Because they leave you out of their considerations.

Nigel Andrews, Dee Why Because the Unions grabbed the letter `u' first - AWU, TWU etc.

Terence Lee, Chatswood

For the same reason that TV announcers are beginning to pronounce words as newkiller, hundrets and mis-chev-i-ous, and don't forget 1 July and backward baseball caps. It's all a plot to turn us into another United State!

Sandy Parkinson, Hilton, WA



Because there's no room for `you' in Australian Labor.

Charlotte Towers, Adelaide



We still have a Labor Party?

Michael Burke, Yeronga, Qld



During the development of the Labour/Labor Party in the six Australian colonies and states between 1880 and 1920, it is difficult to find a definitive answer to the question. In Queensland during those years, there are many references to the Labour Party or Labour candidate. The seat of Bundaberg in Queensland was won in 1893 by a `black Labour candidate'. The manifesto for that election refers to `The Labour Party', where 46 candidates were endorsed for the 72 Queensland seats. By 1912, most references to the party are about, `The Labor Party'. However, the story I like to promote is the one about a particular meeting at Trades Hall where the members had a tipple or two during the design of a pamphlet. The story goes, that someone left the `u' out of Labour and the printing went ahead with `Labour' spelt `Labor' and has remained so ever since. However, in all the early writings about the development of the party, high on the list of aims were references to abstinence and strong family values ... so maybe no alcohol was involved at all.

Ian Rogers, Cronulla Is there a name for words that have the same ending but are pronounced differently, ie, bough and rough or now and snow?

The -ough suffix is known as a homograph (same spelling, different meaning or pronunciation) or a heteronym (different meaning or pronunciation, same spelling).

Paul Dodd, Docklands, Vic Words with the same spelling, but different meaning are homonyms, which logically makes the obverse type heteronyms. Presumably, then, if this form applies only to the suffix or word ending, they are retronyms?

Bob Dengate, Bathurst

English.

Judy Jones, Thornleigh In verse, they are often called eye-rhymes or sight-rhymes. Chaucer rhymed many words that no longer rhyme and more recent poets capitalise on the fact that much poetry is enjoyed silently.

Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

Yes, they're known as Dalziels.

Terence Lee, Chatswood Nough.

Patrick Jauffret, Wollstonecraft An arymonym, maybe?

Christopher Connolly, Ashfield



Yes, there is one word: Bloodylinguisticconfusion.

Sandy Parkinson, Hilton, WA



Such pairs are called eye rhymes, this term itself being ironically more pleasing to the ear than the eye.

Robert Vere, Surry Hills



English!

Garry McComb, Queanbeyan, ACT



Confusing to say the least. According to `The World's Best Trivia,' by Oliver Roydhouse, the combination `ough' can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: `A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.'

Jan Knapp, Bolong

Why do tradespeople traditionally start work at 7am, whereas office workers traditionally begin their working day at 9am?

The construction industry starts at 7am to avoid some of the hot weather in summer and the early dark in winter, when overtime wouldn't be possible. In an office, with artificial lighting and air-conditioning, it doesn't matter.

Sharon Pearce, Ourimbah Because, occasionally, some office workers turn up.

Bob Dengate, Bathurst



To beat the traffic.

Wendy Bull, Chatswood



Tradesmen arrive at 7am and start work at 9am, so that they can stop for morning smoko.

George Hayes, Castle Hill



Tradesmen like to get up at the CRACK of dawn.

Steve Barrett, Glenbrook



Tradesmen start their racket at 7am so as to wake up the office workers living next door.

J. Barrie Brown, Gordon



Tradesmen tend to work in the open and rely on daylight. At 7am a full working day is possible all year round. Office workers have artificial light and are not governed by the prodigal sun.

Harry Bodisco, Dee Why



So they can replace more bodily fluids sweated out through the days work at the pub, when the 6 oclock swill was still in fashion.

Phil Robson, Latham, ACT

Why are railway sleepers called sleepers?

Because, like the current Australian electorate, they don't wake up until they're being railroaded.

Randolph Magri-Overend, Point Clare Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says the word comes from the Norwegian sleip, a roller or timber laid along a road. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary says the word has been in use for tramways and railways since 1789.

Jock Brodie, Epping Because they lie down on the job.

Norm Neill, Leichhardt

They are called sleepers because they lie on the bed of the track but theres some irony in the name. If you examine the sleepers at some country railway stations, you will notice that the wood is rotten and the bolts are loose. They are a sleeping disaster.

Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie



Because they're laid in beds of course!

Sandy Parkinson, Hilton, WA



They are well trained.

Steve Barrett, Glenbrook



They could be just tired passengers on the 5.37pm ex Wynyard, or the carriages equipped for their use on the Melbourne overnight XPT, or perhaps a strong horizontal beam supporting a floor (1607), or a support for the rails of a tramway (1789) (OED).

J. Barrie Brown, Gordon



Well, they're not awake are they?

Dave Carter, Warrawee



In the 1600s in general building and in the 1700s in railways, a long horizontal beam, or balk of wood, was called `dormant timber' or `sleeper', probably because it seems like a human body laid out for sleep. Sleepers are also called railway ties.

David Buley, Seaforth



The term sleepers comes from the early pioneer railway builders in the USA where the Chinese labourers building the tracks would sleep between the length wise logs at night as a makeshift beds. The slave driving bosses then referred these men as sleepers. So tread careful when crossing tracks just in case.

Anthony Russo, Paddington



Because if you look in your backyard they lie along your flower `beds'!

Ben Thackeray, Gumly Gumly How long do butchers have to hang carcasses to ensure that the meat will be well hung?

Good butchers utilise early enzymes of the decay process to tenderise meat and large carcasses ideally hang up to two weeks in a cold store. Colin Lendon, O'Connor, ACT

Nowadays most meat is eaten within a few days of being hung, but in older times hanging the meat to "dry age" was said to improve the flavour. This was usually done for about 14 days, but sometimes up to 24 days.

David Buley, Seaforth For beef, about two metres, no bull.

J. Barrie Brown, Gordon



The jury is out on that one.

Steve Barrett, Glenbrook ANY ANSWERS?

· Why is it necessary to shoe horses and when did this practice start?

· Why do passengers disembark from planes and ships, alight from trains, get off buses and get out of cars?

· If everybody abandoned Sydney, how long would it take before it was covered over with plants?

· West Indies ... East Indies ... where are the Indies and why was it used as a point of reference?

READERS' RESPONSES

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