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

Fascinating journey!

A few queries:


A. 4 see

B. The Boardwalk is mentioned twice: once at end 4 and again in 5 Do you think it's worth changing to show that the tourist is walking back along the Boardwalk?

C. 10 'together' is unnecessary.

D. 11 'banknotes' is more common, they is.

E. 11 'being redeveloped as a business district'?

F. 14 Should ' Rugby' and 'Association Football' be capitalised?

G. 15 out-of-the-way


Oh, and congratulations for not mentioning the 'whiffey Liffey'.

Thanks for those, Elf. For some reason, the Editors didn't make that entry editable; it is still officially "Waiting for Approval". I'll ask the Eds to make it editable and then I'll go through these suggestions.

I agree with A, C, D, E and G straight off.

B: the trouble with the Boardwalk is that it is first mentioned in a section for Wheelchair users. I'm assuming that people who who are not wheelchair users will not read this bit, so it has to be introduced again for them.

F: I don't know whether Rugby and Association Football need capitals. Thinking about it, it seems to me that Rugby is the name of a place, and Association is the name of an organisation, so both of those should have a capital letter, but football isn't, so it shouldn't.

So: Rugby football, Association football.

Fair enough.

However... "Rugby is the name of a place": Badminton was named after a place too, but the game isn't capitalised mid-sentence.

And... "Association is the name of an organisation": But association football is the name of a game...


Incidentally, I lived in Dalkey for a year or so during the 70s, but was too busy working to see much of Dublin. Dalkey was so quiet in those days that I once saw a goat wander slowly along Castle Street and enter the Allied Irish Bank... I imagine it left a deposit.

OK, I've done all those changes except for the Boardwalk.

You're welcome to make suggestions on how I could improve that. The tourist is not actually retracing his steps, but continuing in an easterly direction along a further section of the boardwalk.

That's okay, Gnomon. No one writes more clearly than you do, and anyway, your reason makes sense.

Dalkey's a lovely spot, but I can't imagine it ever being quiet!

Mind you, that was nearly forty years ago! We were so busy I don't think we saw much of Dalkey either - perhaps I'll return someday.