Read the following text and answer questions by marking T if the state is true or F if the state is not true. Tipping is a subject that has long interested and irritated me. Many people think that the word 'tip' is an acronym for 'To insure promptness.' However, this is not possible, I think. Since the practice of tipping began in England in the Middle Ages, scholars have not been able to find any acronyms much earlier than the 20th century. Most scholars track the word 'tip' back to the early 1600s, where it originated as criminal slang. It referred to inside information. Therefore, to give another criminal a tip was to give something valuable (information) The word gradually evolved to the point where, in the late 1700s, it meant to give a monetary gratuity(tip) to someone for service performed. That's where it stayed until the English immigrated to North America. In America, the three basic occupations that require tipping are waiters/waitresses, taxi drivers, and barbers. The standard tip is now between 15 and 20 percent of the bill, depending on the quality of service. Why these three particular services deserve this special treatment is a mystery to me. Why am I supposed to tip a waiter for bringing me food when I'm not expected to tip the flight attendant on an airplane for doing the same thing? Why am I supposed to tip a cab driver, but I'm not expected to tip the bus driver? Why am I supposed to tip the barber for cutting my hair but not the dentist for fixing my teeth? I have been a teacher for 39 years. No one has ever tipped me after a particularly successful class or lecture. The whole concept of tipping doesn't make any sense. I have heard that there are some exclusive and expensive restaurants in major cities in the US where the restaurant does not give the waiters any salary at all due to the large amounts of the tips. In fact, in some instances, I read that the waiters actually pay the restaurant a small fee for the opportunity to collect the large tips. Also, I was quite surprised to learn that there was actually a website devoted to tipping and related issues(http://www.tipping.org). Some of the invisible and illogical rules of this practice are close to ridiculous. The tipping problem in many European countries is solved by automatically adding a 15 percent gratuity to the bill, I prefer the Chinese solution: no tipping at all. While I understand why China, as a developing nation, has adopted many western customs, I hope the Chinese are wise enough to never start the unnecessary practice of tipping. The level of service in China is already good enough that it doesn't need anything to make it better. The word 'tip' is an acronym for 'To insure promptness.'