Straight Dope Archive

What's the origin of the golf term "mulligan"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Sam
August 15, 2002
How many G's does my laundry pull during the spin cycle?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Karen Lingel
August 13, 2002
Is it possible to get "bruised ovaries" during sex?
By Cecil Adams
August 9, 2002
What's the origin of "to treat with kid gloves"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
August 8, 2002
Is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" a real word referring to Irish hookers?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Euty
August 6, 2002
Can a microwave oven cause a pacemaker to malfunction?
By Cecil Adams
August 2, 2002
What's the story on the Sargasso Sea?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by MEBuckner
August 1, 2002
Does "assassin" derive from "hashish"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by DWeiss
July 30, 2002
How come Howard Hughes's "Spruce Goose" flew only once?
By Cecil Adams
July 26, 2002
How do animals recognize water?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Doug
July 25, 2002
What's the origin of "ten-gallon hat"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by JillGat
July 23, 2002
Are 150 people killed each year by falling coconuts?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
July 19, 2002
If Flatworm A eats Flatworm B, will it absorb Flatworm B's  knowledge?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Doug
July 18, 2002
Why do telephone keypads count from the top down, while calculators count from the bottom up?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
July 16, 2002
Is the world more dangerous now than when we were kids?
By Cecil Adams
July 12, 2002
Why does spinning a space station create artificial gravity?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Chronos
July 11, 2002
Can a baseball be hit farther at high altitude?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
July 11, 2002
Is there really such a thing as "black ice"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
July 9, 2002
How many kids are found as a result of missing-child posters?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
July 5, 2002
Why is it easier to balance on a moving bike than a non-moving one (revisited)?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Karen Lingel
July 4, 2002
What's up with the notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
July 2, 2002
Did Sigmund Freud use cocaine on his patients?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
June 28, 2002
Why are citrus fruits segmented?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Doug
June 27, 2002
Do birds pee?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Colibri
June 25, 2002
Did Carlos Castaneda hallucinate that stuff in the Don Juan books or make it up?
By Cecil Adams
June 21, 2002
Who killed Jesus?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
June 16, 2002
Was Joseph Stalin once a seminarian?
By Cecil Adams
June 14, 2002
Who was Dr. Spooner of "spoonerism" fame?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
June 11, 2002
Why are women always cold?
By Cecil Adams
June 7, 2002
What's the significance of the Monopoly playing pieces?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Ken
June 6, 2002
Why do we eat "beef" and "pork" rather than "cow" and "pig"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Colibri
June 4, 2002
Were WWII scrap drives just a ploy to boost morale?
By Cecil Adams
May 31, 2002
What's the physics behind "lake effect snow"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
May 30, 2002
Did President Harding's wife catch him in the closet with a lover?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by John Corrado
May 28, 2002
Would I find "Vaudeville" on a map?
By Cecil Adams
May 24, 2002
How do we know what shape the Milky Way is?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Chronos
May 23, 2002
Who were the Symbionese, and were they ever liberated?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Czarcasm
May 21, 2002
What's the big deal about offshore banks?
By Cecil Adams
May 17, 2002
What's the origin of "umpteen"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dogster
May 16, 2002
What's the origin of "man of the cloth"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
May 14, 2002
Is Paul Bunyan a fraud?
By Cecil Adams
May 10, 2002
What did the census at the time of the birth of Christ accomplish?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
May 7, 2002
Do crocodiles shed tears? (revisited)
By Cecil Adams
May 3, 2002
Did Leif Erikson once live in Cambridge, Massachusetts?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
April 30, 2002
Will smoking banana peels get you high?
By Cecil Adams
April 26, 2002
Does a mosquito's hum alternate between D and F?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Doug
April 25, 2002
Does a dripping faucet keep the pipes from freezing?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Ken
April 23, 2002
Do plants excrete?
By Cecil Adams
April 19, 2002
Has 1 in 8 people had sex with an animal?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
April 12, 2002
What's up with those Indian widows who commit suttee?
By Cecil Adams
April 5, 2002
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