My Semester Abroad

Tom and I went on a walking tour of Shakespeare and Dickens' London in the rain. We learned the origins of all sorts of English sayings, including "the rule of thumb" meant you couldn't beat your wife with a stick thicker than your thumb. "A frog in your throat" is quite literal. If you had a sore throat (and poor you if you did!) a doctor would shove a frog down your throat. The frog, once in your mouth, would freak out and secrete some chemical that had antibacterial qualities that helped sore throats or something, though I'm not really clear on that, because sore throats are usually from viral infections, which antibiotics can't help. Hmm.