When does a pond become a lake?

Many people answer this type of question with human-capability oriented answers such as “it’s only a desert if it can’t be crossed on foot in a day”. Maybe we can say: a puddle becomes a pond when it’s big enough for a duck to swim on; a pond becomes a lake when it’s too big for humans to throw bread out to the ducks in the middle. A lake becomes a sea when it’s too big for humans to swim out to the ducks in the middle. And a sea becomes an ocean when it’s too big for the ducks to get out to the middle.

Dr Hillary J. Shaw, Newport, Salop

A pond has sides, a lake has shores.

Peter Bickford-Smith, Helston, Cornwall

In Newfoundland, bodies of water many miles long are called a “pond”. Newfoundland was first settled in the late 15th century, before the French word lac was imported into English.

Alan Fisk, London SE27

When the swans replace the ducks!

Peter Willis, Southsea, Hants

If all the money in the world was divided equally among every member of the Earth’s population, how much money would each person receive?

Some time ago, I remember reading that this would be about £10,000. It was also stated that 5 per cent of the population own 90 per cent of the wealth. Wealth is like an old-fashioned bottle of milk — the top layer of cream owns pretty much everything beneath. But here’s the interesting part: if all the wealth was shared, within ten years that shaken bottle of milk would have settled back to where it all began.

Huw Beynon, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire