Food for Thought
These are things that make you go hmmm. Some of them are valid
questions that I would like to know the answer to. Others can be explained
but still give you something to think about. You should always be questioning
your surroundings anyway, so here's a chance for you to articulate those
questions and publish them on the web.
1. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
2. If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
3. Why do women wear evening gowns to go out at night? Shouldn't they be wearing night gowns?
4. Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
5. Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It's just stale bread.
6. When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?
7. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
8. Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
9. Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
10. If horrific is akin to horrible, why isn't terrific akin to terrible?
11. Why isn't 11 pronounced onety one?
12. Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?
13. Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure?
14. Why do you park in a driveway and drive in a parkway?
15. Why are there locks on the door of stores that are open 24/7 365 days a year?
16. Why are there braille dots on a drive-through ATM keypad?
17. Why does a ship carry cargo, and a car carry shipments?
18. Why do doctors call what they do practice? Shouldn't they be good at it by now?
19. Why does cleave mean both to adhere and separate?
20. If you got in a cab and the driver drove backwards would he end up owing you money?
21. Why do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight?
22. When someone says "You know what they say..." Who are they?
23. What happens if you drive at the speed of light and turn your head lights on?
24. If you throw a cat out your car window does it become kitty litter?
25. Sean Fitzpatrick, but does Patrick fit Sean?
26. Street sign: "To the Braille Institute". Who's it for?
27. If corn oil comes from corn and olive oil comes from olives, where the heck does baby oil come from?
28. If you spin an oriental man, does he become disoriented?
29. Why do we call it a hamburger when it is made from beef?
30. Why do people in Alaska buy white cars?
31. Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
32. If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?
33. If you're in France and you order toast, do you get toast or French toast?
34. Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
35. Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
36. Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? Does old sour cream go good?
37. If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
38. Is there another word for synonym?
39. If a cow laughs, does milk come out it's nose?
40. Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
41. If nothing sticks to teflon, then how do they make it stick to the pan?
42. If a turtle loses its shell is it naked or homeless?
43. Why don't psychics predict the winning lottery numbers and retire?
44. If you hate all prejudice people, are you a hypoocrite?
45. Why do they call them apartments, when they're all together?
46. Who was the idiot that decided to put an "s" in the word lisp?
47. Why is the word for "a fear of long words" so long? (Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia)
48. Where does your lap go when you stand up?
49. If instant oatmeal is instant, then why does it take 1 to 2 minutes to cook in the microwave?
50. You can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but why can't you be simply whelmed?
51. Why is it that when the batteries in your remote control wear out you just push the buttons harder?
52. Can fat people go skinny dipping?
53. Why do they use artificial lemon juice in bottled lemon juice and use real lemon juice in dish soap?
54. Why don't they make the entire airplane out of the same material that the indestructible black box is made of?
55. If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
56. If a cannibal ate a clown, would it taste funny?
57. If you try to fail, and you fail, have you succeeded or failed?
58. Why are boxing rings square?
59. If quizzes are quizzical then what are tests?
60. Shouldn't the opposite of shut up be shut down?
61. Why do you always find things in the last place you looked?
62. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
63. Why is phoenetically not pronounced phoenetically?
64. If I dreamed of being chased by a giant squirrel would that make me a nut?
65. Why do people order a super-sized Big Mac™ meal with a Diet Coke?
66. Why do people have worthless junk in the garage and leave their expensive car in the driveway?
67. Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
68. When it rains, why don't sheep shrink?
69. Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
70. Why is abbreviation such a long word?
71. Why do they call it a building? It looks like they are finished Why isn't it a built?
72. If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of congress?
73. Did you ever wonder why kamikaze pilots wore helmets?
74. Do cemetery workers prefer the graveyard shift?
75. Can I yell "movie" in a crowded firehouse?
76. Can you be a closet claustrophobic?
77. How do a fool and his money get together in the first place?
78. How do you know when its time to tune your bagpipes?
79. How is it that a building burns up as it burns down?
80. If the pen is mightier than the sword, and a picture is worth a thousand words, how dangerous is a fax?
81. What was the best thing before sliced bread?
82. Why do banks charge you a "insufficient funds" fee on money they already know you don't have?
83. If you get cheated by the Better Business Bureau, who do you complain to?
84. What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
85. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?
86. What are Preparation A through Preparation G?
87. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?
88. How come there aren't B batteries?
89. How do "Do not walk on the grass" signs get there?
90. Is a metaphor like a simile?
91. Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
92. How is it possible to have a civil war?
93. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
94. If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?
95. Could crop circles be the work of a cereal killer?
96. If crime doesn't pay does that mean that my job is a crime?
97. Did Noah keep his bees in archives?
98. How can there be self-help "groups"?
99. How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
100. How do you throw away a garbage can?
101. How does a thermos know if the drink should be hot or cold?
102. How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the morning?
103. If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
104. Why do tourists go to the tops of tall buildings and then put money into telescopes so they can see things on the ground close-up?
105. Why is it that night falls but day breaks?
106. Why is it that you must wait until night to call it a day?
107. How do you remove a club soda stain?
108. What if the Hokey Pokey IS what its all about?
109. When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there, staring at carpeting?
110. What happened to the first 6 "ups"?
111. How do blind people know when they are done wiping their behinds?
112. If practice makes perfect, and no one is perfect, why bother practice?
113. If hunting season means you can kill animals, and fishing season means you can catch fish, what is the tourist season?
114. Why do people sing "Take me out to the ball game" when they are already
116. How do hearing aid companies expect potential customers to hear their commercials?
117. When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it do a half roll or a half loop?
118. Why is there neither pine nor apple in pineapple?
119. Why does the arcade game "Donkey Kong" have a monkey? Why isn't it called Monkey Kong?
120. Why do lumberjacks cut trees down and then chop them up?
121. What's the deal with Grapenuts? They're neither grape nor nuts.
122. How do people get discombobulated? Have you ever seen someone who was combobulated?
123. If we call people from Poland poles why don't we call people from Holand holes?
124. If a rabbit's foot was actually lucky, wouldn't it still be attached to the rabbit's leg?
125. Why does Goofy talk and wear clothes while Pluto barks naked?
126. If you wanted to mummify a fly, would you use dental floss?
127. If the husband dies, the wife is called a widow, if a child's parents die, it is called an orphan. Why isn't there a word for a parent that loses a child?
128. Why do they call it baby-sitting when all you do is run after them?
129. Why is it called American football when they rarely use their feet to play?
130. Why do you put suits in a garment bag and garments in a suitcase?
131. What if there were no hypothetical situations?
132. Why does an alarm clock said to go "off" when it actually turns on?
133. Why are they stairs inside but steps outside?
134. Why does pizza come in a square box?
135. How does a fish sleep?
136. Why do noses run and feet smell?
137. Why does Mickey Mouse wear pants and no shirt while Donald Duck wears a shirt and no pants?
138. If you sued a parsley farmer could you garnish his wages?
139. Who closes the door when the bus driver gets off?
140. Why is it called a "word to the wise?" If they're already wise, why do they need to hear it?
141. If a chicken had lips, could it whistle?
142. Why do psychics have to ask for your name?
143. How do those dead bugs get into enclosed light fixtures?
144. How come we choose from just two people for president and 50 for Miss America?
145. How much wind could a windbreaker break if a windbreaker could break wind?
146. Why do you call an open door ajar?
147. Why does the word monosyllabic have five syllables?
148. Why is it called a TV set if you only get one?
149. If you removed a fly's wings, would it be called a walk?
150. Does expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected?
151. Why do you bake cookies and cook bacon?
152. If Superman can stop bullets with his chest, why does he always duck when a gun is thrown at him?
153. Why did the Hulk's shirt always rip but not his pants?
154. It is impossible to commit suicide by holding your breath.
155. If you had three quarters, four dimes and four pennies in your pocket you would have $1.19. You would also have the largest number (11) and combination of coins possible without making exactly a dollar in change.
156. Why isn't it funny when you hit your funny bone?
157. Why do you have to click Start to stop your computer?
158. Where in the nursery rhyme does it say Humpty Dumpty is an egg?
159. What does a bald person put for hair color on their driver's license?
160. Why are pants, shorts and underwear solds as a pair when you only get one item?
161. If you are an insomniac, dyslexic and agnostic, do you stay up all night wondering if there is a dog?
162. If you're supposed to eat go-gurt on the go, where do you eat yogurt?
163. If firefighters fight fire and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight?
164. Why do we drink out of cups and use them to protect our privates?
165. If you don't like bigots, does that make you one?
166. If tuna is the chicken of the sea, what is beef?
167. If Superman is so smart why does he wear his underpants over his pants?
168. What was the IQ of the inventor of the IQ test?
169. How do vampires have such well-kept hair if they can't see themselves in the mirror?
170. Can you lose your train of thought on a plane?
171. If a mayfly was born in June would it become a junebug?
172. Is it good if your vacuum really sucks?
173. Why is the third hand on a clock called the second hand?
174. Is there a difference between 'slow down' and 'slow up'? What about 'fat chance' and 'slim chance'?
175. Why are the benches where people sit called stands?
176. Why is night called 'after dark' when it's really after light and still dark?
177. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
178. If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, do you read normally?
179. Why is bra singular and panties plural?
180. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
181. Why do we sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of our socks on Christmas?
182. If a chicken had lips, could it still give you a peck on the cheek?
183. Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time and don't point at their crotch to ask for the bathroom?
184. Why does being down with something mean you can put up with it?
185. If a bunch of cats are sleeping on top of one another, is it still called a dog pile?
186. Does Lightning McQueen have auto insurance or life insurance?
187. When you clean out a vacuum cleaner, have you become a vacuum cleaner?
188. Why aren't baked and naked pronounced the same?
189. How is it that "pony balogna" rhymes but "sean bean" doesn't?
190. The number of people older than you never increases.
191. If tomatoes are fruit, does that make ketchup a jam?
192. Why are boxing gloves called gloves when they're actually mittens?
193. If a cow doesn't produce milk, is it a milk dud or an udder failure?
194. If poison expires is it more poisonous or no longer poisonous?
195. What is a free gift? Aren't all gifts free?
196. How can there be self-help groups?
197. Why are buffalo wings made from chicken?
198. Is the "s" or the "c" silent in scent?
199. Why does fridge have a 'd' but refrigerator doesn't?
200. Why can you drink a drink but can't food a food?
201. Why is a "w" called double-u when it look like two "v"s?