Merry Widow question
- Thread starter MJB
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I first heard the term Merry Widow in the early '70s and at that time it meant a cue with a solid 1 piece butt... no added butt cap or handle.
But in more recent times, the term seems to refer to non pointed plain cues with no inlays.
But in more recent times, the term seems to refer to non pointed plain cues with no inlays.
Always meant no points.
I read somewhere that the term "merry widow" referred to women of the night who would wear panties & stalkings but nothing on top, hence the red light district in Amsterdam where the men "window shop". So from this I gather that a merry widow is plain on top & decorated on the bottom, like an inlayed butt sleeve with plain forearm. Of course nowadays it takes on any cue that has no inlays or points, or basically whatever cue the cuemaker decides to call a merry widow. Kinda like a sneaky, which nowadays is nothing remotely sneaky but the name remains.
I read somewhere that the term "merry widow" referred to women of the night who would wear panties & stalkings but nothing on top, hence the red light district in Amsterdam where the men "window shop". So from this I gather that a merry widow is plain on top & decorated on the bottom, like an inlayed butt sleeve with plain forearm. Of course nowadays it takes on any cue that has no inlays or points, or basically whatever cue the cuemaker decides to call a merry widow. Kinda like a sneaky, which nowadays is nothing remotely sneaky but the name remains.
qbilder said:
We want pictures!
qbilder said:
What you read was obviously the product of someone's overly fertile
imagination.
What you should have read was that 'Merry Widow' was the name
given to a ladies foundation garment<undergarmant>popular 100-ish
years ago - a one piece similar to the bathing suits of the 40s and 50s.
As applied to cue sticks - all it ever meant was a cue with no points.
MW to describe cues was in popular use at least as early as the 1950s -
and my semi-educated guess would be for decades before that.
I would like to know how it was that the term for female intimate attire
got itself applied to non-spliced cue butts.
Dale
Last edited:
pdcue said:What you read was obviously the product of someone's overly fertile
imagination.
What you should have read was that 'Merry Widow' was the name
given to a ladies foundation garment<undergarmant>popular 100-ish
years ago - a one piece similar to the bathing suits of the 40s and 50s.
As applied to cue sticks - all it ever meant was a cue with no points.
MW to describe cues was in popular use at least as early as the 1950s -
and my semi-educated guess would be for decades before that.
I would like to know how it was that the term for female intimate attire
got itself applied to non-spliced cue butts.
Dale
Your "ladies undergarment" sounds like a polite way of saying the same thing. As for how it became a common name for cues, who knows? We'd have to ask Rambow. I think he & Brunswick were the first to use the term, at least I don't know of any previous cues having the name.
qbilder said:
I read once where Rambo used to frequent the Amsterdam area.
<~~~not sure if it was the red light district or not............
The term "Merry Widow" appears in Brunswick catalogs from early 1900's predating Rambow. There might be photos of the old Brunswick catalogs on line thanks to Chris, the Palmer dude. I love looking through old cue catalogs!
Martin
Martin
qbilder said:
qbilder said:
Not quite the same thing - a woman wearing a Merry Widow
was not anything close to 'topless'. Also the term was appliet to cues
long before the era of decorating the bottom.
Like I said, sounds like an uninformed stretch.
Dale<not merry, not...>