The AnswerBank Articles

Two pound's of potatoes, please: The apostrophe

Q. A quick definition A. From the Greek apostrepho, to 'turn away', the apostrophe is used in two ways in English: first, to show where letters or numbers have been left out (won't, for example),00:00 Sat 17th Nov 2001

The names of the London boroughs

Q. How did the names of the London boroughs come about A. The London boroughs as we know them today were introduced in 1965. The modern administrative areas are an amalgamation of the various00:00 Fri 16th Nov 2001

Wherever I lay my hat...

Q. ...that's my home A. When, back in 1983, former Q-Tip front man Paul Young offered us his 'interpretation' of the Marvin Gaye classic, the British public, in a flurry of collective dubious taste,00:00 Sat 10th Nov 2001

Even the best fish smell when they are three days old: Piscine phrases

Q. Why is it that phrases concerning fish tend to be derogatory A. It's true, many do, probably because, as in the phrase above - meaning that even the most welcome guests can outstay their welcome00:00 Sat 10th Nov 2001

The languages of India

Q. So, how many are there A. India is, after China, the second most populous country in the world, and the languages of the sub-continent are spoken by well over 1,000 million people in India,00:00 Thu 08th Nov 2001

Shorthand

Q. What is shorthand A. Shorthand - in short - is any method of writing that is designed to maximise speed of writing and reading back. Typically, systems employ symbols or shortcuts that can be00:00 Sat 03rd Nov 2001

Dragons to dragoons

Q. Dragons A. The mythical dragon, as we all know, is a winged lizard with a serpent's tail, but the word comes from the Greek drakon, which is related to drakos, meaning eye: dragons were creatures00:00 Sat 03rd Nov 2001

Heraldry

Q. What is it A. The science and art that deals with the use, display and regulation of hereditary symbols which individuals, institutions and corporations employ to distinguish themselves. These00:00 Sat 03rd Nov 2001

Sign languages

Q. What's the history of sign languages for the deaf A. In the sixteenth century Geronimo Cardano, a physician in Padua, Italy, proclaimed that deaf people could be taught to understand written00:00 Sat 27th Oct 2001

Ich farshtey nisht: Yiddish

Q. Why does Yiddish sound like German A. Because grammatically and lexically Yiddish - from the German J disch, Jewish - is a Germanic language, which means that, in addition to German, it is00:00 Fri 26th Oct 2001

Hooligan

Yobs, thugs and bovver boys, the words go in and out of fashion. Only one seems to be perennially popular: hooligan. So where did this odd-sounding word come from Q. When did the word first come00:00 Fri 26th Oct 2001

What's the Turing in Turing test

Q. What is the Turing Test A. The Turing Test is a means by which to determine the presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in computer programs. It was proposed by the British mathematician Alan00:00 Fri 19th Oct 2001

What's in a name : Surnames

Q. Montague or Capulet A. ''Tis but thy name that is my enemy,' said Juliet on the balcony - her Romeo belonging to the family of the sworn enemies of her own. She also said, 'A rose by any other00:00 Thu 18th Oct 2001

Herd about the labour of moles : How we describe groups of animals

Q. A labour of moles What's that all about A. A gang of moles has, since the 15th century, been known as 'a labour', presumably because the little things appear to work very hard digging their00:00 Thu 18th Oct 2001

How Star Trek has enriched the English language

Q. 'Tell me, Kirk, what is this thing called love ' A. And, more often than not, he told them - the ladies that is - enfolding them in his manly embrace until they went limp with pleasure. But by the00:00 Mon 15th Oct 2001

Fowl play: You've cooked his goose

Q. What A. You've spoilt his plans by getting in first. This probably arises from the idea that the goose which was being fattened for a feast was eaten early, so leaving nothing for the special00:00 Mon 15th Oct 2001

Gazump

Q. When and why did the word 'gazump' come into our vocabulary A. Also seen in earlier forms as gezoomph and gazumph, a number of sources suggest that this comes from the Yiddish gezumph, meaning to00:00 Mon 15th Oct 2001

When treacle is good for your soul

Q. So, treacle: a thick, black substance obtained from the sugar cane A. True, that's how we usually think of it now. But originally it applied to many medicinal compounds - most famously theriaca00:00 Mon 08th Oct 2001

So many ways to go to hell

Q. No hell below us A. That's a question that has puzzled the greatest minds, so we here at the answerbank will not be attempting to give you the definitive answer. However, we can tell you a little00:00 Mon 08th Oct 2001

Curiosity killed the cat

Q. The band which symbolised the mid-1980s A. That's a matter of opinion, though the cap worn backwards by the bloke with the funny name seems now as something of a style faux-pas. However, back00:00 Mon 08th Oct 2001