Most people find PROP and PTC bitter, but not unbearable, while others don't taste it at all.

WSJ: People Who Taste Too Much

The Arab world is not like eastern Europe two decades ago, when repressive regimes tumbled because ordinary people suddenly dislodged the prop of Soviet power.

ECONOMIST: Tunisia and the Arab world

We wanted a heritage feel like Penguin Books and the Underground signs.... We discussed how we wanted it to be something people would be happy to prop up on a mantel or keep in a box.

WSJ: Creating an Impression

Another common test, which can be purchased online, is to give people a particularly bitter chemical such as PROP or PTC, which are similar to a compound found in many dark-green vegetables.

WSJ: People Who Taste Too Much

Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the main opposition party, argues that Mr Kuchma's arrest is no more than a PR stunt designed to distract people from their economic woes and to prop up Mr Yanukovich's sagging popularity.

ECONOMIST: What lies behind the charging of a former president

Known as proposition bets (or "prop bets, " in Vegas lingo), they allow people to lay down money on anything from the length of the national anthem to whether either team will score a two-point safety.

FORBES: Magazine Article

And when you talk about the working man, I think people can relate to yours truly as a guy who could easily prop up the bar in the local pub or rub shoulders with statesmen around the world.

BBC: Sergeant Wilson, Corporal Jones and the prime minister

Stevens, a California native, suggested that successful business people may even reconsider the state as a place to live if Prop. 30 is passed, arguing that some may find it easier to live elsewhere where state income taxes are lower.

FORBES: Billionaires Face Off On California Proposition To Raise Taxes On Wealthy

No vast prop trading, just the simple fact that the banks have lent too much money to people who now cannot pay it back.

FORBES: Europe Reels In Shock As Politician Tells The Truth