Jaywalkers and ant colonies fuel these kids’ curiosity

Today we visit the Kiddies' Korner to answer some questions from young readers whose parents do not know better than to let their impressionable young children read stuff such as this.

This first question comes from my pal Alex, who really shouldn't be always trying to shake me down for cigars and

who is almost as smart and good-looking as his sister, Ellie. Why do they call jaywalking 'jaywalking'?

One thing I read said that the first person arrested for such a violation was named Jay Walker, but that's just hooey.

"Jay" has been used as slang for a rube or country hick since the 1500s.

I find that kind of odd because jays are corvine and, as such, are related to crows, and crows are pretty smart.

As cities grew and traffic became heavier, yokels who showed up in town wearing their plaid suits and striped

pants didn't understand the pedestrian rules and so were apt to cross streets wherever they felt like it.

Hence, jaywalking.

I didn't know there was anything wrong with matching plaids with stripes until people, mostly females, stopped answering my phone calls.

When I was in fourth grade we learned about ants. They are born, then nursed for a couple of days, then go to work. But I always wondered how ants know what job they have. Will you please answer in the newspaper for my fifth-grade class?

Different kinds of ants have different levels of hydrocarbon compounds in their exoskeletons. Other ants can detect this with their antennae. So a scout ant might have one smell and a digger another and a nurse yet another.

Not all ants are locked into the same job for life. Younger ants usually have jobs inside the nest because they are important to the survival of the colony. Mature ants work as foragers or scouts or soldier ants out in the big, cruel world. Or in the case of some disaster, all of the workers might pitch in to repair the nest or whatever.