Hey professor i came across this email that was sent to me and it reminded me of the language chapter in Kottak. it also serves a purpose to brighten and bring a smile and laughter to everyone:
EVER WONDER
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?- -
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?- -
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?- -
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?- -
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?- -
Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?- -
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid- made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?-
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?
Why- don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
From Claumery, XZ24C section
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
sometimes we just go about daily lives using these words and doing these actions and we dont even realize that a lot of things contradict themselves..this was a very cute and quite interesting article
don't believe it. i just composed a comment about this and it never came up. the bottom line was that while reading the paradoxical sentences i started thinking about the ancient times when people first created languages. Why the concept of one object or feeling is the same but the sound that represents it (the spoken word) differs from one language to the other? @ nyzzy: i believe i put you in deep thoughts but i expect a reply :-)
Why do we park in a drive way and drive on a parkway?
Why do stores that are open 24/7 have locks on the door?
I love questions like these, not only are they funny but they make you really think about how words were formed. Describing someone as 'pretty ugly' makes me laugh too. It changes the meaning of pretty from a form of beauty to now imply someone is 'very' ugly. I enjoyed this blog very much!
“Dead man walking,” “It is cold as hell,” and many of the paradoxes that are shown here demonstrate how interesting and “weird” we used our vocabulary. The funnier thing is that we understand each other when we use these contradictions. I think language is truly fascinating and makes me wonder about how humans created all these different languages and were able to teach others.
I think the list of paradoxes were really interesting and even made me laugh. Before reading this list I didn’t realize how many times we contradict ourselves and yet we are able to understand each other perfectly.
Post a Comment