# ravens and writing desks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 21, 1999, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442 "1999-09-21T15:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/1 "1999-09-21T15:30:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970418.h](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970418.h) tml [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970530.h](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970530.h) tml ## _Why_ didnt Unca Cecil take seriously the answer “They both have inky quills”? I came up with that myself when I was in elementary school, so _of\_course_ it must have occurred to The Great One. the Scarlet Pimpernel \_/\_ ()/ |/| ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/2 "1999-09-21T23:09:00Z")
Huh. This is the first time I’ve seen somebody post the links but _not_ the text explaining which columns being referenced. Guess y’all are going to have to hit the links. Jill Or go golfing or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/3 "1999-09-21T23:31:00Z")
Oops. My bad. I’ll try again, only less fancy. As it happens, the links are incomplete in that they spelled “html” as “h.” The full links are [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970418.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970418.html) and [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970530.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970530.html) But don’t follow them. You’ll be as disappointed as I was - It’s that whole Lewis Carroll non-riddle thing. ## Please delete my bad post. Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/4 "1999-09-22T04:41:00Z")
Though you have to admit, “I thought of it, it must be the right answer.” is something we don’t hear every day. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/5 "1999-09-22T07:30:00Z")
## No no no, I’m _not_ saying “I thought of it, it must be the right answer.” I’m just saying it _is_ an answer, and since a humble Teeming Millionth like me could think of it, of course Cecil could think of it too, and I wonder why he dismissed it out of hand the way he did. The answer cracked me up when I was about eight or nine… Incidentally, the computer put the “tml” part on the next line, and I dont know how to get a wider field. the Scarlet Pimpernel \_/\_ ()/ |/| ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/6 "1999-09-22T12:12:00Z")
We don’t look for _any_ answer. We don’t look for _the best fitting_ answer. We don’t look for _the most common_ answer. We look for the _right_ answer! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/7 "1999-09-22T14:43:00Z")
**Kara** , are you hitting **Enter** at the end of each line in the response screen? You don’t need to. The text will get expanded when you post, wrapping where it needs to on the topic windows regardless of where it wrapped on the response window. (That might have been what happened t you html: if you hit _Enter_ it broke the text.) For example, I’ll enter this paragraph and ype a backslash every time I seem to run \out of room on the response window. Every\ place that you see a backslash is where I did\ not hit _Enter_ while I was typing.\ in the narrow response window. Notice whe\re the backslashes occur? There are 10\ lines of text on the response window. There\ should be fewer lines on the topic\ window. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/8 "1999-09-22T16:09:00Z")
Tom, you seem to have developed a really bad tic there! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/9 "1999-09-22T19:27:00Z")
Nah. A re´ally bad tic´ loo´ks mor´e l´ike this. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a698b9/32.png) [@Uncle\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Ben)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/10 "2000-01-17T22:15:00Z")
Can someone explain Huxley’s answer to me? here it is: Because there is a B in both and an N in neither. (Get it? Aldous Huxley, 1928) ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/11 "2000-01-17T23:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Can someone explain Huxley’s answer to me? Huxley was a dope fiend. Explaination enough? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/12 "2000-01-18T01:04:00Z")
If you don’t think about it, it won’t worry you. ---
**Author:** ![HeadlessCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@HeadlessCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadlessCow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ravens-and-writing-desks/442/13 "2000-01-18T04:02:00Z")
There’s a ‘b’ in 'b’oth and an ‘n’ in 'n’either. It’s another misleading nonsensical answer.