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Comment by sharan | Hacker News Reader

That's breaking a cardinal rule of artists - maintain mysticism. It's the reason the inspiration for American Pie will never be known. Collective human imagination can come up with a far more interesting opinion than any individual can, regardless of how talented they might be.

Mr. Adams, with due respect, I don't know what the Tibetan Monk explanation is but it sounds way more interesting than your garden.

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To me the joy of Adams' humour was his elevation of the mundane. I think this is a perfect example; the fun of this simple little paragraph is that the reality was so parochial but the thing became an independent legend surrounded by Byzantine theories.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it though...

I agree. In hitch hikers the world is about to end because some one wants to build bypass and earth in in the way. No four horse man of the apocalypse, no wrath of god, it's a planning issue. To make it worse, we (the earthlings) didn't read the planning notice and lodge a complaint.

If only we'd read the little laminated form they stuck up.

Maybe this is just an English thing but I suspect it isn't.

Prosser: But the plans were on display. Arthur Dent: On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar. Prosser: That's the display department. If only we'd read the little laminated form they stuck up.

Arthur Dent: With a torch. Prosser: The lights had probably gone. Arthur Dent: So had the stairs. Prosser: But you did see the notice, didn't you? Arthur Dent: Oh, yes. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign outside the door saying "Beware of the Leopard."