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

Now there's a place I'd like to browse.

In the days of IBM mainframes (late 70s) you could Edit a file which allowed you to make changes to it, or you could Browse it, which meant that you could read it but would not be allowed to make changes. The word went from there to the Internet.

Surely it's quite common among shoppers:

"Can I help you, madam?" - "No thanks, I'm just browsing".



Now I think about it, there's no equivalent word for "browsing" in German. In computers it's called a "Browser", and when you're shopping, you say you're "just looking" (Ich schaue mich nur um). The homonymous (is there such a word?) "Brausen" means to bubble and fizz, which leads to some punning and joking.

Indeed. *Just* browsing. Less purposeful than actively (ahem) focusing on buying contact lenses.

Curious, since the earlier sense of browsing, like a giraffe, meant actual consumption. Maybe not so curious in a bookshop, where much valuable speedy reading can be crammed in.

It's interesting that the literal meaning of "browses" is "eats shoots and leaves".

This is because "browse" is an old word meaning "shoots and leaves".

Yes - while searching the dictionary for a German equivalent of the word (which I didn't find, as I mentioned above), the first meanings in German were "to graze" and similar. Hadn't realised that until then, although it seems very fitting.

And the word for someone who eats, shoots, and leaves is a bowsie?

I quite like the idea of grazing in a bookshop.

And once you've settled on a particular book...you can ruminate.

Now there's food for thought.

"Big girls browse"


"Didn't there used to a 'rule of grammar' that said single digit numbers included in prose were to be spelled out as words while two or more digit numbers were written arithmetically?"

Did anyone else notice the grammatical error/typo?

I'm sure that in prose you can justifiably write "twenty-three" in words (otherwise why should we have rules about hyphenating such numbers etc etc)

In business correspondence and reports (in which I would include such things as an h2g2 entry - for which there are rules anyway) it is correct to use the words for single-digit numbers and figures for larger numbers.

I wouldn't consider that the way numbers are written is a "rule of grammar".

I noticed the lack of "be" in "Didn't there used to be a " and I noticed what to me is incorrect grammar in "Didn't there used to", but I accept that it is the way things are said in some part of the British Isles.

"Didn't you used to be Shirley Valentine?"

"two- or more" ?

No, I didn't use to be Shirley Valentine!

Well spotted, Gnomon.

Pedants should remember Caesar's wife.

Pedants do not appreciate being told what they 'should' do. The shoulder is a very personal and intimate body part, very closely aligned to the head and the decision making process.

That said, what in particular should we be remembering about his wife?
I recall only the famous line from a Wayne & Shuster skit where she repeatedly protests in a whiny Toronto 'jewishousewife' accent, "I tol' 'im, 'Julie, Don't go!'. 'Julie', I told him, 'Don't go!'" Classic stuff, but very much a Canadian television moment so it's most unlikely what you're referring to, leaving me in wonder.


~jwf~

Hey, I remember that sketch! Made its way over the Atlantic.

I think that the reference is to the rule that Caesar's wife must be above suspicion. That can cut either way:

(1) Caesar's wife must behave herself
or
(2) You may not enter her name on the list of suspects.

I think version (1) applies to pedants: when correcting grammar or spelling, don't cock up yourslef.

Dangerous stuff there Recum, old boy!
While I sincerely appreciate the effort I have long since learned that any free interpretation of something Edwardo says is risky at best. So let's wait and see if he chooses to explain himself.

Meanwhile, let's enjoy a little music thanks to your suggestion that W&S played 'over there' which led me to this delightful BBC moment from 1965.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7-ykiYNQPc


~jwf~

I can't find the Julius Caesar sketch but this Shakespearean Baseball Game (1958) is at least on topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzl6LEfouEE