Q. What are some of the many luck-inspired superstitions centred around pennies? . A. One thing is for certain: there are a lot. Here in Canada, you better hold on tight to the pennies you have. Our Royal Mint stopped making the ‘costs more to make one than have one’

Q. What is the worst food to eat on a first dinner date? . A. From personal experience, I would advise all to stay well clear of French Onion Soup. A Food Network UK poll of 2000 Brits offers other precautions for that go/no go first stab at romance. Worst

Q. What are some allegedly encouraging – or, at least, mildly positive – words that don’t feel so encouraging when offered as personal feedback? . A. Brave Not, of course, in the sword-wielding, evil-smiting context. Rather, when you’ve taken a creative risk – say, in an audition or performing arts

Q. That’s The Blues. We know it when we hear it,  but why is this form of music called: ‘The Blues’? . A. The Blues – with its roots in Africa and the late 1800s US Deep South – is deeply emotional music. As Wynton Marsalis says in a 2020

Q. ‘Gird your loins.’ Do you hear Stanley Tucci voicing that phrase? I certainly do. Boss Miranda Priestly, aka the incredible Meryl Streep, is foot out of the car, eyes on the elevator, and soon to thunder into the offices of Runway Magazine. “Why is no one REAdy?” Tucci as

Q. We know that we’re not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth   – ok. We may say it a lot, but what does that mean? – but which gifts do recipients appreciate the least? . A. First things first: the ‘gift horse’ idiom warns us not to

Q. How is it that we can so quickly come to take for granted the things that we once anticipated so keenly? Boy, I can’t wait to: try that food, see those gardens, visit that exhibit. Then, halfway in it’s:  ‘Ya ya. Been there, done that. What’s next?’ . A.

Q. Has sweet food gotten sweeter? Are there any sweets that are too sweet for even your sweet tooth? . A. “It’s way too sweet”. In a machine learning analysis of almost 400,000 Amazon food reviews, behavioural geneticist Dr. Danielle Reed and her research team found that complaints of over-sweetness

Q. Why is the long purple eggplant called an ‘eggplant’? What part of that shape and that colour says egg? . A. The eggplant gets its name from a different species of eggplant, one that is white, egg-shaped, and was far more common in centuries gone by. This eggplant  –

Q. Today has the dubious distinction of being ‘National Tell A Lie Day’. Not sure, in today’s climate, if we should be encouraging such a thing? Perhaps this is meant in the spirit of extended April Fools’ Day pranks. Let’s hope we can muscle through to April 30th – National