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

~*~or ax instead of ask.~*~

On Futurama they do that on purpose though.

I just saw this kid on his bike this morning and he was blasting. God, it looked pathetic!

Blasting Beethoven might not be such a bad idea.

Celebrity celebrity celebrity. Virgin celebrity. MSN celebrity. Celebrity BS. I am a hundred times more interested in what my cat is doing than what any celebrity is doing.

But if nobody writes about them, would they still be celebrities?

My brother and I did once drive past some chavs while blasting 'O fortuna' from Carmina Burana out of the window. Pretty funny!

Mr X- what, they say 'ax' in Futurama? I think there might be a movie on Bender coming out soon.

After a thousand years the pronunciation of the word changes, just like Christmas turns into "X-mas".

Am trying to watch Terminator the series and I'm having a hell of a lot of trouble following the plot. I reckon it's because all the actors look exactly the bloody same and I can't tell who is who .

Why can't they cast some people who don't conform to the American ideal of rugged good looks?

Mind you, I think I've worked out the terminators are the ones with the squarest jaws.

Mr X- sarcasm, much?

TV channels that change the night on which a series is shown part way through. BBC did this to Torchwood recently. Also, TV channels that start showing a series, get most of the way through and stop showing it. Virgin 1 has been showing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They got to the end of season 5 and started to show Star Trek: The Next Generation instead.

I hate it when people say "theory" when they mean "hypothesis"!

Christmas "turning into" X-Mas is much older than you seem to think. "Christ" is abbreviated as "XP" (or, rather, Chi-Rho) in Greek - and in European writings, a thousand years ago. You may be familiar with it in this version: http://www.tattoosymbol.com/religious/labarum.jpg

The "X" (Chi) alone also stands for Christ in the Ichthys (you know, the "Jesus Fish", an older symbol for Christianity than the cross)

So really, "X-mas" is probably as old as, if not older than "Christmas", though the "mass" part comes from Latin, of course.

Next you'll be claiming that Coca Cola invented Santa Claus





Petty hate: people who perpetuate urban legends.

Yeah, anyone know where Torchwood went? Have I missed this week's?

tonight, season finale I think.

Yeah, tonight at 9 on BBC 2, I think.

Tonight at 9pm on BBC2 is the penultimate episode. The last episode is probably at 10pm on BBC3 - or BBC4.

~*~Mr X- sarcasm, much?~*~

Well excuse me for not picking up on it, and instead trying to pass along interesting information. I promise it won't happen next time.

What? *is confused*

My father's dislike of downloading stuff on the computer- instead he bloody well gets me to do it even after I have offered countless times to SHOW him... Jesus, roll on Belfast. Stupid man.

-or ax instead of ask-

Axe is common in American Black English so that may be why people use it. It's stylish to use language from the entertainment world.

In 'Spoken Soul' by John Russell Rickford and Russell John Rickford they make the point that Axe isn't African but archaic English. The Africans may have picked it up from the poor white folk that they worked alongside.

Also, they point out that it's common to transpose consonants to make pronunciation easier. Most people say 'comfterble' when it's written 'comfortable'

'Ax' doesn't bother me, partly cos of Futurama and partly cos I read medieval English, and if anything, 'ask' is the aberation

But 'tempary' instead of temporary really s me off. My dad says it like that, it's just a sign of a poor education and ignorance, IMO