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

Thanks Hoo. I think I managed to get quite a lot of that without having to take any aspirin or drink any coffee! Mind you, my head hurt afterwards.
Exams start tomorrow - English and History which are my favourite subjects so it's a nice easy start. I'll try not to panic.
The church youth worker sent me a good luck letter. When i told my parents, my mum said: 'You don't need good luck, you need a miracle!'
Thanks mum.
Yes my nickname is Duckie (not Ducky). But I'd prefer Jem on h2g2. Has everyone been sneaking round my site?! Not that I mind. I sneak round yours.....
J

Hola Chicas!

Hope the exams are going

kissitos,
az

Hola az,
Mi examen de espanol es lunes. No me comprendy le espanol. I have just veindre de un examen de francais. Je ne comprend pas le francais et je didn't finish on time. Le dernier question etait de 30 marks et je ne la voir pas until Je aurai 15 minutes.
Hop you got some of that. Can't speak englosh either!
J

You should be alright if you've got a comedy exam...

H.

Ja, ich finde auch, dass die Ente sehr witzig sein kann. Mais sitting an exam anywhere near her est trop dur, parce que elle me fait laugh all the time, und die Lehrerinnen deviennet suspicieuses.
why Larry, Curlie and Mo? Come to that why Huey, Dewie and Louis? it's a strange world...

Clare,

Actually, it was a toss-up when I placed Huey-Dewey-Louie on the subject line to either go with them or put Larry, Curlie and Mo. Great minds think alike! (or fools seldom differ?)


Jez,

Let me know if I can help you with your Spanish. Don't know what level you're at and I've picked up most of my Spanish just by living here, but might know a thing or two.


Hoo,

Comedy exams, eh? Might not be too far off. Did you see in the Times that charles Clark has called in Philip Pullman and Andrew Motion to 'jolly up' lessons? Should be interesting. Perhaps he'll be calling in John Cleese or Stephen Fry soon.


besitos a todos,
az

I thought we did the "why Huey, Dewie and Louis?" question before? Once again...

They were Donald Duck's nephews, and they replaced "Fred/God/Toilet unicorn" in the subject line, originally just because there were three of them, but also because of "duckie"... a piece of punning genius azahar only realised after the event...

Larry, Curlie and Mo were the Three Stooges, a comedy triple act from, I think, the 1940s. If you've any awareness of them at all, it's probably only from the Fast Show sketch "whatsa comea da go". They were comedians, of the crude physical comedy variety, and I mentioned comedy exams, so they seemed appropriate.

Would "Harpo, Groucho and Chico" have rung any more bells? PLEASE tell me you've heard of them!

H.

Oops, sorry Hoo!

I thought it was Clare who had put Larry, Curlie and Mo in the subject line. There I go again, being a ditz! Actually, Clare is no doubt much too young to know who the three stooges were, though for sure she must know the Marx Brothers! Who doesn't?

What about Zeppo? Sadly neglected brother.

Can punning genius be claimed after the fact? Hope so.

az

So HVL,

Are you saying that you *wouldn't* perpetuate the Santa myth if you had children?

I have two children, as you know. It's interesting to see that when the older child realises that its all a story they don't tell the younger one, because they truly enjoyed believing the fantasy themselves.

If it makes people, or children happy, I see little harm in letting them believe. Life can be hard; fantasy is a very good escape mechanism. See the virtual pirate ship on h2g2 - isn't it just a form of play? Does it benefit the people that enjoy it? Yes, very probably.

Play is good for the soul...

So if believing makes people feel better and feel that life is more worth living, then isn't that worthwhile in itself? I'm not religious myself, but I had a nephew who died, literally overnight, of meningitis aged eight years old. His parents took comfort in thinking that his soul was being cared for someplace else. Believing helped them then, so who cares if its true or not?

I don't believe in homeopathy either, but same thing, if it makes some people feel better in any way, I say go for it. Better than valium any day...

Each to their own...

hello Peta,

Oh, I don't know. Valium has sometimes served a much needed purpose at times. When homeopathic remedies felt like sticking a finger into a bursting dam.

People take comfort in all sorts of things - Santa, God, Valium, Huey-Dewey-Louie. The Marx brothers. The Three Stooges.

It turns out that life *is* worth living. If some people don't believe this and need to find other ways to create a bit of 'disney' magic in order to believe this, well, okay.

As you say, each to his own.

az

(yes, I know you weren't talking to me, but Hoo has apparently gone to bed. I'm still waiting for the rioja to kick in )

Hi azahar,

Rioja and valium have their place too; whatever works for people is good!

Now if we all lived in problem free world none of it would be needed, but that's never been the case.

A bit of escapism, whatever way you find it can be good!

wouldn't necessarily call it 'escapism', Peta.

more like a way to feel even as remotely normal as everyone else seems to feel.

anyhow, it's not a way of life.

az

Sorry, don't mean to sound flippant.

What I mean is that people have to be able to chose what is right for them at the time...

Hi Peta - you were up LATE!

"Are you saying that you *wouldn't* perpetuate the Santa myth if you had children?"

That's a big IF you're waving around there, you'll have someone's eye out with that!

The answer is - I don't know. I don't have children, I'm not going to have children, and I've never been closely involved in the upbringing of children (I'm an only child) - so it's difficult to say with certainty what I'd do.

I can say with certainty that I don't lie to children. If they ask me a question, I do my best to answer it honestly and in a way they can understand, and if I don't know, I tell them I don't know (I've seen a lot of adults who hate admitting ignorance to a child). That applies to children of friends and family, and would likely apply even more to any theoretical child of mine.

So what would I do about Santa? I *think* I'd tell my child all about him, couched in terms of "this is the story of Santa Claus". One thing I'd NEVER do is use the line "if you don't behave, Santa won't come", or similar.

I'd wait for the inevitable questions - how do reindeer fly, how does he fit all the presents in his sleigh, how does he get round all the children in the world in one night? - and if and when those questions came up, I'd be effusive in my praise that my clever kid had spotted the inconsistencies in the story, and then we'd have the talk about stories, legends, myths and religion. And I'd be very clear that the world is run by people who really believe in stories, and that it's alright to believe in the stories if you want to, and that you have to understand the stories to understand the people. And that people who don't believe the stories should be quiet about it, because there aren't many of them.

"I have two children, as you know. It's interesting to see that when the older child realises that its all a story they don't tell the younger one, because they truly enjoyed believing the fantasy themselves."

Each to their own. I didn't like the story, and I don't think I ever *really* believed it. At the age of four and a half I laid a set of booby traps in the house to catch the guy. The only person I caught was my mother, who although she'd helped me set up the ones by the fireplace and over my door, didn't know about the one on my stocking (I guess I didn't trust her... with good reason, as it turned out). I went with school at six to see "Peter Pan" in a theatre, and when the audience were told to clap their hands if they believed in fairies, the teacher told me off for not clapping. The TEACHER!

"If it makes people, or children happy, I see little harm in letting them believe."

If it makes them feel better, you're right. If it makes them not go to the doctor because they "trust in the Lord", then it can literally be a matter of life and death.

"Life can be hard; fantasy is a very good escape mechanism. See the virtual pirate ship on h2g2 - isn't it just a form of play? Does it benefit the people that enjoy it? Yes, very probably."

Absolutely. I enjoy a good fantasy escape as much as the next person - e.g. I'm PHYSICALLY excited at the prospect of the new Matrix movie. When I see the trailer, my pulse quickens.

What's worrying and dangerous is when people can't distinguish fantasy from reality. Doing that is a fundamental part of growing up. It's why it's OK to show kids Dr. Who - they enjoy being scared of Daleks, because they know that they aren't going to meet one on the way to school - it's easy to see that it's just a fantasy. It's also why it's NOT OK to show them a film like, say, "Scum". It's too realistic, and their ability to discriminate between fiction and reality needs to develop before they're ready for things like that.

Not being able to distinguish fantasy from reality is DANGEROUS.

"So if believing makes people feel better and feel that life is more worth living, then isn't that worthwhile in itself?"

I don't believe in shattering people's illusions for a giggle. I'm not that sadistic. But that assumes you're in a situation where it's generally accepted that they ARE illusions. And unfortunately we are not. The majority of the population of the world believe in fantasies. I think that's sad.

"... parents took comfort in thinking that his soul was being cared for someplace else. Believing helped them then, so who cares if its true or not?"

I don't, and I certainly wouldn't say anything to intrude on their grief.

"I don't believe in homeopathy either, but same thing, if it makes some people feel better in any way, I say go for it. Better than valium any day..."

Ah - now you're into the realms of the factual and scientific. Homeopathy is pseudoscientific nonsense, and its effects - on the statistically expected occasions when there are any measurable effects - are entirely ascribable to the placebo effect. It does make people feel better, undoubtedly - but so would doing nothing in large proportion of cases. It's the outrageous claims that homeopathy makes for itself which damage its credibility.

And valium has predictable (mostly) measurable chemical effects on the brain. So it IS better than homeopathy, in that if you take it, you KNOW that what is happening to you is down to the valium. You can't say the same for homeopathic remedies.

"Each to their own..."

Absolutely. And a rationalist position would allow that. It's the myth-believers who DON'T go with that. Try preaching "each to their own" in Jerusalem or Riyadh, and see how far you get...

H.

Hello everyone, especially Peta who I haven't met before. By the way, I'm Jemima, Jem, Duckie, and my lasted version...(drum roll) Jez. I'd prefer Jem tho.
There we were having a nice boring conversation about exams and comedy and peoples names in 3s.
I think it's good that people can believe that the dead go some where nice and that suffering isn't such a bad thing. I must say I feel more of a Christian when I'm depressed or people are being nasty.
i think I'd probably do the same as Hoo with the santa myth. But then my mind might change as i get older and forget how I felt.
Az, do you live in spain? I'll probably think of a question for you!
Eg: what is the future tense cause I can't remember it.
jem

hi Jem,

Yes, I live in Seville - it's BEAUTIFUL here!


Future tense for regular verbs:

hablaré
hablarás
hablará
hablaremos
hablaréis
hablarán

Irregular verbs are different (obviously), depending on the verb.

az

You forgot Canarde and Perian Duckie . I'm almost always Clare, but have also been Clar (by my French Exchange), Clarechen (German Exchange), Chiedza (in Zimbabwe), Mavis and Auntie Phredd (don't ask why, coz I really don't know). It's strange to think Az and Hoo probably have normal names as well, and Peta if that's not your real name .

Ente, here's the Latin site you wanted: www.cambridgescp.com/vocab/ocrlath.html

Enjoy

Yes, it's true - I do have a real name! It's Shawn. And pleeez don't pester me about it being a boy's name. Wasn't my fault.

My only nickname is azahar (pronounced 'athaar' - dipthong) Though I'm sure I've been called a few things behind my back that I was never aware of.

az

Waaaaaaaah! I want to be in Seville instead of stuck here doing exams! (which weren't too bad today as it happened. i think I might have passed physics!) So your name's Shawn, eh? Baaaaaa! Sorry, couldn't resist. I think it's a perfectly nice name. So what if it's a boys name. I thought you were a boy until I went to your site and you had written about not wearing dresses! (nor do i, the only dress i have is a tudor dress - a kirtle)
By the way, Clare, you forgot a name. What about Clarpe which i persist on calling you?
Jem

Just remembered a point i was going to say. Surely if you let your child know (or let them guess) that Santa didn't exist, then they'd go and tell the other kids and it would spoil it for them.
J