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Sun 17 Apr, 2005 01:18 am
The late, great and much lamented Douglas Adams, of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame, wrote a charming little book with John Lloyd called The Meaning of Liff. As he said in the introduction, there are many hundreds of things which we all know and recognise but for which no words exist. Meanwhile, the world is littered with words which "spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places".
This book got the words down off the signposts and gave them meanings. These were mostly British places. The same courtesy might well be extended to those in other countries.
Here are some -
LIFF A book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover. For instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words "This book will change your life".
STURRY (n, vb) A token run. Pedestrians who have chosen to cross the road immediately in front of an approaching vehicle generally give a little wave and break into a sturry. This gives the impression of hurrying without having any practical effect on their speed whatsoever.
GOOLE The puddle on the bar into which the barman puts your change.
Difficult to follow - but can you????
er .... I'm not too sure, Clary.
I think I might have to wait till more Liff-minded folk start the ball rolling!
Bet there are some cool Aussie names to get you going - e.g. ... Parramatta - a huge portable marquee, useful at spring weddings
Colac - marks and chips which appear in nail polish even though you've been very careful to keep them out of the washing up and other dangerous spots.
Markee . . . the intended victim of a huckster
I had totally forgotten about this book. I bought it back in the eighties (if I remember correctly, possibly even earlier) and will now have to search the attic to see if I still have it.
From what I remember, my favourite was the description for a village called Throcking.
Throcking.....the noise a toaster makes when it pops up the toast.
Another one I remember laughing at was for Botus Fleming. Please remind me of the definition again !
My sister lives in Roleystone, near Perth in WA.
Roleystone:- A game played by children. Similar to marbles.
nantucket - male casual wear, t-shirt or a shirt loosely over trousers.
Ojibway -- an ornate, elaborated and totally useless appurtenance of a sailing vessel
Perth :- A receptacle for people with a speech impediment. Used for carrying money.
Lord Ellpus wrote:
Another one I remember laughing at was for Botus Fleming. Please remind me of the definition again !
Botusfleming - a small, long-handled steel trowel used by surgeons to remove the contents of a patient's nostrils prior to a sinus operation.
Totnes - the very essence of childhood - 'Regain your totnes with a game of Twister'.
Topeka - The highest eka.
Chicago - Yesterday's fashion.
Dallas - Barbie or Ken's derriere.
I love Chicago. Douglas Adams defines it:
The foul-smelling wind which precedes an underground train.
Spuytendivel: an invidious little imp
Foulham - the sight of oneself in a mirror after a particularly rough night out.
Bratislava - the lowlevel debris which accumulates in any home with children
Peoria -- a painful urinary tract condition
Peoria - latin <pea aurea : golden leguminous>
Poughkeepsie - a small and useless souvenir from a long-forgotten holiday which you can't bring yourself to throw away
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