Anyone for a brain teaser? - Page 3

Scarberry2003 · 05-27-2008, 08:53 AM

Guess if you look hard enough, you can find an answer!

One of the classic illustrations of the supposed illogic of English is the fact that we park on a driveway but drive on a parkway. There are two explanations for this particular conundrum: (1) the meanings of words change over the years, and (2) the same word can have more than one meaning.

A driveway originally did refer to a road you drive on: a driveway was a private road leading from a main road to a house. (Imagine the stereotyped long winding driveway leading up to a huge manor house and you get the idea.) But nowadays, when driveways are thirty feet long and lead only to a garage--if anything--their purpose is just to store cars next to a house. That's why we park on driveways.

A parkway, in contrast, was (and still is) a thoroughfare meant to suggest a park: rather than just being a plain road, it has trees planted on the sides or on a median divider, it's usually smaller than other highways, it twists and turns--a scenic road, in short. So the park part of parkway is the word meaning 'a nice-looking part of land in a natural state', not the word meaning 'to leave (a vehicle) in a place'. And that's why we drive on parkways.

Jenni.enoch · 05-27-2008, 12:30 PM

omg sorry guys for some reason the page was bringing me to the beginning of this whole thing...ok...i get it now

pk · 05-27-2008, 01:23 PM

Quote:

omg sorry guys for some reason the page was bringing me to the beginning of this whole thing...ok...i get it now

lol that's ok, sometimes it can get a bit confusing. It's great to have you here though...the more we have the more fun it is.

pk

notaregift · 06-01-2008, 08:01 AM

now i get what why a parkway and driveway are used the way they are used..

Alec-Eldifrawi · 06-19-2008, 03:30 PM

I am glad that is settled

lilly · 07-27-2008, 01:17 PM

At a recent Pets Anonymous reunion, the attendees were discussing which pets they had recently owned. James used to have a dog. The person who used to own a mouse now owns a cat, but the person who used to have a cat does not have a mouse. Kevin has now or used to have a dog, I can't remember which. Becky has never owned a mouse. Only one person now owns the pet they previously had. Rebecca said very little throughout the meeting and nobody mentioned the hamster. Can you determine who owns which pet and what they used to own?

Ill put the annswer on after I see some tries. All you need is a pen and paper to figure this one out. Have fun!