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The Deeper Meaning Of Liff
Does the sensation of Tingrith(1) make you yelp? Do you bend sympathetically when you see someone Ahenny(2)? Can you deal with a Naugatuck(3) without causing a Toronto(4)? Will you suffer from Kettering(5) this summer?
Probably. You are almost certainly familiar with all these experiences but just didn't know that there are words for them. Well, in fact, there aren't--or r...more
Probably. You are almost certainly familiar with all these experiences but just didn't know that there are words for them. Well, in fact, there aren't--or r...more
Hardcover
Published
1990
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A birthday present from my sister, The Meaning of Liff is a dictionary of words you didn't know about. Each word is actually a place name (mostly in the UK) and a humorous explanation is provided for each.
Some of them I had already known for some time – my favourite is still Wimbledon – which as we all know describes "That last drop which, no matter how much you shake it, always goes down your trouser leg."
Some of them I had already known for some time – my favourite is still Wimbledon – which as we all know describes "That last drop which, no matter how much you shake it, always goes down your trouser leg."
This year, the wonderful Meaning of Liff and I share a milestone birthday. Imagine my excitement at the prospect of a sequel to this masterpiece 30 years after the first edition. So it seemed like a good time to read the version on my bookshelf again in anticipation.
Written by the unstoppable duo Douglas Adams (if you haven’t read the Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy of five, you are missing out on some magic) and John Lloyd (QI creator), The Deeper Meaning of Liff is a hilarious dictionary-style book...more
Written by the unstoppable duo Douglas Adams (if you haven’t read the Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy of five, you are missing out on some magic) and John Lloyd (QI creator), The Deeper Meaning of Liff is a hilarious dictionary-style book...more
I’m surprised that I didn’t love Douglas Adams’ THE DEEPER MEANING OF LIFF: A Dictionary of Things That There Aren’t Any Words For Yet. I certainly adored his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
Ely (n.) The first, tiniest inkling that something, somewhere, has gone terribly wrong.
It seems that this book was really aimed at adolescent boys who find bodily functions amusing. There were many definitions that I laughed at but it was disheartening to find that there were outdated references and...more
Ely (n.) The first, tiniest inkling that something, somewhere, has gone terribly wrong.
It seems that this book was really aimed at adolescent boys who find bodily functions amusing. There were many definitions that I laughed at but it was disheartening to find that there were outdated references and...more
This isn't really the best book to read from cover-to-cover. It's more of a book to skim through in the odd moments: waiting for a bus, sitting in the waiting area of an emergency room, when the rocketship countdown starts and you've no buttons to press in your little display panel until it begins again, or, perhaps, for the dull bits during a skydiving trip.
What I find more interesting than the individual words -- creative and amusing as they are -- is the fact that all the new words are the n...more
What I find more interesting than the individual words -- creative and amusing as they are -- is the fact that all the new words are the n...more
A very clever idea to use place names to describe things for which no word exists. Not an original idea but the results are amusing and sometimes inspired e.g. taken at random:
Eads: The sludgy bits at the bottom of the dustbin, underneath the actual bin liner.
Patney: Something your next door neighbour makes and insists that you try on your sausages.
My favourite one isn't in the book though. Risca: Something white and gooey found at the back of the fridge that might be o.k. for frying somethin...more
Eads: The sludgy bits at the bottom of the dustbin, underneath the actual bin liner.
Patney: Something your next door neighbour makes and insists that you try on your sausages.
My favourite one isn't in the book though. Risca: Something white and gooey found at the back of the fridge that might be o.k. for frying somethin...more
I didn't think that a mock dictionary would be something you could sit down and read through in one sitting... but - at least with this one - you can. Douglas Adams is brilliant, and at least 1/3 of the words in this book I felt I should scribble down and use immediately.
I really want to keep this book, but I know deep in my heart that if this vocabulary hasn't caught on in the past 30 years, nothing I can do will make it. So I have to pass it on for the next person to enjoy. It is quite the aba...more
I really want to keep this book, but I know deep in my heart that if this vocabulary hasn't caught on in the past 30 years, nothing I can do will make it. So I have to pass it on for the next person to enjoy. It is quite the aba...more
I've been reading and loving Douglas Adams's works since I was in middle school; while it's possible to translate this as my sense of humor not evolving much in 15 years, I'd rather embrace the notion that I was saddled with a funny bone (among other things) that would have served me much better had I been born on the other side of the Atlantic. Either way, the real point is that diving into anything penned by one of my all-time favorite writers always feels a little bit like coming home or slip...more
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This book is full of rather witty reassignments for place names that aren't being used for much anyway. How often have all of us wished there was a good word to describe a thing, a phenomenon, or a feeling? Isn't the world a better place now that we have Douglas Adams's answer to this puzzling problem? Isn't it nice to know that a grimsby is a lump of gristle that is either in your food through careless cooking or sometimes placed there deliberately by Freemasons? Or that a sidcup is one of thos...more
This is one of my top three in the books written by Douglas Adams. This author not only thinks tangentially, he writes tangentially. Where did that come from? And then later there may or may not be a tie in. Humorous escapism at its best. Most of the characters are English, but one cannot count on Adams to stick to a country, let alone a topic. Fun read! I'm not sure of the date of publication, but I read it that year.
Jul 13, 2007
Richard
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who loved other Douglas Adams books or who has a sense of humour.
Shelves:
comedy
We all know them... The things in life that we all experience, but which don't necessarily have a name.
This is a dictionary of those things.
Ely: The feeling that something, somewhere has just gone horribly wrong.
As an added twist, each of the words defined in the meaning of Liff is actually a placename somewhere in the world. Many of them are actually various odd village names from the UK (there are plenty, I live about five miles from 'Six Mile Bottom'!), but there are plenty from further afiel...more
This is a dictionary of those things.
Ely: The feeling that something, somewhere has just gone horribly wrong.
As an added twist, each of the words defined in the meaning of Liff is actually a placename somewhere in the world. Many of them are actually various odd village names from the UK (there are plenty, I live about five miles from 'Six Mile Bottom'!), but there are plenty from further afiel...more
Very much the sort of Douglas Adam's humor we've all grown to know and love. It's a spoof dictionary of things for which words don't exist, together with various place names. The sort of book you take to bed to relax with, but then keep yourself awake by laughing too much. Not the sort of book to read from cover to cover, but more the sort of book you dip into when you need cheering up.
I loved this. Absolutely brilliant. The observations are funny, true to life and clever. It's a book that I happily drop into and pull out something that makes me smile.
A dictionary of false meanings doesn't mean that those situations and meanings don't exist. Just that there isn't a word for them.
Now you can find it here - or make your own.
A dictionary of false meanings doesn't mean that those situations and meanings don't exist. Just that there isn't a word for them.
Now you can find it here - or make your own.
It's a good translation of Douglas Adams' original "the deeper meaning of Liff" into German, using mostly German cities. It's not a direct translation, but includes words that aren't featured in the original, which makes it good to read in addition to the original.
The book itself is built like a Longman's dictionary and includes both the German and the original English version of the book.
The book itself is built like a Longman's dictionary and includes both the German and the original English version of the book.
Reads like a Dictionary becuase it is a dictionary. "A dictionary of things there aren't any words for yet - but there ought to be"
A funny read but, not one I'd advise to sit down and read cover to cover. Great book to have sitting out to pick up and read a few random entries from.
A funny read but, not one I'd advise to sit down and read cover to cover. Great book to have sitting out to pick up and read a few random entries from.
An excellent, although rather hard to find little book.
A handy reference for a large number of things that nobody has bothered making up words for yet, some of them obscure but others so common and every-day that it's shocking that they don't already exist.
A handy reference for a large number of things that nobody has bothered making up words for yet, some of them obscure but others so common and every-day that it's shocking that they don't already exist.
In ‘The Meaning of Liff’ Douglas Adams and John Lloyd have expanded the English language by noting down the meaningless names that lie underused on signpost and attribute new purpose to them covering the common experiences we have yet to assign a word to.
Depford(n).
The Disappointment one feels when our favourite author puts out a book not worthy of their name.
Twinning(n).
The nagging sensation the reader feels that he has been swindled out of five pounds that would have been better served giving...more
Depford(n).
The Disappointment one feels when our favourite author puts out a book not worthy of their name.
Twinning(n).
The nagging sensation the reader feels that he has been swindled out of five pounds that would have been better served giving...more
A very clever book unlike any other I've ever seen. Filled with sharp observations and one of the only few books that can, again and again, make me literally laugh out loud. Too bad I once lend someone my copy and never got it back...
Extremely funny little book by one of the funniest authors ever. I wish there were more books like this and there certainly are many more situations that call for words to describe them.
It's a dictionary of words that should exist but don't. Some bits were actually laugh out loud, others were forgettable. As always, Douglas Adams is entertaining.
Find words for those strange everyday things that you struggle to describe - e.g. Lusby - the overflow from a bra
Jun 20, 2009
Peter Collingridge
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Peter by:
Victoria Chan
Loads of great words for situations that are immediately recognisable. I only wish I could remember some of them.
So much a part of my daily vocabulary that I often get very very odd looks and don't know why. A must have.
ok, some things are spot on but despite being a small book it drags on.
This book is a wonderful piece of comedy. Some of the words will have you laughing very hard. Adams and Loyd take definitions that are without words, and using the names of places, finally gives them the words they deserve. Not only is this a fun read, but it does get the reader thinking about what in their world they cannot describe in one word, and ways to do just that. It has been said that a great writer can say a sentence in a page, or a page in a sentence, and with the words in this book,...more
really a reference I suppose, but a can't-put-it-down reference
Laugh out loud book. Don't read on public transport.
Kinda pointless. Reads like a phonebook.
Heaps of fun, endlessly re-readable.
FOLLOWS ON FROM LIFF (PB)
'Alltami (n.)
The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower taps.'
The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower taps.'
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Douglas Noël Adams was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio, and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a comic book series, a computer game, and a feature film that was comp...more
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“Ahenny (adj.) - The way people stand when examining other people's bookshelves.”
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“Ballycumber (ba-li-KUM-ber) n.
One of the six half-read books lying somewhere in your bed.”
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One of the six half-read books lying somewhere in your bed.”
