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

Yeah, it's neat to be able to answer just one person, instead of the whole world. Makes it easier to share secrets like what to do with a pint pot.

Exactly!

But, come to think of it, inspite all the wonderfulness of ICQ, we STILL don't know what to do with a pint pot. Should out worship of the ICQ system not tremble and die in a whiff considering this?

I think we need to get Wellies ICQ number - if there is such a thing.

Spiffing point. I shall look into it this instant.

"sluk deres tørst" English has, or used to have 'slake their thirst' meaning the same thing - but then the English probably borrowed it from the Norse a while ago.


;^)#

Ah, Bruce, Welcome - but the point is you feed the hungry are you saying you slake the thirsty?

Hiya,
I was resonding to a post of KimotoCat's about a week ago where she said -

"Subject: Feed me, water me, enlighten me
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."

I was merely observing that the English term 'to slake their thirst' was very similar in meaning, pronunciation to the Danish "sluk deres tørst" & that we probably got it from them in pre-Norman times.

But now that you mention it you slake a thirst or desire (or you used to) so I suppose you could slake the thirsty.

Cambridge Dictionary http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/elt/dictionary/default.asp?String=slake*1%2B0&ACT=SELECT
Websters 1828 Ed http://www.christiantech.com/cgi-bin/webster.exe?search_for_cgi-bin_texts_web1828=slake
Merriam Webster http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=slake

;^)#

Blimey....you go away for a couple of weeks and suddenly your article's a hotbed of Anglo/Scandanavian semantic comparisons.

As a matter of interest, the Tugnafian word for the 24 hour period between two midnights is "tortoise". It avoids confusion (although not for our tortoises, unfortunately).

Olaf, you old goat! A huge blistered welcome back! Oh, you have a LOT of catching up to do...
Where have you been?

Welcome back Olaf - we'd sent out search parties and everything. i hope you are in fine fettle!
I'll give you a tortoise to reply to this - he said using a tugnafian phrase he had just picked up. No chance of confusion there!

Duke, Vestboy! (wipes away a small tear). How are you my brave lads?

Great to be back....I've been held hostage in a hotel in Greece for fourteen whole tortoises....it was dreadful, they kept making me lay out in the burning sun and drink cold lager.

Worse still, I had to pay for it.

Oh, that's that thing "humor", was it not Vestie? Right. We can't have any of that here. This is a very serious minded thread, so stobbit!

Whatever it is we will stamp it out! So Olaf was defending the empire in foreign parts drinking fizzy non-tugnafian brews (I'm guessing there) and all with a flock of tortoises which he had to pay for.

Correct, except that the collective name in Tugnafia for tortoises is a "chukka". Unless there are more than twenty, in which case it's a "corinthian" of tortoises. Er...but on Wednesdays you can use "flock" provided your goat-skin pants are on back to front.

I hope that's cleared things up for you.

In anyhow, Olaf, we trust that your crusade in Greece was successful and that you struck the non-goodies upon theirs heads with your helmet. As a matter of fact, the battle between good an evil have fade out into the vast and dark moors of forgetness. I think it was all vesties fault, but I could be wrong.

No. you're right. It was all my fault, except I blame the script writer and the editor.

Well, that goes without saying. We're all just actors, directed by fate and that old man in the shed. I think we deserve a better writer, don't we?

That sure wasn't long before most of you went quite laxative in regard of new headlines!
Nå, as we say in Danish. But to reply to the entry above:
Yes, we are all actors and all life's really about is trying to obtain a lead part or a high payment.
We do deserve a better writer; Bill Gates just won't do no more.
Jokes aside(?): Who would do?

Well, Douglas Adams certainly won't do, that for sure! I don't want to be a victim of his weird ideas.
I think I would like to starr in a Wodehouse world. Yes, by Jove! Wodehouse for me, please.