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- From: ma@informatik.uni-kiel.dbp.de (Martin Ameskamp)
- Newsgroups: sci.lang,sci.misc
- Subject: 42, The Snark and the Hitchhiker
- Date: 5 Nov 1992 08:12:24 GMT
- Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Kiel, Germany
- Lines: 29
- Message-ID: <1dal18INN8ns@majestix.informatik.uni-kiel.dbp.de>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: sirius.informatik.uni-kiel.dbp.de
-
- Hi there!
-
- first of all, apologies for posting to these groups (sci.misc & sci.lang),
- but we don't get the rec.* hierarchie at this place (disk space).
-
- What I'm trying to find out is the origin of the number '42' (of obvious
- importance in the Hitchhiker).
-
- It also shows up, a couple of years before Adams wrote his books, in
- 'The Hunting of the Snark', in 'Fit the First' where the forgetful Baker is
- described:
-
- He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed,
- with his name painted clearly on each,
- but, since he omitted to mention the fact,
- they were all left behind on the beach!
-
- Does anyone know whether that was the first use of 42 or are there other
- prcedents? (M. Gardner speculates that the use of 42 by Carroll has something
- to do with the fact that he was 42 years old when he wrote the Snark (or
- something along those lines, quoting from memory here))
-
- Anyway, I appreciate all hints!
-
- Martin
- --
- Martin Ameskamp, Kiel University, Germany
- Fax: ++49 431 8804054, Voice: ++49 431 8804474,
- email: ma@informatik.uni-kiel.dbp.de
-