THE BIG QUESTIONS
I found an old copy of Huckleberry Finn, a fave in my childhood. Now I find myself wondering – is there such a thing as a huckleberry? – R
The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, was first published in 1884.
Huckleberry, who first appeared in The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, earns his name from the huckleberry which is a name given to several small species of edible berry, known as a bilberry in the UK.
My grandson tells me that he saw a documentary about the Apollo space mission that claimed astronauts had
seen what they called moon pigeons. Birds on the moon seems unlikely, to
say the least. – P
They certainly are, but there is a grain of truth in what your grandson may have picked up.
Moon pigeons are the name Nasa gave to unidentified phenomena that astronauts saw in lunar orbit or while they were actually on the surface of the moon.
The term “moon pigeon” was first used on the Apollo 10 mission in 1969 when astronaut Eugene Cernan’s camera captured a white, apparently moving, object near the lunar lander.
Why do we commonly call a pound a quid? – G
This probably began some time in the 17th Century and comes from the Latin phrase “quid pro quo” which translates roughly as “something for something” meaning an equal exchange of goods or services.
However, others suggest it may be a shortening of the name of Quidhampton, a village in Wiltshire, that was home to a paper mill that the Royal Mint used to print paper money.