Dear Geist,

What are the differences between a writing question, conundrum, dispute, dilemma, quandary and pickle, all listed at the top of Advice for the Lit-Lorn at geist.com?

—Johan and colleagues in writing class

Dear Johan et al.,

We knew one of our readers would eventually pose this question, after looking up the words and finding some of them even more slippery than expected. Pat yourselves on the back! The noun question is straightforward in the context of a Q and A blog conversation. But a question may also be a matter to be settled, or a possibility to be resolved, or a proposal of marriage, and so on.

A conundrum is a difficult puzzle or issue, or a riddle that has a pun in its solution. (Is there any passage in writing that doesn't have a bit of conundrum in its DNA?)

A dispute is a disagreement, and also a quarrel, a challenge to a widely held truth, a debate, a controversy; and also the verb forms of these words.

A dilemma is a situation that must be resolved by choosing one of two or more undesirable alternatives. It has also come into use meaning any difficult situation, but in our view the main meaning is more interestingly fraught.

A quandary is a mental state of perplexity or confusion, a matter to be sorted out by thinking.

A pickle is a difficult or unpleasant situation of any sort.

Even these few words suggest oodles of hand-wringing.

—The Editors