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The Meaning of Liff
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The Meaning of Liff is a humorous mock-dictionary by writer Douglas Adams and BBC comedy producer John Lloyd, first published in 1983, which uses placenames as neologisms.The authors' rationale was that there are loads of everyday things, recognisable sensations and familiar situations for which the English language lacks a precise name. At the same time there are tonnes of interesting words, which look like reasonable names for these things, doing no more than sitting around on road signs all day.So they decided to pair them up.Hence if you ever find yourself, for instance, abruptly discovering you've been hearing a song lyric wrong all these years: well that moment of discovery, according to this book, has a name: a rhymneynote (a town in the Welsh Valleys). Or you know when someone in a crowded room is attempting to tell another person something private, rude or plain weird, just as everyone else falls silent? Well, now you can measure the precise loudness and/or embarrassment of this statement as a lulworthnote (a cove on the South Coast of England). A droitwich* (a spa town in the central English county of Worcestershire) is the little hopping dance performed by two pedestrians each attempting to give way to the other and failing. And so on.In Real Life the real Liff is a Scottish village, in Angus near Dundee. Its 'meaning', as given in the current edition of the book, is appropriately:— although in practice "liffs" have come to mean the book's words for this kind of common object or experience.The idea was sparked in a conversation Adams and Lloyd had while on holiday in Corfu in 1978 (when the former, a Ridiculous Procrastinator, was 'attempting' to write The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), based on memories of a school assignment the young Douglas was once given — which may itself have been based on a 1950s essay by English humorist Paul Jennings: Ware, Wye, Watford. Some of Liff's 'definitions' originally appeared in the Not the Nine O'Clock News calender, and "glossop" and "scrogs" are mentioned in the additional material in the Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty script book; both shows were directed by Lloyd.A revised and expanded version was published in 1990 as The Deeper Meaning Of Liff, though a further revision (after Adams Died During Production) for 2013's 30th anniversary restored the original title. In 2012 a sequel, Afterliff, was published, compiled by Lloyd and Jon Cantor with added liffs submitted from fans and famous friends.Trope Namer for Zeerust* (it's a town, originally named Coetzee's Rust, in northern South Africa... in case you're interested), and by extension Zeerust Canon: | |
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Brilliant, but Lazy | |
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Brilliant, but Lazy: "Ible." | |
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Your Mime Makes It Real | |
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Your Mime Makes It Real: "Scosthrop" is the act of miming using a pair of scissors while searching for them, in the hope that it will favourably influence your chance of actually finding them. | |
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Homemade Sweater from Hell | |
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Home Made Sweater From Hell: "Jurby." | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_513dd915 | type |
LiteralCliffHanger | |
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Literal Cliff Hanger: A "grimmit" is the small bush cartoon characters cling onto. | |
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This Product Will Change Your Life | |
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This Product Will Change Your Life: According to the cover, though subverted by the original definition of "liff" itself (see Self-Deprecation above). | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_57918465 | type |
Seven Minute Lull | |
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Seven Minute Lull: The measurement of the embarrassment this causes is a "lulworth". | |
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Achievements in Ignorance | |
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Achievements in Ignorance: "Aboyne" is to win a game of skill against a professional by playing so appallingly that none of his clever tactics are of any use to him. | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_60194b82 | type |
Spanner in the Works | |
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Spanner in the Works: "Aboyne." | |
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Apologises a Lot | |
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Apologises a Lot: "Greeley." | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_6a37ac44 | type |
Innocent Awkward Question | |
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Innocent Awkward Question: The book defines a "smeem" as the frozen smile a parent gets when their child points out a condom in mixed company and asks, "What's that?" | |
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It Came from the Fridge | |
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It Came from the Fridge: "Guernsey" is the reaction to this. | |
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Translation: "Yes" | |
| The Meaning of Liff / int_78f6bb9b | comment |
Translation: "Yes": "Pen-tre-tefarn-y-fedw"'s definition, allegedly a direct translation from the Welsh, runs to three lines. | |
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Abstract Scale | |
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Abstract Scale: Several words define the measurement of something that can't be measured. | |
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Cut Himself Shaving | |
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Cut Himself Shaving: "Sluggan" is when you really did walk into a door, but no-one believes you. | |
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Raging Stiffie | |
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Raging Stiffie: Several words for such under different circumstances, namely "Huby", "Humby", "Lower Peover", "Stebbing", and "Visby". | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_b84adf36 | type |
By "No", I Mean "Yes" | |
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By "No", I Mean "Yes": An inverted form with "Yesnaby", which is a "yes, maybe" that means "no." | |
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Terms of Endangerment | |
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Terms of Endangerment: "Nyarling." | |
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Curse | |
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Curse: "Aird of Sleat", an ancient Scottish curse cast from afar on the land now occupied by Heathrow Airport. | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
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Shout-Out: To Monty Python. The title was specifically a riff on that of their contemporary film The Meaning of Life, although it also works as a more general pun on the common phrase. | |
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Self-Deprecation | |
| The Meaning of Liff / int_c9597a03 | comment |
Self-Deprecation: The book originally bore the tagline "This book will change your life", either as part of its cover or as an adhesive label. The eponymous "liff" was then defined inside as: The thirtieth anniversary edition instead bears a sticker claiming "New and unimproved". | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_db99b292 | type |
Mondegreen Gag | |
| The Meaning of Liff / int_db99b292 | comment |
Mondegreen Gag: "Woolfardisworthy." From Hamlet: The realisation that you've long been hearing a mondegreen, via belatedly discovering the true words of a song, is itself defined as a "rhymney". | |
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As Long as It Sounds Foreign | |
| The Meaning of Liff / int_e3c20140 | comment |
As Long as It Sounds Foreign: "Aberbeeg" is to use a Mexican accent when called upon to play any kind of foreigner. | |
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Ignore the Disability | |
| The Meaning of Liff / int_e6382176 | comment |
Ignore the Disability: "Wigan" — an ITN newsreader with a Dodgy Toupee was supposedly always given stories about that town. | |
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| The Meaning of Liff / int_e9fb38 | type |
The Talk | |
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The Talk: Ambleside. | |
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Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick | |
| The Meaning of Liff / int_eef90616 | comment |
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The definition for "Nacton" gives the examples fish 'n' chips, mix 'n' match and assault 'n' battery. The definition of "Toronto": "Belper": "Pelutho": The back cover of The Deeper Meaning of Liff boasts "Twice as many definitionsnote Well, nearly twice as many. Lavishly illustrated. Crammed with bottom jokes." | |
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The Meaning of Liff |
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