Sir: I have been wondering for a long time about the origin of the term "blue-john" for skim milk. Can you help?
- Beatrice S.
Answer: I'm sorry to say I can't. It's such a common term, at least in parts of the country, that I thought the search would be simple. It wasn't.
Finally I consulted a colleague, who advised me: "Blue-john is an odious substance and people don't like to talk about it. You could say that all your experts eschewed mention of it." Some scholars actually talk like that, especially those who like whole milk.
I might add that skim milk actually has a sort of sickly blue tint, and that "john" has been used in all sorts of expressions for no particular reason. Does that help?
Sir: The movie title "The King and I" has bugged me for years. I feel it should be "The King and Me," assuming that it means it's the story of the King and someone else. Please tell me I'm correct.
- Dorothy M.
Answer: But why do you assume it's the story of, etc.? Why not "The King and I . . . Meet and Grow Fond of Each Other" or something like that? After all, kings may be subjects as well as have subjects.
Painful question of the week, asked by Peggy S.: "Recently I read an article titled `Preventive Health Service for Women Being Cut in Half.' What kind of health service do you suppose they'll need when they're cut in half?"