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

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I know I'm blonde, but could someone PLEASE explain to me why the name Slartibartfast is so amusing? Is it a "British thing" or is it just the unexpectedness of such an out-of-the-normal name?

Thanks

WetHotBlonde69

i dont realy know
its just wierd

It's just funny

I think

In Bureaucracy the message machine confuses your name to be "Barty Slartfast."

Sounds like a sloppy way to get something necessary done quickly

Kinda a reminder, you know what you want to do, don't you? Pity about the economic recession, if they kept Slarty at his job everyone could live in a dream homes...

syllables... "Slar tea bart fast sl a err tea bar tea fast"

What is so funny about the name at all?

Originally (in the radio broadcast), the name was never spoken. He simply said his name was unimportant. However, in order to irritate the person transcribing the teleplay, Douglas named the character Slartibartfast, making the transcriber have to write that name out every time the old man had a line.

That's the real joke behind Slarty's name - it was a practical joke played by Douglas Adams on a coworker. On the other hand, that led to a great joke:

Arthur: "Slartibartfast"?!
Slartibartfast: I told you it wasn't important.

And yes, I realize this is necromancy, but it bugged me that the question never got answered, and if anyone traipses along here from the (now defunct) Cult site (which is still up but no longer maintained) they'll see the answer. So there.