With the cool snap we experienced this past weekend, you may have had to put on a jacket. Or, was it a coat? What’s the real difference between a coat & a jacket, anyway? Well, according to the professionals, there’s actually only one real distinct difference between a coat & a jacket. A lot of…
If you’ve ever had to follow directions while driving, you’ve probably ended up flustered or confused when you come across a road or street that has more than one name. Chestnut Street can become Loblolly Street before going back to being Chestnut Street; Whippoorwill Lane can morph into Hoot Owl Drive; Buckeystown Pike is also…
Saltwater is obviously wet. And we eat things with salt in them all the time. So why can’t we drink saltwater? It isn’t really because of germs (though that’d also be a valid reason). It’s mainly because…well, it’s salty. Sodium is the main element in salt, but salt isn’t inherently bad for you. It’s actually…
You’ve probably had questions about your clothes before, like “Why are shirt buttons on different sides for men & women? (Because, historically, women didn’t dress themselves.) Or why do my jeans have a tiny pocket? (To hold your pocket watch, duh.) But, while both of those points are relics of a different time, nowadays if…
Whenever you set a washing machine for a specific load type, the machine will usually tell you how much time it’ll take to complete the wash cycle. Yet, while it may say 50 minutes, an hour on & the washer will still be spinning out before finally signaling that it’s done about five minutes later.…
Why is it that lemon juice is made with artificial flavor, yet dishwashing liquid is made with “real lemons”? First, it depends on what what you mean by “lemon juice”. If you’re talking about just raw, unsweetened lemon juice that you might use for cooking, you can actually buy that (“RealLemon” brand) & it really…
Most grocery stores will usually have large windows across the front of the store. But, once you’re inside, that natural light all but disappears. Stores rarely, if ever, have windows along their inner walls. Why is that? It’s actually a facet of retail shopping psychology. Store owners want to create an environment where you feel…
If you’re shopping in a grocery store’s baking aisle, you’ll notice that the companies selling 100% corn or peanut oil proudly emblazon the identity of their star vegetables in marquee-sized letters on the label. So, why are they so much more obtuse when it comes to vegetable oil? What mystery veggie (or veggies) do they…
With the economy shut down over the past year, there’s been a lot of talk about going “back to square one”…trying to start back over & return to where we were pre-pandemic. But what does that even mean, “back to square one”? And where did it come from? Whenever someone involved in a project or…
Chances are, if you were to look at your wrist right now, you’d see a watch on it. But why is that thing called a watch? I mean, do you have to watch a watch any more than you would a clock? Why not call it a “wrist-clock”? Why “watch”? Well, according to the dictionary,…