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

This is true TC, but I had to read it a few times to get that meanng. I may be a bit slow though

I think trash is rather a good word. There is the assonance in "trash can" which you don't get in the cumbersome "rubbish bin". It is very effective as an expletive, and it rhymes with "crash". The other Americanism, "garbage", however, is far less effective and not as expressive as "rubbish". Swings and roundabouts.

I've never heard anyone refer to their luggage as "trash".


Of course luggage doesn't come up in conversation often in my groups, and I was never in the military, so I'll keep my ear out for it.

Knowing how often I experience "the lattice o' coincidence" (and the Baader-Meinhoff effect) I'll probably hear someone call their luggage trash this week.

Perhaps more people are secretly reading this thread than we think, and suddenly even airport announcements will be using the word.

Maybe - but as all airport and train station announcements are incomprehensible, no-one will ever know

<BB<

Hubby and I went to the GWR museum in Swindon on Saturday. At one point in the afternoon an announcement was made over the public address system. We couldn't understand a word of it. We looked at each other and Hubby said,"Well, they got that right. No one ever understands railway announcements."

Or, train station announcements clearly audible where not needed. On platform 7, I do not need to be told that the train approaching platform 5 does not stop.

Elsewhere you can't hear the announcement unless directly under the speaker with no background noise.

When they announce it doesn't stop, I guess they mean it will be passing through at 125 mph, and you need to hang on to your hat.

Or shocking things may happen to you!

http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/59/f7/34/59f734ab36fead343137d00a9e6c69e6.jpg

PP.

This is petty - sorry if it applies to any of you. Bald men with beards, especially abundant beards. Just looks all wrong.

We call those 'blokes with an upside-down head'

Another interesting look for men is a shiny bald scalp, but hair at the side of the head that runs into a thick beard. Essential to finish off this look is a body so hairy that its difficult to see where the beard ends and the body hair begins.

Some hairstyles are meant for each other.

http://rebrn.com/re/you-complete-me-3212402/

PHotD: Whenever there is an appeal on Facebook for the famine in Africa, some people take the time and trouble to make appalling, mostly unfounded criticisms of the charities doing their best to alleviate the situation. These individuals also make some very unpleasant comments about the people caught up in the famine, suggesting for instance that they shouldn't breed, and they feed themselves before their children etc. I really have trouble comprehending what drives people to post such hateful and factually poor comments.

Facebook - the internet's toilet wall .....

Two very personal Petty Hates:

1. Not having the manual strength to hold a thick paperback open. Thick in this case is 500 pages, but even 400 can be a problem. I've had to crack the spine of this book, something I don't like doing because it shortens the life of the book.

2. The cost of replacing the books on Kindle. The book I'm reading at the moment costs £8.49. I have another book that I need the Kindle version of that costs £9.99. I catalogued our books and I have over 1000. They're not all available on Kindle and there are some that I wouldn't buy Kindle versions of. But even if I only buy Kindle copies of half my books, it will probably cost thousands!

Are any of them available as e-library books? I know you can't keep them long term like that, but at least can be re-read.

I add books I want on kindle to my wish list then check periodically to see if they've gone down in price. I'm only bothered about replacing the ones I want to reread - the rest can stay on the bookshelf where they look nice and homely

Deb

I bought a Kindle a long time ago but quickly concluded that they were something of a con.

I know that there are up-sides such as convenience, but back then Kindle books were often no cheaper than tree books and occasionally more expensive (recipe books were a particular niggle). And they tied the user to one retailer.

They have got to be way cheaper to produce and distribute.

PP.

The price of ebooks is an issue with all e-readers, not just Kindle. Epub books (the standard format) are just as expensive as Kindle versions. Having said that, most of my Kindle books are Kindle Daily Deals which cost as little as 99p, and I rarely pay more than £5 for a book. Books that are out of copyright can be free on all e-readers - Project Gutenberg does a variety of formats including epub and Kindle.

There's more to the cost of producing a book than the print costs. There's editing, proof reading, copy editing (although some publishers seem to skimp on the last two with ebooks) and what the author is paid. There's also the fact that you pay VAT on ebooks, which you don't on print books. I agree that ebooks could be cheaper than they are, though.

I said that I have over 1000 print books. I also have hundreds of ebooks. Tsundoku is as much of a problem with ebooks as it is with print books.