"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote
> somebody wrote:

> >> Just hope that they don't ask you to write the answer...

> Yes. Blame the tequila.  (I knew someone would bring that up. :-)

> > Which, by the way, is of course "because the covers are round".

> Nope.

Wrong you are, but if you want a more verbose answer:

In "space", the natural shape for anything is a sphere (maximal symmetry for
anything finite). On the surface of the earth, gravity breaks symmetry
(vertical axis is different from the others) so spherical symmetry reduces
to cylindrical symmetry. The natural symmetry for *anything* on the surface,
barring any other constraints, is therefore cylindrical. Since there
typically is no good reason (ask not why is X, but why is not not X) to make
manhole covers non-cylindrical, most are cylindrical. Hence the holes.

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