Fondue Party?

So it looks like we're going to serve up some fondue this Friday. I don't know anything about fondue. It's crazy that someone who works in a cheese shop is completely ignorant on the subject so I decided to wander out into the internets to find out some little known information about fondue.

First of all, what does fondue mean? Those of you guessing "bacterial petri dish" are close but that is not exactly it. It means "melted". I checked more than wikipedia on this one and it seems like it is the right answer.

The little pot that holds the melted is called a caquelon and the burner is called a rechaud.

There is a bit of etiquette involved. No double dipping! Dip once and only once. Allowing your lips or tongue to touch the dipping fork is considered rude. So don't even think about it.

Apparently my fondue party is not considered a success unless you are talking about it for weeks and weeks afterward. So you better have fun and talk about it for a long time.

Other fun facts:

• The first reference to fondue goes all the way back to Homer's Iliad
• Fondue was originally conceived as a preservation method. Take your really old bread and really old cheese and make it delicious by melting the cheese and softening your brick like bread. Genius!
• Tradition says that if the item you're dipping comes off of your fork: Men: Next round is on you and for Women: Kiss the man to your left (wacky, wacky internets, who knows if this is at all true)