The use of coffee cups... One can argue that this is such an obvious thing that there is nothing to talk or write about. We had better not waste any time on it. But definitely, there is no point in writing a 1,500-2,000 word expository essay on it.
Actually, people usually do not think about the obvious things in other parts of life neither. For what do we use a coffee cup? That may sound as a trivial question for most of us. For drinking coffee from it. That is a convention. We drink coffee from coffee cups. Few people question conventions. People tend to follow them.
Considering coffee cups people usually do not even meditate on the possibility of using a coffee cup for other purposes than for drinking from it. But the chance is always there. In the following a few options or initiatives will be outlined to show, and presumably convince, sceptics
that with pure creativity a coffee cup can be utilized in a lot of different ways.
Coffee cups can be used for various distinct things that for the first time do not seem evident for all of us. Of course, its primary use is clear for everybody: to drink coffee from it. But what about drinking tea from it? Or is it then called a tea cup? Does it make a difference? As for myself I do not make a distinction between a coffee cup and a tea cup. Serious coffee drinkers perhaps would oppose to this statement but myself not belonging to them I dare say that there is no difference.
Besides having a coffee cup as an 'instrument', an 'aid' for drinking it can be used in many other ways. For example, it can operate as a flower pot. After filling it with soil and a nice plant put in it could be a nice article in the flat. This kind of application is especially useful when its handle is broken down. Moreover, environmentalists would appreciate it as well, as it would count as recycling. Or to be more precise, re-using instead of just disposing it. And you can even re-use the pieces of the cup if it is totally broken. Nice mosaics could be produced with the help of the small pieces. They are excellent presents. The receivers would value them.
Another use of a coffee cup would be transforming it into a pencil box or container. Of course not actually transforming it, for I do not have a pencil box you carry with you to school- that would be ridiculous and not at all executable- on my mind, but one that stands on your desk and you keep pens and pencils in it for your work at home. It can make not only your desk, but your whole room more personal and more friendly. Pencils show great in a nicely designed coffee cup, no matter if is without a handle or not. This can lessen your despair if you have to do a work you do not really feel like doing.
You can also keep small objects, articles, like paper clips or erasers in it, which can be very useful with bearing in mind not to lose tiny little things. If you have quite a lot of things, which I think in most instances are the case, it is advisable to get something in which you can keep them together and in order. A coffee cup would be just the perfect solution for the problem.
Drying cutlery could be kept in a coffee cup, too. It is nice and personal and what is more, you do not have to buy a 'professional' container designed for keeping cutlery in it. Just get a coffee cup you are already bored with drinking from it and use it. It is even easier to find a cup that harmonizes with the colours and the furniture of the kitchen than managing to buy a 'real' container. Usually the colour you are looking for in the shops are out of stock.
Supposing you have a ramshackle house. In rainy days you could even use a coffee cup for collecting the dropping water. Usually you need several articles to keep the water from dropping to the floor and coffee cups are always at hand. One can say that is not a big help if it is pouring outside but it is more than nothing.
Additionally, a coffee cup would be excellent for keeping small sweets and candy in it. Who would offer his or her guests candy from an expensive crystal bowl, with the fear of dropping it down, if he or she can equally do it with a nice, funny and probably homelier coffee cup. Every modern, broad minded young person would go for the coffee cup version.
Smokers can use a coffee cup as an ash tray or instead of an ash tray. I even saw some of them doing that. It can serve the purpose just as well, and they are usually at hand. Of course, it is also a question of taste. It is not a nice thing, bearing in mind that one would like to drink from it later. But it is still better than to have the ash fall on the carpet and put it on fire.
After considering the different kinds of functions of a coffee cup could fulfill in the kitchen, in the sitting room and in the study, we can, or rather we have to think about the bathroom, too. Here, the toothbrushes could be kept in a coffee cup, for example. There are special cups or glasses designed for keeping the toothbrushes in them, but a simple coffee cup would might as well do.
Among other things, a coffee cup can serve as a member of a coffee cup collection. There must be people who collect coffee cups if there are so many people collecting stamps, napkins or even soaps. Collecting coffee cups does not really differ from collecting other things. It is also an obsession.
A coffee cup can be a part of a wall decoration next to pictures and plates. There are people who like this kind of ornaments.
You can even use a coffee cup as a substitution for a vase. This happens quite often in a student hostel or dormitory room where people normally do not possess vases. Here comes the help of the good old coffee cup. And after the flower is withered you can use the cup in its normal way.
Furthermore, a coffee cup could be a good present on every occasion. Now there are different ones designed for birthdays, name days or just ones saying 'get well', 'congratulations', 'good luck' and so on. You can always choose the one that suits the occasion and the receiver's personality the best. (And of course the one that matches the affordability of your wallet, as there are also quite expensive ones sold.)
Another substitution could be using a coffee cup for collecting money. Beggars usually have their caps to put the money into but I see no obstacle of using a coffee cup for this purpose. Perhaps the one that they may not have one. But not only beggars can collect money. For example, in the teachers' room at a school the money the teachers pay for their coffees could be put into it.
Summing up, I think using a coffee cup for other purposes than for drinking and these numerous possibilities depend entirely on the person's originality. Several others could be found out besides the above mentioned, but using all my imagination I cannot think of other possibilities. Nevertheless, I hope these were enough to convince sceptics, that in a single coffee cup there lie a lot of possibilities.
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