25 One-Word Answers to Very Important Questions

The cover story for the new issue of mental_floss magazine is The Most Important Questions of 2012. To tide you over until you get your hands on a copy, here are 25 very short answers to very big questions.

1. How do South Koreans get kids to stop studying?

Police.

2. What's the difference between lava and magma?

Location.

3. What’s the best way to figure out how your tattoo will age?

Math.

4. What makes New York bagels so tasty?

Poaching.

5. What’s the biggest downside of an all-beer diet?

Scurvy.

6. Can soap get dirty?

Yes.

7. Why do coins make your hands smell funny?

Iron.

8. What made the AK-47 so popular?

Reliability.

9. Legally, are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?

Veggies.

10. How many rupees will a yeti-hunting permit set you back?

5000.

11. What dog might steal Mary Poppins’ gig?

Pits!

12. What’s the sound of one hand clapping?

“Pwwwft.”

13. What’s the oddest thing Antarctica recycles?

Dreams.

14. What's the name of the space between your thumb and other fingers?

Purlicue.

15. How would an OCD person prefer to see a pine tree?

Deconstructed.

16. Have Archie and Jughead ever railed against sinners?

Yup.

17. What happens when ants wear stilts?

Confusion.

18. Can you have a two-way conversation with a severed head?

OK.

19. What’s the neatest thing you can buy for $600,000?

Submarines.

20. Who’s the weirdest person Barbara Bush ever apologized to?

Marge.

21. What do you give cold chickens?

Cardigans.

22. Is this milk still good?

Probably.

23. Credit, Debit or Paypal: What's the safest way to pay online?

Credit.

24. What company was Steve Jobs happy Apple appeared before in the phone book?

Atari.

25. How many ingredients are in the McRib?

70!

Bonus: Where can I get a free issue of mental_floss magazine?

Here!

South Korea image credit: Xinhua /Landov; Lava image via Shutterstock; Tattoo image via Joe/Discover; Beer image via Shutterstock; Soap image via Shutterstock; Coins image via Shutterstock; AK-47 image credit: Ed Darack/Science Faction/Corbis; Tomato image via Shutterstock; Hand image via Shutterstock; Deconstructed pine image via Ursus Wehrli; Severed head image via Shutterstock; Money image via Shutterstock; Online shopping image via Shutterstock