Rethorical Questions?


For thoes of you that know me, you know that I love unanswerable questions. These are a few of my personal favorites. Hint: The new ones are listed first. If you haven't been here in a while, just start at the beginning and read until they look familiar.


Last Updated: 16/02/2001
  • Why can't women put on mascara with their mouths closed?
  • Why is a boxing ring square?
  • Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips after you use it?
  • Why is it necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?
  • Why is it rain drops, but snow falls?
  • Is it OK to use the AM radio after noon?
  • What do chickens think we taste like?
  • What do people in China call their good plates?
  • When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
  • Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
  • If a firefighter fights fire and a crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight?
  • If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
  • If you type "*****" for a search query on the Web, do you get the answer to everything?
  • Why do they call it a Tv set, when you only get one?
  • Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting?
  • Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?
  • Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?
  • Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?
  • Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?
  • Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
  • Why do "tug" boats push their barges?
  • Why do we say that something is out of Whack? What is whack?
  • Why do we call the third hand on a watch the second hand?
  • Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?
  • If we have "convenient" stores, why don't we have inconvenient stores?
  • Do wet hens really get mad?
  • If a word is misspelled in a dictionary, how would we ever know?
  • If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
  • Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?
  • Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
  • Why do they have signs at Burger King that say, "Picture menus available for those who need them"? If you can't read, how can you ask for a picture menu?
  • Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game", when we are already there?
  • Why is it called "after dark", when it is really after light?
  • When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts," and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
  • Can fat people really go "skinny dipping"?
  • Do geese get "peopled"?
  • Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?
  • If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
  • If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes"?
  • When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?
  • Why buy a product that it takes 2000 flushes to get rid of?
  • Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?
  • What do little birdies see when they get knocked unconscious?
  • Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
  • Should you trust a stockbroker who's married to a travel agent?
  • Is boneless chicken considered to be an invertebrate?
  • Do married people live longer than single people, or does it just SEEM longer?
  • If all those psychics know the winning lottery numbers, why are they all still working?
  • Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse?
  • Whose cruel idea was it for the word "lisp" to have an "s" in it?
  • Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?
  • Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds fee" on money they already know you don't have?
  • Do fish get cramps after eating?
  • How come Superman could stop bullets with his chest, but always ducked when someone threw a gun at him?
  • Why is it lemon juice contains mostly artificial ingredients, but dishwashing liquid contains real lemons?
  • "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
  • If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, and drycleaners depressed?
  • Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure?
  • Why is the man who invests all your money called a BROKER?
  • Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It's just stale bread to begin with.
  • Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car is not called a racist?
  • Why are wise man and a wise guy opposites?
  • Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
  • If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?
  • Why do women wear evening gowns to nightclubs? Shouldn't they be wearing night gowns?
  • If a vampire casts no reflection in a mirror, why do you always see their hair perfectly styled?
  • Whatever happened to Absorbine Senior?
  • Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?
  • Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
  • Why do we wait until a pig is dead to "cure" it?
  • Why do they call it the Department of Interior when they are in charge of everything outdoors?
  • Since Americans throw rice at weddings, do Orientals throw hamburgers?
  • Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?
  • If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with, "Quit while you're ahead"?
  • If a tin whistle is made out of tin, then what, exactly, is a fog horn made out of?
  • Does fuzzy logic tickle?
  • If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it FedUP?
  • Can atheists get insurance for acts of God?
  • If a bus station is where a bus stops, and a train station is where a train stops, then what is a work station?
  • If a deceased burn victim goes to a crematorium, does he get a discount?
  • If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
  • Could it be that all those trick-or-treaters wearing sheets aren't going as ghosts, but as mattresses?
  • What was the best thing before sliced bread?
  • If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
  • Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
  • Why do they call it taking a leak, when you are actually leaving one?
  • If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
  • If you ate pasta and antipasta, would you still be hungry?
  • If you plan to fail, and you succeed, what have you done?
  • What hair color do they put on a bald man's driver's license?
  • How do they get deer to cross at the yellow road signs?
  • Why do they use sterile needles for lethal injections?
  • Why do kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
  • Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
  • What is the speed of dark?
  • When you're sending someone Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?
  • Why are there Braille signs on drive-up ATM's?
  • If women wear a pair of pants, a pair of glasses, and a pair of earrings, why don't they wear a pair of bras?
  • How come you never hear about gruntled employees?
  • What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?
  • After eating, do amphibians have to wait one hour before getting out of the water?
  • If white wine goes with fish, do white grapes go with sushi?
  • What's another word for synonym?
  • If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
  • When sign makers go on strike, what is written on their picket signs?
  • Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?
  • Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
  • Why are builders afraid to have a 13th floor but book publishers aren't afraid to have a Chapter 11?
  • How can there be self-help groups?
  • Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?
  • Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?
  • If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose?
  • Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
  • Why is it that when you transport something by car, its called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, its called cargo?
  • Why do we play in recitals and recite in plays?
  • Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
  • Where are Preparations A through G?
  • Are there seeing eye humans for blind dogs?
  • If knees were backwards, what would chairs look like?
  • When you open a new bag of cotton balls, are you supposed to throw the top one away?
  • When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there, staring at carpeting?
  • What happened to the first 6 "ups"?
  • If an orange is orange, why isn't a lime called a green or a lemon called a yellow?
  • Why does your nose run, and your feet smell?
  • If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
  • If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
  • Instead of talking to your plants, if you yelled a them would they still grow, only to be troubled and insecure?
  • Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"?
  • Why do they report power outages on TV?
  • What should you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant?
  • Is it possible to be totally partial?
  • If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages? Would a fly that loses it wings be called a walk?
  • Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
  • If the funeral procession is at night, do folks drive with their headlights off?
  • If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
  • If a man speaks in the forest and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?
  • If a turtle loses his shell, is it naked or homeless?
  • Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
  • Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?
  • If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
  • To shoot a mime, would you need to use a silencer?
  • Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
  • If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
  • If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them?
  • Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
  • If nothing will stick to Teflon, how does Teflon stick to pans?
  • Why do businesses that remain open 24 hours a day still have locks on their doors?
  • People always tell you not to wear suede in the rain. Why not? Cows do.
  • Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?
  • Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
  • How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings?
  • If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from a height, what would happen?
  • If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?
  • You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes, why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance?
  • Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
  • How do you tell when yogurt has gone bad?
  • Why is there an expiration date on a sour cream container?
  • If you placed a refrigerator in a climatically sealed room and left it running with the door open, would the room get hotter or colder?
  • Why are flamingo's pink and their knees are on backwards?
  • Could God create a rock so heavy that he himself could not lift it?
  • If you ate your own foot, would you lose weight?
  • What is Braille for "Braille"?
  • Have you ever thought of all the holes there could be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?
  • Do babies think adults are cute?
  • If you melt a pool full of dry ice, can you swim in it without getting wet?
  • If you are standing directly on the line between two time zones, and it is 12:00 on one side and 1:00 on the other, is it 12:30 where you are standing?
  • Why do you press harder on a remote control when you know the battery is dead?
  • If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?
  • Why is the alphabet in that order?
  • If the universe is everything, and scientists say that the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?
  • If you got into a taxi and the driver started driving backward, would the taxi driver end up owing you money?
  • Why is a carrot more orange than an orange?
  • Why are there 5 syllables in the word "monosyllabic"?
  • Why do scientists call it research when looking for something new?
  • When I erase a word with a pencil, where does it go?
  • Why is it, when a door is open it's ajar, but when a jar is open, it's not a door?
  • Why do we put suits in a garment bag and put garments in a suitcase?
  • If con is the opposite of pro, does that mean that congress is the opposite of progress?