Most Popular
1500 questions
18
votes
3 answers
If Phileas Fogg had a clock that showed the exact date and time, why didn't he realize that he had arrived a day early?
How can it happen that, with
a complicated clock which indicated the hours, the minutes, the seconds, the days, the months, and the years
in Fogg's room, as we are told in the first chapter of the "Around the World", in addition to another one in…
Laura
- 431
- 1
- 13
18
votes
1 answer
What is the bananafish? What does it represent?
In J.D. Salinger's A Perfect Day For Bananafish, Seymour, the main character, talks about a bananafish. He tells a little girl about the bananafish. The little girl says she sees the fish.
What is the bananafish and what does it represent?
Philip
- 183
- 1
- 1
- 7
18
votes
1 answer
When did the Rupert Bear stories start repeating themselves?
Some years ago I used to collect Rupert Bear annuals. I had a huge collection going all the way back to the 1940s, with some gaps which I slowly filled in over the years, and every time I got a new book, it meant reading several new Rupert stories.…
Rand al'Thor
- 72,435
- 26
- 236
- 488
18
votes
3 answers
Why is Dante's Magnum Opus Called a 'Divine Comedy'?
I can see little reason for Dante to name his work a 'divine comedy.' At least with Inferno, I can better see it as a tragedy. Why did he choose to name his work as he did?
Wyvern123
- 358
- 3
- 11
18
votes
1 answer
Accented è in Blake's "The little ones leapèd, and shoutèd, and laugh'd / And all the hills echoèd."
Here is a poem by William Blake with some accented è's (Nurse's Song, 1789). How is this è pronounced? What is the background as to why the e bears an accent?
When the voices of children are heard on the green,
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My…
balteo
- 781
- 4
- 12
18
votes
3 answers
What is meant by the title "The Color of Money"?
I remember encountering the phrase when I was a kid, not knowing the context, not being able to get a satisfactory answer from the adults, and figuring I'd discover it when I was older.
Now it's 700 years later and I'm re-watching the Scorsese film,…
Tom
- 684
- 6
- 14
18
votes
1 answer
How did the Strugatsky Brothers' experience with Soviet literary publishing censorship reflect on their books?
It's well known that the Strugatsky brothers were affected by the censors overseeing the publishing of their work.
How did those experiences reflect in their books?
The question is about the censorship experience being part of the content, not the…
DVK
- 4,516
- 17
- 43
18
votes
2 answers
What is the origin of this contradictory poem?
Does anyone know where this poem originates from:
One fine morning in the middle of the night,
Two dead men got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot one another.
I suspect it is from the Victorian era but…
Mirte
- 2,943
- 1
- 16
- 37
18
votes
4 answers
In what Chinese fairy tale does a painter disappear into his own painting?
The online description of Rüdiger Safranski's book Wieviel Wahrheit braucht der Mensch? begins with the following sentence:
In einem berühmten chinesischen Märchen verschwindet der Maler in seinem eigenen Bild.
Translation:
In a famous Chinese…
Tsundoku
- 44,570
- 7
- 95
- 211
18
votes
1 answer
Medical school that brainwashes students, run by drug company that does unethical experiments
I read this English-language thriller novel in 2017 or 2018 (publish date unknown) at a local library in the Western United States. It's been bugging me for a while. I remember a lot of details but I'm terrible at searching... long question…
bobble
- 9,774
- 4
- 35
- 81
18
votes
1 answer
Children’s poem about a boy stuck between the tracks on the underground
When I was young I used to love Michael Rosen. Don’t put mustard in the custard and lots of silly ones like that. I also remember that there was a darker poem in one of the poem compilation books set on the underground about a boy who fell between…
sam_smith
- 377
- 1
- 7
18
votes
1 answer
What does Wednesday mean by "the flowers in your hair are optional"?
When Shadow is trying to tell Wednesday about his dream with the thunderbirds, Wednesday gets quite angry and then says they're heading to San Francisco:
"I dreamed of thunderbirds...," said Shadow. "And a tower. Skulls..." It seemed to him very…
Mithical
- 24,015
- 16
- 94
- 184
18
votes
2 answers
What is the "Neon god" in "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel?
In Simon and Garfunkel's song The Sound of Silence1, there is the following passage in lyrics:
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
What is this neon god?
Obviously, they are referring to neon signs, but in what sense are…
Gallifreyan
- 8,405
- 5
- 33
- 87
18
votes
1 answer
How 'human' are the animals in The Wind in the Willows meant to look?
I always imagined the animals in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows - Mole, Ratty, Badger, Toad, and so on - to be actual animals, clearly anthropomorphised to some extent (walking on two legs, able to row boats and drive cars, and so on) but…
Rand al'Thor
- 72,435
- 26
- 236
- 488
18
votes
1 answer
Did Captain Pirx make a joke in base 13?
When Douglas Adams was asked whether he invented this question because six times nine is actually 54, which is 42 when written in base thirteen, he replied: “I may be a sorry case, but I don't write jokes in base 13.”
This denial by Douglas Adams…
b_jonas
- 1,770
- 14
- 38