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

The piece on "shy bladder syndrome" prompted me to write this bit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A576128 It's been to the Writing Workshop for some helpful comments from Lucinda: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F57153?thread=121116 What do y'all think? :) Mikey

I think it's another winner - plenty of links, too.

I'm pretty glad it's not a syndrome native to Britain...

An interesting entry, well worth going into the edited guide. I have one comment to make. You talk about the belief that it stems from bad pork. Perhaps you should find a word to replace bad here, as bad is not very specific. However, apart from that, A good entry that I would recommend for the edited guide.

Wow, interesting. I've heard a very little bit about this, but I wasn't sure if it this actually happened to people. I remember reading Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut; his character (Kilgore Trout) retracts his testicles into his abdomen after being scared by a large black dog.

Mikey,

Cool.

One itty-bitty grammar detail:

'it is exceedingly more common in men'

Use of the adverb 'exceedingly' is incorrect. You might want to say 'much more common', or 'occurs much more often' or some similar change.

Otherwise, that's basically done, unless you want to add anything on somatisation

Arpeggio, for LeKZ (who has always appreciated having *internal* gonads)

There is a condition where men's testicles can retreat into the torso. Surgery is normally required to get them out again, and they are usually sown into place in the scrotum so that it doesn't happen again.

According to Vonnegut, as mentioned in a previous posting, this can happen as a reaction to extreme stress - in the book, the character was attacked at close range by a guard dog. I don't know whether this is true or not.

Another for the 'strange but true' file.

Well done Mikey!

- X

Fixes have been made.

Have I ever mentioned that I like links?


Mikey

Mikey,

This looks great, and about ready to go, so Yo! Scout!, recommend this already! I know I had some Scout Treats here somewhere....

You link-happy Humming Mouse-person you!

Any links you can think of for my Colorado article, please post them on the thread there. The thing is on hold for a few days, while I collect my thought. Yes, singular. I know I had one, but I can't find it anywhere... I know the linkier an article, the happier everyone is, especially the sub-ed, who doesn't have to do the work. I've got links to bumper-stickers, guinea-pigs, other CO articles, but I might have missed something huge and important, like 'The Earth', or 'North America', or 'Plate-Tectonics'. All help vigorously appreciated.

Got to go try to get my duck in a row. She will not co-operate!

Arpeggio, and , for LeKZ

(Arpeggio -- I just put a *long* list of suggested links in a new thread on your Colorado entry. The word is the keyword in your entry, the number is the entry to link to.)


Mikey

Umm... thanks so much, Mikey... ...it's a good thing you're just link-happy, and relatively undangerous (if also obsessive)...it could be worse, friends, she could be trigger-happy...

Gotcha!
I knew, gnomon, that if I waited patiently I would catch you slipping up sooner or later. The testicles are sewn into place. Sown means planted.
Sweet revenge is mine!

Yes, yes, I have obsessive tendencies -- my fellow scouts can vouch for that. Links are an especial happy thing of mine -- sometimes I even think of myself as "Mikey the Linkinator".


Mikey

IV,

Saw post from G. Thought of you.

Arpeggio

Oops!

Can anyone tell me what movie I stole this quote from? "My genitals have been sucked up into my body cavity!" I have an annoying habit of dredging up funny movie quotes long after I've forgotten the original context.

Anyway, this is a great entry. I'd always heard of this as a metaphor for extreme fear, or exposure to extreme cold. I never knew anyone took this stuff seriously!

Re: Links. It seems I got the right sub-editor for my University projects, then.

Colonel Sellers, who hates to trawl through H2G2 looking for relevant links.

Offhand, I seem to associate that quote with the movie Spaceballs.....

Mikey

I've reread the article and found a point that needs clarification. You seem to refer to Koro as both a disease that causes the genitals to retract into the body and the fear of such a disease. Perhaps you could list some diseases that actually do cause such fearful symptoms, and define koro as the irrational fear of these diseases or their symptoms.

If I recall correctly, it wasn't Kilgore Trout who retracted his testicles in Breakfast of Champions, but Vonnegut himself entering the world of his book. He forgot about the dog he'd created and sucked in his balls when the beast lunged at him.

Now that you mention it, yeah, it was! I guess I'll have to read that book again... not that I need an excuse.