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

Who nds th lttr '_' - compltly suprfluous!

(not for crtain smilys, though!)

Ebeneezer Goode dissagrees

Sp?

Has anyone read "The Wonderful O" by James Thurber? Ostensibly a children's story, it should be enjoyed by children of all ages (7-70, at least). In it, pirates take over the island of Ooroo and forbid the use of the letter O.

"Mist is always mist, but what is mist isn't always mist".

Erm...right then.

Catching up on backlog always makes your mind whirl here. Pigs are made in factories? I am supposed to play the guitar with my teeth? Kareem gone?

Does anyone else have the impression that things are slowing down? Has everyone gone on holiday already? (Can't have done, they've all got to go to the meet-up next weekend). Or am I just hanging out in the wrong places? My conversations don't seem to move as much as they used to.

What's the weather like in Hong Kong and Dublin? It's sweltering here. And Sky News is now digital so I'm cut off from the English speaking world. Must get internet in the kitchen so's I can listen to Radio 4.

End of ramble.

Hi TC,

The weather in Dublin has been sweltering, close and muggy until today. It is now raining, but still very warm. There certainly doesn't seem to be quite as much conversation going on in the last few days as before. How is your entry on confusables coming along? Did my posting ever return from the moderators?

Well, there's not much British English in all that, except for "close" and "muggy".

"Close" is an alleyway leading to an interior courtyard and building, often renovated to accomdate shops or suites of offices of like professiona....

"Muggy" is a small mug...

Hey some of us are still here!
But seriously folks, I bear no grudge to anyone who tears themselves away from their computer now that the sun and warmth of summer have come to the northern half of the globe and the outdoor world beckons. Shouldn't we soon be getting an influx of winter-bound Ozzies and NZ's?

~jwf~

Would that mean then that close is related to cloister?

Any comments on thin and parky as terms for it being cold (something it hasn't been in London for about a week )

TC,
I know that the beeb has had Radio 4 long wave operating on reduced power, but I have picked it up in parts of Germany on 1500 metres or 195 - 199 in the new thingies.

Have you checked out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/worldservice/psims/ScheduleSDT.cgi
Moderate that!

Actually they might be doing you a favour. It is a particularly cumbersome and opaque page, from which it is possible to access:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/010518_byford.shtml
where, amongst other things, you can learn such gems as:
"Useful Links
Is it No Longer be Possible to Hear BBC World Service on Shortwave? "

H'mm ...
Lord Reith will be having a restless night.

Oops,
I was looking for shortwave, but I'm not sure where you are. There are some details about "partnership" arragements for AM & FM (VHF in old money) bands.
In the meantime, Debbie has just told Brian Aldridge that they're likely to lose the estate contract and he reckons they won't be able to keep up the payments on their new, giant tractor!

Happy 4th July to everyone who wants one!

It's the full moon I'm worried about... Aye, there'll be some fireworks tomorrow night. Marketh me word.
~jwf~ (been feeling the waxing moon lo these seven days past)

* subtext update : There were riots following Canada Day celebrations (July 1st) in, of all places, Winnipeg. That's where Winnie the Pooh came from. Mascot of the Winnipeg Rifles, WW1, stationed to England, 1915, and abandoned to a London Zoo when the boys went over to France. And never came back. *

Yep, full moon tomorrow.

It's 32 degrees here today and there's another typhoon on the way. June was the wettest HK has ever had - rain measurable in feet rather than inches (except they dropped imperial measurements in 97) I live on a ladder street, which is a flight of steps with a couple of landings rather than a paved road. Most of my neighbours have been paddling up and down the waterfall in their bare feet.
What has this got to do with Blitish English? It's well known that the English (at least)always start their conversations with the weather.
Also typhoon is one of the very few words of Chinese origin in modern English.Would anyone care to contribute the others?

Words from Chinese:

Tea comes from a similar Chinese word.
Joss, meaning good luck, comes from pidgin Chinese but ultimately comes from Deus meaning God.

To which may I add typhoon, sampan, and kumquat.

Well done, shipmates.
There's a fascinating exhibit in the Macau museum showing the languages whose words for tea start with "t' and those that start with a 'ch' sound - both Chinese origin, but from different provinces.
The other words I can think of were place names
"Kaolin" or china clay (anyone else old enough to have had kaolin poultices for aches and pains?) nankeen, a sort of shiny cotton from Nanking, shantung a type of shot silk and to shanghai (kidnap and drug or make drunk and send to sea as a sailor

I've seen a commercial advertising Chinese tea called something like Tchaé.