The Meaning Of Liff Pdf

[Enrique Fats]

Thebook is a "dictionary of things that there aren't any words for yet".[2] Rather than inventing new words, Adams and Lloyd picked a number of existing place-names and assigned interesting meanings to them,[3] meanings that can be regarded as on the verge of social existence and ready to become recognisable entities.[4]

All the words listed are toponyms and describe common feelings and objects for which there is no current English word. Examples are Shoeburyness ("The vague uncomfortable feeling you get when sitting on a seat that is still warm from somebody else's bottom") and Plymouth ("To relate an amusing story to someone without remembering that it was they who told it to you in the first place").

The book cover usually bears the tagline "This book will change your life", either as part of its cover or as an adhesive label. Liff (a village near Dundee in Scotland) is then defined in the book as "A book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover. For instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words, 'This book will change your life'."

According to Adams's account, the idea behind The Meaning of Liff grew out of an old school game and started when he and Lloyd were on holiday together in Corfu in 1978 during the writing of the first Hitchhiker's novel.[1][5] This idea was used as part of the Not the Nine O'Clock News spin-off book Not 1982 (ISBN 0-571-11853-4), where they were headed "Today's new word from the Oxtail English Dictionary". The suggestion of turning this into a complete book in itself came from Faber MD Matthew Evans. The bulk of the text was written by Adams and Lloyd in Summer 1982 in Malibu, California.[5]

Essentially the same idea was used by the English humourist Paul Jennings in an article Ware, Wye, Watford, published in the late 1950s. Adams speculated that the teacher who originated the school game may have done so after reading the article. He sent a note of apology to Jennings.[6] Fellow humourist Miles Kington defended Adams and Lloyd in his column in The Times, noting a difference in style.

The title of the book was chosen to be very similar to Monty Python's film The Meaning of Life that was being produced at the same time, after Douglas Adams called Terry Jones to ask if it would be OK. Adams's idea was that the potential confusion with the film's script would help to sell more copies of the book.[8][citation needed] In fact, in the beginning of the Monty Python film, the gravestone with the title "The Meaning of Liff" appears before a lightning bolt strikes the last F and converts it to an E.

A German adaptation was made by Sven Bttcher under the title Der tiefere Sinn des Labenz, published in 1992 (ISBN 3-453-87960-0). The meanings are translated from the original but are matched to place names that convey the humorous effect in German. The most recent edition includes both the German adaptation and the English original (ISBN 3-453-87960-0).

In 1989, a Dutch version was published under the title Kunt U Breukelen? by Justus van Oel (Nijgh & van Ditmar, ISBN 90 236 7311 5), utilising the same book size format as the standard UK version, 9.1 x 16.8 cm (3" x 6"). The book used place names mainly from the Netherlands, as well as a handful from neighbouring Belgium and Luxembourg. There was no hardback edition, and neither was The Deeper Meaning of Liff adapted for the Dutch market. It was reissued in 2000 with a different cover.

Comedian Anders Lund Madsen wrote a Danish version with the title Madsens - Dictionary of things for which there are as yet, funnily enough, no words, published 1997.[11] It is not a translation; instead it is stated as an "Idea stolen from Douglas Adams & John Lloyd" and The Meaning of Liff is mentioned in the publisher's copyright text.

In May2001, I began including a short word definition in my e-mailsignature. Every few days, I update my signature to include a new word.Since I started doing this, many people have asked where thedefinitions come from, and could they please have a list of all of theword's that have appeared in my signature so far. Hence this web page.

All ofthese definitions come from The Meaning of Liff and TheDeeper Meaning of Liff, both by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. Allof the words are actually place names, taken mostly from locations inthe UK, but also from the rest of the planet. These place names arematched with meanings that don't yet have words of their own, usuallywith very humorous results.

The listbelow includes all of the words that have appeared in my signature atthe time of writing. I do intend to update this list from time to time,but if you like this sample, you should probably buy the original books.

Bauple (n.):An indeterminate pustule which could be either a spot or a bite.

Beaulieu Hill (n.): Theoptimum vantage point from which to view people undressing in thebedroom across the street.

Belding (n.): Thetechnical name for a stallion after its first ballhas been cut off. Any notice which reads 'Beware of the Belding' shouldbe taken very, very seriously.

Belper (n.): A knob ofsomeone else's chewing gum which youunexpectedly find your hand resting on under the passenger seat of yourcar or on somebody's thigh under their skirt.

Bickerstaffe (n.): The person in anoffice that everyone whinges about in the pub. Many large corporationsdeliberately employ bickerstaffes in each department.

Bishop's Caundle (n.): An openinggambit before a game of chess where the missing pieces are replaced bysmall ornaments from the mantelpiece.

Bodmin (n.): That irrational andinevitable discrepancy between the amount pooled and the amount neededwhen a large group of people try to pay a bill together after a meal.

Boinka (n.): The noise through thewall which tells you that the people next door enjoy a better sex lifethan you do.

Boolteens (pl. n.): The small scattering of foreign coinsand halfpennies which inhabit dressing tables. Since they are neverusedand never thrown away boolteens account for a significant drain on theworld's money supply.

Boscastle (n.): The huge pyramid of tin cans placed just inside theentrance to a supermarket.

Cong (n.): Strange-shaped metalutensil found at the back of the saucepan cupboard. Many authoritiesbelieve that congs provide conclusive proof of the exstence of a nowextinct form of yellow vegetable which the Victorians used to boilmercilessly.

Dumboyne(n.): The realization that the train you have patiently watched pullingout of the station was the one you were meant to be on.

Dunino (n.):Someone who always wantsto do whatever you want to do.

Dunster (n.):A small child hired to bounce at dawn on the occupants of the sparebedroom in order to save on tea and alarm clocks.

Duntish (adj.): Mentallyincapacitated by a severe hangover.

Framlingham (n.): A kind of burglaralarm in common usage. It is cunningly designed so that it can ring atfull volume in the street without apparently disturbing anyone. Othertypes of framlinghams are burglar alarms fitted to business premises inresidential areas, which go off as a matter of regular routine at 5.31p.m. on a Friday evening and do not get turned off till 9.20 a.m. onMonday morning.

Frating Green (adj.): The shade of green which is supposed to makeyou feel comfortable in hospitals, industrious in schools and uneasy inpolice stations.

Fremantle (vb.): To steal things not worth the bother of stealing.One steals cars, money and silver. Book matches, airlineeyepatches an individual pots of Trust House Forte apricot jam aremerely fremantled.

Fring (n.): The noise made by a lightbulb that has just shone itslast.

Fritham (n.): A paragraph that you get stuck on in a book. The moreyou read it, the less it means to you.

Frolesworth (n.): Measure. The minimum time it is necessary tospendfrowning in deep concentration at each picture in an art gallery inorder that everyone else doesn't think you're a complete moron.

Frosses (pl.n.): The lecherous looks exchanged beweensixteen-year-olds at a party given by someone's parents.

Fulking (ptcpl.vb.): Pretending not to be in when the carol-singerscome round.

Gartness (n.):The ability to say 'No, there's absolutely nothing the matter, whatcould possibly be the matter? And anyway I don't want to discuss it,'without moving your lips.

Gallipolli (adj.): Of thebehaviour of a bottom lip trying to spit out mouthwash after aninjection at the dentist. Hence, loose, floppy, useless. 'She went all gallipoli in his arms' - Noel Coward

Garvock (n.):The action of putting your finger in your cheek and flicking it outwith a 'pock' noise.

Gastard (n.): Usefulspecially new-coined word for an illegitimate child (in order todistinguish it from someone who merely carves you up on the motorway,etc.).

Ghent (adj.):Descriptive of the mood indicated by cartoonists by drawing acharacter's mouth as a wavy line.

Gignog (n.): Someonewho, through the injudicious application of alcohol, is now a greatdeal less funny than he thinks he is.

Gildersome (adj.):Descriptive of a joke someone tells you which starts well, but whichbecomes so embellished in the telling that you start to weary of itafter scarcely half an hour.

Gilgit (n.): Hiddensharply pointed object which stabs you in the cuticle when you reachinto a small pot.

Gilling (n.): The warmtingling you get in your feet when having a really good widdle.

Gipping (ptcpl.vb.): Thefish-like opening and closing of the jaws seen amongst people who haverecently been to the dentist and are puzzled as to whether their teethhave been put back the right way up.

Golant (adj.): Blank, sly and faintlyembarrassed. Pertaining to the expression seen on the face of someonewho has clearly forgotten your name.

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