Friday 22 October 2010

David Attenborough Hiding Behind A Tree

Whorf Angling

It is, of course, perfectly natural to assume that everyone else is having a far more exciting time than you. Human beings, for instance, have a phrase which describes this phenomenon: “the other man’s grass is always greener.”

The Sheltinack race of Broopkedren Thirteen had a similar phrase, but since their planet is somewhat eccentric, botanically speaking, the best they could manage was, “the other Sheltinack’s jupleberry shrub is always a more mauvey shade of pinky russet”. And so the expression soon fell into disuse.

And the Sheltinacks had little option but to become terribly happy and contented with their lot - much to the surprise of everyone else in the galaxy, who had not realised that the best way not to be unhappy is not to have a word for it…