Americans have a very differnt idea of what most of the peope I talk to belive it is. We are quite certian here that is no cup.
I gave a couple of choices besides cup. Let's see what R S Loomis, an arthurian scholar, has to say: "The Grail may be described as the dish from which Christ ate the Passover lamb at the last supper; or as the chalice of the first sacrament, in which later the Savior's blood was caught as it flowed from his wounded body; or as a stone with miraculous feeding and youth-preserving virtues; or as a salver containing a man's head, swimming in blood. It may be borne through a castle hall by a beautiful damsel; or it may float through the air in Arthur's palace, veiled in white samite; or it may be placed on a table in the East, together with a freshly caught fish, and serve as a talisman to distinguish the chaste from the unchaste. Its custodian may be called Bron or Anfortas or Pelles or Joseph of Arimethia or simply the 'Fisher King'." [Loomis, The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol, p.2]
So, you see, it could be a lot of things. In the end, it is unknowable, but folks sure do like to talk and write about. And there is a big difference between what people think something is and what it may or may not be. Ask most people who Cinderella is and you get the Disney version of the Charles Perrault story. There are more than a hundred versions of this folktale. BTW, in the original Perrault version the the step sister cuts off her toe to fit into the slipper, and there's still a controversy about the vair/ver/verre slipper being made of glass or fur.
