[Cialug] OT: HHGTTG 4/29

[Tad Anhalt]

Dave J. Hala Jr. wrote:
> Towel?

From:  http://hhgproject.org/entries/towel.html

 Towel

Just about the most massively useful thing any interstellar Hitchhiker
can carry. For one thing it has great practical value - you can wrap it
around you for warmth on the cold moons of Jaglan Beta, sunbathe on it
on the marble beaches of Santraginus Five, huddle beneath it for
protection from the Arcturan Megagnats as you sleep beneath the stars of
Kakrafoon, use it to sail a miniraft down the slpow heavy river Moth,
wet it for use in hand to hand combat, wrap it round your head to avoid
the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, and even dry
yourself off with it if it still seems clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some
reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker
has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in
possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask,
compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit
etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker
any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might
accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who
can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it,
struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his
towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase which has passed into hitch hiking slang, as in "Hey, you
sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his
towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really
together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

HTH,
Tad Anhalt