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Topic: Points to Ponder (Read 1950 times) |
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ThudnBlunder
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Points to Ponder
« on: May 22nd, 2003, 12:07pm » |
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1] Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but not to their crotch when they ask for the toilet?
2] What makes teflon stick to the pans?
3] Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word?
4] What's a synonym for 'synonym'?
5] Why is yawning infectious?
6] Did Adam & Eve have navels?
7] Why is the Universe here rather than not here?
8] Why do Americans park in the driveway and drive in the parkway?
9] Why are they called 'apartments' if they are all bunched up together?
10] How come a shipment is sent by truck or car, but a cargo is sent by ship?
11] How come there is only one word for 'thesaurus'?
12] Did the same cruel person who decided to spell 'dyslexic' like that also put the 's' in 'lisp'?
13] Why are boxing rings square?
14] If you throw out some odds and ends, what have you got left?
15] Why isn't 'phonetic' spelled with an 'f'?
16] If Dracula can't see himself in a mirror, how come his hair is always so neat?
17] Why do hot dogs come in 10's and hot dog buns in 8's?
18] If a book about failure doesn't sell, is it a success?
19] When it rains, why don't sheep shrink?
20] Why do we say 'after dark', when it's actually 'after light'?
21] Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
21] If Batman is so smart, how come he wears his underpants outside his trousers?
22] Is a castrated pig disgruntled?
23] If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
24] Why do they have 'interstate' highways in Hawaii?
25] If the sky's the limit why are there footprints on the moon?
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| « Last Edit: May 26th, 2011, 1:28pm by ThudnBlunder » |
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towr
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #1 on: May 22nd, 2003, 12:52pm » |
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on May 22nd, 2003, 12:07pm, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:| 1] Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but not to their crotch when they ask for the toilet? |
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Cause most people have thier watch on their wrist, and that's where they may find the time. You can't usually find a toilet in your crotch..
Quote:| 2] What makes teflon stick to the pans? |
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There's numerous ways. Consider that if the teflon coating has loops on the back you could easily attach something to it. You can scale that down to the near-atomic level.
Quote:| 3] Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word? |
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Because it doesn't get used a lot, the exact opposite of "a", "the", "it", "is" and many other short words (but not all)
Quote:| 4] What's a synonym for 'synonym'? |
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don't think there is one..
Quote:| 5] Why is yawning infectious?? |
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It often isn't. It seems to be linked to how much you like the person that's yawning. Yawning can be a precursor of action, and people often want to get in on the actoion of people they like, also people often mimick people they like in certain things, and there are numerous other possible explanations I'm sure.
Quote:| 6] Did Adam & Eve have navels? |
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If they ever existed, maybe.
If you go by genesis I'd expect not, on the other hand God can do whatever he wants. Personally I'd have made eva with bellybutton if I were in his place, but I'd also skipped creating Adam :p
Quote:| 7] Why is the Universe here rather than not here? |
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It's here because you're part of it and couldn't ask this question if it wasn't here.
Quote:| 8] Why do Americans park in the driveway and drive in the parkway? |
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they're nuts 
Quote:| 9] Why are they called 'apartments' if they are all bunched up together? |
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because the walls keep people apart, else it'd just be a hall
Quote:| 10] How come a shipment is sent by truck or car, but a cargo is sent by ship? |
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Cargo can be sent by truck or car as well, and shipments by ship afaik.
Quote:| 11] How come there is only one word for 'thesaurus'? |
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Not many people find the need to use the concept, so they never found it necessary to make up a different (easier) word for the concept. The people who use the concept either know the word, or convers with people that know it, and don't want to look stupid by calling it differently.
Quote:| 12] Did the same cruel person who decided to spell 'dyslexic' like that also put the 's' in 'lisp'? |
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yes
Quote:| 13] Why are boxing rings square? |
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I takes fewer poles to keep the ropes around it and gives more room than a triangle. I'd have gone with a hexagon though.
Quote:| 14] If you throw out some odds and ends, what have you got left? |
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Stop asking me all these questions, I don't know everything, I rarely even always pretend to :;
Quote:| 15] Why isn't 'phonetic' spelled with an 'f'? |
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Because it looks more interesting with ph, also history of the word..
Quote:| 16] If Dracula can't see himself in a mirror, how come his hair is always so neat? |
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His minions do his hair for him. (He's a count, you can't expect him to actually do any 'work')
Quote:| 17] Why do hot dogs come in 10's and hot dog buns in 8's? |
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Because that makes you have to by forty of each rather than 8 or 10. Marketing, it's all cheating, tricks and deception.
Quote:| 18] If a book about failure doesn't sell, is it a success? |
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Depends on if it's about how the book will fail. Or rather if it was intended to fail.
Quote:| 19] When it rains, why don't sheep shrink? |
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Because it's cold water. Not hot, and nowhere near too hot.
Quote:| 20] Why do we say 'after dark', when it's actually 'after light'? |
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Probably short for after darkness falls, or after it has become dark. People are lazy, and shorten commen phrases to some of the most nonesensicle sayings sometimes.
Quote:| 21] Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle? |
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No watervapour, nor oxygen, nor a way for a dissolvent to evaporate (either of these can be the basis for a glue)
(there's probably more ways, but basicly what makes the glue 'wet' can't get into the bottle)
Quote:| 21] If Batman is so smart, how come he wears his underpants outside his trousers? |
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Peer pressure, allmost all the superheros do it. Peer pressure can make the most intelligent of people do the craziest of things (though this isn't halfway crazy, just excentric).
Quote:| 22] Is a castrated pig disgruntled? |
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<insert police joke>
Quote:| 23] If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? |
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Love may be blind, but lust isn't.
Quote:24] Why do they have 'interstate' highways in Hawaii?
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They didn't want to be left out.
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| « Last Edit: May 25th, 2003, 11:44am by towr » |
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Chronos
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #2 on: May 25th, 2003, 10:56am » |
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14: You have either an odd or an end. For comparison: If you have a classroom full of boys and girls, and all but one leaves, who's left?
24: The system is interstate, not necessarily the highways themselves. Hawaii has roads which are part of the interstate system, so they're interstate highways.
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mistysakura
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #3 on: May 27th, 2003, 4:27am » |
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on May 22nd, 2003, 12:07pm, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:14] If you throw out some odds and ends, what have you got left?
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Obviously, evens and starts, along with a few odds and ends.
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otter
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #4 on: May 27th, 2003, 12:54pm » |
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on May 27th, 2003, 4:27am, mistysakura wrote:
Obviously, evens and starts, along with a few odds and ends. |
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As George Carlin was wont to point out, "If you have 24 knick-knacks on a shelf and 23 fall off, what's left - a knick or a knack?
And if you have less than the whole kit and kaboodle, which do you have - the kit or the kaboodle? 
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and know the place for the first time.
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Icarus
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #5 on: May 27th, 2003, 5:21pm » |
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on May 27th, 2003, 12:54pm, otter wrote:| And if you have less than the whole kit and kaboodle, which do you have - the kit or the kaboodle? |
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You could have the "kit and kaboo"! 
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wowbagger
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #6 on: May 28th, 2003, 9:03am » |
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on May 27th, 2003, 12:54pm, otter wrote:
As George Carlin was wont to point out, "If you have 24 knick-knacks on a shelf and 23 fall off, what's left - a knick or a knack? |
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Probably the cultural barrier again, but why not one knick-knack?
Quote:| And if you have less than the whole kit and kaboodle, which do you have - the kit or the kaboodle? |
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Ok, I declare the vocabulary used in this thread to be too odd for me to comprehend.
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otter
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #7 on: May 28th, 2003, 1:41pm » |
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on May 27th, 2003, 12:54pm, otter wrote:
As George Carlin was wont to point out, "If you have 24 knick-knacks on a shelf and 23 fall off, what's left - a knick or a knack? |
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on May 28th, 2003, 9:03am, wowbagger wrote:
Probably the cultural barrier again, but why not one knick-knack? |
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Most common usages I'm familiar with reference only the plural. I guess that's not to say there couldn't be a singular knick-knack. Of course there's the old children's verse "With a knick-knack, paddy whack, give the dog a bone..."
on May 27th, 2003, 12:54pm, otter wrote:| And if you have less than the whole kit and kaboodle, which do you have - the kit or the kaboodle? |
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on May 28th, 2003, 9:03am, wowbagger wrote:| Ok, I declare the vocabulary used in this thread to be too odd for me to comprehend. |
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You might find it under "kit and caboodle". Check out
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/2/messages/329.html or http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-who2.htm if you want more information.
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wowbagger
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #8 on: May 30th, 2003, 2:57am » |
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Thanks a lot, otter! 
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aero_guy
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #9 on: May 30th, 2003, 4:57am » |
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As far as interstates go, they didn't originally. They petitioned for government money for an "interstate" under the pretext that the interstate system was designed to allow easy travel throughout the country to aide in the traffice of military personel and equipment. You still need this even if you are doing it within a single state, and the road system in Hawaii at the time was quite bad.
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Kitty
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #10 on: Sep 27th, 2003, 11:28am » |
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[25] Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
[26] Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
[27] Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
[28] Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
[29] Why is it that to stop Windows 98 or XP, you have to click on "Start"?
[30] Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavour, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
[31] Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
[32] Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
[33] Why isn't there mouse-flavoured cat food?
[34] When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
[35] Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
[36] Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
[37] You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
[38] Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
[39] If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
[40] If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
Some more i got sent via e-mail, sorry if some are repeated from before.
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Icarus
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #11 on: Sep 27th, 2003, 7:17pm » |
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[37] You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
As an aviation weight engineer I believe I am well-qualified to answer this question.
Sure - we could make the whole plane out of this stuff. Nobody would ever die in a plane crash again if we did.
But there is one teensy, tiny, little problem. Airplanes get truly lousy gas milage on the highway, and their road handling really stinks. That's why we build them so they can go up in the air instead!
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And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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towr
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Re: Points to Ponder
« Reply #12 on: Sep 28th, 2003, 7:33am » |
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on Sep 27th, 2003, 11:28am, Kitty wrote:| [25] Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin? |
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The sun only encourages our skin to darken itself, otherwise it would just lighten due to the chemical reactions sunlight causes.
Quote:| [26] Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed? |
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They can
Quote:| [27] Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"? |
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They're not allowed to use their power for personal gain.
Quote:| [28] Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"? |
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Cause practice makes perfect, and who doesn't want top be perfect?
Quote:| [29] Why is it that to stop Windows 98 or XP, you have to click on "Start"? |
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try alt-F4 (and Bill Gates is evil of course.)
Quote:| [30] Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavour, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? |
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Don't you mean lemonaide? lemon juice is juice from lemons, it can by definition not be artifical, because then it wouldn't be lemon juice. (at least it'd be illegal around here)
Quote:| [31] Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker? |
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I really don't know, though one may note broker and broke don't have any etymological relation.
Quote:| [32] Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? |
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Cause people only rush when things are going (too) slow.
Quote:| [33] Why isn't there mouse-flavoured cat food? |
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Cats don't like the taste of mice, ever see a cat eat a mouse? No, they just catch them, and if they happen to bite them, they spit them out at the feet of their masters. Ample evidence they don't like the taste.
Quote:| [34] When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it? |
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Homeless people.
Quote:| [35] Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes? |
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God wouldn't have liked it much.
Quote:| [36] Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections? |
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I case the prisoner gets a pardon second before they inject, but after they inserted the needle. (Well probably not really, but it's a good enough reason)
Quote:| [37] You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff? |
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Read Icarus' post
Quote:| [38] Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? |
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Wool only shrinks when it's washed at too high a temperature, rain is too cool. Besides, sheeps aren't 100% wool.
Quote:| [39] If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress? |
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I'm sure you allready know the answer to this: YES
Quote:| [40] If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal? |
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because you end (terminate) the flight there (I'm sure you'd get sick of perpetual flight eventually)
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