Whether during the drinks before a meal or at the end of a meal, it’s pretty common for guests at a dinner party to toast while wishing each other good health.
This practice dates back to the Middle Ages. During this epoch, it wasn’t too rare to die from being poisoned or from inadvertently ingesting some poison during a meal. To cut down on the risk, it was custom to touch your drinking glass against those of your fellow guests before drinking in order to pass a bit of the liquid from person to person. If the charming party-goer to whom you proposed to clink your respective glasses refused your offer, you could then be justified in having serious doubts about the contents of your drink. On the other hand, if they accept your humble invitation, then they will in turn gentlly hit their glass against yours. In this way, the respective guests could ascertain the loyalty of their fellow guests (or perhaps just the lack of homicidal tendencies) as well as generally feel more merry and at ease during the celebration knowing that their mortality won’t be tested during the course of the evening.
The expression ‘To health!’ associated with this gesture also comes from the same practice; if there is no poison in the glass, one consequently ‘wishes’ oneself good health by virtue of not incurring bad health. Today, however, toasting is usually more of a symbol of friendship rather than a skeptical search for sly murderers and deadly chemicals.
on to see pink versions of devices marketed specifically towards women, with all of the other models presumably reserved for the men. In particular, I’m thinking of the pink Smartphones and GPSs. If you’re anything like me, then you can get a bit tired of seeing the pink candy catalogs that are only for girls.. But thankfully, men also have the right to pink. The prevalent female attraction to pink has not only been proved, but it also seemingly has an explanation. Two researchers at the University of Newcastle gave a simple test to 208 English and Chinese volunteers. The test subjects were presented with two cards of differing colors and asked to choose between them. The results of this test revelead a global female preference for the color pink (more precisely, for variants of the warm colors red and pink).
It’s always amusing to note how certain things are bursting with information even if you’re completely incognizant of it. That’s the case with equestrian statues. Yes, these statues do much more than display guano stains of various thickness depending on their location; they actually inform you of the cause of death of the mounted figure depicted on the horse.
Where do the holes in cheese come from?