On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

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1. In Miss Cellania’s Weird Week in Review today, she mentioned that people have been lined up for Best Buy’s Black Friday sale since Wednesday. If they make it, that’ll be nine days of waiting. I can’t imagine anyone here can beat that, but I’d like to know the longest you’ve stood (or slept) in line for something. Concert tickets? To register for classes? To vote?

2. Everyone has a home remedy for hiccups. What’s yours?

3. What’s your least-favorite commercial right now? Either specific commercials or categories. I generally don’t care for ads with newscasters talking about how important their jobs are, or accountants discussing their (singular) passion for their work.

4. When you were in high school, what time did the school day begin? At Morris Knolls High School in the mid-1990s, the first period bell rang at 7:30. That always felt way too early for me.

5. Since I have access to all these smart people, sometimes I’ll use this last question for something I’ve been wondering (but haven’t made any effort to look up). Why do so many real estate agents go by a nickname? And not only go by the nickname, but stick it on For Sale signs, quotes and all? Roberta “Bertie” Ortega. Christopher “Topher” Morris. We must have some readers who work in real estate. Is there a point in your training where everyone has to pick a nickname? Is that just supposed to make you sound more accessible?

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts. And if you're doing some early holiday shopping, consider our 10th anniversary book. Have a great weekend!]

It’s a crazy day around here with all the 11 lists, so this week I only have one question for you: do you have any Friday Happy Hour questions you’d like to see asked? See the previous transcripts for inspiration.

And if you see a question in the comments you just can’t wait to answer, have at it.

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

Photokanok / Shutterstock.com

1. There are still hundreds of thousands of people in the East without power after last weekend’s early snowstorm. We were lucky—here in my New Jersey satellite office, we were only electricity-free for about 24 hours, but friends a few miles away are still waiting for the lights to come back on. What’s the longest you’ve gone without power? How’d you spend your time in the dark?

2. I’ve asked a variation of this question before, but there are probably new Happy Hour guests — and new pets — since last time. What is the significance of your pets’ names? (Or: What did you almost name them?)

3. Have you ever been in a band? What was your band’s name?

4. I’m really excited about Erik’s World War I series we announced this morning. What other events that unfolded over several years would you like to learn about, piece by piece?

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts. And if you're doing some early holiday shopping, consider our 10th anniversary book. Have a great weekend!]

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. Every neighborhood has that house that goes off script on Halloween. Maybe it’s a dentist who gives away toothbrushes, or the family who gives out cash. Or something way cooler than fun size candy. What did the non-candy houses in your area offer up instead?

2. Think back to your CD (or tape or record) collection. You probably bought a lot of albums because you liked one song you heard on the radio or MTV. Which “I bought it for the single” album was the most disappointing?

3. On almost every TV show, there’s an episode where someone — usually a pregnant woman whose water already broke — gets stuck in an elevator. In my 32 years, this has never happened to anyone I know. Have you ever been stuck in an elevator? How’d you pass the time?

4. I was recently asked where I thought most people read our site. (“Computers?” was deemed an unacceptable answer.) Next time this comes up, I’d love to be armed with enjoyable anecdotes. (Fake examples: “I was stuck in an elevator and spent the entire time rummaging through The Amazing Fact Generator.” / “Antarctica.”) While the real answers are probably “at work” and “at home,” where’s the coolest place you’ve read mentalfloss.com?

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts. Have a great weekend!]

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. Last week we discussed intentionally misspelled words that drive you crazy (KidzTyme, wyngz, etc.) Along those lines, what are your least favorite made-up or mashed-up words, like Xfinity or emotrics (“analytical measurement of emotions”)?

2. For everyone who works or has worked in a job where gratuities are encouraged, what’s the best (or weirdest) tip anyone ever left you?

3. Recommend one food you suspect most of us have never tried.

4. Our last question comes from the season three finale of The West Wing. Is there a crime, which if it wasn’t illegal, you would do? Dr. Stanley Keyworth’s answer was pretty good: “I’d park anywhere I want.”

Marcio Jose Bastos Silva / Shutterstock.com

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts. Have a great weekend!]

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. Many stores switch around a few letters in their names to stand out (or because they couldn’t get a good domain name). Kids becomes kidz. Time becomes tyme. KidsTime becomes KidzTyme. Are there any intentionally misspelled — or unintentionally, I guess — business names that make you reach for your red pen?

2. A Michigan woman is suing the distributors of Drive because, as The Week reported, “it contains less driving than the trailer would suggest.” (She also claims the movie “promoted criminal violence against members of the Jewish faith.”) Let’s use her trailer confusion as a jumping off point. Is there any movie whose preview initially gave you an entirely different picture of the film?

3. If TV characters competed in an elaborate Fictional Jeopardy! tournament, who do you think would come out on top?

4. Time for another edition of What Are You Reading? Do you recommend it?

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts. Have a great weekend!]

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. Two years ago, we asked for pictures of your best Halloween costumes. Let’s do that again! If you’re particularly proud of a costume, specifically a nerdy one, we’d love to see it (and show the others). Send those photos to flossyjason@gmail.com with Halloween in the subject and we’ll post our favorites later this month. For today, just tell us about your best Halloween costume.

2. Steve Jobs’ death is all anyone has talked about for several days now. I can’t remember too many other people who commanded such posthumous attention. Michael Jackson? Ronald Reagan? This is a two-part question: who else do you remember being in this category? And what living people do you think will get the same treatment (hopefully a long time from now)?

3. What are you having for lunch today?

Have a great weekend!

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts. Oh, and if you're wondering, those are staff Halloween pics above. Miss Cellania, Stacy (and Paul) Conradt, and Scott Allen. That costume won him Washington Wizards season tickets.]

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. “Author Day” was an annual tradition during my time at Valleyview Middle School in Denville, NJ. One year we had Jerry Spinelli, who wrote Maniac Magee. Paula Danziger was the next headliner. I remember she told us one of her former students was a kid named Ian Ziering, who was on this new show that was starting to get some attention. Tell us about authors you’ve met—whether you were at a school assembly, book signing, in line at Starbucks, or babysitting their kids.

2. If you could recast one role in any TV show (past or present) that you already really enjoy, which role would you choose?

3. Earlier today, Miss Cellania told us about the small Arkansas town that unveiled a statue to commemorate the time The Beatles changed planes there in 1964. Let’s pretend you were tasked with running your town’s Monuments to Important Local History Construction Committee. What event — major or minor — would you pay tribute to? What would the statue look like?

Have a great weekend!

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts.]

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. On Monday, September 10, 2001, I started a job with Duke University’s Office of Student Development. I was paid $9.68/hour to answer the phones and greet visitors and, on my second day, try to convince panic-stricken parents all over the world that Durham, North Carolina, was not under attack (as far as I knew). What were you doing that Tuesday morning?

2. By now most new college students are settled into their dorms and getting into a routine, but still feeling a little overwhelmed. If you could go back and give your one-month-into-college self any advice, what would it be?

3. There’s a good chance some of you have added children to your lives since the last time I asked this question: what children’s books do you recommend? New ones, classics, whatever you like.

Two notes: The Haiku Trivia Contest winners are coming later today, and tomorrow, like so many Super Bowl MVPs, I’m going to Disney World. You’re in good hands here; some combination of Ethan, Mangesh and Andréa will be watching the store, and all your favorite regulars will be doing their regular (spectacular) thing. Have a great week!

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts.]

Let’s do something a little different this week. Haiku Trivia! I’ve got a $50 mental_floss store shopping spree for the person who tells us the most amazing fact in haiku form. A couple runners-up will win mental_floss t-shirts.

Examples:

Salvador Dali
wore a homemade scent made of
fish glue and manure
*
Carly Simon’s dad
is the “Simon” portion of
Simon & Schuster

Your turn! We won’t be grading your haiku skills too harshly. You need not include any words that indicate the season—just focus on the 5/7/5.

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts.]