Saturday, April 12, 2008
Fire engines
My sister, daughter, g'daughter and I had tea yesterday afternoon at a wonderful tea room in Tarrytown (more on that in another post today). During the course of a marvelously wide-ranging conversation, that little 'joke' about why are fire engines red came up and none of us knew all the words, so to speak. I researched it online and no one had it exactly as I remembered it so here it is as I recall (and by the way all praise to the internet):
Why are fire engines red?

Well, to begin with, fire engines have 8 wheels and 4 people riding in them.
8 plus 4 is 12.
12 inches is a foot.
A foot is a ruler.
A famous ruler was Queen Elizabeth.
The "Queen Elizabeth" was a ship that sailed the sea.
The sea has fish.
Fish have fins.
The Finns fought the Russians.
The Russians are red [sic] and fire engines are always rushin' . . .
    . . . which is why fire engines are always red.
And there you have it!

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Permalink | | posted by jau at 9:15 AM


2 more:
Blogger ligneus — at 10:48 PM, April 13, 2008:
For we who never grew up, silly is great!
O/T I know you come from a musical background and have young kids, so I wonder if you know of a splendid record from the early seventies I think, The Simon Sisters Sing Songs for Children. Luci and Carly Simon sing such as Calico Pie, The Lobster Quadrille, The Owl and the Pussycat, Who Has Seen the Wind etc.
My kids grew up with it and now my grandchildren have taken to it. It's long out of print of course but you can find it on ebay.
 

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Blogger jau — at 9:38 AM, April 14, 2008:
I'll definitely look for it! They'd love it, I think!!

Yes indeed, silly is the cat's meow!!

Thanks!!!
 

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