What is the greatest honour or recognition one can receive?
It is difficult to beat having a mathematical theorem or physical principle named after you. For example, Pythagoras’s theorem, Archimedes’s principle, Newton’s laws, Einstein’s theory etc will be known for as long as people are curious about the world around us.
Andy Pepperdine, Bath, UK
• Evident group affection, as at a well-attended wake.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• The love and friendship of one’s adult children.
Debbie Carmichael, Leeds, UK
• True friends.
Anne Eddison, Edinburgh, UK
• Wag, wag. Woof, woof.
Tony Mount, Goolwa, South Australia
• To be taken for granted. My pupils always did, and my grandchildren now do.
Peter Ashworth, Bude, UK
• When somebody returns your smile.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
Only if you are doing it right
Does it have to be a sin?
Only if you belong to a sect that deems sloth, lust, gluttony and other attributes to be sins.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Only if original!
Terence Rowell, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Why not just call it a step aside from the straight and narrow?
Nicholas Albrecht, Paris, France
• It doesn’t have to be, but then it wouldn’t be such fun.
Alan Williams-Key, Madrid, Spain
• Not if you remember to cross your fingers while you’re doing it.
Stuart Powell, St Albans, UK
• Only if it pays.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• For some behaviours, it depends on the assessor’s place on the spectrum, from libertarian to libertine.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• Right and wrong, good and bad are but ideas, and one doesn’t have to look far to understand that people will believe all kinds of stories and ideas. So, no, it doesn’t have to be a sin but without doubt there will be someone who believes it is and someone else who, as passionately, believes that it isn’t.
Stuart Williams, Kampala, Uganda
• Damned if I know.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
Hooray for Hollywood!
Has there ever been a case where one word is worth a thousand pictures?
At the middle school where I teach, with the narcissism of youth flowing through the halls, I would say the word “selfie” is worth about a thousand pictures a day.
Sarah Hills, Istanbul, Turkey
• Baby.
Doreen Forney, Pownal, Vermont, US
• Hollywood.
Prasanna Probyn, London, UK
Depends on where you stand
What is the difference between left and right in politics?
When politicians on the left and right speak out of both sides of their mouths, it’s hard to tell.
Kenneth Goldberg, Toronto, Canada
• The heart is on the left but the wallet, alas, is on the right.
M Foster, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
• Nowadays very little; they are just a handy rule of thumb.
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Any answers?
Why are the British considered the true masters of the art of self-deprecation?
Tijne Schols, The Hague, The Netherlands
What are eyebrows for?
E Slack, L’Isle Jourdain, France
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
