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Topic: Theatre architecture Word-Of-The-Day

William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-01-2003 02:56 AM

vomitorium: an opening, as in a stadium or theater, permitting large numbers of people to enter or leave.

Locate the vomitorium (or vomitoria) in your theatre, & use the word in conversation.

"Which way to Cat in the Hat? That way, through the vomitorium, you can't miss it."

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 12-01-2003 08:08 AM

Seabiscuit? Use the vomitoria directly ahead. Large aisles or ramps, we have 6 vomitoria. We'll try this word on the public this evening. Bet it will get some weird looks.

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 12-01-2003 03:58 PM

I thought the vomitoria was where sick patrons go to barf.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 12-01-2003 05:28 PM

The auditorium turns into a vomitorium when the audience is subjected to Mariah Carey in "Glitter."

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 12-01-2003 06:00 PM

Oh, OH! Now ya did it, Bobby! Even though you are 100% right, Adam will be PISSED! [beer]

Actually we always referred to those "capsule" and all poorly motion-programmed simulator rides as a vomitorium, barf rocket, or projectile ejector.

>>> Phil

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Mark Hajducki
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 500
From: Edinburgh, UK
Registered: May 2003

posted 12-01-2003 07:43 PM

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the second meaning of vomitorium [pl vomitoria] is indeed a room in which one vomits

quote:

1. A passage or opening in an ancient amphitheatre or theatre, leading to or from the seats. Usu. pl.

1754 Dict. Arts & Sci. I. 129/2 They were entered by avenues, at the end of which were gates, called vomitoriæ. 1766 SMOLLETT Trav. II. 228 The remains of two galleries one over another; and two vomitoria or great gateways at opposite sides of the arena. 1837 Antiq. Athens 48 Those numerous corridors and vomitoria which gave such free..access to all parts of a Roman theatre.

2. erron. A room in which ancient Romans are alleged to have vomited deliberately during feasts.

1923 A. HUXLEY Antic Hay xviii. 252 There strode in, like a Goth into the elegant marble vomitorium of Petronius Arbiter, a haggard and dishevelled person. 1965 R. EBERHART Sel. Poems 40 Good Boy Man! Your innards are put out, From now all space will be your vomitorium.

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Jon Miller
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 973
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-01-2003 09:14 PM

It's vomitory in Merriam-Webster's...

quote:
Main Entry: vom·i·to·ry
Pronunciation: 'vä-m&-"tOr-E, -"tor-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ries
Etymology: Late Latin vomitorium, from Latin vomere; from its disgorging the spectators
Date: 1730
: an entrance piercing the banks of seats of a theater, amphitheater, or stadium

(Vomere: Latin for [puke]

)

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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-02-2003 12:19 AM

Vomitory & vomitorium are both used, & folks get up in arms over it like theater/theatre. Just My Guess is that vomitory became a US convention through abbreviation. Also, there seems to be a tendency to refer to the opening as a vomitory, & the adjacent funnel-shaped herding space as vomitorium.

On blueprints, you'll sometimes see the space labelled with the abbreviation "VOMIT."

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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-15-2004 01:10 AM

Theatre architecture word-of-the-day:

fornicated: having an open ceiling constructed of vaulting.

Use the word in a sentence:
"The hallway ceiling at the Glenview 10 is fornicated."

http://www.film-tech.com/pics/glen/glen.html

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