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

Oh right. I never bothered to watch most of Pulp Fiction. I saw up to when that woman had an overdose and they had to stab that stuff into her chest and got bored, I thought it was a bit crap really!!

Well it can't be the only American film where drugs are mentioned. It's one of our favourites, actually, we often sit and watch it. Love Tim Roth, love Bruce Willis, love John Travolta - Tarantino really brings out something in them.

DJ, I've seen Snatch, and I liked it. But it's a Brit film, isn't it - not Hollywood? And what's it got to do with Free Willy? (Ok, I admit I haven't seen FW.)

For any Hollywood producers who do find their way to this thread: please leave your contact details in my spoace, I'll be in touch.

*treads softly*
Well - What "Willy" is to a man, "Snatch" is to a woman...in schoolyard Britspeak anyhow.

Perhaps 'chum' is genuine Brit English. It is well known and still used in Britain. Originally it meant close friend but is now used in the sense of fellow human being, as in 'Have you got a light, chum?'
As to chuming for sharks - I confess to being completely at a loss.
Horse feathers - well known Marx brothers film! Voila - the Hollywood connection.
There should certainly be an extensive list forms of address. Current Brit versions include:
Chum
Mate
John
Guv'nor
Pal (not friendly!)
Boyo (sometimes not friendly)
Mister (seldom friendly, hardly ever used properly except by children.
Sir (usually by people selling things)
Brother\Sister (usually by people giving things away!)
Dad (dual purpose)
Mother (multi-purpose, see earlier in this thread.)
The Right Honourable (often applied to the wrong and dishonourable)
Man (not only to men)
Hen (Scottish, only to women)
Love (familiar except in Yorkshire)
My love (familiar except in Bristol)
Duck (regional, Nottingham)
Should this be a guide entry?

I always thought it was "Have you got a light mack?"

... and the horse feathers are fluffy bits of hair/fur on the backs of their legs just above the hoof.
Thinks: hair or fur - anyone care to explain the difference and why horses & dogs have hair, cats have fur ?

Could it be that anything finer than human hair is fur, whereas the rest (up to porcupine) is hair?

Oh DJ, is there no end. Thanks for the 'enlightenment'.

Nikki-D - that's a really interesting question about hair and fur. Is there really a difference, or is our langauge to describe animals discriminatory?

Hun is a First World War name for the Germans. By the Second World War, the Germans were known as "Gerry", and always in the singular: "Gerry's very quiet tonight".

Flak and Ack-Ack were names used for anti-aircraft guns in the two wars, but I can't remember which was which. Any Biggles experts out there?

The mind boggles, Biggles!

Your forgot 'Dahlin', as used by thespian types and Barbara Windsor. All these are bad memory covers, thingy, me old mucker.

Duck covers a region that goes further north than Nottingham, mostly I've heard it in Yorkshire.

As for the light mack, isn't the reply, no but I've got a dark overcoat.

One thing has always puzzled me. Why do the Thunderbirds say F.A.B.?! I know it spells fab, and I know it is supposed to be like "ok" or "roger" but why F.A.B.? Why can't they just say Ok?!

Capt.W.E.Johns be blessed and to Hades with political correctness.
Flak is from the german - something like 'Fliegerabwehrkanone'. Ack-ack is simply the WWII phonetic alphabet rendering of AA - anti-aircraft. I suppose it would be alpha-alpha today.
I suspect the difference between hair and fur is an etymological one. Hair is derived from the germanic languages. Could this be one of those Norman conquest things? The French have a habit of using different words to describe corresponding bits of human and animal anatomy.

They can't say anything, V&A, they are puppets, made of wood. Speechless. Button lipped. Silent.

Really?!? I thought their lips were just carved out of the wood.

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JOTD: I came, I saw, I deleted all your files.

Actually our French friends have separate words too. Fur = pelage, Hair = poil.(It says here)

I think there may be a difference in function. Fur, as in cats, provides considerable warmth etc., whilst hair as in dogs, is more protective only.

Or maybe its a difference in numbers. Fur implies a denser coat with many more individual hairs (Yes lots of hairs make up fur).

This is a very good question! Where's Wandrin when you need her?

I thought Ack-Ack was the sound the guns made as they fired and it would have been eithe alpha or able for the phonetic A.

Maybe it was the sound of the vomitting when they saw the wrecks?!?

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JOTD: I came, I saw, I deleted all your files.

How about fur is sometimes used for clothing, and hair isn't? Cats' skins were certainly used as pelts and for leather. Also, dogs are man's best friend and all that. Maybe there is a reluctance to admit that they are just animals after all.

That dog has a lovely coat - yes
It's a wire haired terrier - yes
It's a flatcoat retriever - yes
Isn't that cat's fur long - maybe
Thois is a longhair cat - yes
I have dog hairs on my coat - yes
I have cat hairs on my coat - yes
Cats are stolen for their pelts - yes
Cats are stolen for their fur - maybe
The red setter has a dark chestnut coat - yes
The dalmation has black and white hair - hmmm?
A tortoishell has black brown and white fur - maybe