Are humans the only species who mate face to face? Why? Why not?
Place your hands and your feet – or knees – on a suitable surface. Get your partner to do the same. Now try to mate face to face.
Humans got up on to our feet; that’s why we can mate face to face. I guess there are some underwater creatures that can too. They won’t be providing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation at the same time, since they’re almost certainly holding their breath.
C J S Jones, Birmingham, UK
• Snails do it, since some are hermaphrodites and can change gender and position from time to time. It’s called double dipping.
Bryan Furnass, Canberra, Australia
• Face to face is heart to heart.
John Reynolds, North Shore City, New Zealand
• No we’re not. There’s the bonobo, the dolphin and of course the seahorse, where the male becomes pregnant. We’re not that special.
John Grinter, Katoomba, NSW, Australia
• Seeing eye-to-eye is a sound basis for a successful partnership and rearing young.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• Once, on Stewart Island New Zealand, my wife and I watched a pair of Kaka parrots going at it hammer and tongs for at least 20 minutes with the female splayed back on a branch in the missionary position. Passersby were alerted and, as the avian oglers grew in number, there were quips about certain human performance inadequacies.
Denis Walls, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
• Who are these humans that only mate face to face? And why?
Matthew Bampton, Gorham, Maine, US
Get your brush ready, mate
Why is ‘hell to pay’ often a forewarning of impending doom?
In the days of wooden ships the timber on the bottom (ie “hell”) was covered in tar or pitch and the process was called “paying”. This never-ending maintenance was “hell to pay”. And if your ship wasn’t watertight then your doom was to sink to Davy Jones’s locker.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Make that “Hellas to pay” and you have your answer.
Mike Edwards, Maleny, Queensland, Australia
• Because it’s financial code signalling that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are about to save us from democracy.
Terence Rowell, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• If something is that difficult to pay for, one would think there ought to be something better than doom in return. Doesn’t seem fair.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Outlaw them henceforthwith
If you were word master, what words would you outlaw?
Irregardless as to whether or not specified or unspecified words offend innocent civilians and hard-working taxpayers, the decision-making process regarding the outlawing thereof would henceforthwith be privatised in my word-mastership tenure.
Andre Carrel, Terrace, British Columbia, Canada
• Like.
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• Going forward.
Jean-Claude Lefebvre, Sutton Junction, Quebec, Canada
• The words that are put in my mouth!
Tom Edmonds, Cowansville, Quebec, Canada
Any answers?
Who invented the coffee break?
Paul Dionne, Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada
Who was the last elected leader who gave priority to the common good over votes for the next election?
Jim Neilan, Dunedin, New Zealand
• Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
