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

Hey, why don't we call it a "Quartet"?

As in Alan Garner's "Stone Book Quartet".

Or T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets".

In case you haven't seen it, (and I hadn't until just now) the geniuses who provided the smileys have given the footnote for the Eureka! smiley :

"They say that genius is one percent inspiration, two percent perspiration and 97 percent hot baths... "



I like that.

In the really, really olden days... sheets of manuscript paper were quite large. It was on these that things like the works of Shakespeare were first recorded. They were so big you could fold them in half, twice! These manuscripts are called quartos meaning four-folded sheets.

Some clever wag figured out that if you know which way the sheet will be folded, you could write upside down on two quarters so that when it is all folded and you cut along the top and bottom folds you end up with a four page book. Or eight pages if you write on both sides, but that gets very complicated.

Anyway, a four sheet book is a quarto and a four book story is just too long. By at least half.


~jwf~

But a quarto sheet is quite small - even fourfold it doesn't make for what I would call a "quite large" sheet of paper. I mean we're talking A1 or A0 if it's really big sheets of paper you want.

So where does "foolscap" come from . I probably knew once but I suspect that this is a word which has dozens of interesting, historical and humorous explanations. So I expect at least six different answers to this question.

Here's one from the original thread for starters:

F19585?thread=46483&post=495758#p495758

quote

Posted Jul 26, 2000 by Lear (formerly Lear)
Post: 216

Foolscap is a lovely old word, and the etymology is nice too. This particular kind of paper (I'm not sure why), when it was originally made (it says 1795 in my dictionary), would be pressed with a watermark in the design of a fool's cap to distinguish it from other kinds of paper. Hence, not surprisingly, it came to be known as 'foolscap' paper. Silly but true...

unquote

A classic case of copyright infringements that managed to "skirt the law". The first watermarked papers were of course Harlequin romances.

Then Lord Dunce applied his stamp. Lord Dunce had every right to enter the market aggressively. These Harlequin people were obviously trading on his good name by using a trademark quite like his family's coat of arms where one can see that the floppy hat is quite conical. And has bells on it.

A bitter trade war ensued, virtually bankrupting the romantic publishers and bringing down the family Dunce. Into this void lept the johnny-come-lately 'foolscap' people to corner the market and become a household brand name, at least in the better sort of houses that insist on watermarked paper.


2 of 6
~jwf~

You may recall that I mentioned Eeyore (formerly) U112242 (possibly returned with a slightly less mournful persona - U539546) and the invention of a pen.

You may have seen the impliment at:
http://www.mosquitopen.co.uk
If not, take a look before the pen has its "By appointment to Her Majesty ..." seal.

I appeal to all contributors and lurkers to visit the Mosquitopen
site and read the research that is included there and if, like me,
you are convinced of the merit of the product, in contrast to the
somewhat insubstantial worth of the competitors, get voting forthwith.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/innovation/vote.shtml

I mean now.

I thank you.

You may even win a pen.

See,
It's not just me.
The Post is at it, too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2124514

I understand that the REC in Red-Rec (a Coronation Street reference) stands for RECreation center or area. But why is it the RED Rec.?

Is it built on former Communist territory? Is R.E.D. an acronym for Regional Education District or Recreational Energies Department or some such?

Or is it just a bloody wreck?

Inquiring minds want to know!

~jwf~

If it's anything like the one where I grew up (~25m north of Manchester), the 'rec is short for recreational area (as in playground with swings, slides, etc.), and the red is simply because the play area was covered with a red-coloured tarmacadam surface (at least in the places where it wasn't raw concrete).

I *seem* to remember that there was an intermediate contraction (reckory) between 'recreational area' and 'rec', but with eveything being verbal rather than written, it can be hard to be sure after all these years.

Or there was the rec that was a cinder track type surface that I was taken to when I was just a small phil at primary school. The surface had sort of a redish hue in the right sort of light.

red light perhaps? That weren't no sports track

Now I'm really curious.

Potholer's theory is interesting. It could be the source of some local expression that is so much fun phonetically it has become the general term for such facilities in the area and this was picked up by Corrie St writers. But no evidence of, or reference to, any actual red pavement has ever appeared on the show. I can't remember even seeing a soccer field though folks like David Platt are always going off to play there all the time as his father Martin did before him in his time.

It is usually shown, and often referred to, as a very green and wooded park-like setting where people walk their dogs; where Spider Nugent and Toya once camped out for days in a tent; where Fred Elliot fell down a hill and was 'lost' overnight in the bushes; and where Emily Bishop climbed a tree and roosted for days to protect said trees from demolition (to preserve Roman ruins discovered nearby and prevent Alf Roberts from building his Millenium Dome).

Perhaps someone else has a theory? This has become quite disproportionately important to me as things sometimes do. Failure to resolve it will weigh heavily on my spirit.


~jwf~

I suppose that even in cases where a play area was once covered in red tarmac (or reddish cinders) but has long been covered in something more child-friendly, the name *will* tend to stick because it sounds right.

It might well be that an area that has always been largely grass, but which even for a short time had a red surface near a few swings or roundabouts would tend to pick up the name.

Googling did come up with :

http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street

Which reckons it's a reference to the civil war, but even if that *was* in the script, to me it has the smell of a post-hoc explanation to try and tie in some loose plot idea.

I am informed by my sister that my childhood 'Red Rec' was in fact probably cinder-covered, and it was a different play area in town that had red tarmac around the swings and slides.

An even-more-local writes:

Cease speculating.
I live a mere 10 miles from Weatherfield. My wife used to live even closer and we were married in a church which (practically) backed on to the Red Rec. from which Lesley Ann Downey was abducted by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady in 1964.

That particular Red Rec. had a covering of red shale which was the common covering for municipal tennis courts. This was long before soft surfaces were used to surround swings, roundabouts and slides. Indeed, concrete was the favoured surface as it suffered little damage when attacked by knees, elbows and heads. (Remember we are talking "up North" here.)

Often included amongst the Rec. area there would be a "maintained" portion with bowling green, tennis courts, flower beds, football pitch and swing park. Then there would be the un-maintained region of long grass, bracken, trenches, hillocks, hedges and trees. This would sometimes be used by travelling fairs and circuses. Some have adjacent allotments for local garden-less residents.

I trust that this is of assistance.

>> I trust that this is of assistance. <<

Indeed it is.
Your detailed first-person eye-witness testimony confirms Potholer's speculations and sets my mind at rest. I can actually remember now that in my youth, tennis courts here in Canada (not that I play the game ) were covered with a brick-red clay surface. Once saturated with very heavy rain this surface would become quite 'muddy' and bake hard again in the sunlight.

Pursuing the idea of shale just a bit further, I need to ask if you mean that this was a crushed aggregate like the aforementioned cinder tracks. Or was it some sort of shale tiling (though I suspect loose tiles would be a seriously inconvenient if not dangerous problem)?

thank you
~jwf~

And now for something of more topical if not general interest from dicdotcom:


>>>
SLEIGHER n.
Sleigh is a familiar word in American English, having entered the language from Dutch by 1700. The Dutch were among the earliest colonists in North America, and it is thus no surprise that some very common words come from their language.
Boss, bush, and landscape are all originally Dutch words that became established in English by the end of the 17th century. In the succeeding centuries we got such words as dope, knickerbocker, snoop, spook, waffle, and cookie. Even a term practically synonymous with American, namely Yankee, was in all probability originally a Dutch word for a Dutch pirate.
<<<


May the sleigher drag his bag down your flu!

~jwf~

I like Sleigher. Especially the 'Hell Awaits' album.

Thanks for more edification above. Have we covered Cloud 9? Mr. Bryson, in his latest book, claims it is from the original cloud classification system where the 9th classification was the big cotton wool comfy looking cloud. I'll see if I can find the reference.

Yeah I thought that might get me into difficulties.

Shale is - in my experience - very much like the stuff that surrounds an Acme Rosemary clay tile which has slid from a house roof, avoided the guttering and come to rest on a hard surface. (I speak from personal knowledge.) The bits used on tennis courts were thin slivers about one centimetre square. Every day or so, the park keeper would drag a six foot wide piece of coconut matting around the courts to redistribute the dusty surfacing.

Something similar is/was used on motorcycle speedway tracks.

Cinder tracks used for athletics may have been slag from power plants or "gas from coal" plants. The cinders were not so regular, varying from dust up to one inch spherical (nearly) lumps. The track would be rolled periodically to compact the surface. I once walked on one that had been snowed on, thawed and frozen. Because of water's propensity to expand just before becoming solid, the top of the track had risen more than an inch and shoes went right through the track surface. I was horrified to see what damage I'd done before I worked out what had caused it. It had looked normal - white lines had risen with the track.