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

Their sins were grievous, their nature wicked and their lust insatiable but never is it written that they were unkind; so, now then, can you tell me why you'd never want for a leaky bucket in Soddom and Gomorrah?

>> leaky bucket <<

Is that some sorta fag code for an unatural act?


~jwf~


BTW what city were thinking of smiting? New York? Been there, lost the straight-jacket.

Well I'll leave it to others to decide if that's a just a touch too derogatory.


Meanwhile...

Polari. -5

All that comes into my mind is that song, 'There's a hole in my bucket' featuring Liza & Henry.

If that's all there is then I have chosen my question well.

(strait-jacket, jwf A54479226)

soddom and gamorah were supposedly near the dead sea where pitch was mined/dug out of the cliff/found on the beach/floated about on the lake

and pitch was used for waterproofing by bronze age middle eastern civilizations. like fixing buckets

He's on form today!

Taff +3

While the exact location of Sodom and Gommorah remains unresolved, it is said they were on the shores of The Dead Sea, from underneath which do come quantities of naturally occurring bitumen or pitch which is useful for water-proof things like roofs or mending leaking buckets.

Not much detail to this one: I'm still concentrating on writing up my 'what hath god wrought thread as a guide entry which is stealing most of my intellectual energy, so not much proper QI-ing from me for a while, though I have a few questions on the back burner shall we say.

and if I think of any quick ones like this one, I'll stick 'em up.

But "you'd never want for a leaky bucket" means that you'd have plenty of leaky buckets! (To want for something is to lack it - to never want for something, then, is to never lack it.)

Why, if they have bitumen available?

>> (strait-jacket, jwf A54479226) <<



I did not know that!
And I thank 'e for the correction.
Always good to learn something new.

An excellent Entry altogether.
One that everyone should bookmark and cite for corrective
purposes, as you have, when encountering uninformed usages.
Nicely done, Mala.


~jwf~

Thanks. And sorry if that came over wrong, I don't mean to be a know-it-all. But since researching that, I keep coming across all these examples in the wild.

>>...sorry if that came over wrong... <<


How can you possibly think that?
I said "I thank 'e for the correction".
And "Always good to learn something new."
And "An excellent Entry altogether."
And "Nicely done, Mala."

I don't think I could have been any clearer.

Anyway, I wouldn't be going on about it now but this thread seems to have stalled a bit and I'd like to repeat my suggestion "that everyone should bookmark and cite A54479226 for future corrective purposes when encountering uninformed usages" like my spelling of straight jacket.

I'm serious.
There is often discussion here that people don't use the edited guide enough or complaints that people can't find information when they need it; or, that a thread gets interrupted when someone feels compelled to ask or explain some off-topic but important point like correcting spelling or other misconceptions.

H2g2 has a catalogue of good information all over this site. What is needed is perhaps a list of FAQ type entries that anyone could readily access and find a link to certain subjects which inevitably arise again and again.

Discussions like 'straight v strait' jackets or 'the proper use of apostrophes' or 'American v English usages' and dozens of other topics that often (repeatedly) interrupt or side-track conversations could be sent off with an appropriate link to an existing entry for reference.

Perhaps someone should start a thread asking for suggestions of such entries and someone could volunteer to assemble it.

By the way, I had always thought 'straightjacket' was a mondegreen of 'restraint-jacket'.

And full points for knowing what a mondegreen is.

~jwf~

PS: For the record my post #2 was a legitimate question. The question is after all about Sodom, the town that made sodomy famous. Sodomy goes by many other names, as do other sexual perversions. Sometimes these are cutesy but all are code for that particular 'in crowd'. It was (to me anyway) only natural to assume a 'leaky bucket' had something to do with all that.

QI - A Drop in The Ocean.
-----------------------

Correct (+3)
--------------

Taff Pitch/Bitumen deposits occur naturally and float to the surface of the dead sea.



Klaxons (-5)
--------------

~Jwf~ - Polari



Elf (+2)
--------------

Clive

stop saying polari

every time i read it i channel dean martin and sing

PO-lari O-O-

Sontari O-O-O-O

I will ask because I have to, even though I can't reasonably expect a plain and thorough explanation, what does 'polari' mean. At this point I'm imagining it has something to do with ice-cubes and erections.

~jwf~

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari

Palari (also spelled polari) is a kind of gay slang.

It was used in the "Jules and Sandy" sketches on the "Round The Horne" radio show with Kenneth Horne, Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams.

The words I remember are lallys (legs), omi-palone (gay man), riah (hair), bona (good), eek (face) - as in "It's bona to see your dolly old eek".

so when ~jwf~ said 'is it code?', I felt that was covered by this klaxoned item.

I shirley "cant" argue with your judgment.
Fair dues.

And thanks to all for the explanations.
I guess I really should get out more.
But y'never know who you'll run into, eh wot!

There's a new movement starting up in most major cities
called Gayrilla Gayfare or somesuch. Great crowds of gays
dress up as normal people with shirts and ties and descend
on straight bars. An article in a local newspaper covering
the second monthly event, quoted a member of the gay agenda
as saying, "Oooo, I've never been to a straight bar before."
And a straight guy who was a regular said, "They don't look
gay with shirts and ties on do they?"

~jwf~