Talk:tasseography

Author Cleo Coyle has written a series of mysteries (On what Grounds, Throught the Grinder, etc) in which she uses the term tasseogrpahy to also mean the character's ability to read the 'coffee grounds' left in a person's cup (in styles of coffee preparation that put grounds into the cup). RJFJR 00:29, 30 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Seems like reasonable extension. In fact the Wikipedia article -- which stands a much better chance of being right than a definition here, due to the astronomical number of watchful eyeballs on WP -- states that tasseography pertains to reading "tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments."  Please add a cite if you have one of those books handy.  -- Visviva 05:06, 30 September 2007 (UTC)


 * citation: 2003 Cleo Coyle, "On what Grounds" ISBN 0-425-19213-X Page 150
 * "I know, I know! It sounds ridiculously medieval.  Yet it is an ancient art, and coffee ground and tea leaf divination-collectively known as tasseography-is a little like interpreting a work of art."

Etymology
Would I be off-base to say this is probably a dog-Latin formation from French tasse (cup)? There is does not seem to be any Greek or Latin root *tasseo-, and AFAIK the French word is of Arabic (possibly Farsi?) origin. -- Visviva 05:06, 30 September 2007 (UTC)