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

But "tire" is right in the US?

(The things that go on car wheels, not "becoming fatigued"

)

Thanks for the clarification on 'nite', Mr X. In that case there really is no excuse.

Today's petty hate - sill names. I saw a girl's name written down today - her surname was normal but her first name was 'City'. One of my colleagues has a cousin who named her children 'Chino' and 'Mercedes'.

I heard that they did a survey on names and there are two women in England who thought it would be a good idea to call their children... Superman... Thats right, its their first name.

Mercedes is a perfectly reasonable French and Spanish girls' name (something to do with Mary). The car (or rather, at that point, its motor)was named after Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who was on the board of the Daimler company and specified the designs for the new car.

Here's another famous Mercedes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Ruehl

I think the name might have something to do with mercy. Which is also a name.

According to this, it also means thanks, but I wouldn't take that too seriously.

http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/es-en/muchas%20mercedes.php

Mercedes is also the name of the famous polar bear at Edinburgh Zoo! Though she has now retired to somewhere in the Highlands.

Mercedes is quite pleasant compared to some new fangled names

Petty hate - "stale" people being close proximity in shops and on buses.

Trying to decide which cans of tuna fish to buy at the supermarket and finding that the price comparison info says "£7-20 per kg" for one label and "55p per 100g" on the other. Now fortunately once I thought about it , it was pretty easy to convert the 100g to 1kg; but isn't the point of price comparisons to make it easy ...

Sorry BBS, but you just hit one of my petty hates - 'tuna fish'.

Though it is more of a linguistical query than a PH. Why do people say tuna fish? No-one says haddock fish or plaice fish.

Is there a tuna which isn't a fish so it requires the additive? I have heard the odd mention of codfish, but usually on the translated menu in a foreign restaurant.

I say tuna, not tunafish. Although now that you mention I do remember seeing/hearing tuna fish.

Interesting one Deakie - I never thought about it. I say both of them.

Perhaps it comes from a time when tuna was an exotic fish for people of our parts - unlike herring, mackerel, etc - so it was kind of explanatory?

A bit like how we eat beef (not bull meat), we eat lamb (not sheep meat), but horse meat is common in France.

Monkfish?

To differentiate from eating monks I presume.

"Mercedes is a perfectly reasonable French and Spanish girls' name (something to do with Mary). The car (or rather, at that point, its motor)was named after Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who was on the board of the Daimler company and specified the designs for the new car."

Fair point. But from what I hear about he (chavtastic would barely cover it) I guarantee she didn't know that.

Yeah, I thought of that too, but it's a bit like "grapefruit". The "fish" is pretty important in the case of monkfish.

Do you say Too-na or Tune-a?

I don´t talk to them.

And TC, re. tires vs. tyres - buy the Wylidahl. It´s a dictionary about vehicles powered by an infernal combustion engine US vs. UK speak. Good fun.

Personally, the idea of spelling "tire" with a "y" is just totally mystifying to me. As is "defence," "favour," and almost all British spellings for everything, except for "doughnut." Since it's made out of dough it makes perfect sense.