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Dear Stan, I have just returned to the Middle East from London but was back for QPR's first game of the season.

It was a relief to get three points on the board which will hopefully settle some nerves. We will be favourites in almost all the games this season and will have to overcome being the team everyone wants to beat.

We started like strangers but considering four out of the back five were making their debuts it was always going to take time to settle.

With the players we have to come back in such as Rowlands, Buzsacky and Vine and players like Parejo settling in, the future looks bright.

Glen Hampson

Regional Fleet

Sales Manager,

Ford International

Business

Development

Incorporated

Dear Stan,

You appear to have - for we enthusiasts for your quizzes - done it to us again. After I commented on the unlikelihood of there being a word "EMICATE" (as variously defined) in the quizzes on page 34 of the Gulf Weekly of July 23 - 29, 2008, you came up with "GALACTIC" in the quizzes on page 36 of the Gulf Weekly of August 6 - 12, 2008 variously defined as: "A: Pertaining to Guns" (Gatlin?); "B. Abundant Flow" (Gushing?) and "C: Obtained from milk". Regarding the last, there is an adjective "galactagogue" meaning inducing a flow of milk. Close, but no cigar.

Brian Pickering, by email.

Editor's note: We asked Christopher Lilly of pa-entertainment - the 'Time Out' page producers - to respond.

Dear Stan,

Thanks for forwarding this to me - it's a very interesting one. However, having researched the matter, we're standing by the puzzle.

The Greek at the heart of the matter, is 'Gala', 'Galaktos' - milk. According to our dictionary (Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary) we get the word 'Galaxy' - which we use to refer to the Milky Way - from the original Greek 'Galaxias', through Latin and French. The same dictionary gives the first definition of 'Galactic' as 'pertaining to or obtained from milk'. It then continues '...: pertaining to a galaxy or galaxies'. The same dictionary also defines the word 'Lactic' as 'pertaining to milk... [L. lac, lactis, milk; Gr. gala, galaktos, milk]'.

Over time, the second definition of 'Galactic' has become more widely used than the first. So now when we say 'Galactic', we generally refer to the galaxy, and not to milk. When we wish to refer to milk, we're perhaps more likely now to say 'Lactic'. Another source we regularly use, dictionary.reference.com, gives the first definition of 'Galactic' as 'pertaining to the Milky Way', the second as 'immense', and only the third as 'pertaining to or stimulating the secretion of milk'.

Though the etymology is sound, we can understand why Mr Pickering felt the need to query this one. He just needed to take the word one step further back to its root. We are glad that the puzzle has sparked some healthy debate!

Dear Stan,

Ref Ismaeel Na'ar's recent 'Youth Talk' column.

I must agree with his points against segregation. I do not attend a school with a segregation system and do not plan to go to one in the future.

Ismaeel is right. Keeping boys and girls separate won't give experience with dealing with the opposite gender in future. However, I have researched the topic and have found certain things about gender-segregation schools which have proved successful.

According to Dr Leonard Sax, a Maryland physician and psychologist, single sex classes have proved that the students can learn better within their environment. In general, girls work better in a quiet, slower-paced atmosphere and like to be called by their first names whereas boys prefer things in an energetic, lively, fast-paced setting and like to be called by their last names.

Of course, not all may agree to this.

I also agree with Ismaeel's point on how students don't necessarily flunk their studies just because of some love interest. But, looking on the other side of the story, if students were studying in the setting we debate on, then maybe the distraction of dressing to impress, or plainly not concentrating, could be removed. Instead, they would focus on their studies.

Again, not all may agree with this.

According to some teachers in the US, by splitting up the sexes, it would give them more time to teach, therefore making school less of a social place. But socialising with both guys and girls is a good thing! I mean, just because you're friends with a guy doesn't mean you're dating, as some students going to single gender schools think.

When a student moves from a single gender system to a mixed one, it can affect schoolwork.

For example, if a girl went to an all-girl school and then by chance moved to mixed, how would she cope? Boys would be alien to her and she'd be shy and wouldn't know how to communicate with them.

In conclusion, I think that gender segregation is not completely bad, but not entirely socially healthy either. It may be right for some kids out there, but I do advise mixed schooling as a better choice.

Socially Healthy, by email.

Dear Stan,

We were amazed to read the article 'floating city plan' in GulfWeekly, July 30-August 5.

In this age of science and technology no doubt someone will soon come up with the idea of a 'hanging city' with communities floating in mid-air!

It's a very sorry state when we have to try to tackle natural calamities by unnatural means.

Will this be our ultimate destiny - or will it be finding another planet to live on?

Seturam Aspari,

Adliya.

Dear Stan,

Thank you for highlighting the changing styles and popularity of abayas in last week's GulfWeekly.

I would just like to take the opportunity to thank the models for displaying our clothing which you featured to illustrate the article.

Best wishes

Farah and Ibtissam,

Abayat Tiara,

Budaiya