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

You "feed" livestock and "feed" plants fertilizer, so why can't you "water" humans? The only other word I can come up with now is "quench", but even it needs modification for specific use.....

"I'm thirsty, can you water me?" doesn't sound right. Neither would quench. I really do think I've found a fundamental gap in the language. Do you want to join the campaign?

I think not being able to get a drink in as many different ways as possible is quite serious!

The English language is in deed a very verbose language, but there are a few gaps here and there. When I try to teach the Danish brats the English language - which just happens to be my job - they come up with the weirdest things that I cannot possibly translate for reasons of language gaps or plain decency.
When trying to quench the thirst of the masses, we sometimes apply something like "sluk deres tørst", which roughly translates into "switch off their thirst", so I don't know if Danish is much better than Swedish at that.
As for underwear, we (some of us!) also use "brystholdere" - breast holders - and prefer those made from fabric, not youngsters.
What's the word for the 24-hrs. period of time forming an entire seventh of a week? We call them "døgn", but the English language is without any equivalent word...

Yeah, what about that? We call it "dygn". Vestie, here's another one for the campaign. By the way, fancy being called a "youngster" at 31, eh?

You don't mean "day" that would be too obvious. You are talking about a word describing 24 hours when it is not midnight to midnight I take it?

24 hours makes a "dygn", no matter from what time you start. A day is "en dag" which is the 12 hours daytime, as opposed to the 12 hours of nighttime which we call "en natt".
By the way, does English make a difference between "night" and "evening"? Swedish does. Evening is "kväll" which is the time from after afternoon until the time when you normally go to bed. Then night in the shape of "natt" enters, and that lasts until the mornong, "morgon".

24 hours makes a "dygn", no matter from what time you start. A day is "en dag" which is the 12 hours daytime, as opposed to the 12 hours of nighttime which we call "en natt".
By the way, does English make a difference between "night" and "evening"? Swedish does. Evening is "kväll" which is the time from after afternoon until the time when you normally go to bed. Then night in the shape of "natt" enters, and that lasts until the mornong, "morgon".

"A day" is 24 hours - midnight to midnight.
"day" as opposed to "night" is when it is light
Morning is from sunrise to noon.
though we talk about "the early hours of the morning" or just "the early hours" as being that time after midnight which is still night time.
Some people say "good morning" as a greeting up until they eat lunch (which could be 1.00 pm) and good afternoon afterwards.
Afternoon is from noon (1200 hours) to about 6.00 pm
Good afternoon is usually used as a greeting during afternoon working hours.
Evening is from 6.00 pm to about 10.00 pm.
"Good evening" is a greeting to people after work hours.
Night is generally when you go to bed.
"Goodnight" is a farewell word - either as you leave (the pub, party or whatever) or as you go to bed.

Well, I see lots of similarities. Only "Good morning" is used until round 10, when people start saying what translates as ""Good mid-day" to each other. That goes on until like 1-2 o'clock, when people realize that"Good afternoon" is suddenly appropriate. "Good evening" and "Good night" are used in the same fashion as you said, Vestie.
But what we should focus on here is that English lacks the word for "dygn". "A day" just isn't good enough, a day could be like 8 hours when you're at work. A "dygn" is always 24 hours.

You may be onto something here, Duke.
We generally have to clarify what we mean by adding words. "Office hours" is used to define 9.00 to 5.00 approximately.
A "working day" is usually a reference to Monday to Friday with "weekend" being used for Saturday and Sunday. So if you say, "I want a response within 10 days" you may have to say "Do you mean 10 working days?" in other words 2 working weeks.
"The working day" as a phrase generally means the same as office hours.

Awphewey. I feel a headache coming. I'll get back when I've sorted this out.

I’ll have to concur with the Duke of Dunstable in so far as the term ‘day’ just isn’t good enough. In opposition to many English words, it lacks severely in precision and distinction. Somebody in an English-speaking nation: Get on the horn to your MP, phone the CIA, anything, and get them to create a proper word!
As for the many greetings: We Danes like things simple, so many people greet around the clock, simply saying ‘davs’, which derives from ‘goddag’, roughly translating ‘hello’ or directly ‘good day’. But davs has become an all out, all ‘døgn’ greeting, also applicable to phone calls, letters or email. Some primitive people just say ‘hej’, in English ‘hi’, both as a greeting and a goodbye.
Milord Duke, if thy headache continues, try some refreshing refuelling. (Search the Guide for some forum posts on fuel!) I express my sympathy. (How to do that in Danish? “Nøjj, stakkels dig!&#8221

KimotoCat, tack för dina värdefulla tips när det gäller "fuel"... I tried to refuel by pouring gallons of coffee down the old drain, but that didn't cure the headache, it just made me all sweaty and jumpy.
Now then, since we all agree that "day" is not a sufficient word to describe 24 hours, let's find or make up a word that is. Cor, fancy two Nordic people having to enrichen the English language...
24 hours include one day and one night.
A dayght?
A nay?
A daynight?

Headache:
Have you tried paracetamole? Or if that does not suffice, tramadolhydrochloride? The latter should not exceed 100 mg. per dosage.
Insufficient English: I’ll have to object to your suggestions; sorry 'bout that, but allow me to explain.
Dayght, no, it’s too easily confused with other words.
Nay, no, it is ye olde English meaning ‘no’, BTW still in use in the House of Commons and the House of Lords as well as several renowned pubs in Great Britain.
Daynight, no, the English language is distinct in that it rarely uses words made directly from connecting other words. (Thus unlike the Scandinavian languages where we do it all the time! )
In other words () we should suggest an entirely new word, never used, abused or even spoken out loud before. (Don’t worry, I’ll try to say it prior to submitting this, just to make sure it’s not dangerous or in anyway threatens the ozone layer!) I’d like to suggest one of the following, as the phonetics (to me) suggest a twenty-four hour period of time:
Singular: A deen (plural: deens).
Singular: An eblat (plural: eblats).
Singular: An irat (plural (irregular) iratta).

Right ho. I knew you would oppose to Dayght and and Nay, because I am too familiar with it's similarities and even exact usage with other words. I also acknowledge the conservativity of the English language, by it's reluctance to mix existing words.
As a result of this, one wonders if Deen will not be too easy mixed up with Dean, which is either a name or a school executive. Also one might find the word Irat a bit too ethnic, don't you think? My vote goes to an eblat.
"What have you been up to for the last two eblats, then?"
Excellent!

All you English-speaking people out there: Get your asses in gear and tell everybody that the proper English term for a 24-hrs. period of time would, from this eblat on, be an eblat. (I’ll personally add it to my computer users dictionary at once!) (There, did it!) (Hope my boyfriend doesn’t mind.)
The correct pronunciation is [eeblat] with the first syllable being like the vowel in ‘tea’ or ‘feed’ and the second something like the ending of ‘leaflet’, even if that’s spelled differently. Pressurize the first syllable and – et voila – you can say ‘eblat’!
Somebody, get on the horn to ‘Websters’, ‘Oxford’ and ‘Encyclopaedia Galactica’ – oops – ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’ that was. Tell them about the revolution and make sure not to end against the wall in the process.
Milord Duke, hast thy headache seized?

Yes, by Jove, it has indeed. And since this is a Friday, I'm looking forward to a new and fresh headache again tomorrow morning, or rather tomorrow afternoon when I wake up. It's only an eblat away.

Milord, I am pleased.
I was just about to disconnect to the H2G2 as the Real (rtlvbeiay) World called upon my meagre attention, when I discovered Your Lordships reply. It is so good to learn that Your Lordship is feeling better, even if not intending to remain so. Alas, the joys of life do not come without certain side effects.
Me, I’ll have to enter a weekend with almost two-and-a-half eblats where I risk not being able to access the H2G2. Real Life is nice, but it can be a trial!
I wish Your Lordship a fine weekend and can only repeat my suggestions regarding how to deal with any nasty side effects. Tramadolhydrochloride works well, but it too has side effects. But as you’ll be to stoned to notice, it doesn’t really matter.
Greetings.

The rest of you: Start using The Word!

Oh yeah? Well, the same to you!

Eblat... eblat... eblat? Hmmm... 24 hours. Singular an eblat. Sounds foreign.
What about basing it on the 24, two dozen or score plus four?
A twodozen? a scorplufor?
Or a dayful? fullday? Don't forget "weekend", despite what you say is made up of week and end. Afternoon is made up of after and noon.
Some people still refer to the forenoon - for the morning.