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

Congratulations Andrew - I thought either Otto or kerrAvon had beaten me to it, but on closer inspection it seems that your gym-avoiding article was actually the first among the first batch of recommendations I've been allowed to make to have been accepted, and it's a pleasure to tell you!

Cheers,
Number Six



If you want to see how it's getting on, you can have a look here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/ComingUp

Thankyou, I'm glad you liked it. It was a great surprise that it was accepted since I hadn't heard anything for quite some time.

It's often the way, once an entry is more or less finished - there's a period where no-one has anything more to say and the conversation goes dead until a scout happens by to pick it... if it's been in Peer Review for a while and plenty of people have commented and you've responded accordingly, when the silence starts it's usually just a case of sitting tight and waiting. Sometimes you have to just go back and say something on the thread like 'anyone got anything else to add?' just because Peer Review is very busy and your entry gets buried under several days' worth of postings - replying to your own one to put it back on top is quite a good cheat... and not really a cheat either, as you may be bringing it to the attention of people who've never eren seen it. For example, I've got one on the go at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F48874?thread=244443 that could really do with a bit of a boost right now... Cheers, Number Six

Sorry for the delay - this has, by a circuitous route, passed into my hands for sub-editing. It's at A993305 if you'd like to take a look - I've put it through a preliminary check, and hopefully all that I need to do is find some h2g2 links to add to it, and then we can send it off to the Editors sharpish.

Anyway, take a look at it so far and let me know if there's anything you're not happy with.

Cheers,
Number Six

It looks pretty good, except for two very small things.
First, you changed US to USA. It may just be my military background, but whenever I see USA I think United States Army.
The proper abrieviation is US since this is the one used by the Federal Government.

The second is one small change in the last paragraph. Originally i had written:'...in an American High School'. I think that this sounds a little smoother than what it was changed to.

Other than these two points everything else looks fine.

The USA thing... it's a tough one to call, and the reasoning I use is bound up with h2g2 being a kind of encyclopedia. For example, England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland, or Great Britain, should always be referred to as the UK in Guide Entries - I always baulk at this because I think of it as England or Britain or Great Britain or whatever - but basically I accept it because the country's official name is 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland', and we're thought of as 'the UK' worldwide (when we're not just 'England', that is) so I sort of grind my teeth a bit and accept it.

It's for this kind of reason I always change 'America' or 'US' to 'USA' when I'm sub-editing... although the proper abbreviation used internally by the Federal Goverment is 'US', the more common use around the world is the USA, as in 'United States of America' - and I mention the '...of America' thing because, strictly and factually speaking (although it does depend on the way you translate it) Mexico is also a United States, and so is Brazil (although the most common translation of that is 'Federative States of...').

The other factor is simply the Writing-Guidelines specify British English, and 'the USA' is the version in common use here...

I also agree with you that '...in an American High School' *does* sound a little smoother, but again it's a question of being specific - an 'American' High School could be in California, Chile or Canada - if we say 'the USA', that nails it down completely and specifically beyond dispute.

Given all that, what do you think?

I understand the first part about US/USA, but I think that American is immediately recognized as having to do with the United States, and nowhere else.

Hmmm... I agree that the term 'American' when referring to a people applies to the residents of the USA - but the belief that 'American' in geographical terms applies solely to the USA is held largely by those that come from the USA, and is something that could be - and sometimes is - disputed by those that come from other countries on the American continent. In my personal life, Brazilians, Chileans and Canadians of my acquaintance have all occasionally moaned to me about this sort of thing.

Likewise, in the UK, it's prudent to have a careful think when you're talking about England or the English and work out whether in fact you're actually talking about the entire UK or the British, rather than just England - it's something a lot of English people forget, and it p***es off the Scots, Welsh and Irish no end... no wonder a lot of them end up with a big chip on their shoulder about English imperialism!

I just feel it's better always to use 'the USA' because it's more specific and accurate, and has less chance of offending anyone.

I've found a link to 'the USA' to put in further up the article, which means that seeing as we've established where we are, I can put 'America' back into the last paragraph for you. (adopts Sean Connery voice) It'sh a compromishe...

There really isn't much else I can link to! I've added quite a tenuous one to 'How Best to Prepare Yourself to Become President of the USA' at the point at which you mention the Presidential fitness test, which is a bit flippant and I can take it out if you like.

I've also tried to rejig the title again, because I agree that what I'd changed it to was a bit clunky...

What do you think of it now?

Everything looks fine now. Thanks for all your help.

Brilliant - off to the Editors it goes, then!