Jay Bazzinotti)
When Napoleon took power he was disgusted by the sight of his soldiers wiping their noses on their sleeves. To prevent this he had the uniforms made with hard metal buttons sewn on the sleeves. Today men’s suits still have buttons sown on the sleeve. Sometimes that have actual button holes but they are never meant to be unbuttoned. Some people say the buttons were functional at one time so that suit jacket sleeves could be rolled up to do work as well. But we don’t do that either anymore.
Another common thing that has passed from history is the “proof content” on liquor bottles. Most people know that 100 proof booze is 50 percent alcohol. This goes back to the time in old England when it was decided to tax liquor. To prove the liquor content the booze was mixed with gunpowder and burned. If it burned with a steady blue flame it was at least 50 percent alcohol, therefore 50 percent alcohol was 100 percent proved.
