Outstanding, Dale. My nominee for the 2005 Piet Beertema Prize (if any).
(Beertema was the Netherlands Internet pioneer who posted the forged
newsgroup message from the Kremlin,1 April 1984, the so-called kremvax
episode. He later was knighted, though not I think for that.)

"Emery Davis"in :
> ...
> The continuity dept has a brief question:
>
> On 23 Aug 2005 11:03:23 -0700, "DaleW" > said:
> ]
> ] Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew
> ] from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.
>
> Had you a sabre handy? ...
>
> Did no one slice up lips on this jagged cup?

Yes yes yes. Moderns always raise that point about the original story. Poe
was a bit of a hustler and did not hesitate to make up details that sounded
cool. People may have commonly opened bottles the quick way without even a
sword, but Poe would not necessarily have known that. Also, you can pour
wine into yourself from a bottle held on high without risking cuts -- it
would be a flourish worthy of the story, too.