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

I'm coming up from behind, with three dots of backlog still ahead of me. Shaken by seeing "Goodbye to all that" mentioned. Did it for A level in 1972.

As for smoking jackets being the uniform, I think the one thing we really all have in common are smouldering brains.

As for "the man his book" - I was told this,too, but even then only used it as a mnemonic for remembering where to put the apostrophe until I came across the German genitive which tied it up much better.

The genitive of Der Mann is "Des Mannes". (As Spiff said) But the Germans are getting very confused with the use of the apostrophe themselves as the invasion of English vocabulary makes the conjugation and declination of German verbs and nouns more and more difficult (at least, on paper. It is easy to say "Up-ge-datet" for "updated" but it is hard to know how to write it.

Germans have grabbed the stick at the wrong end right from the start and now use apostrophes liberally for plurals - even with common German words. I am talking about the kind who write signs outside garages, restaurants and grocery shops in chalk on slates. Sometimes it is acceptable to use apostrophe-s for a possessive, but it is not the normal German grammar.

Peas: I always thought this was related to the "pease pudding" in the rhyme. In Germany (sorry) they have an "Erbsenwurst" - pea sausage, which is just pureed peas squashed into a tube of plastic as a basis for the pea soup which is more popular here. I have never used it, finding my pressure cooker makes a delicious pea soup. If I put in twice the amount of dried peas as my English recipe dictates, I get the thick German version, which is served with chunks of Frankfurter sausage floating in it. Sounds revolting - tastes delicious.

You're right, Duncan. Mushy peas are Marrowfat peas. They are much bigger than the frozen petit pois and they just fall apart when you cook them.

In the days of my youth, chip shop peas were dried peas reconstituted for each opening period. The name "marrowfat" is certainly familiar but I can't confirm that. In order to keep the dried peas a bright green colour "soda" (bicarbonate of ?) was sometimes added to the cooking water. As the opening spell continued there was a tendancy for the peas to be overcooked - loosening the "skins" and necessitating the use of a spoon to consume them.
It was my mother's contention that self respecting fish friers would not use soda - it destroyed the vitamin content - and would use several pans of peas in smaller quantities so that they would not be shamed into serving the peas in a mushy state; except at the end of opening when people would be lucky to get anything at all.
Well that's about it for the 1950s.

JWF, they're fare. I agree entirely with Plaguesville and his mum as to their derivation.
"Pease" is a really interesting word: originally, like sheep, both singular and plural, it sounded plural and so a back-formation "pea" was invented for the singular. "Pease pudding in the pot nine days old" would be really mushy.
A "pea-souper" was the sort of fog (also still extant in the fifties) that was very thick and yellowish. One dyed the white stripes of my university scarf bright yellow in 1961. "London peculiars" weren't quite so sulpherous.

So, if, as I believe was ventured a bit earlier, sheep becomes shoop, then presumably pease could become poose?

Please mum, can I have some poose for dinner?

No, maybe not.

Question for you, did ulterior ever have a similar meaning to interior / exterior? i.e. is it of their family but has since changed meaning somewhat? Oh, and if so, is there then a missing -terior meaning under? (in- inside, ex- outside, ul- over? above?)

Well, 'ulterior' is the Latin comparative meaning 'further' from the Latin 'ultra' meaning 'beyond', rather than above. This is an irregular comparative since the positive (the unadorned adjective) is really a preposition, although I believe there was an adjective 'ulter' back-formed in later Latin - or so I was taught - or was that the older form, which dies out - I have trouble remembering. 'Exterior' and 'interior' are, similarly, the Latin comparatives of 'exterus' and 'inter'. The Latin adverb/adjective stem meaning 'below' is 'subter', so the comparative would indeed be 'subterior'. BTW, there is a word from the Latin for above: 'superior'.

How's that for a guess? Not sure why it doesn't exist in English.

manolan,

Thanks for that. Just remembered anterior as well! So I guess we get in / out, before / beyond and above but no below. I guess there was just never the need for the below version, nobody out there with subterior motives, and no subterior decorators

Hiya

Some of what you say above sounded doubtful to me (7 years of latin, finished 10 years ago) but a little investigation proved me wrong to have doubted your suggestions. Sorry about that , and thanks for making me learn something.

So I will just add that 'posterior' seems to mean something quite similar to 'ulterior', but more temporal than spacial, in its primary sense. 'After' or 'behind' rather than 'beyond' or 'further on'. , That doesn't sound entirely convincing either, now that I've written it! What is it with these '-erior' words?

Of course, we all know that it also refers to a specific part of the human body too.

All the ones so far mentioned are very common adjectives in French. 'inferieur' will be used where English says 'lower'; 'superieur' for our 'greater/higher/upper (in the case of lip, for instance!)'; 'anterieur' for 'previous' vs 'posterieur' for 'subsequent'; 'intereur' for 'inside/inner' vs 'exterieur' for 'outside/outer'

This is not a comprehensive list, and I can't think of what could go in as an 'opposite' of 'ulterior'. Anyone?

Seeya
Spiff

*My search of ulterior included: meaning 'subterranean', credited to Bertrand Russel, and a 'lost history' allusion, attributed to GBS; both out of context and with no reference to the specific source*

Thanks all for your many memories of mushy peas. I am still in doubt about how they are served. Pease pooridge in the pot sounds like a home-made soup dish served separately in a bowl.

But do the chippies actually pour it over the chips or offer it as a side dish for dipping? Can y'have mushy peas without the chips? OPr vice-versa? And if it's a pour on, do they also offer choices like gravy, curry sauces, tomato sauces, cheese sprinkles.

No doubt somewhere these are all on offer these days, but I'm thinking of the traditional 50s chippy and I am really surprised its such an old favourite and not some trendy new thing. Again thanks, all.

jwf

How about Ulterior - Preterior? Preterition is given as an antonym if you look up Ulterior under Futurity (see the web site Dictionary....).

Yes, you can get them separately, in little plastic pots with lids! Our local doesn't let them boil long enough to be pouring consistency, more "on the side".
Gravy? yes if you like. Curry sauce? yes (I don't like)Ketchup, like vinegar, comes in dangerous squeezy bottles these days. Tartare and mayo in nasty little sachets

The interposition of the 'ulterior' post there really made for a strange dialogue.

A *squeezy* bottle for vinegar? Do people want their chips swimming in the stuff?

but does anyone know of chippies that still do scraps? Or proper cones in yesterdays newspaper sample sheets?
There is/was at least one company selling tinned peas labelled as Marrowfat, but I was never quite sure why (that was going back to my shelf stacking part time jobs whilst at school).

why does preterior sound familiar? Something like preterion? I am sure it isn't actually linked but somethings ringing a bell!

So what does the -erior bit mean? Or is it just an ending?

As far as the *sound* is concerned, possibly 'Pretoria', as in S. Africa?

Potholer,

I for one like my chips swimming in the stuff. That way you can glue more salt to the chip!

Konrad

Perhaps it is used to denote an era prior to the first recorded appearance of a certain small dog.

Spiff

Those "nasty little sachets" make great pillows for Barbie Dolls.
And inflatable rafts for GI Joe.
Someone I know suggested they might be "effect"-ive as a burglar alarm system if enough were strewn just inside the doors and windows of your home. They certainly squirt good when stepped upon.

*must be Thursday*
~jwf~

Dog? What dog?


Old newspapers were definitely the way to wrap chips!
But it's illegal now. They say it's because the printers' ink is toxic or carcigenic, but it's really because they want the paper recycled and grease ruins it.
Damn them eco freaks!

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