Ian,
English humor; take an adjective, (like aghast), and add -ific- and a verb ending- thus creating a new verb!- aghastificated, meaning to be filled with concern! Others in this genre- disconglomerateificate meaning to dismantle, or spifflicate meaning to hit someone hard. Or just add a verb ending to an adjective as in "deaded". 'Deaded' means lightly killed (!) and comes from a British radio series called the Goon Show, from the 1950s. This crazy show unleashed Peter Sellars, ( of Inspector Cluseau/ Pink Panther fame ), on an unsuspecting world, and was a model for the more sophisticated Monty Python lunacies of the 70S.
Written almost exclusively by the late Spike Milligan, the Goon Show is, I believe, still listenable to on the internet. Google "Goon Show BBC Radio 7" will get you there, but it may not tickle American humor buds- many English people didn't get it either!
Spike was a very funny man, and has on his tombstone, in gaelic;
"I told you I was ill!"
Hope this helps!
Alan
PS. It's on tonight, 14OO EST, 1900 BST
A taster:
Neddy Seagoon takes Dartmoor Prison, ( a huge brooding granite penetentiary set on the moors in Devon), hitches it to a horse, and leaving a cardboard replica in its place, sails to France, seeking the legendary Chateau d'If.
Some idiot tunnels out in an escape bid halfway across the English Channel.....
[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 07-12-2005).]
