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

I agree with the 'macgyver'. In France he's quite a household name; and he is famous enough to have warranted a whole MacGyver Special for their 100th show.

/-€

It probably didn't help that I spelled the name wrong originally

Perhaps an explantion of the term rather than replacing it.

With an explanation would be nice

... more on mcgyver . . . my half dutch half spanish friend knows all about him too. . .

Can we get rid of the "confirmed bachelor" completely: sexist and homophobic language ("confirmed bachelor" was the euphemism used by newspaper obituarists in days of yore)?

Oh, and a typo:

Bueberries ==> Blueberries

RF

Confirmed batchelor... really? Crickey, you learn something every day!

Hmmm, I'd never heard that either, RF

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=confirmed+bachelor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor

There you go.

RF

Oh, it's not that I didn't believe you, it just wouldn't have occured to me. It does make sense in context though. Victorians probably had polite euphemisms for everything.

It does rather mean that that sentence should be re-written, if it is still widely associated with that meaning. Perhaps more like a student's kitchen instead?

The two worst kitchens in which I've ever had to attempt to cook a meal have been women's kitchens, so I don't think it fair to base the criticism on gender...I'm sure you'll come up with something!

RF

As far as I'm aware, bachelors come in both male and female, as do students Who said anything about gender?

The term 'batchelor' in my head means a single male. It may not be the dictionary definition (I don't know, I haven't looked it up) but I would definitely assume male.

Perhaps that Victorian term has lost its homosexual connotation for some of us but didn't lose the male association.

The equivalent German euphemism would be that "he lives on the other side of the river".

But while I understand taking it out in this context - whether or not someone's kitchen is well-stocked has nothing to do with sexual orientation - I wouldn't consider it an insult.

And neither would most rational people.
I would always fall on the side of caution, because it may cause offence by mistake or be taken out of context and used by irrational people. Mostly the offence by mistake option.

Your intent is clear to us because we know you, but to a casual reader it may not. As it is as common as RF showed, then it is to be avoided because too many people may assume that you are using it in the negative way.

I'll make some changes here later. Currently doing much the same for work.

I always thought a "confirmed batchelor" was particularly macho, actually ... you know, different girl every night, couldn't settle down, sort of thing.

Goes to show.........

And McGyver is a household word in Germany, too - a good example of a "confirmed batchelor" - at least, so I had thought up till RF came along!

confirmed bachelor to me means a man for whom no woman is good enough for him to marry/settle down with. I've never come across the connotation where it means anything homophobic.



I think you should leave the McGyver remark as you had it originally but with a footnote for us deprived anglocentrics.




oh and you asked about improvised kitchen equipment on Ask h2g2:

I use those disposable foil baking trays for all sorts of things - making lasagne and baking tray cakes, flapjacks and so on. If the trays are only slightly messy I wash them carefully ( so as to keep the shape tidy ) and re-use them. They last for ages. When they get rather ragged I use them on the bbq, to keep small items from falling into the coals, and then chuck them out.


I don't have a deep fat fryer, and its hardly worth me buying one for all the use it would get, so I improvise with some oil in a heavy bottomed pan, and as I don't have a wire basket either I have to use a slotted spoon to carefully remove the fried food once it has cooked. Those nice flat round ones that are so good for serving petit pois are great for this. ( I speak from experience)

Hi Mala!

The weighing and measuring bit seems to unbalance the entry, but that's just my ...

My top 'missing equipment' tips:

If you have no knife for spreading, try either the back of a spoon or a fork/spoon handle dending on the type of cutlery you keep.

Forks are useful for almost any kind of whipping/mashing/mixing you may need to do though some things will take a fair amount longer.

Pot and pan lids can be used as plates in a pinch. The other way 'round works, too, but can be a bit iffy, since there are no handles on plates.