Time To Stoop Up

We got a few things done around home this summer during some time off. One of them was this clothesline stoop that Florence has been needing for quite some time. It’s amazing how your mind has time to roam when you work with your hands. Dictionary.com says that a stoop is “a small raised platform, approached by steps”. Yet the same resource says that to ‘stoop’ is “to bend the head and shoulders, or the body generally, forward and downward”. Curious!?

It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, but then again, the English language tends to be like that:  

Why do ‘fat chance’ and ‘slim chance’ mean the same thing?

Why do ‘slow down’ and ‘slow up’ mean the same thing?

Why do ‘overlook’ and ‘oversee’ mean opposite things?

Why does the word ‘cleave’ mean both to split apart and to stick together?

Did you hear about the couple that adopted a Japanese baby? After a long wait, the adoption centre told them they had a wonderful Japanese baby boy, and they took him without hesitation. On the way home from the adoption centre, they stopped by the local college so they could enroll in night courses.

After they filled out the form, the registration clerk asked, “So, whatever possessed you to study Japanese?”

"Well", the couple said proudly, "we just adopted a Japanese baby and in a year or so he'll start to talk. We just want to be able to understand him."