January 4, 2008
Hull: Barf Bag Capital of the World?
Emily Sweeney at the Globe did a great piece on a local guy with an unusual hobby--barf bags. Most barf bags are plain, white, and discreet, but one guy relishes collecting the snazzier unused barf bags and posting them online.
Steven J. Silberberg, from Hull, runs the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum. (Love the euphemism "air sickness.") He began his hobby in 1981 and now has 2,037 bags, all lovingly detailed and cataloged on the site. He also throws in some funny commentary, such as "Apparently, some Germans felt that the bag's instructions weren't courteous enough. In response, Delta added the word "Bitte" (please) so that passengers felt respected when throwing up."
The article reveals that political campaigns enjoy making barf bags against their opponents. Maybe Mitt Romney is already working on bags entitled "UpChuck Norris" and "Huck 'n' UpChuck."
Anyway, after reading Sweeney's piece, Bostonist had to check out the museum, and it is just as good as described. Check it out, and let him know if you have a good bag--uh, preferably unused. And, folks, he's single.
Image of the Delta Airlines bag that tells German-speaking flyers to get the flight attendant to toss the bag, bitte.



Hey, thanks for the kind words and mention.
Steve "upheave" Silberberg