WHEN the late lamented writer Douglas Adams decided too many words were simply not earning their keep, he and friend John Lloyd penned an ingenious book to force them into doing so.

The writer of cult novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy declared: “The world is littered with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing on signposts, pointing at places.”

He also observed: “There are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognise, but for which no words exist.”

His genius idea, which began as a parlour game between the two authors, was to marry the two and so The Meaning of Liff was born.

Liff is a town in Scotland but according to Adams, who lived for a while with his mother in the Dorset village of Stalbridge, a Liff is: “A book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover. For instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words ‘this book will change your life’.”

Now Adams’ work is being respected in cyberspace by local children’s author and devoted fan Ali Sparkes.

“A few weeks ago I was idly wondering if this book, which is one of my favourites, had its own website,” she says. “I Googled it and was shocked to find it didn’t, there was just the domain for sale so my husband Simon Tilley and I bought it.”

She says there’s nothing financially in the new website for them, “just the pleasure, because we’ve loved The Meaning of Liff for years and used these words in family life,” she says.

Among the Sparkes/Tilley household favourites are: Lulworth, a sudden lull in a hubbub just as you shout out something rude or peculiar to a friend; and Abilene, the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow.

Now Ali, who will be appearing at the Poole Literary Festival in October, wants Daily Echo readers to start adding their own Liff-worthy words to the website.

She has come up with some Dorset ones to get you going: Charmouth, that which results from eating a Pop Tart too soon after toasting; and Compton Valance, the kind of bedspread so slippery it needs to be nailed into place.

But so many Liff-ish place names are going begging. What could have caused a Briantspuddle? What would you do with a Chettle or a Clapgate? Or a Duntish or a Hammoon? Ali wants to know.

Especially helpful would be an explanation to attach to Adams’ own village of Stalbridge; after all, it’s what he’d have wanted.

Liff sentence

Douglas Adams and John Lloyd cut an amusing swathe through Dorset. Here are a few of their originals: Bishop’s Caundle: An opening gambit before a game of chess whereby the missing pieces are replaced by small ornaments from the mantelpiece.

Dorchester (n): A throaty cough by someone else so timed as to obscure the crucial part of the rather amusing remark you’ve just made.

Henstridge: The dried yellow substance found between the prongs of forks in restaurants.

Kimmeridge: The light breeze which blows through your armpit hair when you are stretched out sunbathing.

Tincleton: A man who amuses himself in your lavatory by pulling the chain in midpee and then seeing if he can finish before the flush does.

• themeaningofliff.com