You find yourself half way between Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro; about as far from Mexico City as from Moscow.

Albert Einstein waits to the left, ready to explain his theory of relativity. A short distance to your right James Watt hopes to recount his development of the steam engine to you. John Steinbeck and Isaac Bashevis Singer crouch over you, vying for your attention.

Your surroundings are conventional and functional. One aspect stands out: A piece of furniture - represented in 2 or 3 specimens in the typical home - recurs here hundreds of times.

What are the two common names for this item of furniture?

Not an original thought, but nobody else has said explicitly that surnames and cities seem to be organized alphabetically, and are mixed together. 

We seem to be in the S section, with Steinbeck and Singer (S & S), between Rio (R) and Tokyo (T), almost equally far from Mexico and Moscow (M & M), with Watt (W) slightly to our right and Einstein (E) well to our left.

And the two common furniture names: How about Bookcase and Bookshelf?

Posted by Steve Herman on 2008-05-13 00:10:05