Buttered toast phenomenon

A slice of toast that has landed butter-side down. Previously thought to be just a pessimistic belief, studies on this phenomenon yielded various results. Robert Matthews won the Ig Nobel Prize for physics in 1996 for his work on this topic.

The buttered toast phenomenon is an observation that buttered toast tends to land butter-side down after it falls. It is used as an idiom representing pessimistic outlooks.[1] Various people have attempted to determine whether there is an actual tendency for bread to fall in this fashion, with varying results.

  1. ^ Martin, Gary. "'Why does bread always fall buttered side down?' - the meaning and origin of this phrase". Phrasefinder. Retrieved 2017-06-13.