Talk:The Meaning of Liff

Latest comment: 4 years ago by Sirfurboy in topic Unsourced claim removed

noticed these definitions turning edit

Has anyone noticed these definitions turning up in WP articles about the relevant places? I just found one in Kettering. Totnesmartin 22:32, 31 October 2006 (UTC)Reply

Yes and Abinger too :)

Don't forget User:Grutness! Totnesmartin 22:50, 28 February 2007 (UTC)Reply

Deeper meaning edit

My 1992 edition of The Deeper Meaning of Liff has no sticker, and defines Liff as "a common word or experience for which no word exixts." Hmm. Totnesmartin 22:50, 28 February 2007 (UTC)Reply

Title edit

Isn't "The Meaning Of Liff" named after the title card from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life wherin the bottom of the E falls off, making it appear to spell "LIFF"? --Hughtcool (talk) 14:43, 1 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

No. The book takes place names and assigns silly meanings to them. The title is a play on words that fits nicely with the topic of the book. --TimTay (talk) 15:14, 1 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

Sticker edit

The pictured copy has an elliptical sticker. I think those were used on the second and later printings - originals had a many-pointed star-shaped sticker. By the 46th [sic] printing, the sticker was long gone. --Redrose64 (talk) 14:00, 9 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Precursor volume edit

The wikiarticle mentions a magazine article which may have given the schoolteacher the idea for the game that in turn inspired this book. About 25-30 years ago, subsequent to the publication of The Meaning of Liff (which I had bought on publication), I found on a stall outside a second-hand bookshop in Winchester (Hampshire, UK) a hardback book, probably then several decades old, based on exactly the same principles. Being then unemployed I eventually and reluctantly resisted buying it. Beyond it being from a British publisher I can remember nothing about it – can anyone now identify it? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 84.21.143.150 (talk) 18:45, 5 February 2013 (UTC)Reply

Apparently, the essay referred to was included in a book of Jennings essays called Oddly Ad Lib. Might it have been that? 31.49.117.110 (talk) 20:13, 25 July 2016 (UTC)Reply

Zero edit

Is there a reason for the sentence "0n 15 August 2013, 30th anniversary deluxe edition was published." to start with a zero rather than an "O"? 83.227.19.152 (talk) 16:33, 14 December 2013 (UTC)Reply

Probably just a mistake or a test edit. I've fixed it. In the future, feel free to do so yourself. Tad Lincoln (talk) 08:22, 21 September 2014 (UTC)Reply

Monty Python's Meaning of Life edit

Without having heard the radio documentary, I wonder how flippant Lloyd and Jones were being (always a risk with humorists as sources)? Don't Panic, Neil Gaiman's 1993 biography of Adams, calls the similarities "a coincidence", and that when Adams and Jones realised the similarity, it was too late to change anything. Since Gaiman interviewed Lloyd for the book, he presumably didn't contradict this version of events.

I have a hard time believing anyone would mistake a smaller-than-average 191 page paperback, with a plain black cover for a film script, and I have just as hard a time believing Adams and Lloyd would expect them to. I could believe it got brought up as a joke at around the time Adams and Jones were realising the situation. 31.49.117.110 (talk) 20:13, 25 July 2016 (UTC)Reply

Afterliff

While it is true that John Lloyd and John Canter were the principle architects and editors of Afterliff, the bulk of its content was actually "crowd-sourced", being comprised of entries written by members of the QI and H2G2 internet forums. Both of these forums had (and still have) long-running threads of suggested "Liffs" contributed by numerous posters over many years. Afterliff harvest the bulk of its content from the selected "best suggestions" in these threads. The numerous contributors are all fully credited in the book. (talk) 18:31, 5 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Unsourced claim removed edit

I removed this line: "Following the 2005 movie and the TV adaptations of Last Chance to See and Dirk Gently, there was talk from ITV, never as yet acted upon, of a TV version of The Meaning Of Liff." as it has had a citation request since 2015. I have attempted to source the claim but all hits lead back to Wikipedia as the source which suggests Wikipedia is displaying OR that is being relied upon by others. I cannot find anything that suggests that ITV were seriously considering such a production. In any case, it is not notable unless it moved beyond general discussion and onto the initiation of an actual project. I would be pleased to be proven wrong, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary, this claim does not belong here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sirfurboy (talkcontribs) 10:52, 18 November 2019 (UTC)Reply