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

Recumbentman,

"I edited my father's autobiography and was amused to see that he capitalised Catholic but not protestant, being a prod himself. I pointed it out and he said that's the way he wanted it. Humility or what, I don't know. "

Your father clearly knows where his towel is.

Generally, the word "Catholic" is assumed to be Roman Catholic and, as such, indicates a specific denomination whereas "protestant" is a blanket term to cover all non-Roman Catholic Christian denominations: I shan't attempt to list them as I should probably not be able to name all of them and have no wish to offend anyone. (I have yet to meet a denomination entitled simply "Protestant", the nearest I have encountered is the "Protestant Dissenters".)

It's the same as TC's gods, except there are more of them.

>> Goodness! This is fun - I havn't thought about why I do things in this degree of detail since I freed myself from the drudgery of acedemia! <<

There you have it folks, proof poositive that if you love something and set it free and then it comes back to you... Wait, it's all coming back to me now. And then.

~jwf~

>> Does the word protestant carry the same need... I can't remember hearing it as an adjective. <<

Those would be protestations and they would be protestationary, a completely different cult of babblefish babble.


~jwf~

I've always wished I was British so I could say "bloody" and use the word "about" instead of "around". Then when I write I could sound like CS Lewis!

, Norman.

Swearing! now there's a topic. I remember as a child being frightened to death about swearing and wouldn't sing the line "Oobladi-oobladah life goes on," (apologies if the lyrics are actually spelt differently) from the Beatles song because I thought the first bit involved saying the "b" word!

Oddly enough - there's been a conversation about sweary words recently: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=615427&latest=1

Not to mention auspice!

Plaguesville, I was thinking along those lines.

King Bomba, Your Majesty,

I apologise, humbly, for usurping the royal prerogative.

Still, as I saved you the trouble, perhaps you'll consider me for one of those "By Royal Appointment" thingies?

Oh aye, consider my unicorn and lion yours for the taking!

If you have met Australians, do they seem to swear a lot, to your mind? English types i have met seem to swear just as much and just as often as i do. Then i thought ..is this a class thing? Does being well educated mean you swear less or just that you use better maledictions? Is your upbringing the final arbitor on when and how you swear? There is funny swear words and rude ones, subtle ones and bloody obvious ones,crudity and humour go hand in hand at times. Having just listened to an old Derek an Clive recording( Peter Cook+Dudley Moore for those in the dark) I realised that Australians have no mortgage on crude or disrespect. Well i,m flat out like a Lizard drinking here so..cheers

I don't have a lot of experience with Australians, but I think they're just more laid back and taboos don't mean so much to them. Could this be the explanation.

*Refrains from mentioning who the first Australian settlers were*

What, aborigines?

No, by settlers, I meant those who came from elsewhere. I'm afraid I don't know where the aborigines came from - I thought "aborigine" meant they were always there.

<>

Technically it means the original inhabitants, or those who have been there from the earliest known times.

Australian aborigines presumably qualify under the first, and until recently under the second, too, though it is now known that they too came originally from elsewhere.

Noggin

>> ..they too came originally from elsewhere.<<

It needs to be said that this happened more than 50,000 years ago.

That's well before our ancestors even started noticing the dropping temperatures and first frosts of our last ice age. By the time we thawed out and started hunting and gathering our way toward civilisation, 'native' australians had been living the dream life for 40,000 years.


~jwf~

<<'native' australians had been living the dream life for 40,000 years.>>

Which is no doubt why they were thought to have always been there... 50,000 years - wow. Talk about deep time...

40,000 years of living culture all but destroyed in a few hundred years of white settlement. All Australians live with the legacy of this, in one way or another. Both Conservative and Labour Governments have done little to help Australian Aborigines who still manage to survive here in a most prosperous country and yet they have child mortality rates and adult mortality rates equal or worse than third world country's.
Still there are plenty of people who try an help and the odd Pollie who tries as well. 40,000 years ...hell of a long time to have a culture which strangely enough never fought wars,didnt die out because they wrecked the land they lived in like the Maya's and the North African Roman settlements and others.

Despite living 'next door' (New Zealand) I have known very little about aborigines, but I am slowly learning more. Hello,rhynch.