this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
48 points (91.4% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27027 readers
867 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Real person, fictional character, or even just hypothetical: I wanna hear it!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I always wondered about that name. It seemed deliberate, but I didn't know what he was going for. TIL

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

Douglas Adams wrote ... that he wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude, but still actually be broadcastable. He therefore started with the name "Phartiphukborlz"...

...

"One thing I don't think I explained in the script book was that I was also teasing the typist, Geoffrey [Perkins]'s secretary, because ... she'd be typing out this long and extraordinary name which would be quite an effort to type and right at the beginning he says 'My name is not important, and I'm not going to tell you what it is'. I was just being mean to Geoffrey's secretary."

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's fantastic and I don't doubt for a second he was being a smartass with his friend's secretary. Hell, the first book was begun on a hillside in Amsterdam after plural bottles of wine and who knows what else. Makes perfect sense.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

There are hills in Amsterdam? gasp