Top of the bottle

Posted by David FG on December 05, 2009 at 13:46

In Reply to: Top of the bottle posted by Suzanne on December 03, 2009 at 12:00:

: my dad died 2 weeks ago and he always used to say to me when i was about to do something nerve wracking "top of the bottle" and I suppose it means all the best or go for it but I would like to know if anybody knows exactly what it means and its origin.

: thanks it would mean a lot - I never actually asked him

This is a guess, but when I was younger, what is now known as 'full fat' milk (and was then known simply as 'milk') would separate out before use so that the milk would sit at the bottom of the bottle, and the cream would form a layer floating at the top.

It seems at least possible to me that describing something as 'top of the bottle' could mean that it is 'the cream', 'the best' and so on.

DFG