Why quantum mechanics?

[Alice Faber]

"Because duck", surely?

On 1/10/14 8:39 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> So we've finally realized that the appropriate answer to the Groucho's (or was it Chico's?) question "Why a duck?" is, of course, "Because a duck."
>
> LH
>
> On Jan 10, 2014, at 8:21 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>
>> I find "why Tuesday?" or "why pork chops?", &c. a perfectly natural,
>> elliptical way of asking "why have you chosen Tuesday (instead of the day
>> I'd prefer) or "why are you serving pork chops (when you know that they get
>> stuck between my teeth)"
>>
>> GAT
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 11:10 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Isn't a question like "Why turbulence?" natural in speech and a possible
>>> source for the "Because X" pattern?
>>>
>>> DanG
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 7:48 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
>>>> Subject:      Why quantum mechanics?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Today's xkcd comic contains a variant of the WOTY use of "because," a use
>>>> of
>>>> "why," as in "Why quantum mechanics?" and "Why turbulence?"
>>>>
>>>> http://xkcd.com/1315/
>>>>
>>>> (I haven't looked into whether Horace Lamb actually said anything of this
>>>> nature.)
>>>>
>>>> --Dave Wilton
>>>>    Doctoral Candidate, Department of English
>>>>    University of Toronto
>>>>    dave.wilton at utoronto.ca / dave at wilton.net
>>>>
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>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> George A. Thompson
>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>>
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>
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