Smacking things

Some things I learned last week.

"Among heroin users, the major artery for injection is known as "your bitch", hence the Prodigy's most famous track Smack My Bitch Up," according to Kate Figes in her article "Who are you calling a bitch?" http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,1999060,00.html
I feel slightly happier about that song now.

In Avignon, the traditional way to cook snails is to fry them in garlic and white wine after shelling. The shelling takes place by dousing the live snail with eau de vie and then sharply smacking the back of the shell. The snail is too drunk to hold on to the inside of its own shell, and falls neatly into the waiting hot pan. A local children's playground game is known as "frapper l'escargot!"