The Meaning of Liff

[theoldwolf]

I hope you're all familiar with this gem. I saw it in hardback in a shop in Oslo, and figured it would be online.

The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd.

Not only the words are delightful, but the fact that they are so in touch with all these little scraps of life that hardly anyone ever talks about... There's an expanded version also, but it doesn't appear to have made it online yet.

LINDISFARNE (adj.)
Descriptive of the pleasant smell of an empty biscuit tin.

MALIBU (n.)
The height by which the top of a wave exceeds the height to which you have rolled up your trousers.

YEPPOON (n.)
One of the hat-hanging corks which Australians wear for making Qantas commercials.

Comments

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I read two pages of The Deeper Meaning of Liff. For all my linguistic amusement, completely made-up words with very limited application just didn't sustain my interest for long as a teen, nor do they today. But at least some of those words come from names and thus hint at his reason for choosing them.

[secoh.livejournal.com]

haha yep yep it's on the bookshelf here somewhere along with all his other published works.