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

It's very exciting to see my entry on the verge of approval. The Tom Collins is truly my baby - after all, I've been one for 30 years. (Thomas J. Collins, at your service.) I have some notes, though, on the changes.

I should add, I have no idea if this will be heeded or even read - if, to put it in a nutshell, anybody gives a rat's ass. But... it's my baby. I have to at least try to be heard.

The first change (and the one which most alarms me):
"The Tom Collins is widely popular and is best enjoyed as a sipping drink, to be savoured rather than guzzled, but still for the sole purpose of getting drunk."
This completely reverses the point I was trying to make: the Tom Collins, as opposed to, say, a Long Island Iced Tea or a Sex on the Beach, does NOT exist for the sole purpose of getting drunk; indeed, suggesting that is does entirely negates the points made earlier in the sentence: that it is a sipping drink, to be savored. It contains alcohol, yes, but if a drinker's intention is to get utterly sloshed he'll skip a sophisticated drink like the Tom Collins and go for tequila shots. It should remain: "...not for the sole purpose of getting drunk."

The change (under "Ingredients"):
"2oz Gin...
1oz Lemon juice..."
Is this a British thing? There's no space between the number and the abbreviation. And is there no period after abbreviations in England?

And under "Notes":
The third paragraph ("In fact, few bars have actual Collins glasses...") should stay under the "Caveat" section, as it both continues the list of differences between perfect and typical Tom Collinses, and also establishes the existence of the Collins glass (which needs to be established in order for the line in the 2nd paragraph under Notes, "Don't send it back if it's sweet gin in a highball glass with a lemon," to make sense).

Also, I obviously enjoy my footnote jokes a great deal more than you did, especially the one about the women wearing togas, but I guess I can live without them.

Hey Tom,

THanks for the feedback on the entry. I have made the corrections you've mentioned apart from the measurements. In the UK, when we use the abbreviations of measurements (oz, lbs, km, m, cm) we place them right next to the number without any space or any full stop.

Hope that helps.

Thank you! That was fast.

Can I make one more note? Under "Caveat", the sentence which says "In bars, however, you will find..." - can we remove the "however"? It seems to imply a contradiction to the previous sentence, which it actually is in agreement with.

Didn't know that about the abbreviations. Thanks for the info. You crazy Brits! Actually, it only just now occurs to me after all this time that you probably don't measure by ounces in the UK. Sorry I don't know what the suitable equivalent would be, but I guess, since no one's changed it, it'll do.

The change should have been made now.

We actually used to use ounces until a couple of months ago - now, under EU law, we have to use the metric system.


Arrrghh.

Luckily my parents still stalk in shillings, bushles, yards, tonnes, oz, pints etc.