Jump to content

User:JackofOz/Ref Desk Questions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2004

[edit]
Date Topic Desk
17 Aug 04 Why "the" dictionary? (* see 19 Feb 09) Undiff
15 Oct 04 The American National Anthem before 1931 Undiff

2005

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
12 Jan 05 Why are roadways at night time always wet in the movies? Undiff
16 Jan 05 Dates of events on other worlds Undiff
10 Jul 05 Jesus H Christ Undiff
15 Oct 05 Movies that haunt me Humanities
Origin of "heads up" Language
16 Oct 05 What ever became of Graeme Faulkner ... Humanities
18 Oct 05 Famous married couples born on the same day Miscellaneous
26 Oct 05 George Abbott - oldest already-famous person in history (?) Miscellaneous
29 Oct 05 Tchaikovsky's favourite painting "Melancholy" / German chess movie Humanities
(* see 26 Mar 07)
9 Nov 05 Overseas vs. offshore Language
14 Nov 05 Loopwords Language
16 Nov 05 Killers' full names Miscellaneous
19 Nov 05 Birth order database Humanities
20 Nov 05 Using Wikipedia as a source Miscellaneous
22 Nov 05 Eponym of Rue St Jacques, Paris Miscellaneous
2 Dec 05 Asian politician who disappeared in Sydney early 1960s (* see 12 May 08) Miscellaneous
15 Dec 05 Christmas Greetings Miscellaneous
26 Dec 05 Musical works by Genre by Key Humanities

2006

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
2 Jan 06 Argentina, Lebanon and Ukraine Language
3 Jan 06 Jewish terminology Humanities
8 Jan 06 Film credits on posters Humanities
22 Jan 06 Tennis jargon Miscellaneous
27 Jan 06 The greatest furphy of all time Language
14 Feb 06 Happy Valentines Day Miscellaneous
First human on TV Science
16 Feb 06 Actors/actresses who were never nominated for an Oscar Humanities
17 Feb 06 Ants Science
21 Feb 06 Weekend newspapers Miscellaneous
7 Mar 06 Seven Different Films for the 7 Major Oscars Humanities
23 Mar 06 Impact on Rotation Science
5 Apr 06 Montreal Olympics Humanities
20 Apr 06 Signing off on Language
8 May 06 Mutually Exclusive National/Flag Colours Miscellaneous
23 May 06 Sentence Challenge Language
15 Jun 06 Elizabeth Fretwell Humanities
28 Jun 06 Isn't it Language
5 Jul 06 There's no two ways about it Language
Names for numbers Language
13 Jul 06 Surnames based on body parts Language
14 Jul 06 Past tenses Language
Free-for-all Miscellaneous
17 Jul 06 Felipe, Phillipines and Filipinos Language
18 Jul 06 Longest winning streak against a different opponent every time Miscellaneous
21 Jul 06 Author as a verb Language
24 Jul 06 Urination Arrangements Miscellaneous
1 Aug 06 Bond, James Bond Language
4 Aug 06 Initial Stress in Czech and Hungarian Language
9 Aug 06 Asian verbosity Language
Unidentified Boston man Miscellaneous
16 Aug 06 Ugly words Language
2 Oct 06 Words with two x's Language
12 Oct 06 Specacity Language
17 Oct 06 The History of a Coin Mathematics
24 Oct 06 La plus que lente Language
30 Oct 06 Verbs of elimination Language
2 Nov 06 Strange plurals Language
9 Nov 06 The Autumn Leaves Humanities
30 Nov 06 Environmental Effects of Tobacco Science
11 Dec 06 J in 4th position Language

2007

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
12 Jan 07 Yellow School Buses Miscellaneous
29 Jan 07 Former Greats Language
6 Feb 07 Double Degeneration, or "The Snitzel Syndrome" Language
16 Feb 07 I'm like Language
19 Feb 07 Suspicious/Suspect Language
27 Feb 07 Irritating TV news cliché Miscellaneous
4 Mar 07 Stone Language
12 Mar 07 In Store Language
23 Mar 07 U'Brien Language
26 Mar 07 Tchaikovsky's favourite painting "Melancholy" (2) Humanities
28 Mar 07 Probability of choosing a 7-letter word from 7 random Scrabble letters Mathematics
1 Apr 07 Pronunciation of "consummate" Language
3 Apr 07 Tree stumps in dams Science
7 Apr 07 Latin usage in the House of Lords Minutes Humanities
23 Apr 07 Mental images of unseen people Miscellaneous
15 May 07 Allegedly and similar adverbs Language
25 Jun 07 Triple s in geographical names Language
4 Jul 07 Czech Stress on first syllable Language
5 Jul 07 British Monarch missing presumed dead Humanities
21 Aug 07 List of countries by highest point above sea level Miscellaneous
3 Sep 07 Commonwealth Star - Australian National Flag Mathematics
14 Sep 07 Violin and Clarinet duos Humanities
24 Sep 07 Spick-and-span (& spick and span; & spick) Language
30 Sep 07 (In)transitive verbs Language
1 Oct 07 Looking for a solution Language
12 Oct 07 Your Language
5 Nov 07 Foreskin and health Miscellaneous
8 Nov 07 Victor Hugo and Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Humanities
11 Nov 07 Date of Maxim Gorky's death Humanities
4 Dec 07 I would rather you answer this question correctly Language
5 Dec 07 Tom Driberg Humanities
7 Dec 07 Jesus as a given name Humanities
10 Dec 07 Sweet biscuits (= cookies) and savoury crackers Science

2008

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
7 Jan 08 Arch (arch) and arch (ark) Language
9 Jan 08 V-words associated with anger Language
12 Jan 08 Meaning of "Jailed" Humanities
19 Jan 08 Box office smash Entertainment
22 Jan 08 Bang/dead to rights Language
1 Feb 08 "The" before expressions including personal names Language
9 Feb 08 Centre of gravity of a country and capital cities Mathematics
20 Feb 08 Advertisements with self-comparisons Miscellaneous
22 Feb 08 Curious, suspicious and trying (* see 27 May 11, 14 Aug 12, 7 Jul 23) Language
25 Feb 08 Three nuns Language
6 Mar 08 Authors "writing as" Language
11 Mar 08 Margarine, Margaret and soft/hard g Language
12 Mar 08 Asking the impossible Language
16 Mar 08 Is Uruguay unique? Language
19 Mar 08 Attribution of movie quotes Language
26 Mar 08 Doing blood work Language
27 Mar 08 Actors crossing themselves Entertainment
6 Apr 08 "Can not" vs. "cannot" in the 1860s Language
7 Apr 08 James Watt’s date of death Humanities
14 Apr 08 "Mispronounced" eponyms Language
17 Apr 08 Producers of TV shows Entertainment
30 Apr 08 Not a problem Language
9 May 08 Classifications of persons Language
12 May 08 South-East Asian politician who went missing in Sydney in the 1960s (* see 2 Dec 05) Miscellaneous
20 May 08 One Note, Themes and Variations Entertainment
9 Jun 08 The core rules of English Language
14 Jun 08 Mary Faulkner Humanities
19 Jun 08 Velpeau's Law Miscellaneous
24 Jun 08 Time was Language
27 Jun 08 Wimbledon sexism Entertainment
30 Jun 08 Members of a small group with the same birthday Miscellaneous
2 Jul 08 Birthday coincidences Mathematics
7 Jul 08 Translations of book titles Language
21 Jul 08 James Barton Entertainment
23 Jul 08 Genealogical relationships Humanities
26 Jul 08 Police breaking down doors Miscellaneous
27 Jul 08 Hyphenated homographs Language
12 Aug 08 A-side and B-side of albums Entertainment
19 Aug 08 Weighted Olympic ranking Entertainment
28 Aug 08 Whoever vs. whomever Language
1 Sep 08 The national anthem played at the cinema and at concerts Entertainment
9 Sep 08 Reconstructed literary and musical works Humanities
14 Sep 08 Plural of prima ballerina/assoluta Language
18 Sep 08 How quickly does Google recognise new words? Miscellaneous
21 Sep 08 What's this called Language
24 Sep 08 Strips of the world Miscellaneous
26 Sep 08 U.S. Constitutional over-punctuation Language
27 Sep 08 Samuel L. Gompers' middle name Humanities
2 Oct 08 Geographic jigsaw Miscellaneous
Titular character Language
Logic problem: Working out Wendy's birthdate Mathematics
5 Oct 08 Plural of "man’s man" Language
8 Oct 08 Sharks and sarcoidosis Language
27 Oct 08 Adding extra letters to words Language
28 Oct 08 That'll teach you to ... Language
6 Nov 08 Ant and ent words (mainly adjectives) Language
Lunch horn Language
12 Nov 08 Full moon on birthdays Science
19 Nov 08 TV adverts with mimed voices Miscellaneous
24 Nov 08 Factory cash backs Miscellaneous
1 Dec 08 Tousch Humanities
2 Dec 08 Widow/widower Language
8 Dec 08 Film music released before the film was released Entertainment
-ographer Language
Give, seen, came and done as past tense variants Language
13 Dec 08 Living geniuses Miscellaneous
15 Dec 08 Use of "the" at the delicatessen Language
19 Dec 08 If I don't see you beforehand ... Language
30 Dec 08 Waiting for the water to turn hot Science

2009

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
4 Jan 09 Inconsistent pluralisation, and inconsistent spelling generally Language
7 Jan 09 "Job" as a euphemism for faeces Language
16 Jan 09 Opposites of "must" Language
19 Jan 09 Knights and peers who die before gazettal Miscellaneous
29 Jan 09 Unhyphenated prefixes Language
1 Feb 09 Extra-terrestrial Babel Miscellaneous
2 Feb 09 Remarrying Language
8 Feb 09 Avoidance of "an" Language
9 Feb 09 Use of of Language
13 Feb 09 Words with exactly one rhyme Language
19 Feb 09 The dictionary (* see 17 Aug 04) Language
20 Feb 09 My, my Language
23 Feb 09 Nail-bitten hands in movies Entertainment
26 Feb 09 The Garden of Death Humanities
28 Feb 09 Words that have travelled a long way Language
10 Mar 09 The Panizza musical dynasty Humanities
22 Mar 09 Notable people who predeceased both their parents Miscellaneous
25 Mar 09 "There's" followed by a plural word (* see 3 Jul 16) Language
7 Apr 09 Plural of the noun "gas" Language
9 Apr 09 The Easter/Christmas road toll and the media Miscellaneous
14 Apr 09 Letters of a word rearranged to make two words Language
15 Apr 09 Cooking apples Miscellaneous
25 Apr 09 Dying of "aspiration" Language
29 Apr 09 Incomparable crack Language
2 May 09 Mac and Mc surnames Language
6 May 09 Stirring vs. jiggling Science
Birds tapping on windows Science
11 May 09 Name of a grammatical structure Language
Abbreviation of "I have not" Language
17 May 09 Mixed numbers Language
22 May 09 National Diet Library Miscellaneous
28 May 09 Really obvious candidates for articles that don't exist yet Miscellaneous
29 May 09 Sensible of Language
4 Jun 09 Readerly, writerly and painterly Language
11 Jun 09 Allow vs. permit Language
17 Jun 09 Cunjevoi Language
26 Jun 09 Lay and lie Language
3 Jul 09 Supposed to rain, etc Language
9 Jul 09 Debussy and Chouchou Language
12 Jul 09 Crazy TV news and current affairs practices Entertainment
15 Jul 09 Songs sometimes referred to by their lyrics Entertainment
22 Jul 09 Distribution of total solar eclipes Science
24 Jul 09 Regicide Language
30 Jul 09 Efficiency of written languages Language
4 Aug 09 -ear- pronounced -ar- Language
7 Aug 09 A tense question Language
22 Aug 09 The word "damascan" Language
Mathematically possible Language
26 Aug 09 Who is that woman? Miscellaneous
30 Aug 09 Misremembering having seen a movie Miscellaneous
3 Sep 09 Wee solid? Humanities
4 Sep 09 12 people in a family, all with birthdays in different months Mathematics
8 Sep 09 Premiere performances Humanities
9 Sep 09 Faintly ridiculous Language
19 Sep 09 Standards Language
23 Sep 09 Melbourne > Melburnian Language
7 Oct 09 The missing Arlésienne Language
16 Oct 09 Enjoying someone's support Language
Perfect anagrams of notable people's names Language
26 Oct 09 Governor-General of the United Kingdom Humanities
3 Nov 09 "Only" used as a contrast Language
6 Nov 09 Dumb words and expressions Language
9 Nov 09 Politeness and grammar Language
11 Nov 09 Prison learning Language
26 Nov 09 ffrench and fforde Language
11 Dec 09 Lover of bitter things Language
21 Dec 09 Woman as an adjective Language

2010

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
1 Jan 10 Entertention? Language
4 Jan 10 Of a [period] Language
7 Jan 10 Combinations of sounds that are hard to pronounce Language
15 Jan 10 Antithetical opposites Language
20 Jan 10 Mental pejorative Language
27 Jan 10 Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Miscellaneous
Harping on Language
4 Feb 10 Excessive thanks Miscellaneous
Devaluation of "snub" Language
7 Feb 10 Verbs used as nouns Language
15 Feb 10 Whoever vs. whomever Language
16 Feb 10 4 nations, 4 flags - same pair of colours Entertainment
21 Feb 10 Mann von Geist und sogar poetischen Geist Language
22 Feb 10 Repluralisation of initialisms, not to mention fried chicken Language
23 Feb 10 Making tea with zingless water Science
28 Feb 10 What's a tassie? Language
4 Mar 10 Premiere/premier Language
12 Mar 10 Can't be arsed Language
13 Mar 10 Italianate Language
24 Mar 10 Delight, opposite of de-light Language
31 Mar 10 Evelyn and Evelyn Miscellaneous
1 Apr 10 The larger woman Language
3 Apr 10 Clash of ofs Language
14 Apr 10 Bank cheque present etiquette Miscellaneous
15 Apr 10 Expeditious expeditions Language
16 Apr 10 The Leaning Brown Building of the Spanish Steps Science
19 Apr 10 English possessives of French names ending in silent -s Language
26 Apr 10 Double possessives and relative clauses Language
1 May 10 Hospitalised Language
7 May 10 Opposites of 'well-to-do' and 'well off' Language
Invitation to help me out with my German Language
12 May 10 Merging of expressions into single words Language
20 May 10 St. Louis vs. Saint Louis Humanities
27 May 10 Kopek Language
29 May 10 Chrzciciel Language
Words with no relevant grammatical function Language
9 Jun 10 Speed of light gibberish at the end of advertisements Miscellaneous
Extravagances and extravaganzas Language
15 Jun 10 Etymology of "to hail from" Language
22 Jun 10 'Dirty big' and 'dirty great' Language
1 Jul 10 Special relationships between countries Humanities
5 Jul 10 Soccer post-goal excitement Entertainment
6 Jul 10 Zsa Zsa figure of speech Language
13 Jul 10 Pronunciation of "homage" Language
20 Jul 10 Jurors taking notes Humanities
22 Jul 10 Was Audrey Hepburn a lesbian necrophiliac? Language
6 Aug 10 Double adjectives following "a pair of" Language
9 Aug 10 That … and which Language
23 Aug 10 Knights/dames who have sex changes Humanities
25 Aug 10 Beethoven's "ingharese" Language
1 Sep 10 Only too happy Language
7 Sep 10 Up and down, the verbs Language
12 Sep 10 Tress, trix and tor Language
16 Sep 10 Time and (time) again Language
21 Sep 10 Close/tight-knit communities Language
3 Oct 10 Comma usage Language
8 Oct 10 Double -er in fruiterer Language
12 Oct 10 Colourful verbs Language
13 Oct 10 Sex at the Games Entertainment
21 Oct 10 Alternative "Shakespeare" theories - claimants, candidates, what? Language
1 Nov 10 UIR words Language
3 Nov 10 Adverbesque words Language
14 Nov 10 Violent macho expressions Language
27 Nov 10 Which queen is Elizabeth II? Humanities
1 Dec 10 Did Arnold Böcklin paint a picture called "The Return"? Humanities
6 Dec 10 I would have thought Language
7 Dec 10 Knighthoods, peerages, Bob Geldof et al Humanities
10 Dec 10 Larrabee Language
13 Dec 10 You had better/best read this question (* see 10 Apr 15, 23 Jan 16) Language
22 Dec 10 Let's see if we can't get to the bottom of redundant negatives Language
30 Dec 10 English universities: teaching in cosy private rooms Humanities

2011

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
2 Jan 11 Unusual given names of movie characters Humanities
7 Jan 11 Not quite homonyms, homophones or homographs Language
13 Jan 11 Thème vs. thême (Fr.) Language
19 Jan 11 Rabbits' habits and rebels' pebbles Language
23 Jan 11 The Germans' fear of the "cold steel" Miscellaneous
4 Feb 11 Ambiguous abbreviations Language
17 Feb 11 Please remember not to forget Language
28 Feb 11 People who died on aircraft in mid-flight Miscellaneous
2 Mar 11 Men who just keep on doing it Miscellaneous
9 Mar 11 Irrepressible Language
16 Mar 11 Commentary on a writing issue Language
18 Mar 11 Weird TV colour problem Miscellaneous
22 Mar 11 Pomp vs. pompousness Humanities
30 Mar 11 Your call is important to us, yada yada Miscellaneous
3 Apr 11 Premier vs. premiere Language
5 Apr 11 Relative pronouns Language
19 Apr 11 French capitalisation of adjectives and nouns in titles Language
25 Apr 11 It's not me, it's you Humanities
6 May 11 Saddam Hussein, Goldilocks and Mother Language
23 May 11 Judges and Wikipedia Humanities
27 May 11 Suspicious usages (* see 22 Feb 08, 14 Aug 12, 7 Jul 23) Language
30 May 11 It was him playing Language
14 Jun 11 x-j switch in Spanish-American places Language
19 Jun 11 Enforced redundancy Language
25 Jun 11 Why are bird droppings white? Science
28 Jun 11 Fussable Chasselais Language
1 Jul 11 Silent w in wh- words Language
Extended homonyms Language
5 Jul 11 Shipdham Language
7 Jul 11 Knockabout Language
16 Jul 11 Hyphenation of French double-barrelled given names Language
19 Jul 11 I'm like how come? Language
25 Jul 11 Friends with Language
3 Aug 11 United States presidents turning 50 in office Humanities
8 Aug 11 THIS YEAR Entertainment
19 Aug 11 Then for than Language
22 Aug 11 Pointless English eccentricity: To the Manor Born Humanities
24 Aug 11 Plurals of -y surnames Language
7 Sep 11 Initialising Mac, Mc and O' surnames Language
13 Sep 11 Poker dots Language
23 Sep 11 Deeply popular Language
24 Oct 11 Repeating the message Language
31 Oct 11 Parents of multiple monarchs of different sexes Humanities
6 Nov 11 Forms of address used by literary characters Humanities
22 Nov 11 Scott vs. Amundsen Humanities
28 Nov 11 Doing without "on" when dating an event Language
30 Nov 11 She had a good innings Language
5 Dec 11 Knowledge me up Language
9 Dec 11 Only too happy Language
19 Dec 11 Oh, you scared me! Science
28 Dec 11 Curate's egg: 'her' and 'she' Language
31 Dec 11 Police communication practices Miscellaneous

2012

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
4 Jan 12 Small-c vs. capital C Language
10 Jan 12 Surnames as movie titles Humanities
20 Jan 12 Talking products and shopping stores Language
23 Jan 12 Killing me softly with his definition Language
26 Feb 12 TV screen portion reserved for ads Entertainment
28 Feb 12 Impossibilty of feeling or conveying sorrow Humanities
29 Feb 12 Pre-ordering and pre-booking Language
4 Mar 12 This email has been round the world 7 times Miscellaneous
18 Mar 12 Do two wrongs sometimes make a right? Language
26 Mar 12 Surnames derived from country names Humanities
19 Apr 12 Just one more Miscellaneous
25 Apr 12 Anonymous music critics Humanities
7 May 12 There are already questions about François Hollande Language
9 May 12 Annulment (the soap opera concept thereof) Miscellaneous
18 May 12 Demonyms and their uses Language
28 May 12 Collapsed like a bad chair on a black Monday Language
31 May 12 Programming TV advertisements Entertainment
6 Jun 12 Word or expression that originally meant literally what it said but no longer means literally what it says, but is still in use Language
14 Jun 12 The last word in ultraverbalism Language
20 Jun 12 High-profile actors in voice-only roles Entertainment
7 Jul 12 Why was he born so beautiful? Entertainment
24 Jul 12 Connecting the unconnectable Language
30 Jul 12 Olympic anomalies Entertainment
14 Aug 12 Curious and suspicious adjectives (* see 22 Feb 08, 27 May 11, 7 Jul 23) Language
17 Aug 12 I find that term to be offensive (* see 16 Nov 23) Language
16 Sep 12 Three Sisters Science
26 Sep 12 Minor or major? Language
3 Oct 12 TV news interview subjects who are first shown walking Entertainment
9 Oct 12 The 4 top dogs are ladies Humanities
11 Oct 12 Astley's Cigar Pipe Miscellaneous
16 Oct 12 We’re done for Language
31 Oct 12 The best ever question Language
4 Nov 12 Confusing Morgan Freeman for Nelson Mandela Entertainment
15 Nov 12 Peeps, Weemz, Sandz etc Language
5 Dec 12 Right royal Language
17 Dec 12 Are you the one? Entertainment
29 Dec 12 Aged notable siblings Humanities

2013

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
3 Jan 13 Number governed by "each" Language
8 Jan 13 Is "renowned" derived from a verb?" Language
11 Jan 13 Spanish/Galician help Language
29 Jan 13 My lucky day, or not Humanities
5 Feb 13 Mythical animals in national symbols Humanities
14 Feb 13 A frightfully fascinating question Language
16 Feb 13 Itschory - Itsyursk - Itsiursk Humanities
19 Feb 13 "...than what ..." in comparative expressions (* see 12 Oct 21) Language
28 Feb 13 Naked zoo-gazing pothead movie Entertainment
11 Mar 13 Pronouns with short memories Language
13 Mar 13 Bwanos Aires Language
18 Mar 13 Tall and lanky Language
22 Mar 13 Male counterpart of "grande dame" Language
11 Apr 13 Pronunciation of 'medieval' Language
22 Apr 13 Advise (n.) Language
27 Apr 13 Telling time in "The Browning Version" Language
30 Apr 13 Forecastle vs Newcastle Language
5 May 13 Earliest-born known human to be photographed Humanities
8 May 13 Latin case order anomaly Language
23 May 13 Fictional characters becoming real people Humanities
24 May 13 Why only 2 tools? Mathematics
4 Jun 13 Hello, Bastards! Entertainment
13 Jun 13 Use of possessive pronouns as (?) intensifiers Language
16 Jul 13 Consecutive prepositions Language
24 Jul 13 Changing a monarch's regnal name Humanities
27 Jul 13 Do male religious ever take female names? (* see 26 Oct 16, 29 May 17) Humanities
30 Jul 13 Sesquipedelian government agencies Humanities
13 Aug 13 Unaccredited actors [sic] Language
29 Aug 13 Why is "larger" less large than "large"? Language
10 Sep 13 Latin motto Language
17 Sep 13 Strange grammar in Bunyan Language
19 Sep 13 Verbs of electoral motion Language
25 Sep 13 What's special about "predecease" in the grand scheme of things? Language
2 Oct 13 Which film studio used this music for its opening fanfare? Entertainment
6 Oct 13 "One of the best films of this or any year" Language
17 Oct 13 Actors appearing in different versions of the same film Entertainment
27 Oct 13 My dog has fleas Entertainment
Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma Humanities
30 Oct 13 Pronunciation of Gia Language
1 Nov 13 Articles (or not) with epithets Language
15 Nov 13 Name of literary device Language
26 Nov 13 Why are television reporters cliche magnets? Language
30 Nov 13 Waste products Science
7 Dec 13 Just say the word Language
14 Dec 13 Nationality-born vs. country-born Language
19 Dec 13 [Sic]cing the [sic]cer; or "Fully [sic]" Language

2014

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
3 Jan 14 National censuses that exclude certain groups of citizens Humanities
7 Jan 14 Double credit for film directors Humanities
13 Jan 14 Why do we care? Language
18 Jan 14 An immigrants' son done good Language
28 Jan 14 The case Language
3 Feb 14 Copyright assertions by dead people Humanities
7 Feb 14 How do you plead? Humanities
11 Feb 14 Reckless Conduct Endangering Serious Injury Language
Indian name complexity Humanities
6 Mar 14 What is fucken going on? Language
15 Mar 14 A cuttle of days Language
25 Mar 14 Missing characters in The Railway Man Entertainment
31 Mar 14 Earworm help needed Entertainment
5 Apr 14 People who married each other more than once Miscellaneous
9 Apr 14 Surname "Iwi" Language
21 Apr 14 Sir Eric Ronge Miscellaneous
27 Apr 14 Upper case F Language
29 Apr 14 Mailer/Behan punch-up Humanities
5 Jun 14 Countries that have done away with coins altogether Miscellaneous
11 Jun 14 Pronunciation of 'protocol' Language
26 Jun 14 Longest series of prenominals Humanities
11 Jul 14 Chocolate caramel makes the eye(s) water Science
15 Jul 14 Has "whore" become neutral? Language
23 Jul 14 Take no prisoners Language
4 Aug 14 Adverbs that are not Language
11 Aug 14 French o'clock Language
6 Sep 14 The endings of the ordinals Language
7 Sep 14 "Bad grammar" in early song lyrics Language
17 Sep 14 Cars driving into houses and shopfronts - what the hell is going on? Humanities
18 Sep 14 Referring to a Polish husband-wife pair by a single surname Language
27 Sep 14 Mc and Mac names Language
28 Sep 14 "Very good, my lord" Language
14 Oct 14 Police impersonating soldiers Miscellaneous
27 Oct 14 Ida Scott's singing teacher Humanities
1 Nov 14 Liverpool College of Music Humanities
2 Nov 14 Continued square (or nth) roots of Graham's number Mathematics
27 Nov 14 Sioux in German Language
2 Dec 14 Living former heads of government Humanities

2015

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
9 Jan 15 Why no "off board"? Language
13 Jan 15 Elizabeth Barrett Browning and "iconoclast" Language
29 Jan 15 Grand Slam bridesmaid Entertainment
7 Feb 15 "Adjective" stress Language
11 Feb 15 Transcription dilemma Language
27 Feb 15 Publically Language
2 Mar 15 Why are my coffee mugs too hot? Science
11 Mar 15 The five Coles brother knights Humanities
14 Mar 15 Early Spanish contacts with Japan Humanities
25 Mar 15 Daughters named after their fathers Miscellaneous
26 Mar 15 Pronunciation of "wrath" Language
31 Mar 15 Why did /am-er-EE-ka/ become /a-ME-ri-ka/? Language
3 Apr 15 Why is there no Ferdinand II of Castile? Humanities
10 Apr 15 You'd better answer this question, better'nt you (* see 13 Dec 10, 23 Jan 16) Language
25 Apr 15 For all its/it's worth Language
4 May 15 History of the abbreviations 'ag' or 'a/g' (for "acting") Language
7 May 15 Schumann's stranded repeat sign Humanities
14 May 15 Congolese Language
1 Jun 15 Circumnavigation of the Europe-Asia-Africa land mass Miscellaneous
5 Jun 15 Well-to-do Language
19 Jun 15 Overuse of 'different' and 'separate' Language
15 Jul 15 Juxtaposed homographs Language
21 Jul 15 Words ending in -cund Language
22 Jul 15 The King's step-children Humanities
10 Aug 15 The government will announce today ... Language
29 Aug 15 Out-and-out Language
30 Aug 15 Life hack? Language
4 Sep 15 Is Arcedeckne of Anglo-Saxon origin? Language
7 Sep 15 Places that are closer to foreign capitals than to their own capital Miscellaneous
13 Sep 15 Body part anagrams Language
27 Oct 15 Titular terminological travesty Language
28 Oct 15 Upper bound on the number of possible Scrabble games Mathematics
29 Oct 15 When 'out of' means 'at' Language
15 Nov 15 Birthdate of Nicolae Ceauşescu - which calendar? Humanities
22 Nov 15 The Next Big Thing Language
25 Nov 15 Republic of Texas: Date problem Humanities
5 Dec 15 Who is or was Hadia Bejar? Language
12 Dec 15 I don't give a damn Language
29 Dec 15 Referring to art works by the artist's name Language

2016

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
16 Jan 16 Split subject? Language
23 Jan 16 You had good/better/best answer this question (* see 13 Dec 10, 10 Apr 15) Language
8 Feb 16 How many defecators? Science
15 Feb 16 Auteur as an adjective Language
21 Feb 16 "Smash hit new comedy program" Entertainment
24 Feb 16 Mongrel pronunciations Language
5 Mar 16 Too much of a too-muchness Language
20 Mar 16 "Selects for ..." or "selects against ..." Language
27 Mar 16 Supernumerary urogenital numbering system Miscellaneous
2 Apr 16 Microsoft Word vs XL: sibling rivalry? Computing
12 Apr 16 Heads of government who couldn't occupy their official residences Humanities
15 Apr 16 Jchekovitch spelling Language
18 Apr 16 Why no "distrustworthy"? Language
1 May 16 Dhingo Language
3 May 16 Nôrmale Mûsique Language
13 May 16 What was this typo supposed to be? Language
22 May 16 Is Australia really "so far away"? Miscellaneous
26 May 16 Alien movie identification Entertainment
2 Jun 16 Does Lviv hold the record? Humanities
28 Jun 16 Job (biblical figure) Language
3 Jul 16 There's bad things happening here (* see 25 Mar 09) Language
9 Jul 16 Characters who are never seen, but are not "unseen characters" Entertainment
16 Jul 16 Cluidunning Miscellaneous
17 Jul 16 Medical tautology Language
22 Jul 16 St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Humanities
24 Jul 16 Parenthetical phrases Language
5 Aug 16 Dedication protocols Humanities
10 Aug 16 Longevity of widowhood Miscellaneous
31 Aug 16 Does "could" still mean "could"? Language
9 Sep 16 Several Language
24 Sep 16 Jack and the Bean talk Language
26 Oct 16 Gender preferences in religious names (* see 27 Jul 13, 29 May 17) Miscellaneous
8 Nov 16 Wrong on so many levels Miscellaneous
16 Nov 16 The Rising of the Moon Science
18 Nov 16 Coining of 'vexillology' Language
21 Nov 16 What I want to know is ... Language
23 Nov 16 Film production house moving logos Entertainment
27 Nov 16 Half-siblings from different mothers or fathers Miscellaneous
30 Nov 16 Occurance [sic] Language
5 Dec 16 Headless chickens and pork chops Language

2017

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
6 Feb 17 Crocide Language
13 Feb 17 Charlie Chaplin's lack of popularity in Colombia in the 1920s Entertainment
28 Feb 17 Diocese and its plural Language
22 Mar 17 Meaning of "traves" Language
8 Apr 17 Pretentious interview stories Language
11 Apr 17 But and however Language
21 Apr 17 Identifiable whisperers Science
29 May 17 Male Elizabeths (* see 27 Jul 13, 26 Oct 16) Language
29 May 17 Frequency of solar eclipses at a given place Science
1 Jun 17 Offhand Language
6 Jun 17 Surname Y'Blood Language
8 Jun 17 The pleasure of sneezing Science
28 Jun 17 Plurals of -ooth words Language
8 Jul 17 Fall in love, fall pregnant Language
13 Jul 17 Temperature at which water vapour formst Science
3 Aug 17 Unusual given names Humanities
10 Aug 17 Death day probability Mathematics
27 Aug 17 Subject and author with similar names Humanities
2 Sep 17 Weird Google result Computing
9 Sep 17 Pronunciation of 'integral' Language
11 Sep 17 Coining the term 'black hole' Miscellaneous
11 Sep 17 Latin mono-syllabic words ending in -x Language
10 Oct 17 Catalan's President? Language
18 Nov 17 Actors' names misspelled in film credits Entertainment
27 Nov 17 Glottal stops in Aussie English Language
5 Dec 17 Glottal stops in Aussie English (continued) Language
16 Dec 17 Entitled Language

2018

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
2 Jan 18 Words containing the same number of letters as their numerical value Language
8 Jan 18 Japanese vs. Hungarian personal names Language
19 Jan 18 Random vehicle registration plates Miscellaneous
24 Jan 18 Why are there no male coeds? Language
25 Jan 18 Super blue blood moons Science
10 Mar 18 Superstars, superheroes, supermodels, ... Language
26 Mar 18 Strange anomalies Miscellaneous
13 Apr 18 Bigger than Ben-Hur Entertainment
13 Apr 18 Stopped her (from) doing it Language
7 May 18 Weddings of the century Humanities
31 May 18 Inordinately Language
23 Jun 18 Potable Language
1 Jul 18 Birthdate of Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby Humanities
7 Jul 18 Philandrous philanderers Language
25 Sep 18 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter ... Language
30 Sep 18 Pianos vs motor vehicles: moving parts Science
5 Oct 18 The case Language
10 Oct 18 Souls or soles? Language
22 Oct 18 Pandar Language
22 Oct 18 Murian Language
28 Oct 18 Subjunctive overkill in the USA? Language
10 Nov 18 When did the norm change from monochrome to colour feature films? Entertainment
2 Dec 18 Adjective and objective Language
21 Dec 18 How many pregnancies at one time? Science

2019

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
3 Jan 19 Turning corners Miscellaneous
19 Jan 19 GPs wearing white lab coats Entertainment
16 Feb 19 Spoken rather than visual credits at the start of a movie Entertainment
30 Mar 19 Waltzing Matilda is not a waltz Entertainment
21 Apr 19 Worshipping ancient Greek or Roman gods Humanities
23 Apr 19 Polish el Language
9 May 19 Which is the correct book title? Humanities
19 May 19 Rearranging digits in XL Computing
21 May 19 Matoid Language
26 May 19 The Song of Bernadette - "We have religious, not priests" Humanities
1 Jun 19 Bad voice dubbing in TV ads Entertainment
2 Jun 19 The Voice of the Sacred Crane Humanities
4 Jun 19 Why Italia and not Itaglia? Language
20 Jun 19 You can't help but not answer this question Language
14 Jul 19 Subject-keyword disconnection Language
26 Jul 19 XL Replace function query Computing
27 Jul 19 Ladies "literally sitting among" senators in the US Congress Humanities
16 Aug 19 Runs for wickets vs. wickets for runs Entertainment
16 Aug 19 Personal pronoun "I" capitalised in English Language
21 Aug 19 Plurals of foreign-origin nouns adopted into English Language
5 Sep 19 Purposively vs. purposefully Language
8 Sep 19 Literals Language
11 Sep 19 A monk's footsteps Humanities
18 Sep 19 Cars without registration plates Entertainment
3 Oct 19 Unnatural side-on camera angles Entertainment
16 Oct 19 Bested vs. worsted Language
22 Oct 19 Source of a film quote Entertainment
30 Oct 19 World War II vs. the Second World War Language
16 Dec 19 SVU - Part 38 Entertainment

2020

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
15 Jan 20 Pedantic correctness vs. commonsense phraseology Language
24 Jan 20 Product of primes Mathematics
28 Jan 20 Direct flights between antipodes Miscellaneous
11 Feb 20 ... is ... and ... Language
17 Feb 20 Honorary ambassadors Humanities
27 Feb 20 Dantesque Language
6 Mar 20 Identical words for "poet" and "liar" Language
16 Mar 20 Permanent Residency condition Humanities
17 Mar 20 Silent-letter acronyms Language
25 Mar 20 Is "person of color" an adjective? Language
27 Mar 20 The seventies, East Side Miscellaneous
4 Apr 20 John Marlowe and the other John Marlowe Mathematics
10 Apr 20 (Sometimes serial) unstressed your Language
24 Apr 20 XL formatting issue Computing
29 Apr 20 Or forever hold your peace Humanities
7 May 20 Covid-19 reporting basis: deaths per million Humanities
1 Jun 20 Rousseauian Language
4 Jun 20 Mismatched time references Language
14 Jun 20 These porridge Language
18 Jun 20 Petrol (gasoline) becoming unusable over time Science
16 Jul 20 Murder at the Palace Humanities
22 Jul 20 Vital dates for H. Price Collier Humanities
23 Jul 20 Boys and bies (Forster) Language
31 Jul 20 Hands around the nose and mouth Miscellaneous
13 Aug 20 Quote source Humanities
22 Sep 20 Productive letter groups Language
6 Oct 20 British ladies named Feodorowna Humanities
26 Oct 20 La Croix de Berny: Roman steeple-chase Humanities
4 Nov 20 Electoral - pronunciation Language
10 Nov 20 NAIDOC Week Humanities
29 Nov 20 TV anchors cutting to reporters in the field Entertainment
30 Nov 20 Comparative adverbs Language
11 Dec 20 The numbers Language
19 Dec 20 Lord Tennyson's moniker Humanities

2021

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
3 Feb 21 Chronicles of wasted time Miscellaneous
19 Feb 21 I would have thought ... Language
20 Feb 21 Bombshell Language
22 Feb 21 List of moments of death of British monarchs Humanities
9 Apr 21 Writing as a native in more than one language Language
25 Apr 21 Television film first Entertainment
2 May 21 Squawking Eclectus Language
19 May 21 Waiting periods for remarriage after divorce Humanities
26 May 21 Pyramids at centre of the Earth Science
2 Jun 21 Rap singers' short lives Humanities
13 Jun 21 Bilateral talks Language
22 Jun 21 Random number game Mathematics
13 Jul 21 Amputation without general anaesthetic Miscellaneous
17 Jul 21 Quotient problem Mathematics
16 Aug 21 Broken news Language
21 Aug 21 Men with suits and ties in old movies Entertainment
23 Sep 21 Bushy and straggly eyebrows Science
30 Sep 21 As of yet Language
12 Oct 21 Than what (* see 19 Feb 13) Language
18 Oct 21 Edmund Kean's date of birth Humanities
13 Dec 21 Paradox name Humanities
13 Dec 21 Well-knit Language
14 Dec 21 When is a suicide not a suicide? Humanities
26 Dec 21 The least obscure person Humanities
28 Dec 21 "I'm like", she said Language

2022

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
4 Feb 22 Updating Chomsky's quote Humanities
20 Feb 22 Non-rebelling North American British colonies Humanities
5 Mar 22 Rolled-up long-sleeved shirts on TV talk shows Entertainment
5 Mar 22 Countries with non-continuous borders with other countries Humanities
10 Mar 22 Russian oligarchs Miscellaneous
16 Mar 22 A possible shower or two Language
24 Mar 22 Different than/from Language
30 Mar 22 Personal conversations with royalty Language
19 Apr 22 Triple insomnia Miscellaneous
20 Jun 22 Himself >> themself(ves) Language
26 Jun 22 Selective sensitivity (* see 1 Jul 23) Miscellaneous
1 Jul 22 Unknown players of title roles Entertainment
8 Jul 22 Singular nouns in plural form Language
18 Jul 22 Should/would Language
19 Jul 22 Secret celebrity weddings Language
26 Aug 22 Question marks as emojis Language
31 Aug 22 That's as an inanimate relative pronoun Language
9 Sep 22 Presidential death across the International Date Line Humanities
11 Sep 22 Counting letters (and numbers) in a text Computing
21 Sep 22 The Queen's head Humanities
6 Nov 22 Homey-jones Language
8 Nov 22 Henry Campbell-Bannerman's earldom Humanities
23 Nov 22 One too many loan Language

2023

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
7 Jan 23 Germans' fear of bayonets Miscellaneous
13 Jan 23 A weightless universe Science
14 Jan 23 The only person in history who was free from all human weakness Humanities
20 Jan 23 Attributed, possibly/probably apocryphal Humanities
15 Feb 23 Unscripted conversations Language
2 Mar 23 Arabic surnames including al and bin Language
16 Mar 23 Travelling a light second Miscellaneous
1 Apr 23 Grand prixs Language
19 Apr 23 Witness not permitted to give sworn testimony Humanities
5 May 23 Pre-wedding legal advice Miscellaneous
20 May 23 When are halves plural, and why? Language
30 May 23 Sapphic thoughts Language
22 Jun 23 Touching down Language
1 Jul 23 Selectivity of trigger warnings (* see 26 Jun 22) Miscellaneous
7 Jul 23 I lost them: idiom with opposite meanings (* see 22 Feb 08, 27 May 11, 14 Aug 12) Language
19 Jul 23 Words with unexpected meanings Language
6 Aug 23 Queen Camilla Bloggs Humanities
17 Aug 23 Better and best, but not good Language
24 Aug 23 Talking without breathing Entertainment
20 Sep 23 Random integer factors Mathematics
28 Sep 23 A leading question Language
11 Oct 23 Desiccate Language
16 Nov 23 Who's the finger really pointing at? (* see 17 Aug 12) Language
21 Dec 23 Rouxs and jus Language

2024

[edit]

Date Topic Desk
3 Jan 24 "if ... then" stranding Language
29 Jan 24 Tree hanging over a neighbour's fence Humanities
7 Feb 24 Ctrl-Y timing issue Computing
9 Feb 24 French senses in translation Language
24 Feb 24 Say, speak, talk, tell Language
13 Mar 24 Not to change the subject ... Language
14 Mar 24 Have never vs. never have Language
16 Apr 24 1,000 random editors Mathematics
2 May 24 Why is Tresckow pronounced like -cow and and not -coff Language
9 May 24 Collatz Conjecture Mathematics
27 May 24 Root vs. rowt Language
8 Jun 24 Strange expressions Language
22 Jul 24 Suspend Language
31 Jul 24 Book publication dates Humanities
7 Aug 24 A report is being prepared for the coroner Miscellaneous
16 Aug 24 Czar of all the rushes Entertainment
17 Aug 24 German genitive of personal names Language
25 Aug 24 Hooked by a bad review Language
4 Sep 24 The way of all flesh: Origin Humanities
6 Sep 24 Anomalous result Mathematics
8 Sep 24 French 'de le' --> 'du', and 'de les' --> 'des': an exception? Language
14 Sep 24 "Mental health" as a negative Language
26 Sep 24 Secret ballot used in determining guilt Humanities