Drinking of toasts from skulls

Posted by ESC on May 06, 2003

In Reply to: Drinking of toasts from skulls posted by Celia on May 06, 2003

: Hi,

: I have some difficulty in understanding the bracketed sentence. Please do me a favor.

: By 19 century, various social clubs and press societies were being created as informal, shared spaces for journalists to meet to discuss their concern about what was rapidly becoming-in the eyes of many of them - a profession (this when the drinking of toasts from skull was not an unkown practice at some of these clubs.)

: Thanks a lot.

: Celia

I don't know but I'll guess: drinking from a skull was a common practice of "secret societies." These societies were a little more theatrical/mystical than, for example, today's Society of Professional Journalists.