I first came across this splendid way of reassigning some of Britain’s splendid place names as words in a couple of Paul Jennings’ pieces written for The Observer. Now sadly forgotten he was a past master (none of your Bovey Tracey ways here Miss, being my particular favourite). In Afterliff, the humour comes from the words that John Lloyd and Jon Canter find the need for more than the aptness of the place-name chosen. However large the vocabulary of the English Language there is obviously always room for more!
Agharoo - A larger-than-life sneeze in a Bollywood comedy, used as the basis for a dance routine. Toames pl - The first furtive touching of toes in bed after a severe row with your partner. Ruswarp - To deliberately write a word unclearly when you don't know how to spell it. Loudwater - A child's strongly held opinion, copied word for word from its parents. Inverness - The loneliness of garden chairs in winter. For more than a decade John Lloyd and Jon Canter have been collecting together these definitions, written by them and many other friends of Douglas Adams, who co-write the original bestseller The Meaning of Liff back in 1983. Each definition is based on a place name. Always funny, often profound, and entirely unique, this is the essential book for anyone who faces the minor challenges of everyday life, and has been at a loss for words for how to express them.
John Lloyd has a broadcasting background. As a radio producer he devised The News Quiz and To the Manor Born before moving to television to start Not the Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, Blackadder and, of course, QI.
Jon Canter is a novelist and scriptwriter who has written for Lenny Henry, Rowan Atkinson, Richard Wilson and Dawn French, among others. His novels Seeds of Greatness, A Short Gentleman and Worth are published by Vintage.
