| Preface | xvii |
| What is the purpose of the warning label on a mattress? And what happens if I rip it off? | 1 |
| Why do dogs walk around in circles before lying down? | 2 |
| If nothing sticks to Teflon, how do they get Teflon to stick to the pan? | 3 |
| Why is the scoring system in tennis so weird? | 3 |
| Why have humans lost most of their body hair? | 6 |
| Why don't people get goosebumps on their faces? | 8 |
| Why doesn't countdown leader on films count all the way to one? | 9 |
| When a company sells lobster tails to restaurants and stores, what do they do with the rest of the lobster? | 9 |
| Why do they need twenty mikes at press conferences? | 11 |
| Why do some localities use salt and others use sand to treat icy roads? | 12 |
| Why is the telephone touch-tone key pad arranged differently from the calculator key pad? | 14 |
| What is the difference between a "kit" and a "caboodle"? | 15 |
| What is the purpose of the ball on top of a flagpole? | 17 |
| Why does Wayne Gretzky wear a ripped uniform? | 18 |
| Why is there always pork in cans of pork and beans? | 19 |
| How do military cadets find their caps after tossing them in the air upon graduation? | 20 |
| Why does American electricity run on A.C. rather than D.C.? | 21 |
| What is that sniffing noise boxers make when throwing punches? | 22 |
| Why, in any box of assorted chocolates, are the caramels square, the nougats rectangular, the nuts oval, and the creams circular? | 24 |
| Whatever happened to pay toilets? | 25 |
| When a pothole is formed on the road, why don't we see the displaced concrete? | 27 |
| Why do most cities in the United States put a maximum-height restriction on a fence a homeowner may put around his residence? | 27 |
| Why do your feet sweel up so much in airplanes? | 31 |
| Why are hamburger-bun bottoms so thin? | 32 |
| Why do golfers yell "fore" when warning of an errant golf shot? | 34 |
| Why are all executions in the United States held between midnight and seven A.M.? | 34 |
| Why do ants tend to congregate on sidewalks? | 37 |
| Why do American cars now have side-view mirrors on the passenger side with the message, "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear?" | 38 |
| Why do dogs smell funny when they get wet? | 40 |
| Why do all dentist offices smell the same? | 41 |
| What are those large knobs between sets of escalators in department stores? | 42 |
| Why is Jack the nickname for John? | 43 |
| Which side gets the game ball when a football game ends in a tie? | 44 |
| Why do ketchup bottles have necks so narrow that a spoon won't fit inside? | 44 |
| Ivory Soap advertises its product as 99 and 44/100 percent pure-99 and 44/100 percent what? And what is the impure 56/100 percent of Ivory Soap? | 46 |
| Why do we grow lawns around our houses? | 47 |
| Why do many exterminators wear hard hats? | 51 |
| Who was the Emmy that the Emmy Award is named after? | 52 |
| Why don't dogs develop laryngitis, sore throats, voice changes, or great discomfort after barking continuously? | 53 |
| Why are there eighteen holes on a golf course? | 54 |
| What does 0[degree] in the Fahrenheit scale signify? | 55 |
| What does each one-degree increment in the Fahrenheit scale signify? | 55 |
| Why doesn't rain come down the chimney into the fireplace when smoke can get out the chimney? | 57 |
| Why do Curad bandage wrappers sparkle in the dark when you open them? | 58 |
| Why do garment labels often say "Professionally Dry-clean Only"? | 59 |
| What is the difference between "flotsam" and "jetsam"? | 60 |
| Why do doughnuts have holes? | 62 |
| Why does a newspaper tear smoothly vertically and raggedly horizontally? | 64 |
| Why are the Netherlands also called Holland and the Low Countries? And why are its people called Dutch? | 65 |
| What are those twitches and jerks that occasionally wake us just as we are falling asleep? | 67 |
| Why are there twenty-one guns in a twenty-one-gun salute? | 68 |
| Why do women tend to have higher voices than men? Why do short people tend to have higher voices than tall people? | 70 |
| Washington, D.C. streets are named alphabetically. Why is there no "J" Street? | 71 |
| What happens to the tread that wears off tires? | 72 |
| Why do whips make a cracking sound when snapped? | 74 |
| How did Xmas come to stand for Christmas? | 75 |
| Do batteries wear out faster if you turn up the volume of a radio? | 76 |
| Why do some ranchers place old boots on fenceposts? | 77 |
| Why do bananas, unlike other fruits, grow upward? | 81 |
| Why is there a black dot in the middle of otherwise white bird droppings? | 83 |
| Do toilet-seat covers really protect us against anything? | 83 |
| Why do sailors wear bell-bottom trousers? | 84 |
| Why doesn't sugar spoil or get moldy? | 85 |
| Why do nurses wear white? Why do surgeons wear blue or green when operating? | 86 |
| Why doesn't a "two-by-four" measure two inches by four inches? | 87 |
| Why is an acre 43,560 square feet? | 89 |
| Why do men's bicycles have a crossbar? | 90 |
| Why is royalty referred to as "blue-blooded"? | 91 |
| Why are people immune to their own body odor? | 92 |
| Why are the outside edges of the pages of many paperback books colored? | 93 |
| How do they shell pine nuts? | 94 |
| How can owners of small cemeteries make money? How can they plan their finances when they have to wait for people to die before they derive income? | 95 |
| Why are most homes painted white? | 100 |
| Why is one side of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil shiny and the other side dull? | 102 |
| Why do superficial paper cuts tend to hurt more than grosser cuts? | 103 |
| Why does the brightest setting of a three-way light bulb always burn out first? | 104 |
| How do three-way light bulbs work? How do the bulbs "know" at which intensity to shine? | 105 |
| Why do snakes dart out their tongues? | 106 |
| Where do they get that organ music in skating rinks? | 107 |
| What do Federal Express delivery people do after 10:30 A.M.? | 109 |
| Why do so many mass mailers use return envelopes with windows? | 111 |
| Why does the skin on the extremities wrinkle after a bath? And why only the extremities? | 112 |
| What happens to the razor blades that are thrown down used-blade slots in hotels? | 113 |
| Why doesn't evaporated milk have to be refrigerated? | 114 |
| Why is evaporated milk sold in soldered cans? | 114 |
| What causes the ringing sound you get in your ears? | 115 |
| How did chocolate bunnies for Easter come about? | 116 |
| Why do old women dye their hair blue? | 117 |
| What are the criteria for the placement of a "Dangerous Curve" or "Dangerous Turn" sign? | 119 |
| Why don't we ever see dead birds? | 120 |
| Why do all packaged bakery goods seem to be registered by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture? | 121 |
| How do they keep all the raisins in cereal boxes from falling to the bottom? | 123 |
| Why do runs in stockings usually run up? | 124 |
| Does putting women's hosiery in the freezer forestall runs? | 125 |
| Why do traffic signals use red, yellow, and green lights? Why is the red light on top, green light on the bottom, and yellow light in between? | 126 |
| Why are cows usually milked from the right side? | 128 |
| Why do many merchants ask customers to put their addresses and phone numbers on credit card slips? | 129 |
| On airplanes, why do our ears pop and bother us more on descent than on ascent? | 130 |
| Where do houseflies go during the winter? | 133 |
| Where does white pepper come from? | 135 |
| What purpose do wisdom teeth serve? | 137 |
| Why are ancient cities buried in layers? And where did the dirt come from? | 138 |
| What's the difference between an X-rated movie and an XXX-rated movie? Why isn't there an "XX" rating? | 141 |
| Where does a new speed limit begin? Does it start at the speed limit sign, at some point beyond the sign, or where the sign becomes clearly visible? | 143 |
| If the national speed limit is 55 miles per hour, why do speedometers go up to 85 miles per hour and higher? | 144 |
| What is the purpose of public and underarm hair, the only body hair that men and women share in abundance? | 146 |
| Why do construction crews put pine trees on top of buildings they are working on? | 147 |
| Why aren't whitewall auto tires as wide as they used to be? | 149 |
| Why do clocks run "clockwise"? | 150 |
| On clocks and watches with roman numerals, why is four usually noted as IIII rather than IV? | 151 |
| Why are rain clouds dark? | 152 |
| Why are so many corporations incorporated in Delaware? | 153 |
| Why does Coca-Cola from a small bottle taste better than Coca-Cola from a large bottle or can? | 157 |
| Why and when was 1982-1984 chosen to replace 1967 as the base year for the Consumer Price Index? Why wasn't it changed after ten years? | 159 |
| Why do firehouses have dalmatians? | 162 |
| Doughnut-shop employees always pick up the doughnuts with a tissue so that their hands never touch the doughnuts. Why do they then put the same tissue in with the doughnuts for the customer to carry home-germs and all? | 164 |
| Why is scoring three goals in hockey called a hat trick? | 165 |
| What are the names on the bottom of grocery sacks? | 166 |
| Why do Chinese restaurants use monosodium glutamate? | 168 |
| Why do old men wear their pants higher than young men? | 171 |
| Why are Oreos called "Oreos"? | 173 |
| What are those funny numbers on the bottom of copyright pages in books? | 175 |
| Why is 40 percent alcohol called 80 proof? | 177 |
| Why are humans most comfortable at 72[degree] F? Why not at 98.6[degree] F? | 178 |
| Why do they call large trucks "semis"? Semi-whats? | 179 |
| Why does San Francisco sourdough bread taste different from other sourdough French breads? | 180 |
| Does the U.S. Postal Service add flavoring to the glue on postage stamps to make the taste more palatable? | 182 |
| Why do wagon wheels in westerns appear to be spinning backward? | 183 |
| Why does unscented hair spray smell? | 184 |
| Why does heat lightning always seem far away? And why don't you ever hear thunder during heat lightning? | 185 |
| Why can't hair grow on a vaccination mark? | 186 |
| What kind of hen lays extra-large eggs? What determines the size categories of chicken eggs? | 186 |
| Why do some chickens lay brown eggs and others lay white eggs? | 189 |
| How did the expression "two bits" come to mean 25 cents? How did "two bit" come to mean "cheap"? | 191 |
| Why did Volkswagen discontinue making the "Bug"? | 192 |
| Why are the flush handles on toilets on the left side? | 195 |
| Why does the price of gas end in nine-tenths of a cent? | 197 |
| When I open the hot-water tap, why does the sound of the running water change as it gets hot? | 199 |
| The measurement of "one foot" was meant to approximate the length of a man's foot. How did they decide how long a meter should be? | 200 |
| Why does the moon appear bigger at the horizon than up in the sky? | 202 |
| If we see mockingbirds during the day and hear them at night, when do they sleep? | 205 |
| Why were Phillips screws and screwdrivers developed? | 206 |
| Why do trucks now say their contents are "flammable" when they used to say "inflammable"? | 207 |
| Why can't they make newspapers that don't smudge? | 209 |
| How and why do horses sleep standing up? | 212 |
| Why is seawater blue and tap water clear? Why does the color of the ocean range from blue to red? | 213 |
| Why don't kitchen sinks have an overflow mechanism? | 214 |
| Why do you have to dry-clean raincoats? | 216 |
| What is the purpose of the white half-moons on the bases of our fingernails and toenails? And why don't they grow out with the nails? | 218 |
| Can raisins be made from seeded grapes? | 218 |
| When a fly alights on the ceiling, does it perform a loop or a roll in order to get upside down? | 220 |
| How can "perpetual care" be assured in cemeteries after they run out of space for new plots? | 221 |
| What is the purpose of the pinholes around the sides of screw caps on soft-drink bottles? | 223 |
| Why are military medals worn on the left? | 223 |
| Why do bicycle tires go flat when the bike isn't used for long periods of time? | 224 |
| How do they print the "M&M" on M&M's chocolate candies? | 227 |
| Why are there no seams on M&M's? | 228 |
| What does M&M stand for? | 228 |
| Why are there more brown M&M's than any other color, and how do they determine the ratio of colors? | 228 |
| Why did they take away red M&M's? Why have they put them back recently? | 229 |
| How do manufacturers decide whether freezers go on the top or the bottom of refrigerators? | 230 |
| Why do hot dogs come ten to a package and hot-dog buns come eight to a package? | 232 |
| Frustrables, or the ten "most wanted" Imponderables | |
| Why do you so often see one shoe lying on the side of the road? | 236 |
| Why are buttons on men's shirts and jackets arranged differently from those on women's shirts? | 237 |
| Why do the English drive on the left and just about everybody else on the right? | 238 |
| Why is yawning contagious? | 238 |
| Why do we give apples to teachers? | 238 |
| Why does looking up at the sun cause us to sneeze? | 238 |
| Why does the first puff of a cigarette smell better than subsequent ones? | 238 |
| Why do women in the United States shave their armpits? | 239 |
| Why don't you ever see really tall old people? | 239 |
| Why do only older men seem to have hairy ears? | 239 |
| Acknowledgments | 241 |
| Index | 247 |
| Master Index of Imponderability | 253 |
