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

The problem of tracking back through all the postings to point a new-commer to the relevant entries is only going to get worse. The stock reply should be "Please refer to Post xxx"
(Anyone got the spare time to produce an index ?)
Night, night
See all you folks tomorrow bright & early (8am BST !!)

Percy v W et al,
(Hi, al. How've you been?)
The Compact edition of the OED shows all "Balm" references to relate to "fragant" type stuff, and "Barmy" to yeasty type stuff.
Bludragon contributed some significant thoughts on this a while back.
I'll have a look for the posting.
See you the year after next.

Hi. Its 8:15 Where is everyone ? (and so few postings after I left last night (i.e. 1)
More on kippers. I sometimes put up an A4-sized sheet above my monitor with something witty, thought-provoking or just plain strange. I put up the question from last week "Do Manx Kippers Have Tails?" It generated quite a lot of interest, but no answers.

Yesterday came across a "kipper tie".

Kaeori - do you have these in the US ? Please answer before anyone reveals the definition (assuming you don't know it !)

Thanks, P, for you confidence in my absolute correctness. If I say things definitively enough, people will believe them. I had a boss who was a nuclear scientist. He used to say apparently outlandish things like "pure water is one of the most corrosive substances known to man". He was so definite about it that nobody every argued with him.

Barm Brack in Ireland is a type of bread with raisins which is usually made around Halloween. It is delicious, especially toasted with lots of butter. The word Barm here is obviously the yeast connection, although it is often made using self-raising flour these days.

We now know that barmy came from balmy, that balmy has been around a while meaning "crazy", but not how it came to mean crazy. Has anybody any ideas?

Now there's a thought! You can all club together and buy me the OED2 on CD for Christmas!

You're former boss was being truthful but ommiting the key part of the statement "in the form of glacial sheets" .

I remember a sandwich (in Manchester area?) being called a Barm which was made of a large round roll - sort of like a burger bun, but much bigger.

P.S. I'm not sure we could get you a dictionary, 'cos an H2G2OED2 is just too much of an acronym

Did anyone come up with a definition for "bonkers" (related to barmy, not bonking) ?
Is "bonkers" British English, or does it exist in any of the colonies ?

I always think of the OED as the Old English Dictionary, as most of the words are ancient - sorry, didn't mean to detract from this very expensive and very worthwhile publication, put together by lots of very worthwhile people

So, any takers on bonkers ?

I have always called it Barn Brack. I stand corrected. The main thing about it was that the raisins are soaked in tea.

Bonkers, bananas, batty, barmy/balmy, all start with a "b" - any reason for that?

Now I have finished the German web (until the corrections come pouring in) I might consider doing the requested index. I must be mad/bonkers/daft as a brush/balmy/barmy/off me rocker/

The silence Nikki was because everyone was terrified of the set task. Now, however, the child of Trillian has shown herself to be bonkers, barmy (balmy) and otherwise a sandwich short of a picnic (or is it a picnic short of a sandwich..I never understood the allusion) we can resume in safety.

I think that you are being obtuse, Pheroneous, or just possibly you are an onion short of a casserole, not a full shilling, a prawn short of a barbie, a ball short of an over etc. etc.
I wonder if the aphorism that the business of the church is 'hatches, matches and despatches'is British English?

btw G, I agree with your scientist boss, pure water is very corrosive. When making concrete pipes for the purest spring water, even though it is a long way from your boss's definition of pure, one has to be very careful when selecting the cement to use, otherwise the concrete will quickly corrode. Cement, of course, is a very interesting subject.......

Pheroneous, the allusion with the sandwich and the picnic (like all the similar phrases) is that the person isn't all there.

The reverse construction is a little confusing, but only if you stop and think about it !

... I'm also worried that you have an unhealthy interest in cement !

Yes I understand it one way round (picnic short of a sandwich - or whatever) but its more commonly used the other way round, as P-v-W just said, an onion short of a casserole, which makes no sense.

**note to self. do not stop and think**

"One sandwich short of a picnic" means "One sandwich shy of a picnic" or "One sandwich less than a picnic".

You could have:
"One coconut shy of a coconut shy"

An onion short of a casserole, a sandwich short of a picnic, a card short of a full deck - these sound confusing but all make sense and are correctly stated. It does not mean that the onion is short. The person is "one onion short", that is, "short by one onion" of enough to make a casserole. Similarly we are short by one card of a full deck, or "one card short".

You could say "I'm two pence short of the price of a pint" without implying any mental deficiency, just a great thirst. A pint in Ireland means a pint of Guinness, by the way. This is not an attempt at a recursive definition.

Other phrases for crazy:

round the twist
so far round the twist you could pull corks with him
not the full shilling
a screw loose
not all there
not playing with a full deck
off his rocker

...
This ... is a dead ... parrot!

As Kaeori doesn't seem to be around this morning (probably drinking somewhere dry of cappachino) to discuss kipper ties, and there have been no takers on bonkers (and, unexpectedly, no smutty sliding into a discussion of bonking !), I'm going to move on.
(Eeek ! sorry about the sentence length and high fog index)
Right.
Can anyone explain the origin of "arms akimbo" ?
I kmow what it means (hands on hips, sweetie), but what's the "akimbo" bit ? Is it "a-kimbo", and if so what Is a "kimbo" ?
C'mon guys, show us you're not one definition short of a dictionary (!)

So why am I the one with the hangover?I never touched a drop.Honest!

Well, remember the opium wars, during which the Brits landed in Korea?

In Korea, as in many oriental cultures, it is not possible to admit to a round-eye that 'effeminate' guys exist. Sailors, however, after a long voyage, are up for anything. One Byung On Kim, or in Korean, Mr. Kim, B.O. was one given to the 'other side', and he would stand on the quayside, muttering 'hello sailor' in Korean, arms on hips, thus indicating his availability in semaphore.

So there you have it, its an old naval term (and who watched WWTBAM last night then?)

Jackanory.....
Kipper ties because of their shape, obviously, but why is a certain hairstyle called a 'mullet'? And what is cod journalism - is it like ham acting or something altogether fishier?