MrPenny wrote:I dig it.
But, using a reductionist approach, that suggests that somehow there was an originator of the thought...."they" told you, leads to "they" were told by "someone"....ad infinitum.
Might you be seeing where I'm headed with this?
Mother's cooking a ham for Christmas and daughter's watching.
Mother cuts of the ends of ham, glazes, puts in a pan and places pan in the over.
Daughter asks, "Why do you cut the ends off, mom?"
Mom: Because, that's what grandma did."
Daughter: "Why?"
Mom: I don't know, let's call grandma.
calls
Mom: Why did you cut the ends off the ham, ma?
Grandma: Because the pan was too small.
Most of what we do we don't know why we do. It's "cultural".
Most probably:
The salute comes from soldiers raising their visor.
Clinking glasses for a toast comes from a part of Italy where they poisoned each other. They'd do it to slosh their wine in each others glasses to show there was no poison.
