Is the Guardian, like slimming, an attitude of mind?
Figuratively speaking – yes.
Jennifer Horat, Lengwil, Switzerland
• Yes, since both are at times desirable and at others aggravating.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Slimming is an attitude of mind over matter. The Guardian is an attitude of minding about what matters.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• That depends: is obesity an attitude of mind?
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• “Informed” and “entertained” are attitudes of mind. The Guardian is a newspaper.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• Not really. In a world of media mediocrity, the Guardian eschews bite-size information and provides meaty reading for us to digest. It nourishes and sustains the mind rather than offering slim pickings.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
Vodka martini, shaken ...
During my six weeks at home in a full-leg plaster, family and friends have been asking me if I’m going “stir crazy”. Where did the expression come from? (and yes, I am ...)
As long as you remain imprisoned by your plaster cast and are experiencing increasing frustration, you’ll continue to be “stir crazy”. Apparently, etymologists cannot agree on the origin but some credit a Romany word. Presumably (because of prejudices that existed) they spent so much time going crazy in the clink that their terminology caught on.
Stuart Williams, Kampala, Uganda
• “Stir” is mid-19th-century slang, meaning “jail”. With 7 million people currently incarcerated in US prisons, you’re not the only one going crazy.
Donna Samoyloff, Toronto, Canada
• Shaken, not stirred, might relieve the tedium.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Just see to your mount first
How does mankind deserve and justify the fidelity of dogs and horses?
My companion speaks to her animals as if they were human. It amuses me. Yet she had national dog champions of different breeds in two European countries and has been a proficient horsewoman. Her recurrent motto comes from a military cavalry father: “See to the mount first, then after you can see to yourself”.
E Slack, L’Isle Jourdain, France
• Are you telling us that womankind neither deserves nor justifies said fidelity?
Ralph Bosman, Osaka, Japan
He was too cool for school
Who was the first ecologist?
The first practical ecologist was a prokaryote, wresting energy from hydrogen sulphide in a hot water vent; the first theoretical ecologist was Herodotus, observing a sandpiper removing leeches from the open jaws of a crocodile on the muddy banks of the Nile.
Gerald Garnett, Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada
• The French inventor of the school.
Owen Willis, St Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada
What’s manliness? Y ask Y?
What constitutes being a man?
Knowing the difference between physical and moral courage, and the similarity between cowardice and the desire to match up to other people’s expectations, or to hide behind their beliefs.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Asking Y.
Andrew Scott, Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada
Any answers?
Why do governments think they have to change things?
Edward Black, Pauanui, New Zealand
Why do you suppose that humans have a funny bone?
Tijne Schols, The Hague, The Netherlands
Send answers, and more questions, to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
