Irrelevance

When I was looking up more information on the Symposium, I found that the name Eryximachus means "battler against belches." It just seemed funny to me that Plato would pick that guy to be there to comment on Aristophanes' hiccups, because the discourse is supposed to be on love and Platos takes the time to come up with something like that for a three line joke. But then again, my professor for the lifespan of human development said that love isn't really love unless you can express those kind of bodily functions without fear. She said she wouldn't agree to marry her husband until he farted in her presence. In a way, that's a pretty good test to see how committed someone is in a relationship. People don't let it out in front of strangers or guests; they wait until they're either alone or with people they're comfortable with, who will love them no matter what they do. If one's uneasy about it, maybe there just isn't enough trust. Or something. I could be wrong. But it happens.