Victor says it’s probably Italian for “cup”. Victor has no imagination.

This is a thing, y’all:

You can't tell but I'm holding my pinkie out here. Because I'M CLASSY.

It’s a single-serving wine.  But it’s in a pudding cup with a foil top because apparently screw tops are too classy now.  I got it for 99 cents at the gas station.  All of this is true.

Also, it’s not quite as good as Boone’s Fine Apple Wine, but I still like it because it’s very tiny and I can sneak it into movies and meetings with the principal.  It’s also nice because “Copa” is Italian for “cope” and that’s what wine is for.  I’m not sure if that last one is true, but if I was saying “cope” in Italian that’s how I would say it.

**********

In unrelated news, it’s time for the weekly wrap up.

What you missed in my shop (tentatively called “Eight pounds of uncut cocaine” so that your credit card bill will be more interesting.):

This week on shit-I-didn’t-come-up-with-but-wish-I-did-because-it’s-kind-of-awesome:

This week’s wrap-up is sponsored by MORANTHOLOGY (On Sale Nov. 6), a hilarious, insightful collection of Moran’s London Times columns that confirms her status as
“the UK’s answer to Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, and Lena Dunham all rolled
into one” (Marie Claire).  Also, “she is a total bad-ass” (me).

145 thoughts on “Victor says it’s probably Italian for “cup”. Victor has no imagination.

Read comments below or add one.

  1. The guy who invented these was on Shark Tank and wouldn’t take any of the deals they offered him. (At least, I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing!)

    I’ve tried this, because: brilliant. 🙂

  2. I’m going to need help coping today since we’re getting family pictures taken with my crazy in-laws.

    Pretty sure this fine product is not available in the Midwest, though.

  3. I took a picture of there wine display in the grocery store last year. Picture of a very merry Santa and Mrs. Claus. They were pushing it as a stocking stuffer, but I saw empties in the parking lot.

    Big congrats on the book. Third, though? Pft.

  4. But it sucks when you get back in the car and try to rip that foil off and it doesn’t let go easily and you spill the wine alllllll over yourself. But you couldn’t wait ‘cuz you really hadda to copa with a longa drive. Try telling that to the officer later on in the vignette.

  5. Wow – wine in a cup at a gas station. Vintage? And tell me – did you actually taste it? Not that I’m a wine snob or anything.

  6. This could get dangerous if I had a kid and made that kid lunches and kept the wine cup in the fridge with the pudding since I’m blind. Kid opens lunch at school and uh oh…mom confused the wine for the pudding again…

  7. These are brilliant–now only if they came filled with wine that was drinkable :).
    They look so much classier than the little bottles of liquor. I also think the single serving boxed wine is great–unless you confuse it with the juice boxes you send you kid to school with–then not such a great idea.

  8. That actually looks…consumable. Don’t forget doctor and dentist offices, too! Need something to do while you are waiting. 😉

  9. This is something that I could use almost on a daily basis! I wonder if they’re available at the gas stations around here… Probably not because we’re not nearly as cool as Texas.

  10. Went to a parade once where they tossed these off the float like candy. Best parade ever. Yes I am from the South. That’s how we do things here.

  11. Definitely an improvement over the jam jar glasses we used to get with Tweety Bird on them! This has something you really want! 😉

  12. I have to agree with you. I think “Copa” stands for “Cope” when referring to wine. It’s all about context Victor.

  13. That “Copa” wouldn’t work for me. I’d have to drag a little red wagon full of them behind me everywhere just to keep my buzz.

  14. My favorite comment was hidden in the middle, “I can sneak it into ….. meetings with the principal.” Just bring two and everyone will be happy. LOL

  15. I am always surprised at the new drinks that come out. Obviously I hung up my drinking cap. But man the stuff they come up with. Cake flavored vodka? Come on!!

  16. I don’t know if they have those where I live, but if they don’t, it’s probably a good thing because I don’t need to give my friends any more reasons to call me an alcoholic.

  17. The Sundance Cinema in Madison sells wine like that, also the small bottles that end up being two glasses. Don’t have to sneak booze in anymore when I see a movie!

  18. This is actually the best thing for single women everywhere! The hell with that ‘worse case scenario cab money’ in your purse! Any blind date is a fun date when you can bring your friend Copa along!

  19. WOW! I do love the idea of piercing the top with a straw for sneaky drinking in the theatre. Or for horseback riding when you don’t want to spill your wine. Or for drinking wine while laying in a hammock. The possibilities here are really endless, people.

  20. I love the little gas station wine glass. Especially the fact that buying single serving wine at a gas station encourages you to have a drink on the road.

  21. I need cooler gas stations where I live. All ours sell are gas, beer, soda and cigarettes. I’d be sneaking those puppies into movie theaters!

  22. I’m looking at your “SERIOUS AND RELIGiOUS” Christmas cards, Jenny, and I swear I am looking for a dead animal that you snuck in there, or a 2 headed unicorn, or maybe Beyonce. Is this a joke?? Cuz those cards seem too real to be from you? Just sayin…..What am I missing? xo

  23. Oooh. You are classy! 😉

    Actually, in France these days lots of wine (and almost all wine in France is good by default) has screw tops, or comes in one of those boxes with a spigot. I kid you not!

    But Italy beat us to the punch with foil-tops. You could just punch a straw through there and stick it in the cup holder of your supermarket caddy.

  24. Okay, I kinda think I should get bragging rights on the Merry Christmas Motherfucker cards. I sent the Knock Knock Motherfucker cards out last year (to selected friends, because who else would you call motherfuckers?) as Christmas cards. I’m also using them as Birthday and Get Well cards. Because I can. Also, it’s so me.

  25. Looks like a fantastic invention to me. It could make a lot of people change their minds about packing lunch instead of going out, and then think of the money they would save!

  26. You just get one of those coffee stir straws and poke it in the top. It’s a wine juice box! Perfect!

  27. I don’t know. That sounds suspiciously like “Fragile….must be Italian” from A Christmas Story. (and according to the Google, Italian for “cup” is “tazza”. Take that.)

  28. I work in an Italian restaurant and when people want cups, they just say “cup”. I’ve never heard copa or cope before though, so they probably mean the same thing.

  29. I remember when they used to give away glasses at the gas station when you filled your tank. Too bad they didn’t have these then. It would have made me keep coming back until I had a full set.

  30. “I have your heart
    I have your heart
    It’s only three inches wide …”

    This will be in my head all day.
    Sung out of context I’m going to sound like a serial killer …

  31. 70 comments and nobody mentioned “Fra-jee-lay…I think it’s from Italy!” from A Christmas Story. What’s this world coming to?

  32. I feel it’s sad that I know this but… As previously mentioned, the guy who invented this was on Shark Tank – not once but twice. I suspect it’s time for me to find something else more productive to do with my time.

  33. Ha ha! My husband brought me one of these from a hotel lobby bar the other day. Worst.Wine.Ever.!! Brilliant idea…if the wine was better….LOL1!1

  34. I want these!! However, I may refrain for the simple fact that, as I’m not a morning person, there’s the possibility I could mistake this for an *actual* pudding cup and pack it in my kids lunches….Not sure how that parent-teacher meeting would go….Possibly well if I bring a few more of those TO the meeting.

  35. Is that an expiration date stamped on top? And if you peel the top back outside the gas station, are you breaking the open container law?

    I’m channeling the neurosis of many generations.

  36. Just a guess that this “Cup O’ Wine” is to vintage as “Cup O’ Noodles” is to haute cuisine.

  37. Well I’ve always assumed that sneaking alcohol into a meeting meant disguising it in an opaque nalgene bottle, but this is OBVIOUSLY more classy. And with the foil pudding top, maybe we can get Bill Cosby to do a promo.

  38. They have those at the Albertsons here (Odessa).

    By the fish….odd placement IMO.

  39. True story: I worked for the guy that makes these once. Huge asshole. Scam artist, swindler, overall greasy dude. Had a chance to be a part of this thing when it started and I politely declined. So much research went into that pudding top too! That said, I have definitely bought a few at gas stations in my day to sneak into theaters.

  40. I dunno, “cope” isn’t very imaginative either. I think “Copa” is actually Italian for Rhinoceros.

  41. No matter what it’s called…that’s awesome. And so cheap.
    Seriously, don’t think that would be allowed in Australia because there’s too high a risk of a kid drinking it. Thank you for showing it to me then….

  42. I want to go to there…
    I would buy at least three or four in each style they offered and break them out at my next get together, or take them to the next party I go to as my offering towards the nights alcohol consumption. Then I would sit in the corner with a gallon of rum and a giant straw.

    The unicorn curse is hilarious, but why wouldn’t one think to turn their head away from the horn before attempting to kiss it? Are princesses really that stupid?
    Your cards are also amazing. Brilliant idea to have them singing like that.

  43. That is adorable. Reminds me of these tiny prepackaged shots I once bought. They were twisty, with two flavors inside. One was cream and the other was some fruit flavor of your choosing. There is something to be said for women liking cute drinks…

  44. Saw this in a package store in Massachusetts. The proprietor warned us not to attempt to clean the cup in the dishwasher or it will melt. Yep, I hand wash all my classy glasses.

  45. After seeing the unicorn curse, I’m convinced that you MUST read all of the archives and current strip for Oglaf, the naughty, naughty, naughty webcomic. One bottom banner had a fellow who looked like he’d been kissed by that cursed univorn, with the caption, “As last thoughts go, ‘unicorns ARE real!’ is a pretty awesome one.”

  46. I’m Italian and actually “copa” is not an Italian word at all…
    The Italian for “cup” is “coppa” (double p) or “tazza”, but talking about wine we would say “bicchiere” or “calice”… OK done with the language lesson… 😛
    What could I say about this “copa di vino”… I’m not really enthusiastic about it, I mean, we usually open BOTTLES of wine here, not just glasses… ;-P
    Nice find anyway!!

  47. No no, you’re missing one of the best parts of this, which is that “copa di vino” is a nonsense mishmash of Spanish (copa de vino) and Italian (coppa di vino). TOO classy!

  48. A friend of mine bought me a few of these for my birthday this summer. We were boating on a lake that didn’t allow any glass, so these were a hit!

  49. I like the first acronym: COPA

    Choice of Plausible Alternatives

    Central Oregon Pediatric Associates
    Child Online Protection Act (US internet legislation)
    Comerica Park (the new Tiger Stadium)
    Culture of Peace Alliance
    Council on Post Secondary Accreditatio…
    Control of Pollution Act
    Canadian Office Products Association
    Certified Orthotic and Prosthetic Advocates
    Comarum palustre
    Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the EU
    Copolyamide
    Council on Postsecondary Accreditation
    cuffed oropharyngeal airway

  50. Em was right. The guy who started Copa was on Shark Tank. In fact they even had him back; and he still refused the money. Actually he was kinda a douche about it.

  51. We have those pudding cups of wine here in North Carolina too. I guess we’re just as classy as you are in Texas. Hard as that is to imagine.

  52. Dearest Jenny,

    I’m taking a class called Women in American Arts and Culture at Northern Arizona University, and I had to choose a woman to write about for my final paper and presentation. I’m writing about you, because you’re hilarious. Also, because I can read your blog for hours while drinking wine-slushees and call it “research” when my husband asks why I’m drunk before noon and singing about Pony Danza.

    I’d like to ask you a few questions, and I know that you don’t always get to your email so maybe I’m crazy. I’ll post this as a comment, too, to double my chances.

    Anyhoo, I’m hoping you do get this, and that you get a chance to answer me before Saturday-ish. Since I’m an optimist, here are my questions:

    1. I know that you started your blog so you’d have a place to curse and write about ninjas. Have you ever met a ninja?

    2. Your depression and auto-immune diseases have been huge issues for you, and yet you participate in blogging conferences, write your blog, a sex column, and two parenting columns, plus you’ve written a book. (You probably know all this.) You’re amazing! How do you juggle all of this, plus the actual work of parenting, marriage, and managing your live and dead animal menagerie with your all health problems?

    3. Do you have to work at it to be funny sometimes, or do you just ooze hilarity?

    4. What impact do you think blogging has had on popular culture? What imprint do you think blogging will leave on the arts in general, and writing specifically?

    That’s all I have! Thank you so much for doing what you do, being who you are, and sharing it with the rest of us. The world is a funnier place because of it!

    Warmly,

    Lisa Ferguson

    Sent from my iPad because my desk chair isn’t as comfy as my recliner.

  53. kim #3, copa di vino means wine by the glass. It is a phrase in Italian that does not translate word by word.

  54. Another thing, the person on Shark Tank didn’t start that phrase. He may have branded it, or said he started it. Don’t know because I don’t watch the show. But that phrase has been said in Italy since before I was born.

  55. I agree with you 100% re: the cope translation. In fact, alcohol was invented to take the edge off. Especially useful for single parents. Doesn’t everybody know this?

  56. I actually buy those little wine cups when I go camping. I can’t be trusted with glass around a campfire. I guess that means I’m classy too.

  57. This was definitely the one on Shark Tank.
    AND – he came back in a later episode, about a year later, asking for money for a second, larger manufacturing plant. and he turned down the SECOND Shark Tank offer, too.
    I Have started wondering if some people go on Shark Tank for the publicity, not too concerned about whether they make a deal or not.

  58. I saw these at the 7-11 on our last road trip and queried ” who would actually buy wine at a gas station?” and now I know. 🙂

  59. All of you sad people NEED to move to Texas. Only state I’ve been to with a drive through liquor store.

  60. I work at a large chain pharmacy and we have these. We also have tiny bottles of wine that seem to scream shooter.

  61. A cup of white zin, covered with tin foil, purchased from a gas station – this is the sort of thing that would send me screaming into the night. I’m humbled by your courage to consume this questionable potion!

  62. Swing by the gas station on the way to the lake to go fishin’ next Sunday. Pick up a Copa di Vino la Rojo and a pack of Tom’s peanut butter crackers. Pass ’em both around to everybody in the pickup. Communion’s done for just a 2 buck offering and everyone’s conscience is clear!

  63. I saw this product presented on Shark Tank – can’t remember if this or last season. I think Mr Wonderful may have invested. Looks like a fab idea – certainly like yours – take to school to visit principal (genius!)

  64. I would REALLY love to get a couple of those Christmas cards. I have two girlfriends who would just love them and totally get the joke. However, it’s over $3 to ship ONE card and then over $4 to ship TWO cards … really? That is ridiculous. Are you aware of the shipping rates zazzle is charging or cards?

    (It’s sort of ridiculous. That’s why I buy them in bulk and have them all shipped to my house and then mail them out myself. Much cheaper. ~ Jenny)

  65. Ya know… if everyone put there pinky up when they drink wine, no one would think it was snobbish!! lol

    Why can’t I ever think of a cool idea like that?? lol

  66. In the UK you can now get gin and tonic in a can… It just makes the whole thing a little bit less class. They should create a single serving afternoon tea set. That would class the fuck out of my bus journeys.

  67. Your book is near the front section of Google Play today – they’re running a notice for the Goodreads Choice awards. Woot!

  68. Third best book of the year! Those mutha fuckers better drop 1 and 2 with the quickness!

    /was that racist?

  69. I heard the greatest idea EVER one time…..that somebody was sneaking wine into the movie theater by removing the bag from the box and putting it in their purse. Not like the giant Franzia bags, but one of the smaller boxes. WHY THE HELL DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT???

  70. Sorry I did not have time to read all the 139 comments, I am quite sure that you already have had your answer. Anyway I believe that;
    “Coppa di vino” is Italian, not Spanish
    “Copa de vino” is Spanish, not Italian
    “Copa di vino” is not Italian nor Spanish.
    So wtf is that? Probably it’s balooney, or a home made translation made by some deeply ignorant right oriented moron w/o passport who’s never ever been outside his county and who tries to sell his shit but naming it with some exotic brand. I guess it’s utterly tasty, with a sparkle of horse pee flavor and a scent of crude oil. Enjoy it.

  71. i saw that Copa Di Vino dude on that show Shark Tank… twice he was on there. he is a complete tool. I was glad though to see he had some success despite “turning down” the Shark Tank investors but then I heard you found his wine in a gas station and… well… maybe not so much.

  72. well….if it’s not as good as Boone’s Farm, then why the hell would you bother? Sometimes presentation just doesn’t trump taste. I can totally understand your being suckered in by the uniqueness of it all….but – for god’s sake – you’re a blogess…..don’t fall for that!

  73. Copa isn’a italian word! The corresct spelling is coppa. Anyway it means goblet, not cup (that would be tazza if you really want to know).

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