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Humor
Reasons why
the English language is so hard to learn:
1) The bandage
was wound around the wound.
2) The farm
was used to produce produce.
3) The dump
was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must
polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could
lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier
decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since
there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass
was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot
at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did
not object to the object.
11) The insurance
was invalid for the invalid.
12) There
was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They
were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck
does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress
and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help
with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind
was too strong to wind the sail
18) After
a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon
seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had
to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can
I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
There is
no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins
weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats
are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
Quicksand
works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor
is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't
groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural
of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? And if the plural of
mouse is mice, why isn't the plural of house, hice? Doesn't it seem crazy that you
can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get
rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end? If teachers
taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does
a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How
can a slim chance and a fat chance meant the same thing? Oh, well!
P.S. - Why
doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"? On the other hand, why doesn't "quick" rhyme
with "Buick"?
So You think you Know everything?........
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A snail can sleep for three years.
Al Capones's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back
of the $5 bill.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches
2 to 6 years of age.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never
end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average
of 6 months waiting at red lights.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver,
or purple.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never
stop growing.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop"
with your right.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that
it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and
a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter
of the alphabet.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that
Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read
left to right or right to left (palindromes).
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous,
horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in
order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only
on one row of the keyboard.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise
it will digest itself.
............Now you know everything
HOW CAN YOU LIVE ON WITHOUT KNOWING THESE THINGS?
Many years ago, in
Scotland
, a new game was invented. It was ruled
"Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time
TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
Coca-Cola was originally green.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.
The percentage of
Africa
that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...)
The percentage of
North America
that is wilderness: 38%
The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
The average number of people airborne over the
US
any given hour: 61,000
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front
leg in the air the person died as a
result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and CharlesThomson. Most of the rest signed on August
2, but the last signature wasn't added
until 5 years later.
Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace
Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
A. Obsession
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand
Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?
A. Father's Day
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress
tightened, making the bed firmer to
sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."
It was the accepted practice in
Babylon
4,000 years ago that for a month after
the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their
calendar was lunar based, this period
was called the honey month ... which we know
today as the honeymoon.
Many years ago in
England
, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the
rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service.
"Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.
~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~
In George Washington's days, there were no cameras.
One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington
showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed
both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how
many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and
legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence
the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."
As incredible as it sounds, men and
women took baths only twice a year (May and October)! Women kept their hair
covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs.
Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the
wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the
shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy,
hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes the Big
Wig" because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.
In the late 1700s, many houses consisted
of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down
from the wall, and was used for dining. The "head of the household" always
sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally
a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal.
To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the
one sitting in the chair the "chair man." Today in business, we use the expression
or title "Chairman" or "Chairman of the Board."
Personal hygiene left much room for
improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood.
The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions.
When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's
face she was told, "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the
wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile." In addition, when they sat
too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . therefore, the expression "losing
face."
Ladies wore corsets, which would lace
up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in "straight laced". . wore
a tightly tied lace.
Common entertainment included playing
cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only
applicable to the "Ace of Spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase
51 cards instead.
Yet,
since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb
because they weren't "playing with a full deck."
Early politicians required feedback
from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there
were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local
taverns, pubs, and bars. They were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to
people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched
at different times. "You go sip here" and "You go sip there." The two
words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and,
thus we have the term "gossip."
At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people
drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye
on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and
remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts," hence the
term "minding your "P's and Q's."
One more: bet you didn't know this!
In the heyday of sailing ships, all
war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round
iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon.
However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage
method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four
resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls
could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only
one problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under
the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations.
However, if this plate were made of
iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting
problem was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts
much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature
dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs
would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough
to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." (All this time, you thought that
was an improper expression, didn't you.)
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