History Literature / TheMeaningOfLiff

* ShoutOut: To Creator/MontyPython. The title was specifically a riff on that of their contemporary film ''[[Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife The Meaning of Life]]'', although it also works as a more general {{pun}} on the common phrase.

* ApologisesALot: Greeley.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: The definition for "nacton" gives the examples ''fish 'n' chips'', ''mix 'n' match'' and ''assault 'n' battery''.
** The definition of "toronto":

* BrilliantButLazy: Ible.

* CutHimselfShaving: Sluggan is when you really ''did'' walk into a door, but no-one believes you.
* HomeMadeSweaterFromHell: Jurby.
* IgnoreTheDisability: Wigan -- an ITN newsreader with a DodgyToupee was supposedly always given stories about that town.

* LiteralCliffHanger: A grimmit is the small bush cartoon characters cling onto.
* MondegreenGag: Woolfardisworthy. From ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'':

* SpannerInTheWorks: Aboyne.
* TermsOfEndangerment: Nyarling.

Hence if you ever find yourself, for instance, abruptly discovering you've been [[MondegreenGag hearing a song lyric wrong]] all these years: well that moment of discovery, according to this book, has a name: a ''rhymney''[[labelnote:*]](a town in the Welsh Valleys)[[/labelnote]]. Or you know when someone in a crowded room is attempting to tell another person something private, rude or plain weird, [[SevenMinuteLull just as everyone else falls silent]]? Well, now you can measure the precise loudness and/or embarrassment of this statement as a ''lulworth''[[labelnote:*]](a cove on the South Coast of England)[[/labelnote]]. A ''droitwich''[[labelnote:*]](a spa town in the central English county of Worcestershire)[[/labelnote]] is the little hopping dance performed by two pedestrians [[OverlyPolitePals each attempting to give way to the other]] and failing. And so on.

Hence if you ever find yourself, for instance, abruptly discovering you've been [[{{Mondegreen}} hearing a song lyric wrong]] all these years: well that moment of discovery, according to this book, has a name: a ''rhymney''[[labelnote:*]](a town in the Welsh Valleys)[[/labelnote]]. Or you know when someone in a crowded room is attempting to tell another person something private, rude or plain weird, [[SevenMinuteLull just as everyone else falls silent]]? Well, now you can measure the precise loudness and/or embarrassment of this statement as a ''lulworth''[[labelnote:*]](a cove on the South Coast of England)[[/labelnote]]. A ''droitwich''[[labelnote:*]](a spa town in the central English county of Worcestershire)[[/labelnote]] is the little hopping dance performed by two pedestrians [[OverlyPolitePals each attempting to give way to the other]] and failing. And so on.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Woolfardisworthy. From ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'':

A revised and expanded version was published in 1990 as ''The Deeper Meaning Of Liff'', though a further revision (after Adams' AuthorExistenceFailure) for 2013's 30th anniversary restored the original title. In 2012 a sequel, ''Afterliff'', was published, compiled by Lloyd and Jon Cantor with added liffs submitted from fans and famous friends.

** The back cover of ''The Deeper Meaning of Liff'' boasted "Twice as many definitions[[note]]Well, nearly twice as many[[/note]]. Lavishly illustrated. Crammed with bottom jokes."

* LiteralCliffHanger: A grimmit is the small bush cartoon characters cling onto.

* TheShill: Tigharry, specifically in the three-card trick.

''The Meaning of Liff'' is a humorous mock-dictionary by writer Creator/DouglasAdams and [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] comedy producer John Lloyd, first published in 1983, which uses placenames as {{neologism}}s. The authors' rationale was that there are loads of everyday things, recognisable sensations and familiar situations for which the English language lacks a precise name, while at the same time there are tonnes of interesting words doing no more than sitting around on road signs all day -- so they decided to pair them up.

In real life the real Liff is a Scottish village, in Angus near Dundee. Its 'meaning', as given in the current edition of the book, is appropriately:

The idea was sparked in a conversation Adams and Lloyd had while on holiday in Corfu in 1978 (when the former, a RidiculousProcrastinator, was attempting to write ''[[Literature/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''), and based on memories of a school assignment the young Douglas was once given -- which may have itself been based on a 1950s essay by English humorist Paul Jennings, ''Ware, Wye and Watford''. Some of ''Liff'''s definitions originally appeared in the ''Series/NotTheNineOClockNews'' calender, and "glossop" and "scrogs" are mentioned in the additional material in the ''Series/{{Blackadder}}: The Whole Damn Dynasty'' script book; both shows were directed by Lloyd.

A revised and expanded version was published in 1990 as ''The Deeper Meaning Of Liff'', though a further revision for 2013's 30th anniversary restored the original title. In 2012 a sequel, ''Afterliff'', was published, compiled by Lloyd and Jon Cantor with added submissions from fans and famous friends.

TropeNamer for:
-->''''' {{Zeerust}}''''' ''n. The particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic.''
(It's a town in South Africa, in case you're interested.)
-->''''' ZeerustCanon'''''

* ShoutOut: To Creator/MontyPython. The title was specifically a riff on that of their contemporary film ''[[Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife The Meaning of Life]]'', although it also works as a more general {{pun}} on the phrase.

-->''''' {{ZeerustCanon}}'''''