the.com/toss
The coin flip that lets fate take the blame for your decision.
means To throw something lightly or carelessly, or to decide something by flipping a coin and letting chance call it.
from Toss appeared in English around the 1500s, likely imitative or linked to Scandinavian words for tussling or jolting — its exact roots are murky. What's clear is the word quickly attached itself to the gesture of flinging something upward, and from there it was a short hop to flinging a coin and watching gravity hand down a verdict.
- origin
- Sailors tossed coins to settle disputes before cards existed
- physics
- A fair toss is rarely truly 50 50 due to bias
- cricket use
- Winning the toss can decide a whole match's strategy
- idiom
- Toss up means a genuine choice between two equals