The Medical Uses of a Gravy Boat

I have a question. Why do neti pots look so much like invalid feeders? (I can see any leftover expression melt off your face as a blank stare takes over. "Wtf is she talking about?" you say to yourself, either in your head or under your breath, with a tinge of anger. And then you consider why it is that you even read this blog anymore...)  Allow me to break it down and provide visuals.

We all know what a neti pot is, right? That ceramic tea pot that you fill with luke warm salt water and shove up your nostrils. The water goes through one nostril and out the other and catches all the odds and ends floating around inside your nasal cavity and drains it out. It sure looks super cool....

Okay, number two. What is an invalid feeder? Excellent question, I didn't know what one was until about two minutes ago, when I stumbledupon.com'd it. It's for feeding liquids to sickies who can't take their liquids themselves. During Civil War times. Here is the picture I found.

See? Super similar. It's like the chicken and the egg all over again. The literature I read that covered neti pot history made no mention of the feeder and vise-versa. Both kindly and quietly pretend that the other doesn't exist...and I suppose that's fine? But the design is flawed for both purposes. For plugged up or snotty users, the neti pot's stout is so large looking! I'd really think twice before trying to shove that up my nose. Why not make it just a little smaller? It's like they've never seen a nostril before! (Which leads me back to my suspicions that they ripped off the invalid feeders.) As for the 19th and 20th century doctors and nurses who thought that the invalid feeders were a life-saving device....what's wrong with using a cup? I don't quite see the benefits of that stout when you could just but small amounts of liquid in a cup. How about a straw? I know the first paper one's weren't invented quite yet, but you guys did have those natural rye grass straws laying about.

Actually, the best use of this type of container is for gravy. It holds a lot of gravy but keeps you from ruining your mashed potato castle when you are filling in the moat. Thank god, because if you let any more corn drown on your watch, it's to the dungeon with you!

Now watch this! (The whole thing. It's only what? three minutes or so? spoiler alert: he cleans his passages with alcohol!)

[Editor's Note: This post is a result of me running out of interesting things to write about, but blogging anyway to appease the hungry demands of my reader(s). Please give me some solid topics for me to write about! Or be a guest blogger! Or both!]