Glossary entry (derived from question below)
May 25, 2004 06:03
19 yrs ago
English term
42
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
These were hard little bastards, twelve-, thirteen-year-old chain-smokers; they didn't give a shit. They really didn't give a shit--your health, their health, teachers, parents, police --whatever. Smoking was their answer to the universe, their 42, their raison d'etre. They were passionate about fags.
Any idea what this "42" means? Thanks!
Any idea what this "42" means? Thanks!
Responses
| 4 +20 | their answer to everything |
ohemulen
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| 5 +15 | see comment |
Hacene
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| 4 +6 | Addition to the previous answere |
Attila Piróth
|
Responses
+20
6 mins
Selected
their answer to everything
From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you!"
+6
1 hr
Attila Piróth
France
France
France
PhD, ATA-certified En-Hu, sci-tech-IT
Native in: Hungarian 
Works in: English to Hungarian, French to Hungarian, Hungarian to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
3
Addition to the previous answere
just type "42" in google... You will find a lot of amusing stuff.
As any digital hardware engineer, or software engineer, can tell you, the number '42' in base ten is equal to '101010' in base two. This alternating pattern of ones and zeros illustrates DEEP Thought's indecision about the Ultimate Question.
Of course, in the original Hitchhiker's Guide radio scripts, when Arthur has the "cave man" put out Scrabble stones and the sentence "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" emerges, and then Arthur says "Six by nine? Forty-two? You know, I've always felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Universe." -- it is at this point that a faint and distant voice says "base thirteen!".
42 (base 13) is equal to 54 (base 10). (Of Course -- Douglas Adams has been quoted as saying " You just don't write jokes in base 13!" )
To dispel any myths about 42 (and to make Douglas Adams Happy!), Douglas Adams also wrote on USENET: The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story
As any digital hardware engineer, or software engineer, can tell you, the number '42' in base ten is equal to '101010' in base two. This alternating pattern of ones and zeros illustrates DEEP Thought's indecision about the Ultimate Question.
Of course, in the original Hitchhiker's Guide radio scripts, when Arthur has the "cave man" put out Scrabble stones and the sentence "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" emerges, and then Arthur says "Six by nine? Forty-two? You know, I've always felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Universe." -- it is at this point that a faint and distant voice says "base thirteen!".
42 (base 13) is equal to 54 (base 10). (Of Course -- Douglas Adams has been quoted as saying " You just don't write jokes in base 13!" )
To dispel any myths about 42 (and to make Douglas Adams Happy!), Douglas Adams also wrote on USENET: The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story
Reference:
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
A-Z Trans (X)
1 hr
|
| agree |
humbird
: Wow! This is really edifying stuff. I've never known this before.
9 hrs
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| agree |
Craft.Content
10 hrs
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| agree |
John Bowden
: Excellent explanation! Most people miss the fact that the answer is mathematically inaccurate!
15 hrs
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| agree |
kellyn (X)
: holy cow. I'm dizzy. John Bowden's comment is hilarious also.
20 hrs
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| agree |
Alexandra Tussing
: how interesting
2 days 20 hrs
|
+15
8 mins
see comment
42 is referring to Douglas Adam's Hitch Hiker Guide to the Galaxy
basically some alien (pan dimensional being living in our universe under the forme of mice) built a massive computer to answer the fundamental question of Life, The Universe and Everything. After thinking about it for millions of years, he gave them the answer: 42 as the ultimate answer.
but by then forgot the question. So they had to built a new computer to figure out the question: Earth and us as microchips, but... and you need to read the book to see what it is all about.
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Note added at 12 mins (2004-05-25 06:16:54 GMT)
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should read: the Hichhiker\'s Guide to the Galaxy
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 52 mins (2004-05-25 07:55:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
should read: the Hitchhiker\'s Guide to the Galaxy
basically some alien (pan dimensional being living in our universe under the forme of mice) built a massive computer to answer the fundamental question of Life, The Universe and Everything. After thinking about it for millions of years, he gave them the answer: 42 as the ultimate answer.
but by then forgot the question. So they had to built a new computer to figure out the question: Earth and us as microchips, but... and you need to read the book to see what it is all about.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2004-05-25 06:16:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
should read: the Hichhiker\'s Guide to the Galaxy
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 52 mins (2004-05-25 07:55:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
should read: the Hitchhiker\'s Guide to the Galaxy
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
RHELLER
: the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe and Everything
1 min
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cheers Rita
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| agree |
Krisztina Lelik
17 mins
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cheers Krisztina
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| agree |
Randa Farhat
: http://empirenet.com/~dljones/
19 mins
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cheers Kalila, nice link
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| agree |
Jonathan Spector
40 mins
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cheers Jonathan
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| agree |
Attila Piróth
51 mins
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cheers Attila
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| agree |
Stefanie Sendelbach
1 hr
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cheers Sundari
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| agree |
A-Z Trans (X)
2 hrs
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cheers mbtrad
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| agree |
vixen
3 hrs
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cheers Vixen
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| agree |
DGK T-I
: the great computer tells them that what they really wanted to know was the question, and.... :-) (Kalilah & Attila's ref.fascinating)
4 hrs
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Yes, such a brilliant piece of literature
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| agree |
mrrobkoc
6 hrs
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cheers Beeboy
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| agree |
humbird
: Sounds like an interesting & fascinating book. Hacene, than you for educating me.
9 hrs
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my pleasure Susan, as it is an absolutely iconic master piece which should keep you entertained from beginning till the ....
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| agree |
Armorel Young
10 hrs
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cheers Armorel
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| agree |
Craft.Content
11 hrs
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cheers Nbhairav
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| agree |
John Bowden
16 hrs
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cheers John
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| agree |
Alexandra Tussing
2 days 21 hrs
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cheers Alaxandra
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