The Straight Dope

Saw Glenn this morning and he told me he lost a bundle of money on last night's Ravens game, the game lost in the last thirty seconds. (I blame myself for turning on the TV in the last quarter, think I may be bad luck.) I promise not to watch next week. He strung me along until he told me it was just a $5 bet that he didn't even have to honor. So glad to have the old pain-in-the-butt Glenn back! Now I don't feel bad that Scott told Glenn he was as ugly as ever because he was tired of hearing others tell Glenn he looked good.

Check out the Straight Dope http://www.straightdope.com/ by Cecil Adams, fighting ignorance since 1973 (it's taken longer than they thought). They tackle a lot of very interesting questions. Below is the list of questions that they have refused to answer.

Questions We Refuse to Answer
OK, so we did the "why do we park in the driveway and drive in the parkway" thing. That doesn't mean we're going to answer every crackbrain question some comedian dreams up. In particular, if you ask one of the following, we'll track you down and do things so bad they scare even us.

Why do we need a hot water heater? If it's hot it doesn't need to be heated.
How can we have jumbo shrimp?
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why do our noses run and our feet smell?
Why does quicksand work slowly?
Why are boxing rings square?
Why, when lights are out, they are invisible, but when the stars are out, they are visible?
Why do we call them apartments when they are all together?
If cows laughed, would milk come out of their noses?
Why does Denny's have locks on the door if it's open 24 hours?
Why do ships carry cargoes and cars carry shipments?
When will a building actually become a built?

Send your questions for Cecil Adams to: cecil@chicagoreader.com

And here is something I have been wondering about......why do some nouns become accepted as verbs, and others never do? For instance, I can say that I am blogging and emailing........but I can't say that I am "diarying" or "lettering". I can Xerox a paper on the Xerox and fax a paper on the fax, but I can't scale a paper on a scale. I microwave food in the microwave , but I don't oven food in the oven. And while I do shower in the shower, I can't bath in the bath, I have to take a bath. Some verbs are also nouns, most are not. So while this may bore you and also be a bore, it can't annoy you and be an annoy.