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Poetry and politics don't often go hand in hand in Canada, so when they do it can cause a certain curiosity.

THE QUESTION: Andrew Slater from Sudbury, Ont., inquired about the words inscribed above the four doors to the entrance to the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. "The wholesome sea is at her gates" appears above the left two doors, and "Her gates both east and west" above the right two doors. What's their origin?

THE ANSWER: Saskatoon's Paul Denham consulted Colombo's Canadian Quotations (1974), which told him the lines are from a poem titled There is a Land, written by J.A. Ritchie — described in the book as "an Ottawa barrister and poetaster" — and first appeared in 1920 when the Parliament Buildings were being rebuilt after the fire of 1916.

"It appears that Mr. Ritchie's poem — or two lines of it, anyway — has been granted an immortality in stone that it had failed to attain in any other forum," says Mr. Denham.

Meanwhile, John Robert Colombo of Toronto, author of the aforementioned reference work, adds that the complete stanza runs as follows: "The wholesome Sea is at her gates,/ Her gates both East and West,/ Then is it stranger that we should love/ This Land, our Land, the best?"

THE QUESTION: "My wife and I recently enjoyed a 'last-minute' deal to the Dominican Republic at a four-star, 'all-inclusive' resort,' " wrote Dennis D'Aoust of Kingston. "We each paid only $715 in total. Of that, $315 went for taxes. That leaves $400 for airfare and the cost at the resort. How does anyone make any money on such last-minute deals?"

THE ANSWER: "The first answer, of course, is that they'd already made their costs (and some profit) on the people who paid more for their tickets; they just made less profit at $400 each," writes Doug Baker of Vancouver. "The other answer is that if they didn't make money they at least lost less money."

FURTHER NOTICE

On the subject of last week's discussion of the origin of the phrase "dressed to the nines," Collin Craig of Toronto writes: "I remember being told that when a gentleman went for a suit measurement the question was whether he wanted just the suit, which required 8-1/2 yards of material, or a vest as well, which required another 1/2 a yard. Therefore, if you wanted a suit with a vest you needed the whole nine yards and you could also be said to be 'dressed to the nines.' "

Herb Roblin of Napanee, Ont., adds: "This expression … is recorded from the 18th century. 'The nine' or 'the nines' were used to signify 'superlative' in numerous other contexts." He says the theories include 9 being the highest single-digit number, symbolizing the best, and a reference to the nine muses.

HELP WANTED

Collected Wisdom is taking a Yuletide break next week and will return on Jan. 5, which gives you lots of time to ponder these questions.

"Which setting on my bicycle light is more efficient for battery life, flashing or non-flashing?" asks Owen Tyler of Vancouver.

"Now that you've dealt with 'dressed to the nines,' " writes Auguste A. Bolté of Toronto, "how about explaining the origin of the expression being 'on cloud nine'?"

Kirsten Thompson of Toronto has often noticed that a list of ingredients will contain the phrase "mechanically de-boned chicken." Why does she need to know how the chicken was de-boned?

Send answers (and questions) to wisdom@globeandmail.com. Include your name, location and a daytime phone number.