Encyclopedia > Notable phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has become so popular among sci-fi and computer enthusiasts that certain phrases from it are widely recognised and often used in reference to, but outside the context of, the source material. The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ...
Sci-fi is an abbreviation for science fiction. ...
A Lego RCX Computer is an example of an embedded computer used to control mechanical devices. ...
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. [edit]
Forty-two
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, forty-two is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. This joke is often invoked in discussions about the "meaning of life". See The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything and 42 (number). The cover of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, from a late 1990s US printing. ...
The Answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything is a concept taken from Douglas Adams science fiction series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
Look up forty-two in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
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Know where one's towel is Somebody who can stay in control of virtually any situation is somebody who is said to know where his or her towel is. Douglas Adams got the idea for this phrase when he went on holiday and found that his beach towel always went missing. Douglas Noël Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001) was a cult British author, comic radio dramatist, and amateur musician. ...
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Life, the Universe, and Everything From the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, which is shown to be forty-two. It is also the title of the third book in the series. It is a common name for the off-topic section of an Internet forum (especially LUE on GameFAQs), and the phrase is invoked in similar ways to mean "anything at all". Life, the Universe and Everything (1982, ISBN 0345391829) is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy science fiction trilogy by Douglas Adams. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
GameFAQs is a gaming website that has hosted FAQs and walkthroughs for gamers since November 1995. ...
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Not entirely unlike In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur Dent tries to get a Nutrimatic dispenser to produce a cup of tea. Instead, it invariably produces a concoction (which most people found unpleasant) that is "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea". According to the Jargon File, the briefer "not entirely unlike" has entered hacker jargon.[1] The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980, ISBN 0345391810) is the second book in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams. ...
Simon Jones as an upset Arthur Dent, watching his home being demolished in the first episode of the BBC TV series. ...
Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. ...
The Jargon File is a glossary of hacker slang. ...
The Jargon File is a glossary of hacker slang. ...
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Share and Enjoy "Share and Enjoy" is the slogan of the complaints division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. In the radio version, this phrase had its own song (sung in Fit the Ninth), which was sung by a choir of robots during "special occasions". However, the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation tends to produce inherently faulty goods, which makes the slogan ironic since few people would share or enjoy a product that does not function properly. Among the design flaws is the choir of robots that sings the song: they sing a flattened fifth out of tune with the accompaniment. [2] Encyclopedia Galactica: the inept Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Marketing Division. ...
The terms Primary Phase and Secondary Phase describe the first two radio series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
The augmented fourth between C and F# forms a tritone. ...
This phrase is often invoked in releasing freeware, shareware, or open source software, though without its ironic connotations. Freeware is copyrighted computer software which is made available for use free of charge, for an unlimited time, as opposed to shareware where the user is required to pay after some trial period. ...
Look up shareware in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ...
The Guide relates that the words "Share and Enjoy" were displayed in illuminated letters three miles high near the Sirius Cybernetics Complaints Department, until their weight caused them to collapse through the underground offices of many young executives. The upper half of the sign that now protrudes translates in the local tongue as "Go stick your head in a pig", and is only lit up for special celebrations.
The Fit the Twentieth features a personal computer OS booting sound (ala The Microsoft Sound) set to the tune of "Share and Enjoy". Furthermore, the Fit the Twenty-First, the last episode in the adaption of So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish to radio, features a polyphonic ringtone version of the tune. The terms Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase and Quintessential Phase describe the radio adaptations of the books Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless recorded in 2003 and 2004 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4. ...
The terms Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase and Quintessential Phase describe the radio adaptations of the books Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless recorded in 2003 and 2004 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4. ...
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984, ISBN 0345391837) is the fourth book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
A polyphonic ringtone is one that makes use of polyphony. ...
The "Share and Enjoy" tune is also used in the TV series as the backing for a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation robot commercial (slogan: "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with"). Opening titles from the TV series, designed by Doug Burd The televised adaptation of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, broadcast in January and February of 1981 on BBC Two, became the fifth version. ...
Look up Slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
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God's Final Message To His Creation According to So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, God's Final Message To His Creation is written in fire in letters thirty feet high on the far side of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains in the land of Sevorbeupstry on the planet of Preliumtarn, which orbits the star Zarss, which is located in the Grey Binding Fiefdoms of Saxaquine. The long path to the message is lined with souvenir stands at spaced-out intervals. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984, ISBN 0345391837) is the fourth book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ...
When Marvin reads the message, it says, "We apologise for the inconvenience." However, Fenchurch's reaction suggests that the message she saw was the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything (and that presumably, therefore, the Message is personalized to each viewer). In the BBC TV series, the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot [like Marvin] as Your plastic pal whos fun to be with. Marvin the Paranoid Android is a fictional character in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. ...
There are many minor characters in the various versions of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. ...
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So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish In the book of the same title, "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish" is the last message from dolphins to humanity. Its popularity was such that it was the title of the opening song for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a science-fiction comedy film based on the book of the same name by Douglas Adams. ...
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Don't Panic Printed in large, friendly letters on the outside cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. [edit]
Mostly Harmless The only entry about Earth in the Guide used to be "Harmless", but Ford Prefect managed to change it a little before getting stuck on Earth. "Mostly Harmless" provoked a very upset reaction from Arthur when heard. Its popularity is such that it has become the definition of Earth in many standard works of reference, like The Star Trek Encyclopedia. The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future is an encyclopedia of all things related to Star Trek. ...
It is also the title of the fifth book, Mostly Harmless. The front cover of the US first hardcover edition of Mostly Harmless. ...
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External links - The Jargon File, which lists some of the phrases here.
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