this post was submitted on 14 May 2024
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] A_Very_Big_Fan 77 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Douglas Adams was such a brilliant writer. He was taken from us far too soon

[–] givesomefucks 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Dude always knew where his towel was.

[–] Hobbes_Dent 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] AngryCommieKender 15 points 5 months ago

Hoopy frood*

[–] jasep 63 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My favourite was "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

Douglas Adams was really a master of subversion.

[–] cosmicrookie 5 points 5 months ago

That's like in the first or second chapter and sets the expectation to all the other books

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago

I live by the notion that anything I say could travel through a random wormhole and set off a galactic war spanning thousands of years.

[–] TwoBeeSan 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Slartibartfast sounds like urban dictionary for shitting and vomitting simultaneously

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago

You're closer than you think!

Douglas Adams wrote in the notes accompanying the published volume of original radio scripts that he wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude, but still actually be broadcastable. He therefore started with the name "Phartiphukborlz", and changed bits of it until it would be acceptable to the BBC.

[–] macattack 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I'm confused. Can somebody explain this reference or take away?

[–] papalonian 46 points 5 months ago

First guy is saying, "there's no point in trying to figure out the "answer to the universe", it's a lot easier to be happy if you just go with the flow".

This leads the reader to assume that he's got it all figured out and is a relatively happy guy, an assumption that is subverted when asked plainly, "are you happy?"

I don't know that there's a specific take away here, so much as it just being a funny quip in a larger exchange.

[–] MadBabs 21 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's a quote between two characters in Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[–] AngryCommieKender 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Wasn't this scene in Mostly Harmless? Books not movie, radio show, or miniseries.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

No it was definitely in the first book, the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. Mostly Harmless is the last book and it doesn't include Slartibartfast.

[–] needthosepylons 5 points 5 months ago

And I think this exact quote is from the movie. It's a bit different in the book IIRC, but I prefer this one.

[–] AngryCommieKender 5 points 5 months ago

Ahh I mixed up the order. Been a couple decades since I read them. I guess I was thinking it was in Restaurant at the end of the Universe

[–] NielsBohron 3 points 5 months ago

po-tay-to, po-tah-to