightforward and beautiful. Players caught on and began calling any plain cue with a full length forearm of a single wood a merry widow. The name stuck because it conveyed simplicity, elegance, and a bit of style without ornamentation like the corset it was named after.
The phrase “Sneaky Pete” goes back to old American slang. A “Sneaky Pete” was a cheap, bottom shelf bottle of wine or liquor, sold under the counter… looked harmless but packed a punch. Hustlers borrowed the term because the cue looked harmless like a house cue but hit like a top end custom. By the 60s–70s, the name stuck in pool rooms, a cue that “sneaks up” on people.
The phrase “Sneaky Pete” goes back to old American slang. A “Sneaky Pete” was a cheap, bottom shelf bottle of wine or liquor, sold under the counter… looked harmless but packed a punch. Hustlers borrowed the term because the cue looked harmless like a house cue but hit like a top end custom. By the 60s–70s, the name stuck in pool rooms, a cue that “sneaks up” on people.
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