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

there are a few factual errors in the Papua New Guinea article that i thought might as well be tidied up:

- Tok Pisin is not a "pidgin" language any more. It started out that way, but since the early 20th century it has moved on to being a "creole", i.e. a language that is native to some people, the first language of some people. Tok Pisin now has a very distinct vocabulary, drawing on elements from indigenous languages, English and German, and its own grammar. it is a very colourful, expressive, and rapidly evolving language.

- The current government type, while effectively a "parliamentary democracy", is formally still a constitutional monarchy, i.e. the British Queen is the head of state, represented by a Governor-General.

- i would not agree that it is "taboo" to ask someone's name. it is often considered a bit rude to do so, depending on the situation and who you are speaking with. but in no way is it as strong a rule as a "taboo" and i don't think the article should have a warning as strong as "do not ask someone's name".

- i was surprised to see lobster listed as a main export! this is a very small niche market. tuna and other fish are much bigger in export terms.

- perhaps the reference to PNG receiving economic aid from "ODA and Australia" could be reworded to "Britain and Australia" (so as not to be too Anglo-centric). also, Japan and China are major aid donors, more so than Britain i believe, as are several other countries.

- as of March 2002, there is no drought currently affecting PNG. there was a drought for much of 1997, which was very unusual.

overall the rest is fairly accurate, but the whole article could benefit from a lot of filling out. there is so much more to PNG than this!

Hello wantok, friend. I would absolutely love for you to fill out my article with better and updated information and help me get it back up to speed. I have not been on h2g2 in a while so I'm not sure of the procedure for you to change things on this article, but the editor of the article could probably help you with that. I have to admit my article is dated. I wrote it a couple years ago and have only actually lived there two months on mission trips. You sound like you know much more, so please, do as you will. I want the article to do justice to the wonderful country of PNG.

Princess Bride