Showing posts with label Extracts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Extracts. Show all posts

Monday, March 12, 2012

Extracts from The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams

Aasleagh (n.): A liqueur made only for drinking at the end of a revoltingly long bottle party when all the drinkable drink has been drunk.

Aboyne (vb.): To beat an expert at a game of skill by playing so appallingly that none of his clever tactics or strategies are of any use to him.

Abruzzo (n.): The worn patch of ground under a swing.

Acklins (pl. n.): The odd twinges you get in parts of your body when you scratch other parts.

Ahenny (adj.): The way people stand when examining other people's bookshelves.

Aigburth (n.): Any piece of readily identifiable anatomy found amongst cooked meat.

Aith (n.): The single bristle that sticks out sideways on a cheap paintbrush.

Albacete (n.): A single surprisingly long hair growing in the middle of nowhere.

Alcoy (adj.): Wanting to be bullied into having another drink.

Amlwch (n.): A British Rail sandwich which has been kept soft by being regularly washed and resealed in clingfilm.

Ampus (n.): A lurid bruise which you can't remember getting.

Anantnag (vb.): (Eskimo term) To bang your thumbs between the oars when rowing.

Badachonacher (n.): An on-off relationship which never gets resolved.

Balemartine (n.): The look which says, 'Stop talking to that woman at once.'

Bathel (vb.): To pretend to have read the book under discussion when in fact you've only seen the TV series.

Baughurst (n.): That kind of large fierce ugly woman who owns a small fierce ugly dog.

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

Beaulieu Hill (n.): The optimum vantage point from which to view people undressing in the bedroom across the street.

Belding (n.): The technical name for a stallion after its first ball has been cut off. Any notice which reads 'Beware of the Belding' should be taken very, very seriously.

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

Bickerstaffe (n.): The person in an office that everyone whinges about in the pub. Many large corporations deliberately employ bickerstaffes in each department.

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

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

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

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

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

Brindle (vb.): To remember suddenly where it is you're meant to be going after you've already been driving for ten minutes.

Canudos (n.): The desire of married couples to see their single friends pair off.

Clenchwarton (n.): (Archaic) One who assists an exorcist by squeezing whichever part of the possessed the exorcist deems useful.

Climpy (adj.): Allowing yourself to be persuaded to do something and pretending to be reluctant.

Cloates Point (n.): The precise instant at which scrambled eggs are ready.

Clun (n.): A leg which has gone to sleep and has to be hauled around after you.

Clunes (pl. n.): People who just won't go.

Cong (n.): Strange-shaped metal utensil found at the back of the saucepan cupboard. Many authorities believe that congs provide conclusive proof of the exstence of a now extinct form of yellow vegetable which the Victorians used to boil mercilessly.

Coodardy (adj.): Astounded at what you've just managed to get away with.

Cotterstock (n.): A piece of wood used to stir paint and thereafter stored uselessly in the shed in perpetuity.

Craboon (vb.): To shout boisterously from a cliff.

Cromarty (n.): The brittle sludge which clings to the top of ketchup bottles and plastic tomatoes in nasty cafés.


For more, you'll just have to buy the book.