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

"Visitors since 5th April 1998: 1129599"

Er, 'new' to me, that is!

Further perusal of Chambers gleaned no more '-alogies', though google shows that some people feel comfortable with both 'heptalogy' and 'pentalogy'.

This site - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/difficultwords/data/d0009799.html - gives 'pent' but not 'hept'.

Then of course there's 'decalogue', but I feel this must be something else entirely...

er... yeah! Bit different.

Ten commandments!

same origin, though.

In the course of looking up these -alogies i came across plain 'alogy' as 'an absurdity'.

Chambers has 'alogia' but it is a medical condition causing loss of speech. But not 'alogy'.

anyone regularly declare something to be an alogy?

oh yeah, and just for the enjoyment of that awkward aspiration, you might try saying 'an heptalogy' out loud. Perhaps in some overwrought lit-crit type phrase like 'This is the last of an heptalogy of inspired works that challenge the boundaries of ...'

really give it an hemphatic 'HhhHEP-talogy'!

seeya
spiff

Well, Mr. L. Ron Hubbard describes his books as a Decalogy (or ology can;t remeber now). I just about got past book 1

Now be VERY very careful. Just because his books LOOK like a blue print for his religeon doesn't dtract from the validity of said religeon. Especially since they tend to sue the a*se of anyone who says they do.

religIon, religIon, religIon

How unfortunate. I do have this unfortunate habit of spelling phonetically sometimes. And adding an 'e' where it isn't needed. Such as 'obviouse'. In fact, I normally do it on the end of an 'ous'. Very strange. it's not even that I don't know how to spell the words, I just do it automatically for some reason. Ho hum.

Surely 'Described', unless you believe he's still alive somewhere?

I'm sure his religion is quite as sensible, honest and meaningful as the man himself was known to be.

OK, I'll admit, had no idea of whether he was dead or alive. Dunno when he was born, when he wrote the books or anything.

I sit corrected, and informed.

*puts tick on clipboard under heading "learn something today" and settles back contented.*

A trilogy being a 3-thing, like a trinity (and 3-thingies have a certain 'religious' mystique), doesn't mean therefore that sets of two or four or more would or must follow the same 'alogy-ology' form.

Often a single book comes in 'a two volume set' (the shorter Concise OED comes to mind) or two partnered books are a 'pair' or 'pairing' or sometimes 'companion volumes'.

And there are 'quartets'. The James Herriot 'vet' books ("All Things Bright and Beautiful; All Creatures Great and Small; etc.) were at one time called a 'quartet'. R.F.Delderfield also did a four volume set which those in the book trade referred to as a quartet.

But once you get beyond 4, there is no good reason to continue either the musical nomencalature or the '-ilogy' bit. In fact beyond 4 what you've got is called a 'series'. At least until the author is quite dead and immortalised; then you call them 'the compleat werkes'.

~jwf~

So, when is British English going to become a forum? It's an excellent idea, since the subject matter clearly deserves more than one thread. And I can have my own thread to play my little word-game on...

John

There are of course exceptions to every rule

Five books are perfectly acceptable in a trilogy when the work concerned is The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

>> There are of course exceptions to every rule <<

Yeah, especially the ones I just make up off the top of my head. I only sound like I know what I'm talking about. It fools the young 'uns. And of course like all rules, even mine are conditional upon the present environment, which is the online trillionogy of h2g2 with volume settings as high as eleven. Eleven point five in Newfoundland.


So is everybody waiting for someone else to put forth another motion on a Brit Eng Forum or User page? A user page ID would allow several people to log on and keep it maintained. An A-number page would be one persons responsibility and no one is that crazy. Or are they..?

Maybe we could ask the Powers to reserve User number 200,000 for us; it's coming up soon. User nickname British English (or BritEng) and password....?
Then we could break up the backlog into ranges of 500 posts as suggested earlier and volunteers could assign themselves a 500 lot and do a preliminary Index.
It would be a lot of work, but there are a lot of Brit-Engers past, present and future, and it could be fun.
Even the Pedants could log on as 'Brit-Eng' and scurry round h2g2's darkest corners posting 'official' corrections to spelling and syntax wherever they find evil at work.

~j~

We're *NOT* pedants!

Perhaps a collaborative entry/university project type thing?

I really like the tangential thought processes that this one thread promotes (at least in my head) and it would be a shame to lose it.

Yet I'm keen, willing if not entirely able to support a U-page / project or similar

six7's

TC,
"We're *NOT* pedants!"
I thought a pedant was a motorist who'd found a parking place.

Hmmm... just what is a *motorist*

If...
an anarchist is :
an advocate of rebellion against authority, order, or ruling power...

a capitalist is:
an advocate of the eat approach to business...

a communist is:
an advocate of a totalitarian system of government with state-owned means of production...

a feminist is:
an advocate of equal rights for women...

a nihilist is:
an advocate of the destruction of political or social institutions for future improvement...

so...
is a motorist :
an advocate of air pollution, congestion and othopedic surgery

six7's

Perhaps 'a motorist' is the prototypical cyborg. The next evolution of humankind: a union of man and machine in womb-like isolation and comfort, surrounded by a passing vista of natural and man-made stimuli in an acoustic space of infinite variety, capable of travelling vast distances at speeds beyond any living creature's capabilities, with mobile communciations devices and satellite navigation aids.

Or maybe he's just someone who believes in motorism.


~j~

You're all mistaken about Motorists.

I'm amazed you don't know that Motorism is the most widely practised religion in small towns and villages all over the western world - surpassing the once popular Christianity.

Young newcomers to the cult of the Motor often go through a period of 'passive' worship (often encouraged by a parent) - simply learning the articles of faith (spark plugs, loud exhausts, brake horsepower figures, etc) and idolising more advanced adepts.

Like any religion, the key moment is the ritual passage into the ever-swelling ranks of Motorists, the blessing of an authorised church official and a public demonstration of faith.

Again, like other religions, many Motorists then go off and believe that the rules are all well and good, but not really for them and that Motor will understand because, well, because it's *me* and besides, worse things happen at sea...

spiff

ps er... I *did* have a BE point to discuss 'til I got sidetracked

To go back a bit;

pentalogy of Fallot
Fallot's tetralogy with, in addition, a patent foramen ovale or atrial septal defect.

pentalogy of Cantrell
A type of sternal anomaly associated with midline abdominal defects, a pericardial defect, a cardiac anomaly, and ectopia cordis.


Alji (Member of The Guild of Wizards U197895)

"...pentalogy of Fallot
Fallot's tetralogy with, in addition, a patent foramen ovale or atrial septal defect.

pentalogy of Cantrell
A type of sternal anomaly associated with midline abdominal defects, a pericardial defect, a cardiac anomaly, and ectopia cordis. "

You know, that all sounds very clever and intelligent but I bet it just means something like 'Where are the toilets' in Latin.