The theory that inanimate objects demonstrate hostile behavior toward us.
[Coined by humorist Paul Jennings as a blend of the Latin res (thing) + French resister (to resist) + existentialism (a kind of philosophy).]
If you ever get a feeling that the photocopy machine can sense when you’re tense, short of time, need a document copied before an important meeting, and right then it decides to take a break, you’re not alone. Now you know the word for it. Here’s a report of scientific experiments confirming the validity of this theory.
Attempting to repeat this scientific experiment, MythBusters did not find that toast landed butter side down.
Toast is more likely to land buttered side-down when dropped.
BUSTED
In an extensive and highly objective test the toast showed no statistical preference for landing buttered side-down or up when dropped. It was an even 50-50 split when the final results were compared. However, when pushed off the side of a table, toast showed preference to flip once and land buttered side down.
So, toast doesn’t love you if you are pushing it.