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

Hand Towell, Paper towell and, of course, sanitary towell!

Great goodness sakes, mercy heavens and other expletives of suprise and astonishment!!!!

The tea-towel!!

How could the tea-towel have been overlooked????

A basic towel; perhaps not as versatile as the all-around basic towel as described by DNA, but none-the-less basic to civilized life.

The tea-towel I am thinking of is made of what is called [at least in the colonies] a 'huck' fabric; sorta 'waffle-weave' cotton toweling. It's uses vary but mostly revolve around tea time and tea things. For example, it can be used as a scarf on the teacart; folded up and wrapped around the teapot as a tea cozy; lovely hot toast and other goodies can be nestled in a tea-towel; and they are also admirably suited for drying teacups and other tea things as part of the washing-up process. And finally, there is the aesthetic use of the tea-towel: they can be lovingly embroidered with decorations which compliment and enrich the teatime experience.

Surely the tea-towel needs a place in the list of basic towels...

"How could the tea-towel have been overlooked????"

The answer to that one is simple. I'm an american who doesn't drink tea. My faux pas.

I'll have an updated draft of the Towel Entry in the near future, and tea towels as well as the other types of towels mentioned in this thread will be included. Paper towels was another good suggestion. As an american I'm appauled at myself that I overlooked that one!

More suggestions and advice will be appreciated so that I can update the page one time with new information and hope that will be sufficient for awhile, so if you can invite all your friends to come over here to the Towel Guide Entry and offer their two cents towards the effort, hopefully the final result will be a towel entry worthy of inclusion in h2g2.com (not that it's a bad entry now, but I mean with more input we can make it better).

So I don't suppose duct tape has any real application here?

Altho this is apparently an americanism [also available in Canada], I find that duct tape has applications in almost all facets of life. I really can't figure out how it fits in except for the general, all-purpose nature of the item.

But since DNA seems to feel that the towel is basic and is silent on the duct tape issue, I will yield to his higher authority.

There are some, vacuum packed or something... add water to expand to normal shape and size.

All facets of life indeed! I know a man who claims to have once used duct tape on duct. It's not just for cars anymore

Another use for duct tape-- bandages in emergencies. My sister carries it and some torn up towels for this purpose . It does work, but the adhesive sticks kinda tight to hair.

well, I am not sure if this counts as a towel or not, but I think " Towelette" should be added to the list as well. And don't get me started on kinds of tape!

The MAd1

I had a collegue who was called Colin Towell.

I've noticed Sushi rolls tend to be held together with duct tape. (Yes, I know they CLAIM (apologies for the capitals (and indeed for the multiple brackets) but I couldn't find a way of creating italics) it's seaweed.)

I WANNA GO! Oh wait... its not a camp... its a towel! yes the almighty camp towel

Lightweight, compact, and fast-drying, the Camp Towel is made of 100% viscose rayon to absorb 10 times its weight of water (or probably other liquids too!). Ideal for campers, backpackers, and travelers(HITCHIKERS!!!).

I found this on the Wal-mart website in search of my very on versitowel that someone else was talking about to keep my white beach towel in! how exciting this is huh? there is even Camp Soap to go with your camp towel! Another great thing about it is its only $3! but it bieng absorbant and quick drying will make it less of a weapon when wet considering it wont be wet long and you have to wet it more often than your opponent... I also do not know the size of this Camp towel...