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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A180758 And yes, that A-number is correct. :-P This is a collaborative entry that I've been working on in stages for ages and I was rather shocked to see that it'll celebrate its second birthday in about a week so I figured I'd better get it into the Edited Guide sometime soon. It's a collection of weather folklore that I've attempted to compile from various h2g2 Researchers. There is/was a Writing Workshop thread at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F57153?thread=124770&post=1099202 where I got a lot of good stuff and credited it appropriately. Of course, if during the course of your Peer Review you find one you'd like to add, please feel free! Thanks in advance for your consideration! :-) - Jimi X

Hi, Jimi X!

I really like this collection. I think it would improve it to refer to where the sayings come from - a lot of that weather wisdom was fairly specific to local conditions, and predicting winter weather in somewhere like Minnesota is obviously going to be a different matter from the mild winters here in Ireland. The older or dialect phrases I think should definitely be given a source.

Americans always seem to use the sailor's version of the 'red skies at night' saying, but over here I've only ever seen it as 'Red skies at night, shepherd's delight'. I don't know which came first, but I think you should give both versions.

Azara

This is the stuff H2G2 is made of. You should plug it unashamedly everywhere so that it gets recognition. This Peer Review lark is becoming an advertising battlefield!!!

St Paul's day is 29 June, by the way. At least, the Catholic one is.

Azara - The difficulty in citing sources for many of these is that they are such a part of popular culture that their origins are unknown. Like 'April showers bring May flowers', my daughter said that at age 3 without ever hearing it from me or my wife. These things are ingrained in us from birth I reckon. Though where possible, I've tried to give some sort of clue as to the origin (like the Pennsylvania Dutch saying about a woman sleeping with her leg out of the covers being a sign of warm weather).

TC - I had it in the workshop and got a lot of contributions there and I had advertised it around the site in the early days so I'd really like to get it done and edited. But I'm still willing to take further suggestions and additions while I wait. Thanks for the information on St. Paul's Day - I'm terrible with those dates.



- X

I believe that "Cast ne'er a clout till May be out" means "until the May (flowers) are in bloom". Since the exact date when the flowers come out depends on the temperature, this makes more sense than the popular interpretation "until the end of the month of May".

That *does* make more sense. Thanks Gnomon!

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'Weather wisdom'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

Thanks to whoever picked this one!

I reckon it'll be one that needs updating as soon as it appears on the front page. This is the kind of entry that I think will generate *lots* of comments.

Again, thanks a lot everybody!



- X

Congratulations, Jimi X!



Azara

Isn't it silly that the scouts are always anonymous. Hope the re-programming job that makes them come out into the open has moved a few notches up the "to do" list by now.

Well done!

Scouts aren't always anonymous, it's the editorial tools that cause the problem. An entry get recommended and during UK business hours somebody in the towers gives it a thumbs-up and posts the 'thread moved' message.

But if the Scout lives in another time zone or is away from his/her computer for a couple of days, they don't get a chance to say 'congratulations' until well after the fact.

Don't know how to fix that really.



- X

to the scouts who come up to their authors and pat them on the back personally. Here's to all of you!

Thank you TC. Much appreciated

I picked it!


It's horrible being in a different time zone. I never get to tell you the good news.

This entry has been selected for inclusion in the edited guide. The entry will enter the queue for reviewing and editing by sub-editors. To find out more about what they do, search for Sub-Ed on h2g2. The author will recieve an e-mail with a new entry number for the edited entry once editing is completed.


*Michael Notforyou*
Official Scout, h2g2
Researcher U113408

Thanks Michael!

I've always wondered how that process worked.