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

Its like a bolt, but threaded all the way up to the head. Sometimes just called set, set bolt.

I thought a badger's sett was spelt like that, but I am not going to argue with the OED.

I'm on your side. What do these dictionary people know about badgers anyway.

One t or two?

I think I'll stick to cappuccino.

What have badgers to do with cappucino, K?

Why does "to badger" someone mean to persist at them or annoy them? - badgers aren't like that at all.

Is the vexing meaning connected with the fact that a badger is a tool for cleaning excess mortar from the interiors of newly-laid tiled drains? (Bit too tortuous?)
Are the natives of Wisconsin especially annoying? (You did know it was called the Badger State,didn't you?)
Or do you think there's some connection with "the badger game"?

The story about badgers is that once they bite, they never let go, until they hear the bone cracking. This fits in with the usage of "to badger someone". The story also says that badger hunters put lumps of coal into their trousers so that the badger will hear the coal cracking and be fooled. Both the problem and the remedy sound completely fictitious to me, but they seem to be the origin of the phrase.

ROFL - I don't believe a word of it, and yet.....

I can see that squirrels do squirrel stuff away, and that ducks do occaisionally duck, and at a pinch that beavers beaver, but I am still not convinced that badgers badger and how is it that hedgehogs hog hedges - well that's got me foxed, anyway

that guys so clever, it gets my goat.

It would be fun to make some up:

This is a rhinocerous of a problem
You could have hit me with an emu
He's a bit of a duck-billed platypus

etc etc - any suggestions what they could mean?

Hi,TC
a rhinocerous of a problem is large and ugly and inclined to take over everything and nothing you do makes any impression on it.
You could've hit me with an emu = I was boring on as usual thinking I knew it all, when Gnomon comes up with a plausible explanation that's much more succinct than anything I'd have come up with
a bit of a duck-billed platypus =sexually ambivalent ora polymath??
What are your explanations?
I was zebrad
that's a load of old pandas
(Take that dog out of here. No-one is allowed to make any reference to canine animals)

Actually new ones are being made up e.g. describing a type manager as a "seagull" because they "fly in, mkae lost of noise, poop all over everything and then leave".

This reminds of a phrase I heard once - "as aggressive as a new-born dik dik". For those of you who don't know, the dik dik is a tiny antelope that's only about 1 foot long and is probably the most timid creature to ever walk planet Earth.

A load of old pandas is an argument which insists on seeing the world in black and white, insisting that there is only one right way to do things and that every other way is completely wrong. There is a lot of old pandas in H2G2.

Andy Cole was described as having had "the poise of a heavily tranquilised Giraffe" which is quite a good image after his efforts last week.

Sorry about this, but having been abscent for some days, and going through a million postings, I must tell you the stretchy leggings with the loop under the foot worn by ladies of a female gender are often refered to as ski-pants in the UK (at least) and def. are an outer garment.
Now I can't remember all the other points I wanted to make, except that it's likely to take longer to find the right graphic (*hate* the term 'smiley' - yuk !), than to write the message !
Talking of alternative meanings, did anyone hear 'The News Quiz' on BBC Radio 4 last week ? I'll try to remember some that were mentioned ...

There are a certain set of stretchy leggings with foot loops which are worn by many men and women in the UK. These are of course the classic Ron Hill Tracksters (known more usually as Ron Hills after the manufacturing company's founder). Sportswear used by runners, cyclists, climbers and many others.

I must tell you in all honesty, that I've never even heard of Mr Ben (though I do know/know of all the others mentioned).
Did he wear his shirt tucked into his underpants ?

He didn't seem to have any underwear, just sort of transformmed.