No secret, actually, it makes sense as soon as you see it. The Burp Catcher is a burping cloth with a folded pocket on the bottom, which catches burps.
Now you can get all Beavis & Butthead about it and say, "Burp Catcher? Why isn't it called a Puke Catcher, dude?" But you have to remember that this is a prime gift item, and unless it's Greek Week, something called a Puke Catcher would probably make a less than scintillating gift.
And besides, before someone actually has a baby, they may really be in the dark--whether it's through happy ignorance or desperate denial doesn't matter--about just how much of their mental bandwidth will be consumed by things like poo, pee, and puke.
So while a Burp Catcher helps soften them up for the inevitability ["Oh, thank you! Whatever is this little trough for, I wonder?"], it will also actually protect things you wouldn't want to see puked on several times a day--things like clothes, carpets, furniture, hand-blocked wallpaper, and cats.
Check the Burp Catcher site for retailers and a highly polished--but, alas, burp-free--product video [burpcatcher.com]
Or pick up some BurpCatcher 2-packs online for $9.99 [target.com]
It seems like an awfully small target to hit, but that might be my kid. It's barely bigger than the normal, useless spit-up cloths.
To say nothing of it looks more like a storage device. Maybe it's just me, but cleaning spitup out of a bag seems even grosser than normal wiping it up.
[but if you know your kid's gonna splooge down your back--or worse, if you DON'T know--I'd still want to opt for containment. -ed.]
Awesome, I want two... I would have needed the gallon size for my first. He would get so worked up after giving him his breast milk bottle while mommy was on her night shift. The second would have required two dozen, just to get through the day.