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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010The Meaning of Louth
Have you heard of Paul Jennings? He was a British humorist, mainly active in the 50s and 60s. I have one of his books, "Oddly Ad Lib", which was published in 1965. This book is mainly of interest for the piece called "Ware, Wye, Watford (1)". It's a spoof dictionary of English placenames, an idea that was taken up with much success by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd in their bestselling "The Meaning of Liff" (1983). Although I can find no suggestion that they copied the idea from Jennings, the Wikipedia page about the Liff book says that Adams apologised to him. Read Jennings' piece at http://dadge.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/ware-wye-watford-1/ Adrian http://twitter.com/dadge > Have you heard of Paul Jennings? He was a British humorist, mainly active in > the 50s and 60s. I have one of his books, "Oddly Ad Lib", which was [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > up with much success by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd in their bestselling > "The Meaning of Liff" (1983). I'm not sure if it's the same article, or another that he wrote on a similar theme, but I've read it in The Jenguin Pennings (a selection of his writings published by Penguin), which I have at home. It's not the only one worth reading in that volume, but maybe it's the one most relevant to AUE. One definition I remember is for Morpeth and Erith: "obs., used only in the old proverb 'Man erith, woman morpeth'" > Although I can find no suggestion that they copied the idea from Jennings, > the Wikipedia page about the Liff book says that Adams apologised to him. Douglas Adams probably read the Observer in the 1960s, and would certainly have known of Jennings's articles, though not necessarily that one. However, most "original" ideas have their origins in stuff one has heard before but which are lost to the conscious memory. > Read Jennings' piece at > http://dadge.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/ware-wye-watford-1/ Maybe you should tell people to click on the link. Otherwise they may not realize there is a link (as I didn't, initially). Now that I've clicked on it I see that Erith and Morpeth aren't there, and that various ones I don't remember seeing before are, so doubtless he recycled his idea. > Adrian > http://twitter.com/dadge  Signatureathel [...]> > I'm not sure if it's the same article, or another that he wrote on a > similar theme, but I've read it in The Jenguin Pennings (a selection > of his writings published by Penguin), which I have at home. It's not > the only one worth reading in that volume, but maybe it's the one most > relevant to AUE. One definition I remember is for Morpeth and Erith: > "obs., used only in the old proverb 'Man erith, woman morpeth'" Ah, that one stuck with you, too! It's the only one I've remembered: I've even forgotten the ones I've made up in imitation of the Master. ...No, wait. Jennings had "Dungeness." He looked out upon a scene of unrelieved dungeness. >> Although I can find no suggestion that they copied the idea from >> Jennings, the Wikipedia page about the Liff book says that Adams [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > that one. However, most "original" ideas have their origins in stuff > one has heard before but which are lost to the conscious memory. Hoffnung's celebrated "Bricks" anecdote was, I've read, swiped without acknowledgement from a winning entry to a New Statesman comp. [...] SignatureMike. > [ ... ] > Maybe you should tell people to click on the link. Otherwise they may > not realize there is a link (as I didn't, initially). Now that I've > clicked on it I see that Erith and Morpeth aren't there, and that > various ones I don't remember seeing before are, so doubtless he > recycled his idea. Yes, he did. Last night I dug out The Jenguin Pennings. It does contain an artice called Ware, Watford, Wye, but it is different from the one you have on your site. Signatureathel >> Have you heard of Paul Jennings? He was a British humorist, mainly active in >> the 50s and 60s. I have one of his books, "Oddly Ad Lib", which was [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > that one. However, most "original" ideas have their origins in stuff > one has heard before but which are lost to the conscious memory. Would he be any relative of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings? SignatureOnline waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk >>> Have you heard of Paul Jennings? He was a British humorist, mainly active in >>> the 50s and 60s. I have one of his books, "Oddly Ad Lib", which was [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Would he be any relative of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings? No idea. Who's she? Signatureathel Adrian Bailey: >>>> Have you heard of Paul Jennings? ... Athel Cornish-Bowden: >>> Douglas Adams probably read the Observer in the 1960s, and would >>> certainly have known of Jennings's articles, though not necessarily >>> that one. However, most "original" ideas have their origins in stuff >>> one has heard before but which are lost to the conscious memory. Nick Atty: >> Would he be any relative of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings? Athel Cornish-Bowden: > No idea. Who's she? In most editions of Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", she was the worst poet in the universe until she died when the Earth was demolished. According to the book of the radio scripts, this name was substituted "for legal reasons" for the one Adams had originally used. According to Wikipedia, the original name was Paul Neil Milne Johnstone, a real person who presumably did not take kindly to the description. SignatureMark Brader | "But [he] had already established his own reputation Toronto | as someone who wrote poetry that mentioned the el." msb@vex.net | --Al Kriman My text in this article is in the public domain. [...Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings...] > In most editions of Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", > she was the worst poet in the universe until she died when the Earth [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > to Wikipedia, the original name was Paul Neil Milne Johnstone, a real > person who presumably did not take kindly to the description. How encouraging to know there's a random person out there who takes poetry so seriously... SignatureMike. Mike Lyle filted: >[...Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings...] >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >How encouraging to know there's a random person out there who takes >poetry so seriously... He's certainly no James Hogg....r Signature"Oy! A cat made of lead cannot fly." - Mark Brader declaims a basic scientific principle On Feb 24, 1:55 pm, "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle...@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote: > [...Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings...] > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > How encouraging to know there's a random person out there who takes > poetry so seriously... He wasn't random--he was a poet. There's an example of his not precisely deathless verse at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Neil_Milne_Johnstone#Paul_Neil_Milne_Johnstone _of_Redbridge.2C_Essex (I think HHGTTG is one of the subjects I trust Wikip on.) -- Jerry Friedman |
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