annhig, babelfish isn't fictional:

http://uk.babelfish.yahoo.com/>>

well, I'll have two dozen of them please.

i suspect that yahoo copied the name from dear old Douglas - the hitchhiker's guide predates the internet and search engines by quite a few years.

AnnAnn, it’s in the Old Testament, so yes it does predate Douglas Adams! (who’s funniest book is IMHO The Meaning of Liff)

Met Douglas Adams once....Renaissance Man...charming bloke...

C_W, I don't remember the ancients sticking fish in their ears to understand one another. Must be in a different version of the Old Testament to the one I read.

They were difficult to find at the top of that big tower

hetismij, Josser - thanks for that. I thought it must be me.

perhaps CW and I need a translator.

You bet bird....

English as she is spoke in the countryside:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAx6QSotyg8

that's Lincolnshire, me 'ansum, not Cornwall.

<<It's an old, but standard, comedy device to have British city-dwellers completely flummoxed by British rural directions. As in "If I wanted to go there, I wouldn't start from here".>>

The U.S. equivalent is New Yorkers faced with New England rural directions. The classic line is "Ye cahn't get they-ah from he-ah."

hetismij wrote:
<< C_W, I don't remember the ancients sticking fish in their ears to understand one another. Must be in a different version of the Old Testament to the one I read.>>

That's because the story of the fishes (along with the loaves) is in the New Testament, of course. ;)

I still can't wrap my brain around 'The Hitchhiker's Guide'. I just don't get it. Any tips from fans to help me?

I once received directions that included this: "If you're planning to arrive before 4:00 p.m., then take your second left after you see the old guy sitting in a lawn chair with a walker in front of him."

When I got there, the senior (very senior) citizen was indeed sitting in a lawn chair with a walker in front of him. As cars whizzed by, he used his walker to haul himself to his feet, shook a fist in the air and bellowed: "Slow down, GD it!!". This was his afternoon routine and he sat sentry from 1:00-5:00 p.m. everyday in the summer months. Fun stuff.

Jesus missed his vocation. He should have opened a fish n chip shop.

True. People would have flocked to his shop.

Bowsprit, I suggest you try and get hold of the original, radio version of Hitchhiker's Guide. Amazon.co.uk offers the complete radio series. The one with Peter Jones as the book.
It started off life on the radio and was just so different and so funny, and much better than the books, TV or film.

Settled down with a cup of tea and some Marmite on toast and enjoy!

Having worked through Hitchhiker's move on to Red Dwarf :).

I had no idea it started on the radio. None. I'll look for the radio series and consider it. Thanks.

True. People would have flocked to his shop.>>>

The piece of cod that surpasses all human understanding...

lol

It started off life on the radio and was just so different and so funny, and much better than the books, TV or film.>>

never ones to do things by halves, we have the radio series on tape, [having listened to the originals when they were first broadcast] and the books, [favourites of DS] so when the film came out, we were dead keen to see it.

it wasn't as good as the radio, but it did seem a shame that we were the ONLY people in the cinema watching it.

perhaps Cornish tastes are too sophisticated.

bowsprit - if you manage to get hold of the tapes, listen out for the sound effects - the BBC has [had?] a special department called the radiophonic workshop which produced music/noises off for many programmes, including Hitchhiker, Doctor Who, etc. etc.

and also my fave character - Marvin the paranoid android.

Ann, we too have it all on cassettes. One of these days I shall have to get it digitised so I can listen to it again.
It kept me amused on long journeys to and from the UK when collecting and delivering my son to Loughborough.

We listened to the original series on Radio 4 the first time we lived in the Netherlands.
We didn't like the TV series and haven't seen the film. Did enjoy And Another Thing on Radio 4 too.

I also have Red Dwarf on cassette, which is also surprisingly good.

Please tell me about Red Dwarf.