When does infatuation turn to love?
When other people have reason to take it seriously.
Bernard Galton, St-Nazaire-sur-Charente, France
• They run in parallel – if you’re lucky.
Michael Olin, Holt, UK
• After midnight.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• About two years before love turns to indifference.
Ann M Altman, Hamden, Connecticut, US
• When it doesn’t matter that the feet of clay are discovered.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• When one begins to see through the eyes of the heart.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• When you finally tire of Abba and find Tchaikovsky.
Marilyn Hamilton, Perth, Western Australia
• When it’s reciprocated.
Bruce Williams, Clifton Springs, Victoria, Australia
Big bad wolves struck again
Whatever became of those ‘little pink houses for you and me’?
They’ve turned into pink elephants.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• A series of calamities: the couple had children, sold their love nest for a larger multi-bedroom sprawl farther outside the city limits. Then developers realised that the land was worth more than the little pink house, bulldozed it and built a monster home in the colour palette of the decade on every available inch. Owners then renovated the house, repainted the exterior … until they realised that the house was far too large for them, at which point they purchased a “tiny home”.
It was pink.
Bryan Smith, Sweaburg, Ontario, Canada
• They devolved into boxes – made of ticky-tacky.
Adrian Cooper, Queens Park, NSW, Australia
• We’re no longer in the pink.
RM Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
• They are now only available as an Airbnb.
Craig Sergeant, Nashville, Tennessee, US
• Regrettably, they have turned into vulgar McMansions.
David Turner, Bellevue Heights, South Australia
• The big bad wolves blew them all away.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
After years of tears and trust
What’s the difference between a pal and a friend?
The pal comes first and then after years of laughter, tears, trust and secrets comes the friend.
Doreen Forney, Pownal, Vermont, US
• A pal is a friend that you drink with.
Charlie Pearson, Portland, Oregon, US
• Leaving aside the semantic differences, could you imagine Carole King making a hit with a title like “You’ve got a pal”?
John Ryder, Kyoto, Japan
• A pal is a pal, no qualification necessary, but a friend needs to be qualified with terms such as best, family, old, or even in a past life for others to understand their importance.
Gai Wright, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
• A pal usually knows what you want; a friend often knows what you need.
Michael Polanyi, Toronto, Canada
Any answers?
When do in-laws become outlaws?
John Geffroy, Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
Should we anticipate the world of the Jetsons or the Flintstones?
RM Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
Send answers and more questions to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
