Informant38

L.M.Boyd's column for 20/11/02 entire:

Q. What's the most common psychological problem?


A. Shyness. Or so say the scholars. Still, better too shy than not shy enough. It has been said the person with shyness suffers pain, but the person without any shyness inflicts pain.


Q. Among what people is the traditional greeting of respect signified by an open hand with the thumb touching the nose?


A. The Todas, a small tribe in Southern India.


Q. We refer to whites as "Anglos." Why?


A. Ancient Teutonic fishermen shaped bone into a fishhook. They said it was an "angul" from the Teutonic verb "to bend." A valley later named Holstein in old Germany was shaped like a fishhook. It became known as Angul, its people, Anguls. In the 5th century, Anguls invaded the southern British Isles. They first called it Angul-Land, then England.


Q. How come the world's smallest independent state, Vatican City, isn't allowed to sign the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights?


A. It doesn't have freedom of religion.