Is lettuce a waste of space?
Let us consider the iceberg, romaine and cos. Lettuce delights caterpillars slugs and snails. Its composition of 96% water makes it ideal in weight-loss diets. And it supposedly has health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol and inducing sleep.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Not in our household, where I pick my homegrown lettuces. However, I notice that salads have come a long way from the great British salad of my youth (lettuce, cucumber and tomato with a little “salad cream”). They now contain exotica such as quinoa, rocket and occasional “wilted spinach”. Is this progress, I wonder?
Margaret Wilkes, Perth, Western Australia
• The trouble is the alternatives take up more space on your waist.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• This question is a little gem!
Paul Probyn, London, UK
• No, cos where would you have been in your salad days without it?
Roger Morrell, Perth, Western Australia
• No more so than watercress.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• My family have viewed lettuce as a fairly purposeless food stuff. It is, after all, 96% water and really quite bland. However, the entire Earth is 96.5% water and a human being is between 60% and 78% water. Should we not, therefore, offer the humble lettuce a little more respect?
Molly Bolding, Tavistock, UK
• Not to addicts of BLT sandwiches.
Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Yes – don’t waste your time.
Harvey Mitchell, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
• Oh, how the mighty have fallen! The ancient Egyptians attributed sexual prowess to lettuce. The Romans thought that it increased sexual potency. By the 19th century, British women apparently believed it to cause sterility and infertility. Now we ask if it is a waste of space.
Stuart Williams, Kampala, Uganda
National mood may not help
Is a global mindset contrary to a national mindset?
Only if you live under the yoke of totalitarianism.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• The European mindset is increasingly being challenged by the hostile national mindset of some of its members.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
Chocolate milk did the trick
At what point does the thrill of the new replace the comfort of the old?
After two minutes at least for children and teenagers, about two weeks for adults, and as long as a year for seniors.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• At the moment of that first childhood sip of chocolate milk.
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• When the springs give out.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• When the old sags.
Terence Rowell, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• When they screw the lid on my coffin for the last time.
David Brandt, Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia
Lawrence drove me to it
Which classical English novelist did most for the advancement of women?
Louisa May Alcott gets my vote for Little Women, but my wife goes for Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• Is DH Lawrence classical now? His patronising and misogynistic attitude to women certainly advanced the cause of feminism for me.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Any answers?
How can you tell that someone’s a phoney?
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
Do diacritics matter?
Tijne Schols, The Hague, The Netherlands
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
