Are women big talkers, men the silent types?

Question: Why are women such big talkers? Or are they?

Answer: You'd certainly think so based on media reports putting them at 20,000 words per day versus only 7,000 for men, even though not a single study has systematically recorded the natural conversations of large groups of people, say Matthias Mehl and colleagues in "Science" magazine.

A British study estimated the numbers at 8,800 vs. 6,100, though its authors admitted a possible flaw in that participants could manually turn off their recorders whenever they chose to. Then Mehl introduced electronically activated recorders that track real-world minute-to-minute interactions, turning on every 12.5 minutes for 30-second talk samples. And here, averaged over six groups of university students — five U.S. and one Mexico — the women spoke about 16,200 words per day, the men 15,700, which is not a statistically significant difference.

In other words, both average about 16,000 words per day, though with very large individual differences. "Thus we conclude on the basis of available empirical evidence that the widespread and highly publicized stereotype about female talkativeness is unfounded."

Question: You've no doubt encountered this word countless times, having read it, spoken it, written it, heard it. It's a kind of "shaggy, all-purpose" term, though originally signifying "simple-minded, stupid" (c. 1290), from the Latin for "ignorant, not knowing." In the 14th century, Chaucer used it to mean "wanton, licentious," then from the 15th to the 18th century, it took on the sense of "coy, reserved, diffident." In the 16th century, it acquired two still current senses, "fussy" and "precise." In the 18th century, the word began its modern career as a compliment that damns with faint praise, meaning "agreeable, pleasant, courteous, considerate." Sure would be nice if you successfully identified this common adjective.

Answer: NICE it is, from "Right, Wrong, and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage," by Mark Davidson.

Question: What's the slick trick to passing a solid wire through a solid piece of ice, without applying heat or using legerdemain? This is one even the great Harry Houdini might have appreciated.

Answer: You put the ice under pressure, thereby reducing its melting point, then remove the pressure and the ice refreezes, a process called "regelation," says Alain Hache in "The Physics of Hockey."