why does to overlook mean not to see what u should and to overhear mean to hear what u should not?

Answer 1

I can answer that if you can tell me why does someone drive on a parkway and park on a driveway

Answer 2

Actually, overlook can mean to not see what you should, a sense closer to the meaning of overhear, in the sense that a judge might say to an accused: "I will overlook your behaviour this one time."

Answer 3

1) compound words like these frequently take on a specialized idiomatic meanings, as needed (note that there are MANY "over-" compounds). . .

This is a bit the common use of "phrasal verbs" in English --whose idiomatic meanings are frequently quite distant from the original 'literal' meaning the verb and preposition (or adverb) might suggest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verb
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslphrasal.html

2) the original, more literal idea of each of these words would not have been so very different:

the first meaning of overlook was/is -- "to look from above/from an elevated position" (as in "My house overlooks the lake."). This very easily can be used to referring to one's (accidentally or deliberately) looking 'past' something

'overhear' or 'hear from above' suggests the picture of one hearing from an elevated position. It is easy to imagine how that would be a place where the listener would not be noticed, perhaps not even seen, by the speaker.


If that doesn't help, consider that "over" --like prepositions in general-- has a whole range of meanings, beginning with the literal, physical ideas and moving on to more abstract ones (again, as needed)
http://www.webster.com/dictionary/over
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/over

Answer 4

-Overlook- refers more to proximity, i.e. your line of sight. It's anout not noticing because you are either looking at the wrong thing or you are distracted, for example, like walking on the grass and not looking down to see the rake because your attention is trained on something else.

-Overhear-, I believe, uses "over" as a modifier, like overlord, overheat or overbearing. It denotes the degree of something, not focal point. Therefore it is a slightly negative connotation. If you "overhear," something it is because you were not intended to but either because you have insinuated yourself or the subject was too loud.

Answer 5

Benefit of a doubt !