Questions Questions returns to Radio 4
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11:58, Friday, 15 July 2011
One of our listeners observed a mass of frogs appearing on just one day this spring. Has anyone else observed the same occurrence this year and why do you think this happens? Do any other creatures do the same when breeding? (Ed's note: See below on how to provide your answer.)
Questions Questions is back with a new series starting on Thursday 21 July. For the next six weeks, presenter Stewart Henderson will be donning his thinking cap and setting off in search of answers to life's niggling queries. You can ask us anything at all, from the origins of obscure local words to testing madcap scientific theories.
This blog will be our new online home where we'll be telling you what's coming up in the programme, asking for your comments, and, most importantly, inviting you to ask us your questions and help us find some answers.
In the first programme of the series, Stewart will be investigating how you can distinguish one voice from any other in just a split second and why collective nouns for birds are so often disparaging - what could possibly be the origins of a 'deceit of lapwings', for example.
We all know of the rich musical heritage of the coal mining industry. But what about tin? Stewart has been scaling rickety ladders and crawling through pitch-black tunnels in a bid to discover what made the tinners sing. There'll be songs beneath ground and on wild windswept cliff tops.
But before the programme returns on Thursday we'd like your comments on the following questions (Just leave a comment at the bottom of the blog):
Question 1: What does wingwom or wingwoms mean? One listener remembers this family term from her childhood. Have you heard it? Or do you know of any family terms that have entered widespread use in your area?
Question 2: Mazes are great fun but what were their other social functions throughout history? Perhaps you know of mazes which served as outdoor meeting rooms, places for secret trysts, or provided entertainment for dinner guests.
Question 3: One of our listeners observed a mass of frogs appearing on just one day this spring. Has anyone else observed the same occurrence this year and why do you think this happens? Do any other creatures do the same when breeding?
As well as your thoughts on these points, we, of course, always need your questions. Please send them to questions.questions@bbc.co.uk, call us on 03700 100 400, or leave them as comments on this blog. Please note that if you leave a comment you may be contacted by us.
Questions Questions returns on Thursday 21 July
Comment number 1.
At 15th Jul 2011, Russ wrote:Feedback (the programme) seems rather obsessed with the question "What were the first words broadcast by the Ö÷²¥´óÐã?" at the moment. Maybe QQ can delve back to c 1922, decide which 'Ö÷²¥´óÐã' (the 'Company' preceded the present 'Corporation') they mean, and provide an answer?
My guess is some combination of 'Hello' and 'Welcome'...
Russ
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Comment number 2.
At 18th Jul 2011, Barns wrote:Please make it a podcast :)
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Comment number 3.
At 21st Jul 2011, DelSale wrote:With reference to wingwoms. When I was a child in the fifties and I asked my mother what something was that she either didn't know or wouldn't tell, she would say it was a 'whim-wham for a wowser'. Having probed a bit deeper it seems that it may have Australian connections. I had a three uncles and an aunt who became ten pound poms and then came back so it may have come back with them. See here:
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Comment number 4.
At 25th Jul 2011, Jim wrote:My late Mother, who spent her early life in Hampshire, used to refer to "a wim wom with gooses bridles".
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Comment number 5.
At 25th Jul 2011, Janaru wrote:Perhaps you are thinking of "wigwam". This is a domed hut made by Native Americans (not to be confused with a "teepee" or "tipi"). They have an inner structure made of bended poles and are covered with skins or sod.
The term made it's way into the common vernacular of American culture by way of old American cowboy movies and occasionally movies of other genres.
Perhaps it made it's way across the pond?
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Comment number 6.
At 26th Jul 2011, wjs292 wrote:My family's version of this was, in answer to a child's question of "what are they?" the reply would be "wim-wams for duck's wazzers"
Similarly - "where are you going"? - "there and back to see how far it is"
or "to see a man about a dog"
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Comment number 7.
At 26th Jul 2011, wjs292 wrote:Some more of my family sayings:-
surprise at something "well I'll go to the foot of our stairs"
Disbelief, response to a lie "all my eye and Betty Martin"
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