Toast typically lands on the floor butter-side-down due to the manner in which it is typically dropped from a table. As the toast falls from the table, it rotates. Given the typical speed of rotation for a slice of toast as it falls from the table and the typical height of a table, a slice of toast that began butter-side-up on the table will land butter-side-down on the floor in 81% of cases.I recall a Peanuts comic strip from back in the day in which Lucy and Linus are looking out the window at the rain.
Source: [The not all-that-reliable] Daily Mail Online
"Why," Lucy asks, "does it always rain when I want to do something?"
Linus patiently explains that it doesn't, but she remembers those times because they are disappointing and forgets the other times when she gets to do what she wants without interference.
Lucy glares at him and says more emphatically, "Why does it ALWAYS rain when I want to do something?"
Linus backs down: "You're just very unlucky."
On a side note, the buttered cat paradox is a common joke based on the tongue-in-cheek combination of two adages:
- Cats always land on their feet.
- Buttered toast always lands buttered side down.
Some have suggested that the result would be anti-gravity because neither the cat nor the toast would be able to touch down.
On yet another side note, the Daily Mail Online story sounds real in part because it includes a statistic: 81%. On the other hand, there is also an adage that says 42% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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