1. A natural language processing system adapted for responding to a query from a user, comprising: a query routine executing at a first computing device configured to process the user query and to identify a first set of potential answers responsive to the user query using a database query; wherein said database query is derived from a text string in said user query combined with separate natural language text generated by a first natural language routine executing at the first computing device and operating on said text string; a plurality of second natural language routines executing on a corresponding plurality of second computing devices, said plurality of second natural language routines being configured to perform a first linguistic analysis of text contained in said first set of potential answers to help identify which one or more answers from said first set constitute a best response for the user query; wherein a plurality of best responses are generated for the user; wherein said first linguistic analysis includes an evaluation of at least individual words in the user query which are in common with said first set of potential answers.