Talk:Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

message: The final sentence of the first paragraph of section 1 seems to be a quote from The Matrix. Without additional knowledge, a reference or an explanation, it makes no sense in a HGttG context, and comes across as an "in" joke. Either it should be removed, or enhanced so that a casual reader will understand its relevance to the topic of the article. -- Dan Griscom (talk) 11:07, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Subtle vandalism of the sort that gives Wikipedia a bad name. Thanks for spotting it! Serendipodous 11:46, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  "The answer is simple: there is no spoon. Follow the white rabbit" should be removed or supported. 

message: Of course, this answer is deliberately wrong: six times nine is, in fact, fifty-four - a misunderstanding entirely too common in those that fail to recognise that the universe is based on misfortune, the decimal number of which is thirteen. (If it still needs spelling out in black and white, six times nine base thirteen is, of course, 42.)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.63.77.35 (talk) 03:54, 3 May 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Adams made clear that base 13 was a coincidence. Serendipodous 08:53, 3 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  42 and six times nine 

message: When one looks at the number 42 something seems to be missing. However, since 0 literally equals nothing, then nothing is missing, making the answer to life, the universe and everything 42(0) :)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.161.37.55 (talk) 22:08, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  42 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070523005850/http://www.douglasadams.se:80/stuff/qanda.html to http://www.douglasadams.se/stuff/qanda.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20120405171149/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/3593/silent-witness?page=0%2C0 to http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/3593/silent-witness?page=0,0
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090715213748/http://news.qthemusic.com:80/2008/05/coldplay_viva_la_vida_1.html to http://news.qthemusic.com/2008/05/coldplay_viva_la_vida_1.html
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Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 14:28, 11 February 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Did Adams get this phrase from the 1960s/1970s BBC comedy series Dad's Army? It was one of the best-known catchphrases from this very popular tv series (as shouted (usually) by Corporal Jones), and I wonder if Adams ever talked about his use of the phrase and whether he 'borrowed' from Dad's Army?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.170.37.219 (talk) 13:49, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps this has a point. See also below, where 42 in context of the German V1 attacks on London plays a role.--79.199.181.159 (talk) 18:11, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Don't panic 

message: A recent internet meme is saying since Douglas Adams was a software engineer, and the ASCII symbol at position 42 (decimal) is an asterix, therefore the answer is "*", where "*" in mathematical expressions is multiply, and in regular expressions means 0 or more, and in SQL can mean "anything", or "all".
TimeHorse (talk) 15:39, 13 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another false myth of the origin of 42 

message: This Connect Four set was from a mental ward in SCUH, Australia, between Jan and March 2019. At the time I thought that the meaning of life, etc, (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) was 42, and the question was "what's 6x7?" (according to the movie script). For some reason I thought I'd count the pieces and the result was unexpected. I wonder how often sets are like this - 1 in 1000? And it was the first time I'd ever tried counting the pieces. There should be 21 of each because tied games are possible. 
:There were ages and place where you got adult at the age of 21. So think about two persons waiting for getting adult. What would allow this to happen? A one-on-one multiplication? At least it sums up to 42 - and this means its life, the universe and everything of course for the involved ones. --Alexander.stohr (talk) 18:30, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Connect Four 

message: Decades before Adam's novel, the number "42" played a crucial role in World War II. Nazi Germany started to use V1, their first V-Weapon on June 15, 1944. According to David Irvings book "The Mare's Nest" from 1964 the order for the 55 German launchpads reads (p. 189 bottom):
>>> All catapults open fire on Target Forty-two with salvo synchronised
at 11:18 p.m. (Impact at 11:40 p.m.) Uniform range 130 miles. Then sustained
fire until 4:50 a.m. <<<
42 was the codename for London.
Would it be appropriate to mention this coincidence in the article?
--79.199.181.159 (talk) 15:05, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: No, it would most certainly not be appropriate. Unless you have reliable secondary sources which explicitly draw a straight line from the Nazis' "42" to Adams' "42", which I sincerely doubt that you have. Anything else is original research and prohibited here on Wikipedia. Elizium23 (talk) 17:31, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  42 in V1 bombing of London in WW II 

message: or that light requires 10−42 seconds to cross the diameter of a proton. - actually, it takes light 10-24 seconds to cross the diameter of a proton. Should I remove it? --Upquark (talk) 12:10, 24 May 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, the statement is still factual. That was a genuine proposed rationale for the use of 42, regardless of whether it was based on fact. Serendipodous 15:27, 24 May 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diameter of a proton 

message: When yesterday using https://www.dcode.fr/word-value a little, I suddenly came to the bold idea and entered this word into the dialog - after hitting the submit button i got this pairing:
:fish - 42
No, its not guessing. Its just plain fact.
Having the answer in my hands sounds interesting. And it sounds pretty in tune with the religious background of the Monty Python group, such as "Life of Brian" and how it was all time meant to be a pun towards strict "bible belt" style Christian power people in the UK. What's the symbol of Christ? Indeed Ichtys, the fish.
Of course there can always be other meanings like a phonetic one: 42 = for two, such as found in "i want to book a hotel room for two persons" - Adams denied telling you its about an adultery story? But think again... the legendary Babel Fish is also meant "for two" persons, for communications with one sender and one receiver. - Its all about the fish. Thanks. --Alexander.stohr (talk) 18:06, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  word counting 

message: An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect :Don't Panic (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 October 27#Don't Panic (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion.  Steel1943 (talk) 19:56, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Don't Panic (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]]