the why oh why thread

[janeyo]

To join in with the what makes you happy and the minor rant thread, how about a why oh why thread?

Not looking for any answers in particular¬ just when you wonder why something just is the way it is!

1_ why do the bubbles disappear in the bath so quickly?
2_why does the toast always falls butterside down?
3_why does the phone always ring when I am at the bottom of the garden and the phone is at the top?
4_why can't I have cravings for lettuce?
5_why do your teeth hurt and by the time you've got an appointment they have stopped hurting?
6_why do I always break a nail before a night out when they look lovely for weeks beforehand?
7_why is the sky blue when I live nowhere near the sea?

any others?

[coreopsis]

I can answer no.2-the probability of the toast falling down buttered side on the carpet increases with the value of the carpet.So-if you're in the kitchen with tile flooring which is dead easy to clean,your toast will end buttered side up(maybe in the dog's wide opened gob if you're not quick enough to catch it).If you're on the way upstairs with toast in one hand and a cup in another ,the toast will land buttered side down on newly replaced carpet in the hall while you struggling with the door trying to not to spill you tea on your lovely new beige (and not cheap) carpet.

[binley100]

It's easy it's called Sod's Law ...

[janeyo]

rofl@ coreopsis

why can't girls throw?
why should you not work with children or animals if you are an actor?
why is marmalade not called orange jam?
why does Tarzan never have a beard?

[piskieinboots]

why did I marry a Serviceman and therefore have to move so often?

...and no, I didn't know it before I married him and no, it doesn't make it any easier

[janeyo]

That's easy piskie - cos you love him!

[coreopsis]

Ok-something for language experts here.Because English is my 2nd language,I used to ask a lot of questions"why do you say it this way instead of that way"?To confuse you more:
1.mouse-mice
house-houses
why not mouses or hice???

2.to go BY bus,BY,car,BY train
to go ON foot
why not by foot?or on bus?

why there's so many phrasal verbs that just add to confusion?I spare you my language gaffe's but to mistake unintentionally "up" with "off" might get you into troubles

[its hilly]

as for children animals and actors
one will (as all children do) behave perfectly until they go live then sulk scream or tug the actors sleeve demanding 'why aren't I allowed to say sod off you old bag'
The other will be supperbly photogenic, then pee all over him or try to s**g him.

And why is it sheep not sheeps

[Helgalush]

Why is it 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, when some of us clearly need about 3000 seconds in a minute and 3000 minutes in an hour, without telling anyone else, so that we can actually be on time for things.

The world should be slowed down to work at the pace of the slowest people - like if you are going on a long walk or something!!

(Yes I am always late, yes I hate it, yes I always have been, yes I always will be, and no I dont know why, but yes there is nearly always daydreaming involved!)

[piskieinboots]

That's easy piskie - cos you love him!

Yer but - apart from that

[zebedee]

Why don't sheep shrink in the rain?
Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?
When convicts are given lethal injections, why do they sterilise the needle?

[Nicos]

Why do peeps phone just as you
1)clamber into the bath?
2) pick up your fork
3)decide to have 40 winks
4)go to the loo

[Headfry]

They are great neighbors.....but
why oh why do they sound as if they are breaking up the garden very late at night...splitting wood sounds, breaking glass sounds etc,etc only for us (nosy peps) not to see anything untoward in the garden the next morning!!!!

[Hilary B]

Ok-something for language experts here.Because English is my 2nd language,I used to ask a lot of questions"why do you say it this way instead of that way"?To confuse you more:
1.mouse-mice
house-houses
why not mouses or hice???

2.to go BY bus,BY,car,BY train
to go ON foot
why not by foot?or on bus?

why there's so many phrasal verbs that just add to confusion?I spare you my language gaffe's but to mistake unintentionally "up" with "off" might get you into troubles

OK here's my attempt at answers
1) because the root words came from different sources. English is a mongrel language with bits grafted in from lots of older languages, and some of them still follow the rules of where they came from (and no, I don't know which origins these came from)
2, Just to confuse things even more, you get ON a bus at a bus stop (or the train at the railway station), or IN your car!
Sometimes people will talk about going 'by shank's mare', meaning on foot....

The Mongrel nature of the language is the main reason for all the oddities, and to make matters worse, there are local variations that persist in spite of all efforts at standardisation!

[Hilary B]

Sod's Law has a lot to answer for!