Darlene Szklarski, age 8, of Merrillville, Ind., for her question:

HOW DID MERMAIDS GET SUCH A NAME?

The first part of this strange name is a word for the sea. The second part means lovely young ladies. All together it means lovely ladies that belong to the sea. Of course, we know that no humans live entirely in the sea. So real mermaids insisted they had fishy tails instead of legs  which is downright impossible.

Nevertheless, the men on old sailing ships often were certain they saw mermaids, lolling along the rocky shores and hiding in shallow waters. What they really saw may have been a family of sunbathing seals in the distance. Or maybe they saw a big bulky manatee, half hidden in the waterweeds. Many people came to believe in mermaids because those old tales were told again and again.