It Turns Out We've Been Holding Coffee Mugs Wrong Our Entire Lives

It's always mind-blowing to find out you've been doing something wrong your entire life without the slightest clue.

Whether it's butchering the pronunciation of your favorite cities or misusing something as simple as a damn pair of chopsticks, it almost seems like everything we've ever been taught in life is a big fat lie.

In fact, it turns out we don't even know how to hold coffee mugs correctly.

That's right. Scientists in South Korea just made the shocking discovery that we've been holding our mugs incorrectly this whole time.

While trying to figure out the reason our favorite hot beverages always seem to spill while we walk around, the researchers discovered that this problem boils down to the way we hold our mugs.

I mean, sure, the handle seemed like a perfectly logical place to hold your mug, but that's wrong. ALL WRONG. LIFE IS A LIE.

This is the wrong way to hold your mug.

After conducting a series of experiments, the scientists concluded that holding your mug from the handle or wrapping your hand around the cup increases the force at which the beverage collides with the inside walls of the mug.

This, in turn, causes the liquid to rise more forcefully and spill over the sides of the mug.

So, then, if you're not supposed to use the completely pointless handle, how the hell are you supposed to carry your coffee mug?!

Apparently, these smarty pants scientists propose we all switch over to the "claw hand."

This is the right way to hold your mug.

If you're unfamiliar with this mug-holding method, it's quite simple.

You simply hold your cup like above, placing your fingers firmly on the mug right beneath the rim. Apparently, this reduces the force at which the liquid collides with the sides of the cup, therefore, decreasing the likelihood of spills.

It should go without saying that there are a few shortcomings associated with this method.

Transporting your cup via claw hand doesn't feel very secure and, if you ask me, a few drips of liquid spilling over the side of your cup seems like a much better option than dropping the whole damn thing.

Plus, holding your mug in this manner also creates the potential for you to burn you hand from the rising steam.

But don't worry. If you're not down to do the claw hand, these clever scientists found another solution to your coffee spilling woes: Just walk backwards.

Jiwon Han of the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, stated,

By walking backwards, we are able to significantly change the frequency characteristics of our hand motion... leading to a subsequent decrease in the probability of coffee spilling.

Yep, seems totally legit.

Something tells me that these experiments didn't take things like tripping over something and spilling burning hot coffee all over your body into account. Oh well.

Citations: Science Says Your Holding Your Mug All Wrong (Metro UK)