People, places and pumpernickel

��

ANOTHER� bumper crop of interesting questions and answers on the People & Places channel on The AnswerBank.

�

One of my favourites was jbeputnam's: What do Germans eat that the British don't Germans liked to eat bread and cheese for breakfast, jbe wrote, but Brits have cereal or toast. What else Janshep was quick to assist and mentioned pork fat on to pumpernickel bread as an appetiser before a meal. Mmmm mmm.

�

Toonwatcher also had some suggestions on the menu. Sauerkraut (pickled and salted white cabbage) was one. And then there's beer. 'Under the purity laws only hops, malt and water are allowed (no sugar), whereas the Brits have been known to throw in potato peelings, onions and a host of other unlikely ingredients,' Toonwatcher alleged. Give me a pint of English bitter any day.

�

The simple 'Who is now vice-president of the USA ' from Questioner brought the immediate answer of Dick Cheney from Lord Panda. RogDawson reckoned VP Cheney was doing a great job despite minor heart problems. That was a red rag to Lord Panda. 'Doing a great job ' he thundered. 'If you mean 'hasn't noticeably screwed up in the five weeks he's been in the job' then I guess you're right...' Add your comments here.

�

Okay. Less controversially, the question from smartboy asking for the Seven Wonders of the World brought an excellent list from marco. There's also a feature on the ancient wonders (click here to read it).

�

Jim Gregory lowered the tone with: 'Did Hitler really only have one testicle as claimed in the popular whistling anthem Colonel Bogey ' jbeputnam answered, somewhat embarrassedly: 'God help me for knowing this, but that isn't strictly true. Both testicles were there, but one failed to, er, drop.'

�

Raising the moral tone somewhat, Jim also asked about St Jude, famous through ads in the personal columns. Click here to find who this saint was�- and why he's so popular.

�

Lastly, Peter Hook is causing trouble again, mischievous little imp that he is. A few weeks ago his disparaging comments about estate agents, gawd bless 'em, brought a big response (mainly in support).

�

This time he's turned his acid comments�to telephone salespeople: 'What on earth has given telephone sales persons the idea that it is acceptable to call me by my first name when we have not ever met " he growls.

�

'They should be banished from the planet or at the very least sent back to the US of A where I believe such practices are acceptable.'

�

Iomfats didn't like them asking 'How are you today ' and suggested a rather off-colour method of getting rid of them.

�

Tracyr called for sympathy. 'I think you should try to spare a thought for the person who is being forced by the company they work for to use your first name,' she writes. She worked at a call centre and would lose her job if she did not use the caller's forename.

�

If you have any more questions to ask about People and Places, click here