The Questions and Answers!

Q1, posted by Jitze at GMT0711 Tues and answered by Rob Kennedy at GMT2107:

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, so I don't remember a part
where Westley catches her, but there's a picture of Fezzik doing it here
(from a part I do remember):
http://princessbride.8m.com/cgi-bin/i/120.jpg

Q2, posted by Jitze at GMT0712 Tues and answered by Rowan Dingle at GMT1134 Sat:

'My friends and I were smoking marijuana in a bar one day when an
obnoxious man arrived dressed in a manner that expressed devotion to a
particular soccer team. He was accompanied [I've assumed that the tosser
wasn't wearing her, though that would, I concede, be possible in a low
haunt such as Jitze is describing] by a woman who looked as though she
would have sex with anybody who bought her a tequila and a packet of
peanuts. The barman told the man that he had done something wrong; the
woman addressed the barman in a loud, aggressive and impertinent manner.
Trouble seemed imminent, and the man left in a bad temper. After this
nonsense, we were unable to find a shop selling deep-fried chipped
potatoes so instead we ate a curry at a Bangladeshi restaurant.'

Q3, posted by Jitze at GMT0713 Tues and answered by Peter Morris at GMT1152:

Is it Winston Churchill?
Probably not, but he's the only escaped POW I can name offhand.

Q4, posted by Aaron at GMT1505 Tues and answered by Jacqui at GMT1542:

Fire.

Q5, posted by Aaron at GMT1508 Tues and answered by Tom Deveson at GMT1546:

'Bread of heaven'

William & Peter Williams, *Guide me, O thou great Redeemer*

Q6, posted by Aaron at GMT1510 Tues and answered by Ben Zimmer at GMT0446 Weds:

First car is a 409, as in the Beach Boys song "409":
"Well I saved my pennies and I saved my dimes
Giddy up giddy up 409."

Second car is a GTO, as in the Ronnie & the Daytonas song "Little GTO":
"Gonna save all my money
And buy a GTO."

Q7, posted by Jack at GMT2104 Tues and answered by Rob Kennedy at GMT2127:

cappuccino

From www.m-w.com:
Etymology: Italian, literally, Capuchin; from the likeness of its color to
that of a Capuchin's habit

And a Capuchin is "a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin forming
since 1529 an austere branch of the first order of Saint Francis of Assisi
engaged in missionary work and preaching"

Q8, posted by Jack at GMT2106 Tues and answered by Mark Brader at GMT2143:

Uziel Gal, Charles Richter, Pierre Magnol, Ned Ludd, and Richard Gatling.

> Please explain the rationale for your selection.

Eponyms. Uzi (gun), Richter scale, magnolia, luddites, and Gatling gun.

Q9, posted by Jack at GMT2109 Tues and answered by Mark Brader at GMT2147:

Road Prison 36. I don't know the state, but "south of Washington, D. C."
it very likely would be.

The movie is "Cool Hand Luke" (1967).

Q10, posted by Aaron at GMT0402 Weds and answered by Martin Ambuhl at GMT0600:

The harvest festival (Lammas) corresponds to the Gaelic Lunasdal. I don't
know any other name for 1 August (except for variations on "1 August").

Q11, posted by Aaron at GMT0404 Weds and answered by Ben Zimmer at GMT0525:

Croissants (1686): named in celebration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's
defeat of Ottoman Turkey (and its crescent flag).

Bread and butter pudding (1729): that's the first citation in the OED.
Probably originated as a way for British housewives to use up stale
bread.

Vichyssoise (1910s): named by Louis Diat, chef de cuisine at the New
York City Ritz-Carlton after a soup from his hometown in Vichy, France.

Q12, posted by Zadne at GMT0735 Weds and answered by Jacqui at GMT0739:

Periwinkle - (possibly from) L. pervincere, to conquer completely
Dandelion - dent de lion

Q13, posted by Zadne at GMT1130 Weds and answered by Jacqui at GMT1148:

Wallace.

(Four Just Men)

Q14, posted by Zadne at GMT1136 Weds and answered by Peter Morris at GMT1154:

the individual is Juno

the modern english word is money.

[Middle English moneie, from Old French, from Latin monta,
mint, coinage, from Monta, epithet of Juno, temple of Juno
of Rome where money was coined.]

Q15, posted by Aaron at GMT2109 Weds and answered by Rob Kennedy at GMT0222 Thurs (after a comment by Garry):

poplin

OED Online says it comes from the French "popeline."

From "Language Miniatures" (http://home.bluemarble.net/~langmin/cloth.htm):
"Its original Italian name was papalino, in which we see the word papa
'pope', because the cloth was first manufactured in the 14th-century papal
town of Avignon."

Q16, posted by Aaron at GMT2111 Weds and answered by Ben Zimmer at GMT0223 Thurs:

"chagrin" (etymologically related to "shagreen")

From _Hobson-Jobson_:
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/HOB.sh?unicode=&WORD=shagreen

SHAGREEN, s. This English word, --French chagrin; Ital. zigrino; Mid.
High Ger. Zager,--comes from the Pers. saghri:, Turk. sa:ghri:, meaning
properly the croupe or quarter of a horse, from which the peculiar
granulated leather, also called sa:ghri: in the East, was originally
made. Diez considers the French (and English adopted) chagrin in the
sense of vexation to be the same word, as certain hard skins prepared in
this way were used as files, and hence the word is used figuratively for
gnawing vexation, as (he states) the Ital. lima also is (Etym.
Worterbuch, ed. 1861, ii. 240). He might have added the figurative
origin of tribulation. [This view is accepted by the N.E.D.; but Prof.
Skeat (Concise Dict.) denies its correctness.]

Q17, posted by Aaron at GMT2113 Weds and answered by Old Timer at GMT2151:

Are you talking about the Pavlova dessert?

Q18, posted by Jitze at GMT 0406 Thurs and answered by Ben Zimmer at GMT0716:

"After the active grafitti artist made a painting on the side panel of a
stainless subway car, the grafitti artists specializing in writing
stylized signatures gave him respect."

Q19, posted by Jitze at GMT0408 Thurs and answered by Rob Kennedy at GMT0524:

Dick Fosbury, a U.S. high jumper in the 1968 Olympics, used a jumping
technique now known as the Fosbury flop.

Q20, posted by Jitze at GMT0409 Thurs and answered by Martin Ambuhl at GMT0636:

The editores were those who "gave out" the games. These exhibitors and
producers became publishers. As publishing became a more developed trade, the
editors found themselves revising as well as publishing.

Q21, posted by Jack at GMT1156 Thurs and answered by Evan Kirshenbaum at GMT1735:

[...] it's probably a screwdriver.

Q22, posted by Jack at GMT1156 Thurs and answered by Ben Zimmer at GMT1721:

OED entry is:

  blind-man's-buff

but these variants are listed:

  6-7 blindman-buff(e, (-buffet, -bough, -bluff,) 7-9 blindman's-buff

Q23, posted by Jack at GMT1156 Thurs and answered by Tom Deveson at GMT1239:

She counted ten when Huck slipped the stolen one back, but then only
nine when he smouched one again.

*Huckleberry Finn* Ch 37.

Q24, posted by Garry at GMT1751 Thurs and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT1356 Tues:

No one has suggested "anacoluthon" yet. So I'm going to suggest
"anacoluthon".

Q25, posted by Garry at GMT1754 Thurs and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT1801:

Prince Charles. You know, William and Harry's dad.

Q26, posted by Garry at GMT1758 Thurs and answered by Mike Hardy at GMT1807:

      I would think "the Post Office" with a captial "P" and a capital
"O" is the public corporate entity that operates all "post offices",
which has a lower-case "p" and a lower-case "o", since it's a common noun.
So the second alternative is correct.

Q27, posted by Aaron at GMT0403 Fri and answered by Richard Bollard at GMT0534:

Kevin Morris' doodles turn out to be part of a top-secret binary
defence satellite transmission. The boy is taken into custody by NSA
Agent Holtzman and then released. New doodles taken from the Morris
home turn out to be digital renderings of everything from Shakespeare
passages to bars from a Brandenburg concerto.

Q28, posted by Aaron at GMT0406 Fri and answered by Ben Zimmer at GMT0613:

The herb would be sage, as in Anna Sage, the infamous "lady in red" who
delivered John Dillinger to the FBI. Her real name was Ana Cumpanas,
and she was avoiding deportation back to Rumania.

Anna Sage is tangentially related to the legend surrounding a certain
organ of Dillinger's, said to be pickled:
http://www.snopes2.com/sex/penile/dilling.htm.

Q29, posted by Aaron at GMT0408 Fri and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT2053 Sat:

And the vote result was 10 to 8, if you count the chief, or 9 to 9, if
you don't. Darn it, I can't find the thread in which the Kronos
schedule question was asked...

The actress who played Nurse Ratched was "Vedek/Kai Winn Adami" in
Deep Space Nine, according to IMDB, and perhaps Jack Nicholson is the
connection to Batman.

Q30, posted by Zadne at GMT1230 Fri and answered by Kathy K at GMT1237:

Biscuit

Q31, posted by Zadne at GMT1236 Fri and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT1243:

I think the first one sounds better because "wheelchair-bound" could
be vague (does it mean he's destined to use a wheelchair, or confined
to using a wheelchair)? And of course he probably gets out of the
wheelchair for some things, eh? So he's not always bound there.
(Also, some people don't like the unpleasant sound of referring to
someone as "bound" or "confined" to a wheelchair.)

Q32, posted by Zadne at GMT1239 Fri and answered by Peter Morris at GMT1244:

Hernando's Hideaway,

ole !

Q33, posted by Garry at GMT1918 Fri and answered by Evan Kirshenbaum at GMT0119 Sat:

[...] it would appear to be "O1", not "O-1".

Q34, posted by Garry at GMT1923 Fri and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT2016:

Epizeuxis, perhaps.

Q35, posted by Garry at GMT1940 Fri and answered by Mark Brader at GMT1957:

A google for the plural turns up
<http://www.limunltd.com/numismatica/coin-slang/coin-slang-W.htm>
which says:

|   Warnicks
|          War nickels. Between 1942 and 1945 a special silver/manganese
|          alloy was used in our five-cent pieces, copper and nickel being
|          needed for wartime purposes.

This refers to US coinage. Despite the wording above, the alloy was
actually 56% copper, 35% silver, and 9% manganese. (Normal US "nickels"
were, and I believe still are, 75% copper, 25% nickel.)

Q36, posted by Jack at GMT0400 Sat and answered by Gwen Lenker at GMT2118 Weds:

She was at her war job in a factory

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tommys/tommy006.jpg

Q37, posted by Jack at GMT0400 Sat and answered by Richard Fontana at GMT0433:

Single white male, non-smoker, would like to meet single female with good
sense of humo(u)r. Reply with self-addressed envelope.

Q38, posted by Jack at GMT0400 Sat and answered by Richard Fontana at GMT0429:

Furlong?

M-W: "Etymology: Middle English, from Old English furlang, from furh
furrow + lang long"

Q39, posted by Zadne at GMT1123 Sat and answered by Peter Morris at GMT1714:

the answer to Q4 does not begin with a vowel, therfore
define is not preferred, therefore const is preferred.

Q40, posted by Zadne at GMT1125 Sat and answered by Peter Morris at GMT0957 Mon:

there is no significance to the seven sides.

Q41, posted by Zadne at GMT1139 Sat and answered by Sarah Cannell at GMT1257:

I am having a terrible time trying to express this in a sentence -- frankly I
think it's an argument *for* jargon -- but it's basically saying that someone
lost his NASD registration, which permitted him to sell securities, because he
tried to camouflage the timing of the sale of his own stock (or his client's own
stock) by selling the identical stock held by another party first, then
transferring his own stock to the other party at the time when it suited him to
report the gain or loss.

Q42, posted by Aaron at GMT2005 Sat and answered by Gwen Lenker at GMT0551 Sun:

White. On a US Navy aircraft carrier, these colors identify the
people performing the various jobs.

From http://www.transamseries.com/news/carrier.html

"We also got a description of the rainbow wardrobe of the flight deck
personnel. Purple jerseys are worn by the Aviation Fuels crew; Blue is
worn by the plane handlers, aircraft elevator operators, tractor
drivers and messengers and phone talkers; Green is for the catapult
and arresting gear crews, air wing maintenance personnel, air wing
quality control personnel, cargo-handling personnel, ground support
equipment troubleshooters, hook runners, photographer's mates and
helicopter landing signal enlisted personnel; Yellow is for the
aircraft handling officers, catapult and arresting gear officers and
plane directors; Red is worn by the ordnancemen, the crash and salvage
crews and explosive ordnance disposal; Brown is for the air wing plane
captains and air wing line leading petty officers; and White is for
the squadron plane inspectors, landing signal officers, air transfer
officers, liquid oxygen crews, safety observers and medical
personnel."

Q43, posted by Aaron at GMT2007 Sat and answered by Mike Hardy at GMT2036:

     I've always heard "Her Majesty the Queen." I thought "Her Royal
Highness" was used for people of lesser rank such as the Princess of
Wales before her divorce.

Q44, posted by Aaron at GMT2011 Sat and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT2039:

Hrududu.

Q45, posted by Jack at GMT0346 Sun and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT0431:

From http://www.eeggs.com/items/8240.html:

->    From: anonymous
->    Requires: DirectX
->    Easter Egg: Boot Excel 2000
->    Under file menu, do 'Save as Web Page'
->    Say 'Publish Sheet' and 'Add Interactivity'
->    Save to some htm page on your drive.
->    Load the htm page with IE. You should have Excel in the middle of
->    the page. Scroll to row 2000, column WC. Select row 2000, and tab so
->    that WC is the active column. Hold down Shift+Crtl+Alt nad click the
->    Office logo in the upper-left. If you have DirectX, you will be
->    playing what looks like spy hunter. Use the arrow keys to drive,
->    space to fire, O to drop oil slicks, and when it gets dark, use H for
->    your headlights.

Q46, posted by Jack at GMT0346 Sun and answered by Bob Lipton at GMT0356:

Bullfighting.

Q47, posted by Jack at GMT0346 Sun and answered by Joe Manfre at GMT0443:

Definitely not "-by". Not "-ham", I don't think. I'm going to go with
"-ing".

Q48, posted by Garry at GMT1145 Sun and answered by Tom Deveson at GMT1233:

Depends slightly on whether it's a Baroness in her own right or a
Baron's wife.

On an envelope: The Right Hon. the Baroness -- or The Right Hon. (the)
Lady --.

Socially: The Baroness -- or The Lady --.

If it's Baroness Thatcher: Oy you, line up for your colostomy bag over
there like everyone else.

Should have added the spoken form: Lady --.

Q49, posted by Garry at GMT1148 Sun and answered by Peter Morris at GMT1403:

Assuming 'Ted' is a typo for 'Tom', then the answer is Blackpool.

Q50, posted by Garry at GMT1152 Sun and answered by John Seeliger at GMT1455:

"The Prima legion withdrew in AD410." The reason is that "AD" means "(in)
the Year of our Lord," and "(in) the year of X" (often used for the
beginning year of a king's reign) precedes the date. "(In) the year of X
Y" means starting from X, it has been Y years.

Q51, posted by Jitze at GMT1906 Sun and answered by Mark Brader at GMT1908:

The Fed.

> Additionally, assume that your article is on the Bank of England.

This is the same article that's on the Fed? :-)

> How would subsequent references be made?

The Bank.

Q52, posted by Jitze at GMT1907 Sun and answered by Gwen Lenker at GMT GMT2004:

Issues.

(Assuming you meant "Impostor" for "Imposture")

Q53, posted by Jitze at GMT1911 Sun and answered by Gwen Lenker at GMT2335 Mon:

The correct answer is "Mondegreen."

Where does that put us?

Thanks to all!