quote:

ORIGINAL: Aanakaris

O x y m o r o n s

1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?
.... used to needle a Westinghouse engineer by repeatedly mentioning that the only thing that Westinghouse makes that doesn't suck is their vacuum cleaners.

4. If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
... he only wrote the first "American" dictionary

5. Why do we say something is out of whack?  What is a whack?
... a "whack" is what you give something with a hammer when it runs out so it will start working again

6. Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?
... old teamster reference,  slow up was to pull the reins and slow the horses on the wagon.  slow down was to apply the brake so the cart would not start slewing ahead of the team on a steep downgrade

8. Why do "tug" boats push their barges?
... tugboats pull ships and ocean going barges.  They only push river barges and only pusher modified tugboats.

10. Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting?
... because they are built to stand people up in the air to see better.  As opposed to everyone sitting on the ground.

11. Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?
... "after full dark" was defined in medieval times after the point you could no longer tell a white thread from a black one.

20. Why is bra singular and panties plural?
... because pantaloons (panties is a shortened version) originally came in two pieces which were tied to the belt.  brasier, singular, is meant to cover the breast.. please note, "breast" is the upper forward portion of the torso.  "breast" only has a plural if one is talking of more than one creature

25. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
.... it does

26. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?
.... because it contained a set of receivers for both audio and video