h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi
Very interesting page, thanks to you all, especially Ben who obviously put a lot of thought into it. I loved the Threadneedle Street story.
I was interested in the reference to silly/smart ass since I was looking for some origins for the phrase. I'm assuming it derives from calling someone an 'ass' (ie: a donkey, an animal which has a reputation for being stupid ), from which you get 'silly' or 'smart' as an extension, and that its etymology therefore has nothing to do with 'arse'. On the other hand, as you say, they used to have the same pronounciation and that's why the two are often referenced together. It's like that old thing about the man and his wife and she sews his shirt and he sows the fields and they are both sew/sowing at the same time. But I can't see that the sense of 'silly ass' or 'smart ass' would ever have had a connection with the meaning of 'arse'. It's just an aural confusion. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? (Here's hoping you don't think it's too sad to ask, and yes I do have a life...)

I don't.

(Well, I do, I should be working since I am at work, but - hey)

I once went out with a bloke who claimed that his arse was so smart each buttock had its own degree.

Interesting questions you raise, though. Mind you, you hear aural confusion all the time. Only yesterday a colleague described someone doing something "off his own back" - whereas it's a cricketing term for making runs "off your own bat" (rather than off your batting partner's, or the boundary, presumably).

Glad you like the entry. I'm dead fond of it.

B