# Aphabetic Pairs -- interesting facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [April 6, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877 "2017-04-06T12:40:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![boson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boson/32/11407_2.png) [@boson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boson)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/441 "2018-03-20T04:47:28Z")
QO reefers to quarter ounce. I mean, ya know. I think, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/442 "2018-03-20T21:11:48Z")
QP – Quarter Pounder The sandwich was created by Al Bernardin, a McDonald’s franchise owner in Fremont, California. Introduced in 1971, it proved to be such a success that it “went national” the next year, and was subsequently added to the menu in many countries. As viewers of the film _Pulp Fiction_ know, the Quarter Pounder is sold under various names around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/443 "2018-03-20T22:50:58Z")
QR = Quentin Reynolds, war journalist. In 1953, Reynolds was the victim of a major literary hoax when he published _The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk_, the supposedly true story of a Canadian war hero, George Dupre, who claimed to have been captured and tortured by German soldiers. When the hoax was exposed, Bennett Cerf, of Random House, Reynolds’s publisher, reclassified the book as fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/444 "2018-03-23T21:05:32Z")
QQ – Quin Queeribus Garden-loving protagonist of a humorous poem by Nancy Byrd Turner. Among other things, he bought “fine spectacles of gold” for the eyes of the potatoes he grew. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/445 "2018-04-28T17:54:37Z")
_QS World University Rankings_ is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/446 "2018-04-28T18:20:30Z")
QT - Most people agree that the phrase “on the QT” is simply an abbreviation of ‘quiet’, albeit a strange one, using the first and last letters. However, both the US and the UK claim first ownership of this phrase. US wordsmiths cite that country’s love of abbreviations, as evidenced by OK, PDQ and others, as evidence that ‘on the QT’ fell into this tradition. The British claim comes via Robert Hendrickson, in The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins. Hendrickson says that ‘on the QT’ comes from a British ballad in 1870. However, this has been disputed as he provided no evidence for the claim. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/447 "2018-04-29T02:52:27Z")
QU - Not as inseparable as you may think…Two of the world’s leading international airlines begin with Q which is not followed by U: Qantas and Qatar. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/448 "2018-04-30T00:58:20Z")
QV, Whither goest thou, Lord. OK, that’d be QVD… ---
**Author:** ![FallingLeaves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@FallingLeaves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallingLeaves)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/449 "2018-05-27T03:13:49Z")
QW - the start of the top row of a standard keyboard. The Qwerty keyboard was first designed and used in the 1880s by Remington. ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/450 "2018-05-29T19:16:53Z")
**QX** - the probability that a person aged _x_ years will die before reaching age _x+1_. Also the IATA airline designator for Horizon Airlines. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/451 "2018-06-05T20:06:42Z")
QY - 4QY, a radio station that began broadcasting in 1950, now known as Radio ABC Far North ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/452 "2018-06-06T03:41:18Z")
QZ – the TLD name for Quartz, an online magazine --can we go on to RA now? ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/453 "2018-06-07T02:05:12Z")
RA - Romulus Augustulus: traditionally the last Roman Emperor in the west, who was deposed by Odoacer in AD 476. The Roman Empire in the east, at Constantinople, continued for another millennium. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Zox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Mr\_Zox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Zox)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/454 "2018-06-07T03:14:08Z")
RB – rhythm and blues, a type of music that grew out of the blues combined with harder, quicker rhythms. ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/455 "2018-06-07T04:06:42Z")
RC – Royal Crown Cola, a favorite in my part of the world, a very long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![boson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boson/32/11407_2.png) [@boson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boson)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/456 "2018-06-07T04:59:48Z")
RD - Reader’s Digest. According to Mediamark Research (2006), Reader’s Digest reaches more readers with household incomes of $100,000+ than Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Inc. combined. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/457 "2018-06-07T14:26:13Z")
RE - Regional-Express, a railway system in three European countries. > **[Regional-Express](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional-Express)** > > In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at fewer stations than Regionalbahn or S-Bahn trains, but stops more often than InterCity services. > The first Regional-Express services were operated by DB Regio, though since the liberalisation of the German rail market (Bahnreform) in the 1990s many operators have receiv... ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/458 "2018-06-08T01:07:46Z")
RF = République française. The inscription by which stamp collectors could recognize postage stamps from France. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/459 "2018-06-08T13:52:47Z")
RG = Right guards, a term used in American football for the guards on the right of the offensive line. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/460 "2018-06-08T14:43:03Z")
Rh - Rhodium, an element and metal, used in automotive catalytic converters > **[Rhodium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodium)** > > Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isotope: 103Rh. Naturally occurring rhodium is usually found as a free metal or as an alloy with similar metals and rarely as a chemical compound in minerals such as bowieite and rhodplumsite. It is one of the rarest and most valuable precious metals. > Rhodi... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877.md?page=24)