Stretch of the imagination
QUESTION Which is correct: ‘rack my brain’ or ‘wrack my brain’?
TO ‘rack one’s brains’ is a reference to the rack, a medieval torture instrument used across Europe, but mainly associated with the Spanish Inquisition.
The victim is tied down by the ankles and wrists while a crank, or turning wheel, tightens the ropes, stretching the body until the joints are dislocated, causing extreme pain.
The device was used to extract a confession or information, which lead to the expression ‘rack your brains’ to describe making a great effort to remember something.
Wrack relates to ruinous accidents. It is derived from the Old English wraec, meaning vengeance, so if the stock market is wracked by rumours of imminent recession, it’s wrecked. If things are wrecked, they go to ‘wrack and ruin’. Richard Thorne, Stockport, Gtr Manchester.
QUESTION What is the plant tumbleweed and why is it a problem in the US?
TUMBLEWEED is a bushy plant where the shoots break off and disperse seeds widely when the wind blows the dead stalk across the land.
The most familiar, and pernicious, tumbleweeds are the Salosa family, a species introduced to America in the second half of the 19th century and commonly known as Russian thistle.
International trade brought a host of exotic plants to the US, in many cases as contaminants in seeds of grain and legumes. By the 1890s, several species of exotic grasses had become established across the American plains and valleys. Broad-leaved weeds had also invaded.
Russian thistle, native to Eurasia, arrived in South Dakota in 1873 as a contaminant in flax seed. By 1900, it had spread westward to the Pacific Coast. It is now found in every state in the US, except Alaska and Florida.
Not a true thistle, but a member of the goosefoot, or chenopod, family, Russian thistle is a globular, prickly-leaved weed that can grow to more than a metre wide. As it matures, a quarter of a million seeds ripen. After the tumbleweed breaks off, it quickly colonises disturbed soil, including ploughed fields and land that has been overgrazed.
Its tolerance of drought and ability to disperse seeds over a wide area has made it one of the most common weeds in the wheat lands and semi-desert range of the western states. It is a particular problem in drought years when it outcompetes crops for water. The plant interferes with tilling and is a refuge for pests. The seeds it disperses are thorny and can even burst bicycle tyres.
Many other plants can form tumble-weeds, such as the plains tumbleweed, or Cycloloma atriplicifolium, which comes from central North America.
Alison Dike, Birmingham.
QUESTION What is the difference between tea, afternoon tea and high tea?
TEA is a beverage that can be enjoyed as a refreshment at any time, giving rise to the expression tea break. But for much of its history it was a luxury reserved for only the wealthy with rituals evolving about when it could be enjoyed.
A tea tax was introduced by England’s Charles II in 1676 to protect the coffee trade. At one time the tea tax was 119%, which encouraged large-scale smuggling and adulteration with cheaper substances such as talc. The tax was reduced to 12.5% until 1785, but smuggling continued.
The tax sparked the Boston Tea Party in 1771 as the import of tea to the British colonies in America was taxed, but the revenue went to London, sparking the revolutionary maxim of ‘no taxation without representation’.
Afternoon tea was a popular past-time of wealthy ladies of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. To demonstrate their wealth, they would serve tea accompanied by delicacies.
As the price of tea dropped, the middle classes adopted afternoon tea as a social activity and it also started to be served as a refreshment during leisure activities, such as cricket, tennis and croquet matches. This evolved into the tea, sandwiches, scones and small cakes served today.
Afternoon tea for the wealthy also served to bridge the hunger gap between lunch and dinner, which wasn’t served until 8pm.
Tea was grown on an industrial scale in India from the 1820s, using seeds smuggled out of China, which had held a monopoly on growing the plant.
When tea clippers – fast sailing ships such as the Cutty Sark – were introduced for the largescale transport of tea to the British market, the price was further reduced, bringing it within reach of the working classes.
The working classes wouldn’t squander tea on frivolities such as afternoon refreshment. It was part of the family’s main evening meal, which is the origin of high tea, served when the breadwinner got home from work.
When holidays for the working classes become popular, seaside restaurants and cafes offered high tea to tourists from the cities. This term was still in use in cafes in the early Sixties. Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
QUESTION I’ve never seen the actor Will Smith play a villain in film. Has he been offered any roles as a baddie?
WILL Smith’s do-gooding character has been set in stone for most of his career. Even potential badguy roles were altered to make the antagonist seem positive.
However, in 2014’s Winter’s Tale, Smith makes a three-minute cameo as Lucifer himself, a scene in which he admonishes the demon played by Russell Crowe. To prove his devilry, watch his shadow and how the flames rise as his anger burns. Emma Stewart, Scotland.