(via Mitch Hedberg’s joke about broken escalators: “Sorry, escalator temporarily stairs.”)

• Things that, when broken, are the same only shorter/smaller:
  • pencil => shorter pencil
  • stick => shorter stick
  • ruler => shorter ruler
  • rock => smaller rocks
• Things that, when broken, become insulated boxes:
  • oven => insulated box
  • refrigerator => insulated box
  • microwave => insulated box
• Things that, when broken, still maintain a subset of their original functions:
  • escalator => stairs
  • moving sidewalk => ground
  • electric toothbrush => heavy toothbrush
  • electric bicycle => heavy bicycle
  • electric fence => fence
  • quantum computer => classical computer
  • iPhone (with broken cellular contract) => iPod Touch
  • headphones => earmuffs
  • speech => stuttering
• Things that, because of being broken, become something new:
  • government => environmental theater production
  • ceiling => skylight
  • skin => scab