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

You can trust M&S.

You can trust M&S to take something as simple and delicious as lamb's liver, to complicate it unnecessarily, and to turn a delicious meal into a penance and an act of atonement for sins.



This is atrocious. For a start, their butcher doesn't have the first idea about what way to slice liver. Secondly, a lamb with that much fat in its liver cannot have a healthy life. And lastly, if the liver wasnt such a disgrace you wouldn't have to mask its flavour with that awful sauce.

If you're going to eat dead animals, you owe it to them, as a mark of respect, not to make them as disgusting as possible first.

You can trust M&S. To make a balls of anything, no matter how simple.

(Judging by its liver, this "lamb" must have hung around with Oliver Reed, George Best, and possibly W.C. Fields too).

Do you mean W.C. "never give a sucker an even break" Fields?

M & S could refer to a Baltimore eatery
http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/Locations/maryland/baltimore-maryland/prattstreet.aspx

or a Chinese restaurant in Oakland, California
http://www.yelp.com/biz/m-and-s-kitchen-Oakland

or a butcher shop in Montana
https://secure35.securewebsession.com/msmeats.com/

or a white wine
http://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-1115-wow-20141115-story.html

or a dairy farm in upstate new York
http://www.mandsfarm.com/

or a deli in new Jersey
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/findit/m-s-produce-outlet/business_1100193867.html

or a pizza & sandwich shop in ohiio
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/33/371488/restaurant/West-Side/M-S-Pizza-Carry-Out-Columbus

or an organic outfit tghat seems to offer meatballs or coconut balls
https://twitter.com/msactive_

or a meat store in Brooklyn
http://msprimemeatsbrooklyn.com/food-delivery-TW/m-s-prime-meats-brooklyn.11530.r?QueryStringValue=ZiEQQ30femlY0mtz89dOGw==

and on and on and on in Google's list of 7,540 hits.
As you can see, I've omitted the auto service, construction, plumbing, and designer fabrics links that probably would not be offering lamb's liver.

Well all I'll say is that if all those others are as fond of their gin as the one I meant, they should get their livers checked out.

So I wasn't even warm about the one you meant? Google has failed me, you hear, failed me!

Oh, relax. At least you got the right WC.

Well, okay then.

I don't know if I've ever eaten lamb's liver .

I'm saddened to hear that standards might be slipping at M&S. A company long-known for quality and for unexciting but necessary products. Those are two characteristics that seem to doom a business to failure these days, and Marks has had its moments in recent times.

My parents were lifelong fans of Marks. It was considered a treat to have one of their individual fruit pies for afters, partly because my dad insisted they were good and partly because they were square, not round, which was a novelty. And yes, I was one of that large percentage of British people, I forget the exact number, whose underwear bore the St Michael label (it's Hanes for me these days).

People need everyday products like socks and trollies and bras and girdles, and the ones from Marks did nothing more than what it says on the tin, and they were well made, and that's all you need. But that's not enough these days, apparently, and I know M&S has had some rocky periods.

When you walk into a Marks though, there's nothing plain about it - you know exactly where you are, or you did the last time I was in one. I hope it's still the same. Woollies was the same. They both have/had a very strong style in ways that a lot of comparable stores don't. Most might have their logo and colour scheme splashed around the place, but everything else - the fixtures and fittings, the uniforms, the layout - feels generic and off-the-peg.

Marks was also the place everyone wanted to get a Saturday job at because the pay was so much better than most other places. It was also very difficult to get such a position because so many people applied and because they had high standards. I didn't make the grade

oh individual fruit pies! that takes me back (apple and blackberry for preference)

And their Mr Men chocolate yoghurt

M&S, clothing, along with every other high-street cloting retailer in the UK, is getting increasingly inaccurate, with their sizing.... I've tried on two identicle sized, branded, pairs of jeans in M&S, and, despite saying they're the same size on the label, they were circa 2 inchs differnt on the waist... Mind, I still can't believe the label on the jeans I'm wearing (blue Inc I think), as there is no way on earth I'm a 30 inch waist (and the jeans are loose). Did they change the size of an inch and just inform no one? M&S socks, knickers, the bastion of male supplies in such, have lost their quality, but retained their price; the dirt cheap probably made by child labour, socks I got from a major supermarket, are better quality than the last bunch of M&S ones, that lasted approximately no time whatsoever.... supermarket cheapo rubbish still going strong, more than a year later

Inches have gone metric and are now 7% smaller. Didn't you get the email? That's why it's quicker to get to places now, because they're not as far apart as they used to be

I think I've been well and truly Gosho'd now.

Yeah - I used to get my underwear from M&S, but the quality and size changed, so I switched to BHS, but then BHS stopped doing the vests I liked, so I switched to M&S for them, but they haven't lasted as long as the others and they shrank more as well...

I've an aclectic mix of underwear... some bought online various places, a few 'male' ones, that I got cheap from... err... some high street clothing shop, and my newest ones I like the most, which I bought whilst in Sweden although.... having recently sorted out some drawers... I discover I've sufficient knickers to last a long while if I actually start remembering some of them, I've hidden away by mistake

I'm not keen on buying underwear, as I find it a bit embarrassing, plus it isn't always easy to find the style I want, so most of my stuff is more than 10 years old I rotate my clothes carefully, though, to keep them as good as possible for as long as possible

I keep some clothing forever! My best shirts are still a bunch of ones I got... oo more than a decade ago which still hold their colour and I've still got my hiking boots I bought ... when I was about 15 years old I eventually had to give in though... and throw away my (in)famous thongs the elastic all eventually went... which... given they're thongs, ment there wasn't really anything of them left

Oh... I don't really do embarasment anymore... I've bought female clothing a few times in high street shops... Think it embarases William more than I... though I'd be a little at asking to try them on, in the store changing room

My outer clothes wear out fairly fast because of the way I move around, so I put a few things to one side to wear for best, and wear the others out, so my style tends to be a bit shabby, but I don't worry about that...

I'm embarrassed by underwear but I haven't been underwear shopping since getting a partner who was not embarrassed by underwear, so I might have a better time of it next time (which will be fairly soon, as the elastic is going in several items...)