Illustration: Print Collector/Getty
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Because it can produce a few notes. Particularly if its name is Lewis Carroll.
Jennifer Rathbone, Toronto, Canada
• The answer lies in the quill: both may be penned, but they can never truly be captive.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• Ravens and writing desks are both highly intelligent, found in a wide range of habitats, will eat almost anything and like playing tricks on humans.
Stephen Saunders, Canberra, Australia
• Because outstanding bills are found on both of them.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• Because in French all the letters in bureau are contained in corbeau.
Gillian Shenfield, Sydney, Australia
• The Mad Hatter didn’t know, but perhaps The Raven came into Edgar Allan Poe’s mind while he was sitting at his writing desk.
Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• They have quills in common – and black, if the desk is crafted from ebony. In fact, Lewis Carroll was so plagued for an answer to his riddle that he eventually satisfied his fans with: “because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat and it is nevar put with the wrong end first”.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• If you look up this riddle on the internet you will find that it is a riddle without an answer. You will also find that a lot of people have tried with spectacular lack of success to say funny or intelligent things about it. I have just added to the number.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
Did I say something wrong?
Has the wrong use of words ever led to a serious conflict, such as war?
Malapropism is pretty harmless, but when wrong use of words amounts to a lie it can be fatal. For example, the untrue claim that Iraq had so-called weapons of mass destruction.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
A declaration of war may be grammatically correct but it’s such a wrong use of words.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Yes, repeatedly. That’s why we employ diplomats. Imagine how busy they’d be if Donald Trump ever became president.
Terence Rowell, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• “Do you think you might be mistaken, my dear?”
Roger Seal, Spalding, UK
You just can’t resist Groucho
What are eyebrows for?
Signalling emotion: two down (disapproval); two up (surprise); one up (disbelief).
Victoria Castiglione, Denmark, Western Australia
• Enchanting the opposite sex, à la Groucho Marx.
R M Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
• Presumably different things as we age, since women’s dwindle and men’s get shaggier.
Annie March, West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
• A raised eyebrow can be more eloquent than a dropped jaw.
Harvey Mitchell, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
• To remind the rest of us why we are the hoi polloi.
Philip Bool, Winslow, Victoria, Australia
• Irony.
Michael Polanyi, Toronto, Canada
Any answers?
At what point does the thrill of the new replace the comfort of the old?
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
Which classical English novelist did most for the advancement of women?
Edward Black, Sydney, Australia
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
