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

Hi Fragilis,

I've been subbing one of your 'tables' entries - my version is at A1170550. I don't think there were any major changes... Just thought you might want to have a look through, and make sure there's nothing you're not happy with. Any problems, just say!

J

Thanks very much for the heads up, Justin.

I do have a few small changes to request:

Remove a word: In the fifth paragraph, first sentence, remove the word "the" before the word "anything"

Add a sentence: Under the section 'Kitchen and Dining Tables,' I please add a sentence to the end of the first paragraph. It should read:

"The dining table may extend to seat visiting guests via the addition of a leaf, a piece of wood inserted into middle of the tabletop."

Change a word: Under the heading "Conference Tables," in the last sentence of the second paragraph, change the word "skinny" to the word "fat." I had it wrong!

Add two words: Under the heading "Conference Tables," in the second sentence of the last paragraph, add the word "of yourself" after the word "embarrassment"

That's it! In every case, I'm correcting my own mistake or omission. You've done an excellent job of editing, Justin, and I thank you for it.

Note to self... Remember to do this!!!

Ok, all done.

Re the sentence: 'The dining table may extend to seat visiting guests via the addition of a leaf, a piece of wood inserted into middle of the tabletop.'

What about tables where the leaf is folded up and supported by a leg, or folds out of the centre, after sliding tht top sections apart?

You have a good point there, Justin. It seems there are infinite variations on this table thing we take for granted.

It might be easiest to simply quote yourself and add:

"In some cases, the leaf is folded up and supported by a leg, or it folds out of the centre after sliding the top sections apart."

Never waste a good sentence, I always say.



The rest looks great, by the way. Thanks for the attention to detail.

Done

Thinking about it a bit more, I rememebered something I saw on tv last week (or the week before ) on an antiques program: some really old tables were literally built in sections, you would normally have two end pieces (half circles, or some other suitable 'end' shape), and one or two centre sections, rectangular in shape. Although you could have as many 'centre' sections as you had room for - the example they showed, in some castle or other, had 5 middle sections! That's one big table...

Or would adding that in make it all too cumbersome?

Honestly, I'd leave that example out. You could go down the path of interesting table variations all the way to infinity, but you run the risk of losing readers by doing it. In my opinion, the article needs to cover just the stuff you're likely to run across in an average year.

I have a feeling there will be a number of discussions placed at the bottom of the entry about variations on the table. And honestly, I'm looking forward to it. I've never heard of centre sections the way you mention it, but it's a fascination idea.

Okey doke

I'll give it a final read-through some time, and send it back to the Editors, some time before the weekend if all goes well Then just wait for it to hit the Front Page!