> What side is down on a fish anyway? And do they actually rot that way? Seems suspect to me. Perhaps an experiment is in order.
From experience, chopping off the head can keep the rest fresh a bit longer (gutting the fish helps more, as the fish is really rotting from the inside out).
As for the direction, in a couple of other languages I'm familiar with the saying is more literally "the fish rots from the head" (Russian) or "the fish stinks from the head" (Hebrew), with directionality implied rather than explicit.
Sort of like "burning the candle from both ends" versus "burning the candle from both ends inward", I guess.
From experience, chopping off the head can keep the rest fresh a bit longer (gutting the fish helps more, as the fish is really rotting from the inside out).
As for the direction, in a couple of other languages I'm familiar with the saying is more literally "the fish rots from the head" (Russian) or "the fish stinks from the head" (Hebrew), with directionality implied rather than explicit.
Sort of like "burning the candle from both ends" versus "burning the candle from both ends inward", I guess.