Oxymorons

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One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other,
One was blind and the other couldn't see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
A paralysed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came to arrest the two dead boys,
If you don't believe this story’s true,
Ask the blind man he saw it too!
 
Then there are the houses with unlabelled switches mounted such that off is with the toggle in the upwards position - in some, but not all rooms. Every time I visit Dave's place, I want to grab a screw driver and change those, but as they've been living like that for 30+ yrs, can you imagine their confusion?
 
In the house where I grew up, the main bathroom had a dual switch plate; the vent fan switch was nearest the door, with the light switch behind it. (Neither was labeled, of course.) This offended my youthful sensibilities for years - shouldn't the light switch be the first one encountered by a hand groping in the dark? Does it reveal something about our dietary habits during the 1950s (when the house was built) that the fan switch was a higher locational priority?

Oh well - at least on was up, heh.
 
There is a valid reason to install 3-wire receptacles "upside-down." When the plug sags away from the receptacle (as they sometimes do when pulled downward by the weight of the cord), there is more of a tendency for conductors to be exposed than with a 2-wire plug, because the extra height of the plug face creates a longer lever. When the ground pin is on top, it's the first one exposed, so somewhat safer in this scenario. I'm not sure if there's anything in the codes about this specifically, but it makes sense to me.
 
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With a three-way switch system (2 controlling switch stations) half the time, off could be up.


True - I should have qualified that none in the cited case were.


As for code for electrical outlets, I'd never paid that much attention to them, and for fun just Googled the subject. If you use the direction of name brand engraved on the mounting tabs and central portion of plastic housing, the orientation would seem to be with the ground terminal at the top. But in our manufacturing plant wired by certified electricians, it's the reverse.

meh?
 
But in our manufacturing plant wired by certified electricians, it's the reverse.

meh?

Was the electrical system installer Australian? 😀

[We had a house in London in which the plumbing and heating had been installed by (qualified) Australian guys. Every local plumber refused to touch it as the codes of practice were not the same as they use! In the end we had the whole heating system rebuilt by a German qualified heating specialist. His work was superb though.

The electricians had paid no heed to colour coding when installing the electrics and I spent a long time rewiring the wall outlets in the correct phase!]
 
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