The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams, John Lloyd Page A
Authors: Douglas Adams, John Lloyd
Tags: Humor, Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, SF, Language Arts & Disciplines, English wit and humor, Etymology, Names; Geographical
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whether they did hear it and just didn't think it was funny, which was why somebody coughed.
UPOTTERY (n.)
That part of a kitchen cupboard which contains an unnecessarily large number of milk jugs.
UTTOXETER (n.)
A small but immensely complex mechanical device which is essentially the 'brain' of a modern coffee vending machine, and which enables the machine to take its own decisions.
VALLETTA (n.)
On ornate head-dress or loose garment worn by a person in the belief that it renders then invisibly native and not like a tourist at all. People who don huge colonial straw collie hats with 'I Luv Lagos' on them in Nigeria, or fat solicitors from Tonbridge on holiday in Malaya who insist on appearing in the hotel lobby wearing a sarong know what we're on about.
VANCOUVER (n.)
The technical name for one of those huge trucks with whirling brushes on the bottom used to clean streets.
VENTNOR (n.)
One who, having been visited as a child by a mysterious gypsy lady, is gifted with the strange power of being able to operate the air-nozzles above aeroplane seats.
VIRGINSTOW (n.)
A Durex machine which doesn't have the phrase 'So was the Titanic' scrawled on it. The word has now fallen into disuse.
VOBSTER (n.)
A strain of perfectly healthy rodent which develops cancer the moment it enter a laboratory.
WARLEGGAN (n. archaic)
One who does not approve of araglins (q.v.)
WATH (n.)
The rage of Roy Jenkins.
WEEM (n.)
The tools with which a dentist can inflict the greatest pain. Formerly, which tool this was dependent upon the imagination and skill of the individual dentist, though now, with technological advances, weems can be bought specially.
WEMBLEY (n.)
The hideous moment of confirmation that the disaster presaged in the ely (q.v.) has actually struck.
WENDENS AMBO (n.)
(Veterinary term.) The operation to trace an object swallowed by a cow through all its seven stomachs. Hence, also (1) en expedition to discover where the exits are in the Barican Centre, and (2) a search through the complete works of Chaucer for all the rude bits.
WEST WITTERING (participial vb.)
The uncontrollable twitching which breaks out when you're trying to get away from the most boring person at a party.
WETWANG (n.)
A moist penis.
WHAPLODE DROVE (n.)
A homicidal golf stroke.
WHASSET (n.)
A business car in you wallet belonging to someone whom you have no recollection of meeting.
WHISSENDINE (n.)
The nose which occurs (often by night) in a strange house, which is too short and too irregular for you ever to be able to find out what it is and where it comes from.
WIDDICOMBE (n.)
The sort of person who impersonates trim phones.
WIGAN (n.)
If, when talking to someone you know has only one leg, you're trying to treat then perfectly casually and normally, but find to your horror that your conversion is liberally studded with references to (a) Long John Silver, (b) Hopalong Cassidy, (c) The Hockey Cokey, (d) 'putting your foot in it', (e) 'the last leg of the UEFA competition', you are said to have committed a wigan. The word is derived from the fact that sub-editors at ITN used to manage to mention the name of either the town Wigan, or Lord Wigg, in every fourth script that Reginald Bosanquet was given to read.
WIKE (vb.)
To rip a piece of sticky plaster off your skin as fast as possible in the hope that it will (a) show how brave you are, and (b) not hurt.
WILLIMANTIC (adj.)
Of a person whose hearth is in the wrong place (i.e. between their legs).
WIMBLEDON (n.)
That last drop which, no matter how much you shake it, always goes down your trouser leg.
WINKLEY (n.)
A lost object which turns up immediately you've gone and bought a replacement for it.
WINSTON-SALEM (n.)
A person in a restaurant who suggest to their companions that they should split the cost of the meal equally, and then orders two packets of cigarettes on the
UPOTTERY (n.)
That part of a kitchen cupboard which contains an unnecessarily large number of milk jugs.
UTTOXETER (n.)
A small but immensely complex mechanical device which is essentially the 'brain' of a modern coffee vending machine, and which enables the machine to take its own decisions.
VALLETTA (n.)
On ornate head-dress or loose garment worn by a person in the belief that it renders then invisibly native and not like a tourist at all. People who don huge colonial straw collie hats with 'I Luv Lagos' on them in Nigeria, or fat solicitors from Tonbridge on holiday in Malaya who insist on appearing in the hotel lobby wearing a sarong know what we're on about.
VANCOUVER (n.)
The technical name for one of those huge trucks with whirling brushes on the bottom used to clean streets.
VENTNOR (n.)
One who, having been visited as a child by a mysterious gypsy lady, is gifted with the strange power of being able to operate the air-nozzles above aeroplane seats.
VIRGINSTOW (n.)
A Durex machine which doesn't have the phrase 'So was the Titanic' scrawled on it. The word has now fallen into disuse.
VOBSTER (n.)
A strain of perfectly healthy rodent which develops cancer the moment it enter a laboratory.
WARLEGGAN (n. archaic)
One who does not approve of araglins (q.v.)
WATH (n.)
The rage of Roy Jenkins.
WEEM (n.)
The tools with which a dentist can inflict the greatest pain. Formerly, which tool this was dependent upon the imagination and skill of the individual dentist, though now, with technological advances, weems can be bought specially.
WEMBLEY (n.)
The hideous moment of confirmation that the disaster presaged in the ely (q.v.) has actually struck.
WENDENS AMBO (n.)
(Veterinary term.) The operation to trace an object swallowed by a cow through all its seven stomachs. Hence, also (1) en expedition to discover where the exits are in the Barican Centre, and (2) a search through the complete works of Chaucer for all the rude bits.
WEST WITTERING (participial vb.)
The uncontrollable twitching which breaks out when you're trying to get away from the most boring person at a party.
WETWANG (n.)
A moist penis.
WHAPLODE DROVE (n.)
A homicidal golf stroke.
WHASSET (n.)
A business car in you wallet belonging to someone whom you have no recollection of meeting.
WHISSENDINE (n.)
The nose which occurs (often by night) in a strange house, which is too short and too irregular for you ever to be able to find out what it is and where it comes from.
WIDDICOMBE (n.)
The sort of person who impersonates trim phones.
WIGAN (n.)
If, when talking to someone you know has only one leg, you're trying to treat then perfectly casually and normally, but find to your horror that your conversion is liberally studded with references to (a) Long John Silver, (b) Hopalong Cassidy, (c) The Hockey Cokey, (d) 'putting your foot in it', (e) 'the last leg of the UEFA competition', you are said to have committed a wigan. The word is derived from the fact that sub-editors at ITN used to manage to mention the name of either the town Wigan, or Lord Wigg, in every fourth script that Reginald Bosanquet was given to read.
WIKE (vb.)
To rip a piece of sticky plaster off your skin as fast as possible in the hope that it will (a) show how brave you are, and (b) not hurt.
WILLIMANTIC (adj.)
Of a person whose hearth is in the wrong place (i.e. between their legs).
WIMBLEDON (n.)
That last drop which, no matter how much you shake it, always goes down your trouser leg.
WINKLEY (n.)
A lost object which turns up immediately you've gone and bought a replacement for it.
WINSTON-SALEM (n.)
A person in a restaurant who suggest to their companions that they should split the cost of the meal equally, and then orders two packets of cigarettes on the
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