Queenslanders?
Q. There are well-known names for inhabitants of four boroughs: Manhattanites, Brooklynites, Bronxites and Staten Islanders. But what are residents of Queens called?
A. There has never been a popular name to describe those residents, said Dr. Jon Peterson, a professor of history at Queens College who has taught the history of the borough. ''People in Queens think of themselves in terms of their neighborhoods,'' Dr. Peterson said, noting that when the boroughs were created in 1898, Queens lacked the natural boundaries of Manhattan and Staten Island and the pre-existing identities of Brooklyn and the Bronx. Queens incorporated a group of independent towns, and those separate identities are still reflected in today's postal zones. To this day, letters must be addressed to Flushing or Astoria, rather than simply to Queens.
''Part of the issue might be awkward phrasing,'' Dr. Peterson said. ''Something like Queensites or Queensians just doesn't sound right.''
The Manhattan Kid
Q. A friend recently told me that Billy the Kid was from Manhattan. Could this be true?
A. You bet your boots. Several historians have posited that the notorious outlaw, popularly known as William Bonney, was actually Michael Henry McCarty, who was born in Manhattan in 1859. Although the incomplete records of the era make it difficult to document McCarty's early existence conclusively, Donald Cline suggests in his book ''Alias Billy the Kid: The Man Behind the Legend'' not only that the gunslinger was born in Manhattan, but also that in 1876 he committed his first murder there.
According to Mr. Cline, McCarty was born at 70 Allen Street, on the Lower East Side, on Nov. 20, 1859. His mother was an unmarried Irish immigrant named Catherine McCarty, and his father was Edward McCarty, the proprietor of a fruit stand at Nassau and John Streets. In early 1873, the young McCarty was sent by the Children's Aid Society to work for a farmer in New Mexico named William H. Antrim. Mr. Cline's research, however, found that Michael Henry McCarty returned to lower Manhattan two years later, became an apprentice tinsmith and fell in with a a crowd of young men ''who frequented the streets stealing, fighting, drinking and raising general disturbances.''
On a Saturday night, Sept. 9, 1876, McCarty, 16, got into an argument on Pearl Street with Thomas Moore, 20, a worker in a brush factory on Fulton Street. Several newspaper accounts agree on the basic facts of what happened next. A report in The New York Times on Sept. 10, 1876, stated: ''The disputants soon resorted to blows, and a scuffle followed, during which McCarty drew a large bladed pocket knife, and made a lunge at his antagonist. The point of the blade struck Moore under the left eye, and glancing downward, the blade imbedded itself in his throat, inflicting a ghastly wound.''
Mr. Cline writes that Moore died as a result of the injury and McCarty escaped to Brooklyn. Shortly afterward, to avoid arrest, he returned to New Mexico, where he participated in the Lincoln County War and earned dubious renown as a gunfighting renegade until July 14, 1881, when at 21 he was shot dead at Fort Sumner by Sheriff Pat Garrett.
They Don't Do Windows
Q. Why doesn't the AT&T building near City Hall have windows? It's quite tall. It must be terrible in there.
A. It may not be as unpleasant as you imagine. The 29-story building on Thomas Street, which was built in 1972, is the largest switching facility in New York City. The building is mainly home to computers and equipment used to route telephone calls.
An AT&T spokesman, Gary Morgenstern, pointed out that machines do not require natural light to function, and said that by omitting windows from the design, AT&T was able to save on construction costs.
There are also 375 employees who share the building with the equipment, but Mr. Morgenstern said that offices were set up so employees would be comfortable despite the lack of windows.
''There are no cafeteria facilities inside the building,'' he said. ''So at least they get outside for their meals.'' COLIN MOYNIHAN