User Gareth Rees

102 votes

Was the title "The Lord of the Rings" picked on purpose to be ambiguous?

answered Sep 15, 2020 at 15:06

79 votes

Why is Aragorn so weird to Pippin when they make their final farewell before going back to the Shire?

answered Oct 12, 2020 at 11:39

66 votes

Accepted

Did H. G. Wells use an emoticon in “The Time Machine”?

answered Jun 19, 2021 at 12:35

40 votes

Accepted

Why don't Mr. Bennet's daughters get to inherit the Longbourn estate?

answered Jan 14, 2019 at 10:47

36 votes

Accepted

Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

answered Jul 13, 2020 at 17:02

33 votes

Accepted

What is the pun in Kipling's poem "The Three-Decker"?

answered Feb 20, 2018 at 14:11

32 votes

Accepted

What is the earliest reference in fiction to a government-approved thieves guild?

answered Sep 17, 2021 at 15:13

31 votes

Who "dribbled a lot and wasn’t allowed anything sharp" in "Good Omens"?

answered Feb 26, 2022 at 13:56

31 votes

Accepted

Story where professor claims a step in a proof "is obvious" when it is far from obvious

answered Aug 13, 2022 at 9:36

29 votes

What translation/version of the Bible would Chaucer have read?

answered Oct 9, 2022 at 19:11

28 votes

Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

answered Jul 13, 2020 at 17:04

27 votes

Accepted

"My father declared he should invent a slip button"

answered Mar 2, 2021 at 21:33

27 votes

What is the source of "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love" (Shakespeare?)

answered Sep 14, 2019 at 19:48

26 votes

Why would Henry want to close the breach?

answered Dec 10, 2022 at 14:15

25 votes

Accepted

Was it common that the bridges of ditches or creeks had guarding gates in 1924?

answered Sep 27, 2020 at 16:54

25 votes

Accepted

Story about a man who bets his head but not his neck with the devil

answered May 21, 2022 at 19:08

24 votes

What does "skimmish" mean, in this eye dialect?

answered Mar 18, 2021 at 9:54

24 votes

In which version of "Snow White" is her name really "Lips Red as Blood, Hair Black as Ebony, Skin White as Snow"?

answered Oct 24, 2021 at 8:33

24 votes

Accepted

Why does the prophecy imply Macbeth has to murder the king?

answered Dec 26, 2021 at 14:01

24 votes

Accepted

How did contemporary readers respond to coincidence in 19th century novels?

answered Feb 26, 2018 at 13:59

23 votes

Why does Valentine refer to her father's second wife as her "mother-in-law"?

answered Oct 14, 2021 at 21:54

23 votes

Does Gandalf ever say this in the book "The Hobbit", or is it made up for the movie?

answered May 14, 2022 at 16:25

23 votes

Accepted

What does "if the court knows herself" mean?

answered Feb 19, 2021 at 19:10

22 votes

Accepted

Where was the Odyssean Ithaca?

answered Mar 10, 2018 at 10:23

22 votes

Accepted

What's the meaning of Tom Bombadil's poem?

answered Feb 23, 2020 at 11:49

21 votes

How do these lines in Shakespeare's Sonnet 151 mean what they're supposed to?

answered Feb 5, 2021 at 10:01

21 votes

In what Chinese fairy tale does a painter disappear into his own painting?

answered May 11, 2021 at 14:07

21 votes

Were English poets of the sixteenth century aware of the Great Vowel Shift?

answered Nov 25, 2020 at 22:36

20 votes

Origin of “Good books are the warehouses of ideas”, attributed to H. G. Wells on commemorative £2 coin?

answered Jan 6, 2021 at 17:37

20 votes

Accepted

What is a "three-part moon"?

answered Mar 23, 2021 at 8:51

Stack Exchange Network

717 Answers

Was the title "The Lord of the Rings" picked on purpose to be ambiguous?

Why is Aragorn so weird to Pippin when they make their final farewell before going back to the Shire?

Did H. G. Wells use an emoticon in “The Time Machine”?

Why don't Mr. Bennet's daughters get to inherit the Longbourn estate?

Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

What is the pun in Kipling's poem "The Three-Decker"?

What is the earliest reference in fiction to a government-approved thieves guild?

Who "dribbled a lot and wasn’t allowed anything sharp" in "Good Omens"?

Story where professor claims a step in a proof "is obvious" when it is far from obvious

What translation/version of the Bible would Chaucer have read?

Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

"My father declared he should invent a slip button"

What is the source of "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love" (Shakespeare?)

Why would Henry want to close the breach?

Was it common that the bridges of ditches or creeks had guarding gates in 1924?

Story about a man who bets his head but not his neck with the devil

What does "skimmish" mean, in this eye dialect?

In which version of "Snow White" is her name really "Lips Red as Blood, Hair Black as Ebony, Skin White as Snow"?

Why does the prophecy imply Macbeth has to murder the king?

How did contemporary readers respond to coincidence in 19th century novels?

Why does Valentine refer to her father's second wife as her "mother-in-law"?

Does Gandalf ever say this in the book "The Hobbit", or is it made up for the movie?

What does "if the court knows herself" mean?

Where was the Odyssean Ithaca?

What's the meaning of Tom Bombadil's poem?

How do these lines in Shakespeare's Sonnet 151 mean what they're supposed to?

In what Chinese fairy tale does a painter disappear into his own painting?

Were English poets of the sixteenth century aware of the Great Vowel Shift?

Origin of “Good books are the warehouses of ideas”, attributed to H. G. Wells on commemorative £2 coin?

What is a "three-part moon"?