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

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A fun article about a mind-numbing fun topic... I can't tell you how many of these type bashes I've participated in as I am still trying to recover those memories through hypnosis!

Grammar and spelling looked good. If you know of any games (or pranks) that might be played during a party of this nature that might make a nice addition (or a whole separate entry!). I was at one party where they took off the shower head and passed it among a bunch of people who had taken LSD. It drove them crazy trying to figure out what the thing was and I heard it drove the new house occupants mad trying to figure out how to shower in a powerful stream of water (I think they eventually stole a shower head from a college dorm, thus perpetuating the missing shower head through nearly five years of college life!)

A nice article, I'll give it an 8!

Interesting topic...especially since housewarming parties in the US are generally dull affairs, and hardly even practiced anymore.

I'm going to give this article a 6, but that is because of something that isn't hard to correct. The average sentence length in this article is something on the order of 25 words. The second sentence is a run-on because it is missing a comma, but the rest has a run-on feel because of the sentence lengths. Don't be afraid to use a few periods here and there. A good piece of literature generally has a good mix of short / long sentences.

Thanks for the suggestion, Jimi. I don't know that I'm too good for picking particular incidents or "games" to relate regarding housewarmings - I was mostly too drunk at the time to remember what was involved the next day! I suspect a more general sentence about the nature of the activities undertaken during such parties - their inherent stupidity, disregard for consequences and propensity for senseless displays of (frequently youthful) bravado etc. - is probably what I will have to substitute.

I see your points, too, GargleB. Housewarmings are not universally as riotous as I might have made out, here, and they seem not to be all that frequently practised around here anymore, either. I think the article gives a good idea of what a good housewarming can be, though. I can fairly easily nip and tuck a few of these sentences - your point about the second sentence being particularly relevant (this was a sentence I wasn't entirely happy with when I wrote it, but I needed some suggestion such as yours to make me see how to change it!). My narrative style probably is a little bit "run-on", but I can see the benefits in a more journalistic approach. I'll try a few things before making any final decisions, though, and I suspect that working something in according to Jimi's suggestion is also a good idea!

Thanks for being so quick to respond, guys, and thanks again for your encouragements!

I thought this was a good article and just thought I'd tell you of a variation to housewarmings which is the house decorating - If you are very daring you can allow your friends to actually decorate while drunk but a much more fun one was when one couple I know decided they hated every bit of wall paper in teir new house and during the party allowed everyone to strip the wallpaper off. It saved them approximately a week's work!

On the down side I did find some of the sentences a bit long and felt they could be broken up a bit. But then my sentences average somewhere around 40 words so what do I know.

I give it a 7.

Ginger, your comments - as always - are valuable! The "house decorating" I suspect comes somewhere under the category of "party games" etc. mentioned above. I must admit that it's not something I've ever tried, but I'll admit that it sounds like it could be fun! I'm currently trying to think about some way of tying this sort of subject into the article, and suggestions would be welcome!

My thought for my own upcoming housewarming (especially given that it's Spring here at the moment) is to have a simultaneous pissup/barbecue/garden-cleaning party. I'm not sure that I can trust my friends to preserve the inside of my house in a liveable condition in such a situation, but letting them go to work on the outside could be very revealing!

Your point about sentence lengths is well-made, and given that it's the second mention of this problem I will have to do something about it before finalising the article. The second sentence - always a crucial issue in any paragraph - is a particular problem: any suggestions, again, would be appreciated.

P.S. How're you and Doug at the moment...?

The outdoor housewarming complete with hole dug in the ground complete with screening sheet for the men's toilet is almost universal in Aus/NZ, especially in the warmer months.

The cleaning up the section bit is more like a "working bee" with drinks afterwards.

You fine article is more about young people/students having their first party at (usually) their first flat.

Most of these events I have attended involve loud music, drinking races and vomit. Maybe you could mention these in the article.

You are on the right track and the article in its final form could be compulsory reading for younger h2g2 researchers when they go first go flatting.

6 at the moment but I am sure you will improve it.

Loony, I think you've hit a nail on the head, there. I suspect a qualifying sentence in the first paragraph, something along the lines of:

"This practice is very popular with students only recently removed from school or university, and although the practice's popularity declines inversely to the age of the participants, it can be found occurring among single house occupants until well into the twilight years. For this reason, single house occupants can very easily make a lot of friends."

It needs a bit of work, but I suspect you get the idea...

I don't really think that the housewarming is seasonal, but "loud music, drinking races and vomit..." Hmmm... Working on that bit.

...people new to flatting, including university students living away from home for the first time...

The outdoor ones are seasonal. Too cold in winter though for my 40th birthday party, held outdoors in mid-winter, I hired a gas blower/heater the size of a large airliners jet turbine which did the warming up trick nicely.

The three 44 gallon drums full of beer, wine and ice were strategically placed, out of the heat, behind the garage.

Nice article.

I must be getting old, because I remember the main purpose of housewarmings to be the GIFTS! Well... for the younger generations, anyway, usually because they were given by newlyweds who got the house as a gift from mommy and daddy and didn't get enough -things- at the wedding. You rarely saw a housewarming party for a rental at all, and generally it was a first-time buyer.

About the only other people who threw 'housewarming parties' were elderly couples who needed an excuse to get their kids to visit ... then again, they probably still wanted the gifts to replace all the things they threw or wore out at their last 40-year residence.

5

Okay Hypo! Try this suggestion for your second sentence of the first paragraph:
"They are frequently held in shared houses to test combined and comparative reactions to their own debauchery. they are a convenient excuse to get drunk with new flatamates while meeting, and potentially having sex with, each other's friends."

Does that help?

DD and I are fine BTW - still trying to decide where to live, marry etc. It wasn't meant to be this complicated!

With a capital T of course.

I would simplify that second sentence a bit, and give it less ambiguity. Like this:

They are frequently held in shared houses as a convenient excuse to get plastered with new flatmates and have sex with each other's friends.

"Plastered" being an American slang term for getting really, really drunk, you would naturally use your own slang term there...but you get the idea. This is just the way I would do it, but you asked for suggestions. Best thing about suggestions is they can be easily ignored.

Plastered is a UK term too!

Plastered is an international word. At least in English speaking countries. It takes its place in this wonderful action sequence.

Party, beer, plastered, vomit, hangover.

Maybe we should start up a forum elsewhere on all of the international terms that exist for being drunk - that way we won't bug Hypoman! Off to create page now and will be back in a minute.

And that page is http://www.h2g2.com/A169256

Greetings

I was very interested in this article - mainly to pick up ideas. See, I just moved to a new flat smack bang in the middle of Killarney. I'm delighted to see that the REAL hw party spirit hasn't died yet!

But back to the main point of this forum.

I enjoyed the article a lot. I see the point the others make about the long sentences, but I am also guilty of doing that, so I can't really judge other people on that.

All in all I give it an 8. The style of writing, like most articles on H2G2 is humorous, which is exactly the reason why I like it so much here!

I'm sorry I don't have anything in the way of constructive criticism to add to what the others have been saying, but hey, better luck next time

I think you may have omitted one key feature of housewarming parties: nosiness. It is the first and only legitimate excuse for friends and neighbours to poke around the bits of the house which we normally keep decently hidden (e.g. the master bedroom), on the grounds of legitimate critique. If you are really lucky there will be an open drawer containing something really embarassing like a pair of handcuffs, some men's size 12 stiletto heels, or a pack of condoms which expired two years ago.

For best results this should be followed by 3 months of gossip about the mirrored ceilings and the *precise* reason for that extensive collection of African fertility symbols.

Heh... Probably yet another reason why housewarming parties are so rare these days.