When I was in grade school (I can’t remember which grade,) I was taught that in ancient Rome, the elaborate parties included feasts so long that the revelers had to vomit up what they had eaten to make room for more. Anyway, we were told that the barfing was done in a special place called a “vomitorium.”
Years later, I was attending a football game at Ross-Ade Stadium. The voice on the PA system announced that first aid help was available near the vomitories at the north end of the stadium. A vomitory, in that context, is a tunnel-like entrance to the tiers of the stadium. The word is derived from the same spewing root, and it got me thinking. Is it possible that a misinterpretation of vomitorium (from an entrance to a barfing place) created the idea of the Roman’s bulimic feasts? How firmly documented is the concept?
see it, see it, see it, see it…
I’d always heard the Romans did this, but, Don’t see it, don’t see it, don’t see it, don’t see it!
according to this entry from the OED, it’s “alleged.” Meaning, there’s no hard evidence. http://www.vomitorium.co.uk/oed.htm see it, see it, see it, see it…
That said, the practice does exist. Get a January 1983 Nat’l Geographic to see an Amazonian Indian (Wayana?) doing this. He doesn’t shift from where he’s eating, but that’s what he’s doing.
