When I was contemplating this column, my first thought was to come up with another thought-provoking motivationally-oriented piece which has been the staple of my regular editorial deliveries. However, I was reminded by a friend that it’s okay to take a “break” sometimes times and write about something else other than what I’ve been consistently dishing out!
In this day and age where knowledge is available so readily, especially with the likes of Google and Yahoo granting us the benefits of instant and contextual search, there isn’t any excuse anymore for us to be less than informed.
So when someone asked me a question last week which stumped me, I told him that I will get him an answer shortly. True to myself, I dived straight into my favourite search engine and whipped up the answer in a jiffy. But not before stumbling upon a whole slew of other intriguing questions that I had no immediate answers for.
So I’ve decided to take a break this week and throw some questions your way to get you contemplating as well. Check these out! “Why is it that people say the ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up like every two hours?” “Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON television?” “Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out of the window?” “Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?” “Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down and give the vacuum one more chance?”
The English language sure has its fair share of idiosyncrasies and perhaps this is what makes it interesting, especially if you can look past its more serious front and take in the lighter side of things. For example, “What disease did cured ham actually have?” Or “How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?” Or “Why is ‘bra’ singular and ‘panties’ plural?”
Tongue-in-cheek wise, why not have a bit of fun today and ask your office colleagues a few questions to get them thinking – for example, “Why does a round pizza come in a square box”, or “If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?”, or “If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?”
Or if you are feeling a little facetious, then try asking this – “If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?”
My favourite question that is so obviously true to life and I am sure you can well relate to is “When we are in a supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart, then apologizes for doing so, why do we say ‘It’s alright’ when really it isn’t. Why don’t we say, ‘That really hurt, why don’t you watch where you’re going?”
I don’t have any answers for you this week I’m afraid. But I hope I’ve played a small part to awaken you from the complacency of the English language and get your noodles crunching. A parting shot – “Now why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemmorhoid when it’s in your butt?”
If I were you, I won’t arse, I mean ask!
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Geoff Tan 
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