The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things There Aren't Any Words for Yet- But There Ought to Be (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author), Bert Kitchen (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The phenomenal best-selling author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy teams up with the brilliant creator of "Not the Nine O'Clock News"; the result is a dictionary unlike any before. It gives words--which happen to be actual names of towns or cities somewhere in the world--to objects and experiences that demand to be named, but never have been. Until now. 40 line drawings.

About the Author

Douglas Adams was the bestselling author of many works including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, recently released as a major motion picture. He died in 2001.

John Lloyd is (he says) Britain’s most successful television comedy producer since Chaucer and is responsible for Not the Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image, and Blackadder, among others.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Harmony (September 28, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517585979
• ISBN-13: 978-0517585979
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #659,782 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Save the language - recycle place names!, December 6, 2000

By	Primoz Peterlin (Ljubljana, Slovenia) - See all my reviews

The idea behind The Meaning of Liff, first published in 1983, as well as The Deeper Meaning of Liff, which followed seven years later, is actually quite simple. As the authors put it: there are hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no word exists. On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.

Douglas Adams - the one of the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy fame - and John Lloyd have done their best trying to pair the two. Just for the gusto, here's an example of dictionary entry: Wyoming (ptcpl.vb.) Moving in hurried desperation from one cubicle to another in a public lavatory trying to find one which has a lock on the door, a seat on the bowl and no brown streaks on the seat.

Although The Deeper Meaning of Liff is significantly expanded in size over the original, I guess I would choose the latter. While The Meaning of Liff mostly covers place names from the Britain, the expansions seem to be predominantly reaching abroad, resulting in somewhat diluted compendium. After all, there is some logic that English place names are fitting best in an English dictionary, isn't it?

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

I have only been able to read this book by uploading it from different websites. However, in response to the question of WHERE CAN I FIND THE FIRST ONE? you already have it. I've seen reviews and summaries that explain that the deeper meaning of liff is just the original meaning of liff but with extra entries. Realizing this has cleared up a lot of confusion on my part, and i hope it helps out others.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short Quck Laughs, August 26, 2006

By	M. Richards (Central West Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things There Aren't Any Words for Yet--But There Ought to Be (Paperback)

In a hurry stressed out... just read a couple quick definitions it will lighten your mood it does mine