New Douglas Adams dictionary

Beloved author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, died 11 years ago, but his legacy lives on.

Adams wrote The Meaning of Liff, a dictionary of “things that there should be words for but aren’t”, and his family and friends have now written a new volume called Afterliff. The book will be published in August next year.

The original Meaning of Liff, and its 1990 sequel The Deeper Meaning of Liff, set out to find a use for the “spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places”.

“Our job, as we see it, is to get these words down off the signposts and into the mouths of babes and sucklings and so on, where they can start earning their keep in everyday conversation and make a more positive contribution to society,” wrote Adams and Lloyd in 1984, before going on to explain the meaning of words including “liff” itself: “A book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover. For instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words. ‘This book will change your life’.” (Source: Guardian)

Afterliff’s new words include:

Poughkeepsie (n)
One who supervises, curates, or commentates on another’s colonic irrigation

Gussage St Michael (n)
System used by Marks & Spencers’ store planners to ensure that the way to the men’s sock counter always passes through the ladies’ lingerie department

Want to learn some new words of your own? Try Portuguese classes in New York.