Q. It’s New Year’s Eve! What is a particularly exciting tradition to mark the transition to a New Year? . A. The Greeks have a serious contender. Over the Christmas season, families will hang a prize pomegranate on their front doors. As the clocks nears twelve, these Greek families will

Q. We’ve all seen the bewigged portraits – from Bach to Mozart, Louis IV to Marie Antoinette. The wigs make for some seriously fabulous head drama, but why did those who could afford perukes wear them? And what was in that powder? . A. After 17th Century aristocrats popularized mountainous

Q. As ever, Google offers a fascinating peek into our national preoccupations. To what questions were Canadians seeking answers in 2022? . A. According to the latest Google Trends research, Canadians in 2022 were asking.. What Is.. i. Monkeypox ii. NATO iii. RSV iv. Wordle v. NFT vi. Aphasia vii.

Q. Are there any scents which quickly plunk you back in your childhood? . A. One Poll asked this question of 2,000 adults in the UK. Do any of their answers line up with yours? Top 20 Smells That Remind Us Of Our Childhoods i. Fresh-cut grass ii. Specific home-cooked

Q. “What I want from you is your voice.” Ursula the savage Sea Witch is bargaining with Disney’s Ariel. As collateral for temporarily turning Ariel’s tail into human legs, Ursula will seize The Little Mermaid’s ethereal voice. Ariel clutches her neck while Ursula elaborates. “No more talking, singing, zip.” To

Q. Halloween is soon upon us. What fantastical beings can we expect to find at our doors and in the streets? . A. The data-drowning people at Google have an idea. In piecing through Halloween searches this year, Google Trends came up with the year’s most popular costumes. How many

Q. Most of us know the feeling of charging into a word full bore, only to dodder halfway in, panicking that we are saying it wrong. What are some of the most commonly mispronounced names or words? . A. In a clever experiment, Word Tips mined the Forvo pronunciation dictionary

Q. What are some of the most striking photographs of Queen Elizabeth II? . A. It’s a near impossible question given the sheer volume of photos of the Queen over her life span. But, included in the ‘striking’ list would surely be the photos taken by renowned photographer Annie Liebowitz

Q. Do you ever find yourself just slightly off in your conversational rhythm on video chat? Even just one-on-one with people you know well? In person, you’re back and forth with ease – mellow in casual chat, more rat-tat-tat when the topic is exciting. Yet, shift to video and you

Q. What are some of the more unusual meanings that the Victorians assigned to flowers? . A. For 1800s floral bliss and horror, look to Kate Greenaway, an illustrator and author born 1846 in Hoxton, England. Alongside the nursery rhymes and bedtime tunes in the Treasury of Kate Greenaway, you’ll