- Hardcover: 156 pages
- Publisher: Harmony Books (Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0517585979
- ISBN-13: 978-0517585979
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 357,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
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 rather there weren’t, until Douglas Adams and John Lloyd decided to plug these egregious linguistic lacunae(6). They quickly realized that just as there are an awful lot of experiences that no one has a name for, so there are an awful lot of names for places you will never need to go to. What a waste. As responsible citizens of a small and crowded world, we must all learn the virtues of recycling(7) and put old, worn-out but still serviceable names to exciting, vibrant, new uses. This is the book that does that for you: The Deeper Meaning of Liff—a whole new solution to the problem of Great Wakering(8)
1—The feeling of aluminum foil against your fillings.
2—The way people stand when examining other people’s bookshelves.
3—A plastic packet containing shampoo, mustard, etc., which is impossible to open except by biting off
the corners.
4—Generic term for anything that comes out in a gush, despite all your efforts to let it out carefully, e.g., flour into a white sauce, ketchup onto fish, a dog into the yard, and another naughty meaning that we can’t put on the cover.
5—The marks left on your bottom and thighs after you’ve been sitting sunbathing in a wicker chair.
6—God knows what this means
7—For instance, some of this book was first published in Britain twenty-six years ago.
8—Look it up yourself.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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 rather there weren’t, until Douglas Adams and John Lloyd decided to plug these egregious linguistic lacunae(6). They quickly realized that just as there are an awful lot of experiences that no one has a name for, so there are an awful lot of names for places you will never need to go to. What a waste. As responsible citizens of a small and crowded world, we must all learn the virtues of recycling(7) and put old, worn-out but still serviceable names to exciting, vibrant, new uses. This is the book that does that for you: The Deeper Meaning of Liff—a whole new solution to the problem of Great Wakering(8)
1—The feeling of aluminum foil against your fillings.
2—The way people stand when examining other people’s bookshelves.
3—A plastic packet containing shampoo, mustard, etc., which is impossible to open except by biting off
the corners.
4—Generic term for anything that comes out in a gush, despite all your efforts to let it out carefully, e.g., flour into a white sauce, ketchup onto fish, a dog into the yard, and another naughty meaning that we can’t put on the cover.
5—The marks left on your bottom and thighs after you’ve been sitting sunbathing in a wicker chair.
6—God knows what this means
7—For instance, some of this book was first published in Britain twenty-six years ago.
8—Look it up yourself.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Description
The updated, revised edition of "The Meaning of Liff", with illustrations from "Private Eye" cartoonist Bert Kitchen.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
92 of 95 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a fantastic book - what a brilliant concept. Hundreds of words simply wasting their time hanging around on signposts. Hundreds of objects, situations, states of mind etc. for which there are no words in common use.
Two quick examples...
Have you ever walked along a street, only to encounter someone coming in the opposite direction, at which point you engage in a little dance that involves both of you skipping from side to side, interspersed with apologies? You have? Droitwich!
Those bits you find in bacon, that you only actually discover when you bite on them and break your teeth...? Beccles!
As for seeing someone you recognise at the opposite end of a long corridor, and judging when is just precisely the right time to let them know you've seen them... well I'll leave that for you to find out yourself.
This is a great, great book. One you can come back to time and time again, and always find yourself sniggering, or laughing out loud, or sometimes just nodding sagely (with a smirk at your mouth!).
If anything, The Deeper Meaning of Liff is not quite as good as the original Meaning of Liff, the former being a thicker version of the latter (extended by using words hanging around on non-British signposts), but if you don't have the original, you might as well buy this. It can only be 5 stars! Fantastic!
Two quick examples...
Have you ever walked along a street, only to encounter someone coming in the opposite direction, at which point you engage in a little dance that involves both of you skipping from side to side, interspersed with apologies? You have? Droitwich!
Those bits you find in bacon, that you only actually discover when you bite on them and break your teeth...? Beccles!
As for seeing someone you recognise at the opposite end of a long corridor, and judging when is just precisely the right time to let them know you've seen them... well I'll leave that for you to find out yourself.
This is a great, great book. One you can come back to time and time again, and always find yourself sniggering, or laughing out loud, or sometimes just nodding sagely (with a smirk at your mouth!).
If anything, The Deeper Meaning of Liff is not quite as good as the original Meaning of Liff, the former being a thicker version of the latter (extended by using words hanging around on non-British signposts), but if you don't have the original, you might as well buy this. It can only be 5 stars! Fantastic!
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a great companion when touring the country. Look again at all those boring road signs and look up the definitions that have been assigned to them. Never again will journeys be dull. Witty, hilarious and some just down right rude, this is the work of a warped mind and it's brilliant! One of the most tumbed books in my collection. Every "Hitch Hikers Guide" fan will love this and so will others new to Adams' work. Not yet met anyone who didn't appreciate it.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Douglas Adams has already become famous with the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy with it's really random approach to the world in his classic sci-fi humour. In the Deeper Meaning of Liff, Douglas teams up with John LLoyd to make the ultimate in random and true humour. If things that are funny becasue they're true are you thing, then you will instantly fall in love with this book. There is not a single page where there isn't at least one word that will set you bursting out with laughter. All words are place names from around the word and some words even have illustrations to go with them. What should really be known as the random bible, The Deeper Meaning of Liff is a collection of common objects or experiences for which there is no word for it and damn, is it funny or what? Even the little bit at the beginning about the preface reprints is hilarious. So why not sit back when your bored, get the Deeper Meaning of Liff off the shelves and prepare to be laughing for ages, therefore making it the worst book to take to places where you must be quiet. Genius.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Deeper Meaning of Laughter
This is even better than the Meaning of Liff. It is basically the original book with further, funnier additions. Hysterical laughing. Tears. Snot. It just wasn't attractive.
Published 12 months ago by dize
Totally unique
I read this book some years ago and it was one of the few to make me laugh out loud. To me, it struck the right chord and I can understand and appreciate every definition... Read more
Published 17 months ago
chucklesome
very very funny. having said that my wife didn't find it so. but I am entirely in tune with Douglas Adams. Read more
Published 24 months ago by bart4books
The Deeper Meaning of Liff
The latest addition to the bathroom library. I read the original Meaning of Liff years ago and had forgotten it. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Wannocks
A good new version of the original
The description should explain that this is an expanded version of the original "Meaning of Liff". Both are brilliant, but there is little point in buying both.
Published on 13 Mar 2010 by Dr. M. W. Patterson
The Deeper Meaning of Liff
I have read all Douglas Adams's books and every one has provided endless laughter... and astonishing imagination. One of the best authors EVER!
Published on 18 Dec 2009 by S B DEMPSTER
You know the definition, now visit the place
'The Deeper meaning of Liff' is fairly typical Douglas Adams stuff. It gives amusing descriptions for place names, mostly in the UK, but with a smattering of foreign places too. Read more
Published on 9 May 2009 by A. R. Griew
The funniest book ever
I first read my friend's copy of this book over 10 years ago and it still makes me laugh to this day. Read more
Published on 7 April 2009 by K. Alliston
Hilarious
This book will amuse you for hours, the basic idea is that Adams and Lloyd have used place names for all those amusing things in life for which there aren't existing words. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2009 by Edward Outhwaite
Guaranteed Smiles
This book is a delight from beginning to end, there is a chuckle on every page. A fine example of the quirky wit of the late Douglas Adams.
Published on 7 Feb 2009 by R. H. M. Simmons
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