The Meaning of Liff is a book by
Douglas Adams and BBC producer John Lloyd, which uses place names as
Neologisms. Based on a conversation Adams and Lloyd had while on holiday, which was based on a school assignment Adams was given, which may have been based on an essay by Paul Jennings,
Ware, Wye and Watford.
Some of
Liff's definitions originally appeared in the
Not the Nine O'Clock News calender and "glossop" and "scrogs" are mentioned in the additional material in the
Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty script book. (Lloyd directed both shows).
An expanded version was published as
The Deeper Meaning Of Liff.
Trope Namer for
Zeerust.
This book also provides examples of, or words for:
- Abstract Scale: Several words define the measurement of something that can't be measured.
- Apologises a Lot - Greeley.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick - The definition for "nacton" gives the examples "Fish 'n' Chips", "Mix 'n' Match" and "Assault 'n' Battery".
- Brilliant, but Lazy - Ible.
- Cut Himself Shaving - Sluggan is when you really did walk into a door, but no-one believes you.
- Home Made Sweater From Hell - Jurby.
- Ignore The Disability - Wigan. From an ITN newsreader with a Dodgy Toupee who was supposedly always given stories about that town.
- Mondegreen - Woolfardisworthy. From Hamlet:
When he himself might his quietus make,
With a bare bodkin? Who woolfardisworthy,
To grunt and sweat under a wary life.
- Literal Cliff Hanger - A grimmit is the small bush cartoon characters cling onto.
- Seven Minute Lull - The measurement of the embarassment caused is a "lullworth".
- Shaggy Dog Story - Gildersome, a joke that starts off well, but which the listener tires of after half an hour.
- The Shill - Tigharry, specifically in the three-card trick.
- Spanner in the Works - Aboyne.
- The Talk - Ambleside.
- This Product Will Change Your Life - Liff itself.
- Translation: Yes - The definition of "pen-tre-tefarn-y-fedw", which is apparently a direct translation from Welsh, and runs to three lines.
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