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

....as a colleague of mine once commented (somewhat depressingly):

"The human body is a bit like a car. It works -perfectly well for the first 3 years with very little maintenance. Thenceforth one has to book in every year for an M.O.T.!" (and member of 'h2g2 grey hair society).

My MOT's are every 6 months!

Oh, so that goes on the list of unfortunate names, along with Chitty, Peabody and Beaglehole, then... (Apologise to anyone with any of those names, including a relative...)

I once taught a girl whose surname was Crapper. (Admired her for not changing it by deed poll .

Yes, that is admirable! I'd want to change if I were here... My mother's cousin married a man called Chitty, and made him pretend to be called Peabody, which he did all their lives, but when he died at a very great age, all was revealed!

I met a woman once with the surname "Titball", pronounced Tibble.

The ethymology of the verb 'to crap' is often attributed to one Thomas Crapper who supposedly invented the flush-WC. Not really true. Mr. Crapper *was* involved in the development of sanitation: A604289. He did not *invent* the WC, however. He did improve the design of the pipings used in flush-WCs so that it 'flows' right. The ethymology of the verb 'to crap' remains obscure (as far as I could check), but one (plausible) possibility for the ethymology of the verb 'to crap' is that people saw the name or logo 'Crapper' on the pipings of toilets and used it initially as an euphemism for 'painting the porcelaine'... But that's just a vague theory. Maybe someone knows a lot more.

Toilet paper was invented in the second half of the 19th century by an American called J.Cayetti. The obvious and important question is then: How did people wipe their butts before that? (I'm researchin').

HELL

Hell,

The eastern tradition is rounded stones held in the right hand and a big jug of water (and perhaps a rub of sandalwood or fragrant oil afterwards). There was a noted Indian opera singer who once admitted to freezing on stage because she had the sudden hilarious thought: 'My god! Everyone in this audience wipes their bottoms with small pieces of tissue paper!'

In Graeco-Roman public lavatories, they had a communal sponge, soaked in vinegar and secured on a string (although why anyone might want to steal the sponge, I shudder to think. It was common practice to go to the public toilets - where the individual holes were not screened off - to socialise, to discuss (ahem) business, etc.

I believe that in Europe, leaves, grass and straw were the norm. Watch out for the nettles!

(Hmmm - I can see a collaborative Guide Entry emerging. Myself, I'm always disconcerted by the 'Inspection Shelves' that you guys have. What's *that* about?)

And as for names - I was once waiting in the reception area of my wife's office when they paged one of her colleagues on the tannoy: "Phone call for Virginia Tait""

It is believed that the saying

'getting the wrong end of the stick'

arose from the Graeco-Roman 'wiping the bum' implement.

>>And as for names - I was once waiting in the reception area of my wife's office when they paged one of her colleagues on the tannoy: "Phone call for Virginia Tait""<<

Um, I don't get it...

Tait was pronounced not as 'Tate' but as 'Tight'.

I still don't get it.

That pretty much qualifies it as a useless fact then.

F

Apparently some poor tyke was recently given the name Drew Peacock

There's a separate thread for silly names but; whilst doing some genealogical research recently in a churchyard in Lincolnshire we came across the grave of a (long dead) woman with the unfortunate name of Fanny Bush.

F

Silly names: F75131?thread=136147

Implements... Outhouses in parts of the States had buckets of corncobs.

One bucket would be 'brand new', yellow cobs...

the other... ... yeah...

"In days of old
When knights were bold
And paper weren't invented....."

Why is there a smiley by the way???

It's a good question. A bit like why is there a movie reel smiley on msn messenger?

were they bum wiping implements then? I am puzzled.