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Do Elephants Jump?

, by Feldman, David

Do Elephants Jump? by Feldman, David, 9780060539146

Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.

ISBN: 9780060539146 | 0060539143
Cover: Paperback
Copyright:

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Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Ponder, if you will ... Where do you find fascinating explanations for a multitude of mysteries? Why do pianos have 88 keys? How does the hole get in the needle of a syringe? Why is peanut butter sticky? Pop culture guru David Feldman demystifies these questions and much more in Do Elephants Jump? One of the Imponderables? series -- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's everyday mysteries -- and charmingly illustrated by Kassie Schwan, this book provides you with small mysteries that puzzle and amaze us.

Preface

xv

Why Was He Called the Lone Ranger When Tonto Was Always Hanging Around?

1

(2)

When Does a Bill Become a Beak on a Bird?

3

(2)

What Does ``Legitimate'' Theater Mean? Where Can You Find ``Illegitimate'' Theater?

5

(2)

Why Do Pianos Have 88 Keys?

7

(2)

Why Do Rice Cakes Hold Together?

9

(2)

Why Doesn't the Water in Fire Hydrants Freeze During the Winter?

11

(1)

Why Do So Many Bars Feature Televisions with the Sound Turned off?

12

(2)

Why Do So Many Taverns Put Mirrors in Back of the Liquor Bottles Behind the Bar?

14

(3)

Why Does the Pope Change His Name upon Assuming His Office?

17

(1)

Do Identical Twins Have Identical Fingerprints? Identical DNA?

18

(3)

Why Does Monopoly Have Such Unusual Playing Tokens?

21

(2)

What Are Those Black Specks on Corn Chips, Tortillas, and Tortilla Chips? And Why Are the Specks on Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips Less Dark?

23

(3)

Why Do We Say ``P.U.'' When Something Smells Awful?

26

(1)

Do Elephants Jump?

27

(2)

What Is the Purpose of the Recessed Notch on the Bottom of Most Round Shampoo Bottles? Why Are There Two Notches on Some?

29

(1)

Why Do Police Officers Hold Flashlights with an Overhand Grip?

30

(3)

Why Are Newspapers So Effective in Cleaning Windows?

33

(3)

Why Do We Fly Flags at Half-Mast to Honor the Dead?

36

(2)

Where Is the Donkey in Donkey Kong?

38

(3)

Why Don't the Silver Fillings in Our Mouth Rust?

41

(1)

Why Do Beavers Build Dams?

42

(4)

How Do They Keep Staples in Their Packages Clumped Together?

46

(1)

Why Did Pilgrims' Hats Have Buckles?

47

(4)

Who Are All Those People on the Sidelines During American Football Games?

51

(3)

Why Do Crickets Chirp at Night? What Are They Up to During the Day? And Why Does It Seem That Crickets Chirp More in the Summer?

54

(3)

How Do They Put the Hole in the Needle of a Syringe?

57

(2)

Why Do FM Frequencies End in Odd Tenths?

59

(2)

Why Do Streets and Sidewalks Sometimes Glitter?

61

(2)

Why Do Thimbles Have Holes?

63

(2)

How Do Birds Know Where to Peck for Worms?

65

(8)

What Letters Does Campbell's Include in Alphabet Soup in Countries That Don't Use Our Alphabet (e.g., Greece, Israel, Egypt)?

73

(1)

Who Decides Where the Boundary Line Is Between Oceans? If You're on the Ocean, How Do You Know Where That Line Is?

74

(3)

Why Do Priests Wear Black?

77

(2)

Since Priests Wear Black, Why Does the Pope Wear White?

79

(1)

Why Does the Pope Wear a White Skullcap, and When Did This Custom Begin? How Does He Keep It Fastened? And Why at Other Times Does He Wear a Double-Pointed Hat?

80

(2)

Why Is There No Light in the Freezer Compartment?

82

(3)

Why Don't Most Ovens and Refrigerators Have Thermometers?

85

(3)

Do Skunks Think Skunks Stink?

88

(4)

Why Do Ice Trays Function Better When Put in Their Designated Area in the Freezer? Or Do They?

92

(2)

Why Are Fraternities and Sororities and Most Secret Societies Named with Greek Letters?

94

(5)

Why Are Charcoal Barbecues Usually Round and Gas Grills Usually Rectangular?

99

(4)

Why Do We Rub Our Eyes When We're Tired?

103

(2)

Were Roman Chariots as Wobbly and Flimsy as Depicted in Movies? If So, How Could They Be Used Effectively in Wartime?

105

(3)

Why Are New CDs Released on Tuesdays? Why Aren't New Books Released on a Particular Day?

108

(4)

Why Are Loons Singled Out as Lunatics?

112

(3)

Why Are the Notre Dame Sports Teams Called ``the Fighting Irish'' When the School Was Founded by French Catholics?

115

(3)

Why Did Bars Used to Put Sawdust on the Floor? Why Don't They Anymore?

118

(3)

Why Do Toads Have Warts?

121

(2)

Why Does Patting on the Back Induce Burping in Babies?

123

(2)

Why Are Thin-Cut Green Beans Called ``French Style''?

125

(1)

Why Do Older People Tend to Snore More Than Younger People?

126

(2)

Why Do Many Whiplash Victims Feel OK the Day of the Accident and Much Worse Days Later?

128

(2)

Why Do White Styrofoam Picnic Coolers Have Blue Specks in Them?

130

(1)

Do Fish Really Bite More When It Is Raining?

131

(7)

Why Are We Instructed to ``Remove Card Quickly'' When We Swipe Our Credit Cards at the Gas Pump or Grocery Store?

138

(3)

Some Credit Card Reading Machines Ask You to Dip the Card and Pull It Out Rather Than Swipe. Does the Reader Pick Up the Data on the Way In or the Way Out?

141

(1)

Why Are Flour Tortillas Larger Than Corn Tortillas?

142

(4)

Why Do Our Noses Run in Cold Weather?

146

(1)

Why Do Bulls in Cartoons Have Nose Rings? And Why Don't Cows Have Them?

147

(2)

Why Is Salt Sold in Round Containers?

149

(1)

Why Is There a Two-Minute Warning in American Football?

150

(1)

Why Does the Japanese Flag Sometimes Have Red Beams Radiating from the Sun?

151

(5)

Why Do We ``See Stars'' When We Bump Our Head?

156

(2)

How Is the Maximum Occupancy for a Public Room Determined?

158

(2)

Why Do Teddy Bears Frown?

160

(5)

Why Are the Sprinkles Put on Ice Cream and Doughnuts Also Called Jimmies?

165

(3)

Why Do We Draw a Bead on a Target?

168

(1)

Why Do Many Dictionaries Say That the Days of the Week Are Pronounced ``Fri-DEE,'' ``Sun-DEE,'' etc.?

169

(11)

Why Do the Speed Controls on Fans Go from ``Off'' to ``High'' to ``Low''? Wouldn't It Make More Sense for Them to Go from ``Off'' to ``Low'' to ``High''?

180

(1)

Why Are Public Radio Stations Clustered on the Low End of the FM Dial in the United States?

181

(2)

Why Do Pregnant Women Get Strange Food Cravings? And Why Do They Suddenly Start Hating Foods They Used to Love Before They Were Pregnant?

183

(3)

Why Can't We Buy Fresh Baby Corn in Markets?

186

(1)

Why Are the Strips of Staples Designed for Office Staplers Too Long for the Space in the Stapler, Leaving Little Clumps to Clutter Drawers?

187

(2)

Why Do Most Staplers Have a Setting to Bend Staples Outward?

189

(2)

Why Was Charles Schulz's Comic Strip Called Peanuts?

191

(2)

What Happens to Sandbags After Flooding Is Over?

193

(3)

Why Do Rinks Use Hot Water to Resurface the Ice?

196

(3)

How Did Fire Helmets Get Their Distinctive Shape?

199

(5)

Why Is Peanut Butter Sticky?

204

(3)

Why Are the Uniforms of Professional Japanese Baseball Players Printed in English Letters and Arabic Numbers?

207

(2)

Why Does Caucasian Babies' and Children's Hair Get Darker as They Age?

209

(1)

Why Does the Bass Clef on Sheet Music Have Two Dots Next to It? What's the Purpose of the Fussy Look of All the Clefs? And How Did Musicians Share Compositions Before There Was Sheet Music?

210

(3)

Why Can't You See Stars in the Background in Photos or Live Shots of Astronauts in Space?

213

(3)

What Are Those Wigwams Doing off to the Side of Interstate Highways?

216

(3)

Why Don't Women Faint as Much as They Used To?

219

(4)

Why Don't Tornadoes Ever Seem to Hit Big Buildings or Big Cities?

223

(2)

Why Do Only Kids Seem to Get Head Lice?

225

(3)

Why Are Wells Round?

228

(1)

Why Are Some People Double-Jointed?

229

(3)

Why Do You Sometimes Find Ice in the Urinals in Men's Bathrooms?

232

(2)

Why Do Auto Batteries Lose Their Charge When Left on a Concrete Floor?

234

(2)

Why Does Gum Get Hard When You Drink Water While Chewing?

236

(1)

Why Is There a Dot on Billiards and Pool Cue Balls?

237

(3)

Why Are Some Parts of Our Bodies More Ticklish Than Others?

240

(1)

If All Time Zones Converge at the North and South Poles, How Do They Tell Time There?

241

(2)

How Do You Tell Directions at the North and South Poles?

243

(1)

Why Does Orange Juice Taste So Awful After You've Brushed Your Teeth?

244

(2)

Who Was Casper the Friendly Ghost Before He Died?

246

(5)

Letters

251

(34)

Acknowledgments

285

(6)

Index

291

(4)

Master Index of Imponderability

295

(40)

Help!

335

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