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* CrazySane: Wonko the Sane built his bizarre inside-out house and called it "The Asylum" when he decided that the world had gone mad.
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* MyOtherCarIsAnX: In one of the most famous examples, has the following...
-->''The figure pressed back as the machine streaked towards him. it was a low bulbous shape, like a small whale surfing — sleek, grey and rounded and moving at terrifying speed. The figure instinctively threw up his hands to protect himself, but was hit only by a sluice of water as the machine swept past and off into the night. It was illuminated briefly by another flicker of lightning crossing the sky, which allowed the soaked figure by the roadside a split-second to read a small sign at the back of the machine before it disappeared. To the figure's apparent incredulous astonishment the sign read, "My other car is also a Porsche."''
-->''The figure pressed back as the machine streaked towards him. it was a low bulbous shape, like a small whale surfing — sleek, grey and rounded and moving at terrifying speed. The figure instinctively threw up his hands to protect himself, but was hit only by a sluice of water as the machine swept past and off into the night. It was illuminated briefly by another flicker of lightning crossing the sky, which allowed the soaked figure by the roadside a split-second to read a small sign at the back of the machine before it disappeared. To the figure's apparent incredulous astonishment the sign read, "My other car is also a Porsche."''
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''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
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''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' (published in 1984) is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
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Work titles are not displayed in bold.
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'''''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish''''' is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
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* CreatorBreakdown: Adams devotes one entire chapter to how fed up he is with people asking him about Arthur Dent's sex life. With a bit of a dig at people who kept saying, while he was writing this book, "You should put a Zaphod bit in here", by sarcastically concluding that those who ''aren't'' interested in Arthur's sex life should skip to the end, which has Marvin in it. Though an "entire chapter" doesn't mean all that much, since there are quite a few one-page chapters in the series. There is even a chapter in this book that consists of an entire three sentences.
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* DemocracyIsFlawed: "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people, if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in." Though one could argue this is more of an argument against first-past-the-post voting than against democracy in general. (There’s a name in political science for the principle that first-past-the-post voting leads to people voting strategically for the “lesser of two evils”: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger's_law Duverger’s Law]]).
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* DemocracyIsFlawed: "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people, if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in." Though one could argue this is more of an argument against first-past-the-post voting than against democracy in general. (There’s a name in political science for the principle that first-past-the-post voting leads to people voting strategically for the “lesser of two evils”: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger's_law org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law Duverger’s Law]]).
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seems to fit Democracy Is Flawed better, since, as mentioned, it’s more of an argument against First Past the Post voting systems than against democracy itself.
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* DemocracyIsBad: "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people, if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in." Though one could argue this is more of an argument against first-past-the-post voting than against democracy in general.
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* DemocracyIsBad: DemocracyIsFlawed: "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people, if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in." Though one could argue this is more of an argument against first-past-the-post voting than against democracy in general. (There’s a name in political science for the principle that first-past-the-post voting leads to people voting strategically for the “lesser of two evils”: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger's_law Duverger’s Law]]).
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* LoveBeforeFirstSight: In that Arthur falls in love with Fenchurch while she's asleep, so he had had ''seen'' her, but he had not met her.
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* LoveBeforeFirstSight: In that Arthur falls in love with Fenchurch while she's asleep, so he had had ''seen'' her, but he had not met her.
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* BegoneBribe: Rob [=McKenna=] (see Perpetual Storm below), uses this to great effect. He is able to make a good living getting resorts and such to pay him to ''not'' visit them.
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* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle
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* IntentionallyAwkwardTitleIntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Although it's one that's entered the popular lexicon.
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* CosmicPlaything: Not just Arthur Dent this time but Rob McKenna, the trucker who is a rain god and has absolutely no idea. All he knew was that he constantly had a literal rain cloud over his head. And had catalogued two hundred and thirty-one separate types of rain. The clouds loved him and want to be near him, but he didn't see it that way. After Arthur suggests he show his journal of all the rain (mainly to get the creepy trucker to stop telling ''him'' about it), he ''does''. As a result, according to Murray Bost-Henson, his status as a rain attractor apparently becomes recognized internationally, and several nations (namely those who rely on pleasant weather to attract tourists) and major airports paid him to stay away at all times.
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* CosmicPlaything: Not just Arthur Dent this time but Rob McKenna, [=McKenna=], the trucker who is a rain god and has absolutely no idea. All he knew was that he constantly had a literal rain cloud over his head. And had catalogued two hundred and thirty-one separate types of rain. The clouds loved him and want to be near him, but he didn't see it that way. After Arthur suggests he show his journal of all the rain (mainly to get the creepy trucker to stop telling ''him'' about it), he ''does''. As a result, according to Murray Bost-Henson, his status as a rain attractor apparently becomes recognized internationally, and several nations (namely those who rely on pleasant weather to attract tourists) and major airports paid him to stay away at all times.
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* WayPastTheExpirationDate: Arthur returns to his home after years in space, and eats "the three least green furry things" in the fridge for breakfast.
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* WayPastTheExpirationDate: Arthur returns to his home after years in space, and eats "the three least green furry things" in the fridge for breakfast. It's noted that, fortunately, this killed several diseases he was carrying that might have wiped out all life on Earth.
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* CosmicPlaything: Not just Arthur Dent this time but Rob McKenna, the trucker who is a rain god and has absolutely no idea. All he knew was that he constantly had a literal rain cloud over his head. And had catalogued two hundred and thirty-one separate types of rain. The clouds loved him and want to be near him, but he didn't see it that way. According the Murray Bost-Henson his status as a rain attractor is apparently recognized internationally, as several nations and major airports paid him to stay away at all times.
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* CosmicPlaything: Not just Arthur Dent this time but Rob McKenna, the trucker who is a rain god and has absolutely no idea. All he knew was that he constantly had a literal rain cloud over his head. And had catalogued two hundred and thirty-one separate types of rain. The clouds loved him and want to be near him, but he didn't see it that way. According After Arthur suggests he show his journal of all the rain (mainly to get the creepy trucker to stop telling ''him'' about it), he ''does''. As a result, according to Murray Bost-Henson Bost-Henson, his status as a rain attractor is apparently becomes recognized internationally, as and several nations (namely those who rely on pleasant weather to attract tourists) and major airports paid him to stay away at all times.
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* BritishStuffiness: Arthur invokes this when telling the biscuit story. When a man took one of his biscuits, "did what any red-blooded Englishman would do"; ignored it.
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* BritishStuffiness: Arthur invokes this when telling the biscuit story. When a man took one of his biscuits, he "did what any red-blooded Englishman would do"; ignored it.
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* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Averted.]]
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* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Averted.[[spoiler:Subverted.]]
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* GiantRobot
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* GiantRobotGiantRobot: Ford's return to Earth is facilitated by one of these making FirstContact. Due to a strange case of brainwashing, it has come to Earth for a relaxing vacation.
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* BritishStuffiness: Arthur invokes this when telling the biscuit story. When a man took one of his biscuits, "did what any red-blooded Englishman would do"; ignored it.
-->Well, it's not the sort of thing you're trained for, is it? I searched my soul, and discovered that there was nothing anywhere in my upbringing, experience, or even primal instincts to tell me how to react to someone who has quite simply, calmly, sitting right there in front of me, stolen one of my biscuits.
-->Well, it's not the sort of thing you're trained for, is it? I searched my soul, and discovered that there was nothing anywhere in my upbringing, experience, or even primal instincts to tell me how to react to someone who has quite simply, calmly, sitting right there in front of me, stolen one of my biscuits.
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* PerpetualStorm: Bob [=McKenna=] has recorded a log showing that it rains everywhere, all the time. This is because, unknown to himself, he's a rain god and the clouds are honoring him by raining wherever he is.
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* CosmicPlaything: Not just Arthur Dent this time but Rob McKenna, the trucker who is a rain god and has absolutely no idea. All he knew was that he constantly had a literal rain cloud over his head. And had catalogued two hundred and thirty-one separate types of rain. The clouds loved him and want to be near him, but he didn't see it that way. According the Murray Bost-Henson his status as a rain attractor is apparently recognized internationally, as several nations and major airports paid him to stay away at all times.
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Misuse of the trope.
Deleted line(s) 39 (click to see context) :
* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: God apparently favors the etymologically incorrect British spelling of "apologize."
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* AliensSpeakingEnglish: God's final message to Creation, located on an alien planet, is written in English. It's spelled out letter-by-letter, so there's no chance that it's the setting's TranslatorMicrobes.
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* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: God apparently favors the etymologically incorrect British spelling of "apologize."
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''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
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* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Averted]]
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* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Averted]][[spoiler:Averted.]]
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It is entirely possible that there is Author Filibuster somewhere in this book but since I don\'t know where and the one who put this trope there didn\'t bother to tell me, I\'m taking it out for now. Feel free to put it back if you have an actual example instead of just \"There might be author filibuster somewhere in this book. Happy hunting\"
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* AuthorFilibuster
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* PrecisionFStrike: If you're reading the American version of the books[[note]](in the US version of ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything, the award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay is swapped out for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word [[UnusualEuphemism "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay)[[/note]]then this book contains a whopper. In fact, all of Chapter 25 is spent building up to it. See SophisticatedAsHell.
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* PrecisionFStrike: If you're reading the American version of the books[[note]](in the US version of ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything, the award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay is swapped out for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word [[UnusualEuphemism "Belgium" "Belgium"]] in a Serious Screenplay)[[/note]]then this book contains a whopper. In fact, all of Chapter 25 is spent building up to it. See SophisticatedAsHell.
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* BestBeforeDecade: Arthur returns to his home after years in space, and eats "the three least green furry things" in the fridge for breakfast.
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* WayPastTheExpirationDate: Arthur returns to his home after years in space, and eats "the three least green furry things" in the fridge for breakfast.
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* BestBeforeDecade: Arthur returns to his home after years in space, and eats "the three least green furry things" in the fridge for breakfast.
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* PrecisionFStrike: If you're reading the American version of the books[[note]](in the US version of ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything, the award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay is swapped out for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word [[UnusualEuphemism "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay)]] then this book contains a whopper. In fact, all of Chapter 25 is spent building up to it. See SophisticatedAsHell.
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* PrecisionFStrike: If you're reading the American version of the books[[note]](in the US version of ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything, the award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay is swapped out for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word [[UnusualEuphemism "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay)]] then Screenplay)[[/note]]then this book contains a whopper. In fact, all of Chapter 25 is spent building up to it. See SophisticatedAsHell.
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[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy We tried to warn you all, but oh dear...]]'']]
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italics, not bold, for work titles (yes, even for the first appearance on a work\'s page)
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'''''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish''''' is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
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Moving to proper Namespace.
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[[quoteright:364:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/751f.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:364:''[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy ...So sad that it should come to this]]\\
[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy We tried to warn you all, but oh dear...]]'']]
'''''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish''''' is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
He explores his old Islington home and, seeing everything back where it should be, starts to suspect that his memories of space travel [[AllJustADream may have been nothing more than hallucinations]]; after all, the people say, a nearby water source was found to be accidentally contaminated by hallucinogens. Arthur returns to his old ways and even strikes up a meaningful romance with Fenchurch, a beautiful young woman who seems just right for him. However, something is not quite right. Every dolphin on Earth seems to have mysteriously disappeared, as has his old friend Ford Prefect, and the appearance of a strange fishbowl on his doorstep sends Arthur, and Fenchurch, on a quest to discover the truth...
Notable for featuring God's Final Message to His Creation.
Preceded by ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything''. Succeeded by ''Literature/MostlyHarmless''.
----
!!''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Averted]]
* AuthorFilibuster
* BavarianFireDrill: Ford pulls this to get himself, Arthur and Fenchurch onto a spaceship and off Earth.
* BrickJoke: This story starts with an almost identical narration to the first novel, before revealing in the first few chapters that Fenchurch was the woman mentioned in it.
* CreatorBreakdown: Adams devotes one entire chapter to how fed up he is with people asking him about Arthur Dent's sex life. With a bit of a dig at people who kept saying, while he was writing this book, "You should put a Zaphod bit in here", by sarcastically concluding that those who ''aren't'' interested in Arthur's sex life should skip to the end, which has Marvin in it. Though an "entire chapter" doesn't mean all that much, since there are quite a few one-page chapters in the series. There is even a chapter in this book that consists of an entire three sentences.
* DemocracyIsBad: "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people, if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in." Though one could argue this is more of an argument against first-past-the-post voting than against democracy in general.
* FirstContact: Ford arrives on Earth in a ship that creates this scenario. He then [[spoiler:sneaks himself, Arthur and Fenchurch on board when it's leaving.]]
* FlightOfRomance: Arthur and Fenchurch take this up to extremes, not just falling in love, but also, um, really getting to know each other.
* TheGenieKnowsJackNicholson: Ford is a fan of the film ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', though the heaps of trouble he's constantly in have kept him from ever finishing it.
* GiantRobot
* IfIHadANickel: Ford says, "If I had a pound for every time one part of the universe looked at another part of the universe and said, 'That's terrible,' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon asking you to bring me a cup of coffee, but I don't and I am."
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Marvin]]
* LawOfConservationOfDetail: Discussed at length in Chapter 25, as the narrator tries to invoke it as an excuse for why this is the first we're hearing of Arthur's love life.
* LookMaNoPlane: Arthur and Fenchurch, taking a somewhat innovative approach to joining the MileHighClub.
* LoveBeforeFirstSight: In that Arthur falls in love with Fenchurch while she's asleep, so he had had ''seen'' her, but he had not met her.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Ford:
-->''Life is like a grapefruit. Well, it's sort of orangy-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have a half a one for breakfast.''
* TheNicknamer: Murray Bost Henson, calling Arthur nicknames of endearment such as, "my old silver tureen", "my old elephant tusk" and "my old prosthetic limb".
* OneParagraphChapter
* PrecisionFStrike: If you're reading the American version of the books[[note]](in the US version of ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything, the award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay is swapped out for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word [[UnusualEuphemism "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay)]] then this book contains a whopper. In fact, all of Chapter 25 is spent building up to it. See SophisticatedAsHell.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: Arthur's computer-assisted star-mapping.
* SapientCetaceans: The disappearance of the dolphins, though previously mentioned in the series, is something of a plot point here.
* SexyDiscretionShot: Offered by the author in a case of NoFourthWall, when he advises the uninterested reader to skip the chapter where Arthur and Fenchurch have sex.
* ShoutOut: Arthur asks if Fenchurch was born [[Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest in a handbag at Fenchurch station]].
* SophisticatedAsHell:
-->''What is he, man or mouse? Is he interested in nothing more than tea and the wider issues of life? Has he no spirit? Has he no passion? Does he not, to put it in a nutshell, [[PrecisionFStrike fuck?]]''
* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Parodied.
-->''If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on the top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would then have something which didn't exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar.''
* TimeyWimeyBall: This book is set a subjective eight years for Arthur after he first left the Earth at the beginning of the first book. As he spent five of those years on prehistoric Earth, it can be inferred that this is about three years after in "real time". But on Earth itself, just under six months appear to have passed (from early September to mid-February). Then again, when he left Earth, it was ''destroyed''. It could be inferred that it took [[spoiler:the dolphins]] two and a half years to get it set up so Earth could continue without anyone noticing the difference.
* UnexpectedGenreChange: For a large part of the book, ScienceFiction yields to romance and SliceOfLife (it's still funny, though).
* VandalismBackfire: Arthur's tale of eating someone else's biscuits.
* WhenHeSmiles: Wonko the Sane.
-->''But his smile when he turned it on you was quite remarkable. It seemed to be composed of all the worst things that life can do to you, but which, when he briefly reassembled them in that particular order on his face, made you suddenly fee, "Oh. Well that's all right then."''
* ZeroGSpot: Arthur and Fenchurch.
----
[[caption-width-right:364:''[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy ...So sad that it should come to this]]\\
[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy We tried to warn you all, but oh dear...]]'']]
'''''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish''''' is the fourth installment in the [[TrilogyCreep increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy; it's set eight years since the beginning of the first book, but the amount of time that has passed between the end of the third, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', and the beginning of this one is not made clear. The plot concerns series protagonist Arthur Dent, who is ''very'' surprised to discover that his homeworld, planet Earth, seems to have suddenly sprung back into existence even though the alien Vogons destroyed it eight years ago to make way for an interstellar bypass.
He explores his old Islington home and, seeing everything back where it should be, starts to suspect that his memories of space travel [[AllJustADream may have been nothing more than hallucinations]]; after all, the people say, a nearby water source was found to be accidentally contaminated by hallucinogens. Arthur returns to his old ways and even strikes up a meaningful romance with Fenchurch, a beautiful young woman who seems just right for him. However, something is not quite right. Every dolphin on Earth seems to have mysteriously disappeared, as has his old friend Ford Prefect, and the appearance of a strange fishbowl on his doorstep sends Arthur, and Fenchurch, on a quest to discover the truth...
Notable for featuring God's Final Message to His Creation.
Preceded by ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything''. Succeeded by ''Literature/MostlyHarmless''.
----
!!''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Averted]]
* AuthorFilibuster
* BavarianFireDrill: Ford pulls this to get himself, Arthur and Fenchurch onto a spaceship and off Earth.
* BrickJoke: This story starts with an almost identical narration to the first novel, before revealing in the first few chapters that Fenchurch was the woman mentioned in it.
* CreatorBreakdown: Adams devotes one entire chapter to how fed up he is with people asking him about Arthur Dent's sex life. With a bit of a dig at people who kept saying, while he was writing this book, "You should put a Zaphod bit in here", by sarcastically concluding that those who ''aren't'' interested in Arthur's sex life should skip to the end, which has Marvin in it. Though an "entire chapter" doesn't mean all that much, since there are quite a few one-page chapters in the series. There is even a chapter in this book that consists of an entire three sentences.
* DemocracyIsBad: "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people, if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in." Though one could argue this is more of an argument against first-past-the-post voting than against democracy in general.
* FirstContact: Ford arrives on Earth in a ship that creates this scenario. He then [[spoiler:sneaks himself, Arthur and Fenchurch on board when it's leaving.]]
* FlightOfRomance: Arthur and Fenchurch take this up to extremes, not just falling in love, but also, um, really getting to know each other.
* TheGenieKnowsJackNicholson: Ford is a fan of the film ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', though the heaps of trouble he's constantly in have kept him from ever finishing it.
* GiantRobot
* IfIHadANickel: Ford says, "If I had a pound for every time one part of the universe looked at another part of the universe and said, 'That's terrible,' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon asking you to bring me a cup of coffee, but I don't and I am."
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Marvin]]
* LawOfConservationOfDetail: Discussed at length in Chapter 25, as the narrator tries to invoke it as an excuse for why this is the first we're hearing of Arthur's love life.
* LookMaNoPlane: Arthur and Fenchurch, taking a somewhat innovative approach to joining the MileHighClub.
* LoveBeforeFirstSight: In that Arthur falls in love with Fenchurch while she's asleep, so he had had ''seen'' her, but he had not met her.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Ford:
-->''Life is like a grapefruit. Well, it's sort of orangy-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have a half a one for breakfast.''
* TheNicknamer: Murray Bost Henson, calling Arthur nicknames of endearment such as, "my old silver tureen", "my old elephant tusk" and "my old prosthetic limb".
* OneParagraphChapter
* PrecisionFStrike: If you're reading the American version of the books[[note]](in the US version of ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything, the award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay is swapped out for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word [[UnusualEuphemism "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay)]] then this book contains a whopper. In fact, all of Chapter 25 is spent building up to it. See SophisticatedAsHell.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: Arthur's computer-assisted star-mapping.
* SapientCetaceans: The disappearance of the dolphins, though previously mentioned in the series, is something of a plot point here.
* SexyDiscretionShot: Offered by the author in a case of NoFourthWall, when he advises the uninterested reader to skip the chapter where Arthur and Fenchurch have sex.
* ShoutOut: Arthur asks if Fenchurch was born [[Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest in a handbag at Fenchurch station]].
* SophisticatedAsHell:
-->''What is he, man or mouse? Is he interested in nothing more than tea and the wider issues of life? Has he no spirit? Has he no passion? Does he not, to put it in a nutshell, [[PrecisionFStrike fuck?]]''
* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Parodied.
-->''If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on the top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would then have something which didn't exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar.''
* TimeyWimeyBall: This book is set a subjective eight years for Arthur after he first left the Earth at the beginning of the first book. As he spent five of those years on prehistoric Earth, it can be inferred that this is about three years after in "real time". But on Earth itself, just under six months appear to have passed (from early September to mid-February). Then again, when he left Earth, it was ''destroyed''. It could be inferred that it took [[spoiler:the dolphins]] two and a half years to get it set up so Earth could continue without anyone noticing the difference.
* UnexpectedGenreChange: For a large part of the book, ScienceFiction yields to romance and SliceOfLife (it's still funny, though).
* VandalismBackfire: Arthur's tale of eating someone else's biscuits.
* WhenHeSmiles: Wonko the Sane.
-->''But his smile when he turned it on you was quite remarkable. It seemed to be composed of all the worst things that life can do to you, but which, when he briefly reassembled them in that particular order on his face, made you suddenly fee, "Oh. Well that's all right then."''
* ZeroGSpot: Arthur and Fenchurch.
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