Why do men make so much noise?

Why do men sneeze as if they're going to blow the house down?

Since sneezing is a kind of nasal orgasm, it's not surprising that they wish to trumpet their wares.

Bryan Furnass, Canberra, Australia

My father and I had a competition – the most number of sneezes looking into the sun (a known reflex). He could easily do seven or eight; I rarely topped six. These days, four is good. I'd sometimes annoy him by sneezing out the word "horseshit".

Norbert Hirschhorn, London, UK

A cynic might suggest that a man sneezes loudly in order to elicit the maximum amount of sympathy from all the other residents of the house. In fact, he has probably simply forgotten where he put his handkerchief.

Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

It is because they believe that others should pay attention to their every utterance. It is a way of saying "this is not just a sneeze, mind you, this is my sneeze".

Kevin Peterson, Antwerp, Belgium

As women are more intelligent, men have to signal that their brains do in fact press upon the sinuses, inducing a louder sneeze. The ya-hoo or ya-boo thus produced is both a sign of joy and subconscious superiority.

E Slack, L'Isle Jourdain, France   

Well, we never seem to know where to look for a tissue.

Adrian Cooper, Queens Park, NSW, Australia

The two ages of women

According to Shakespeare, man has seven ages. How many ages do women have and what are they?

Two only: one when they don't know how old they are and one when they lie about it.

Tony Mount, Nakara, NT, Australia

As even William Shakespeare knew, a woman's age is, has and always will be highly classified information.

John Reynolds, Auckland, New Zealand

Just three: LM, M and HM – Low Maintenance, Maintenance and High Maintenance.

Cynthia Dummett, Basingstoke, UK

Oh, woe, woe, woe. Shakespeare was a woman in man's attire, didn't you know? Women are all part of humankind. Seven ages equals seven faces.

Elizabeth Wagner, Featherston, New Zealand

Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

When and where did ironing originate?

Astonishingly when my grandmothers – one English, the other American – were asked what was the most impressive thing they had seen in their very long lifetimes (93 and 97, respectively), they both answered the same: "No-iron sheets!"

In the early 1900s washing and ironing sheets was an arduous four-day task that fell to the ladies of the house from an early age. They started with chopping wood to heat the water, rinsing, bluing/bleaching them, rinsing again, mangling/wrangling them to squeeze the excess water out before hanging them outside to dry, to chopping wood again to heat the stove to heat the irons, making sure they were not too hot and constantly moving the iron or they burned them, to folding them.

If the sheets touched the ground during any part of this process they had to start over.

They never said when ironing originated, but they both sang Hallelujahs when it ended for the rest of their lives.

James Carroll, Geneva, Switzerland

Any answers?

Has any politician ever made several things perfectly clear in one speech?

Andre Carrel, Terrace, British Columbia, Canada

Do ants ever sleep?

Dan Morrison, Ottawa, Canada

Send answers to weekly.n&q@theguardian.comor Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK

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