Word of the week: "perdurable," which is pronounced "purr-DUR-able." If you're thinking it's related to "durable," you'd be right. If something is perdurable, it's even more durable than "durable." That means very long lasting, perhaps even permanent.

According to the Social Security Administration, "Cynthia" was one of the top 50 names for baby girls born in the years 1946 through 1978; it was in the top 10 from 1956 through 1965. So why isn't there anyone really famous named Cynthia? The best we could do was supermodel Cindy Crawford, whose real first name is Cynthia. If you can think of any other "non-celebrity" popular first names, please let us know.

What literary character calls the branches of arithmetic "ambition, distraction, uglification and derision"?
A) Huckleberry Finn in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
B) Yossarian in "Catch-22"
C) Ron Weasley in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
D) The Mock Turtle in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Previous answer: The person who was nominated the most times for an Academy Award before finally winning is composer Randy Newman (no relation), who had 15 unsuccessful nominations before finally winning for his 2001 "Monsters, Inc." score.

(Thanks to Alan Dunn of Bellingham, Wash.)

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