Love & Nanaimo Bars
Q. Is it reasonable to assume that the utterly delicious Nanaimo Bar originated in Nanaimo, British Columbia? . A. Reasonable? Yes. Safe? Hmm… When something is so delicious – a layer of creamy chocolate that gives way to a vanilla custard middle which sits atop graham wafers and coconut –
Hit The Sack
Q. Is the English language really that hard to learn? Yes. Yes it is. Our encyclopedic collection of idioms does not help. Exhibit Number One: ‘hit the sack.’ Which sack are we hitting and why? Is this some sort of madcap carnival game? Where did this idiom originate? . A.
Full Tilt Puccini
Q. If you like opera – or, you know, watch cartoons, TV shows, or movies – you’ve likely heard arias from the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). You might have heard Kiri Te Kanawa singing ‘O mio babbino caro’ – from Puccini’s ‘Gianni Schicchi’ – in ‘A Room with a
Puzzling Out Pen Names
Q. Who are some well-known authors with pseudonyms? . A. For a litany of reasons – some personal, some driven by brutal societal biases – authors have long tossed their birth names for noms de plume. Some of these pseudonyms have been adopted for entire writing careers, others for an
This Work Trip Is Not Sponsored By Logan Roy
Q. Work Trip. But make it Succession, The Diplomat, Emily in Paris, Suits. The bad news? You’ll be travelling with your psychopathic Dad Boss, treacherous, traumatized siblings, duplicitous husband, client-friend whose boyfriend you secretly love, or the congenitally suspicious overling who doesn’t know you faked your entire Harvard Law School
Nuts For Peanuts
Q. Happy National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day. Are you one of the besotted? If so, are you Team Smooth (🤟🏽) or Team Crunch? Are you PB + or – J? Do you prefer your peanut butter straight-up, or happily nestled in chocolate, cookies, or pie? What are some nuggets that
Breathe In That Vanilla
Q. To what degree are the smells we like – and deeply dislike! – culturally unique? . A. It’s a question that interested a 2022 research team from Oxford University and Karolinska Institute. Their approach? Ask 235 people from a global sample – one that included ‘four hunter-gatherer groups and
Silence Of The Hobbits
Q. If the TV overlords were kind enough to keep their feet off the gas during movie credits, we might notice one name coming up over and over again for musical score: Howard Shore. Who is he? . A. Composer Howard Shore is responsible for scoring movies from ‘Silence of
Slang Parents Hate
Q. Want to see a teenager cringe? Encourage Mum and/or Dad to throw in some ‘hip’ slang during carpool. “Oof. That sounds sus. He just salty because of your drip. Bet!” . 🤦🏽♀️ . How to rescue horrified teens from parental slangicide? . A. Perhaps the best slang words are
Top Travel Knickknacks
Q. Many of us have specific souvenirs we are eager to bring back from specific countries. What are the most sought-after travel treasures? . A. It’s a question that the Club Med research team investigated in 2021. What did they find? . Top Souvenirs by Country Research • Antigua and