| kink n. a sharp twist or curve
in something linear. |
| |
| schizophrenia n. a long-term
mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between
thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception,
inappropriate actions and feelings, and withdrawal from reality into
fantasy and delusion. |
| DERIVATIVES schizophrenic
adj. & n. |
| ORIGIN C20: mod. L., from Gk skhizein 'to split' +
phren 'mind'. |
| |
| universe n. 1 all existing
matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos. 2 a particular
sphere of activity or experience. |
| ORIGIN ME: from OFr. univers or L.
universum, neut. of universus 'combined into one, whole',
from uni- 'one' + versus 'turned'. |
| AREA: Infinite. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the
Galaxy offers this definition of 'infinite'. Infinite: bigger than the
biggest thing ever and then some. Much bigger than that in fact, really
amazingly immense, a totally stunning size, real 'wow, that's big' time.
Infinity is just so big that by comparison, bigness itself looks really
titchy. Gigantic multiplied by colossal multiplied by staggeringly huge is
the sort of concept we're trying to get across here. |
| IMPORTS: None. It is impossible to import things into an
infinite area, there being no outside to import things from. |
| EXPORTS: None. See IMPORTS. |
| POPULATION: None. It is known that there are an infinite
number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for
them to be in. However, not everyone of them is inhabited. Therefore,
there must be a finite number if inhabited worlds. Any finite number
divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average
population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From
this it follows that the population of the entire Universe is also zero,
and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products
of a deranged imagination. |
| MONETARY UNITS: None. In fact there are three freely
convertible currencies in the Galaxy, but none of them count. The
Altairian Dollar has recently collapsed, the Flainian Pobble
Bead is only exchangeable for other Flainian Pobble Beads, and the
Triganic Pu has its own very special problems. Its exchange rate of
eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough but since a Ningi is a triangular
rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, no one has
ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency,
because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change. From
this basic premise it is very simple to prove that the Galactibanks are
also the product of a deranged imagination. |
| ART: None. The function of art is to hold the mirror up
to nature, and there simply isn't a mirror big enough - see
AREA. |
| SEX: None. Well, in fact there is an awful lot of this,
largely because of the total lack of money, trade, banks, art, or anything
else that might keep the non-existent people of the Universe occupied.
However, it is not worth embarking on a long of it now because it really
is terribly complicated. For further information see Guide Chapters
seven, nine, ten, eleven, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen,
twenty-one to eighty-four inclusive, and in fact most of the rest of the
Guide. |