How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Hence a phrase which has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.) (3.8)
There's not a lot of slang in Hitchhiker's Guide, which is good for Americans, because British slang can be weird. Luckily this little bit of slang comes with its own translation, but notice how silly that translation is: "sass" can mean everything from "meet" to "have sex with," while they have two separate words for different levels of "together guy." And then there's the whole meaning of "towel." This is not slang that's easy to understand for outsiders. But maybe that's the point of slang?
Quote #2
"I like the cover," he said. "'Don't Panic.' It's the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody's said to me all day." (5.56)
Language is supposed to get a message across, whether it's information or advice or just a joke. It almost seems to work here, but, this being the sort of absurd book it is, Arthur isn't so great at following this advice. This simple advice doesn't really help him very much—he soon starts panicking (5.95-8).
Quote #3
"Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation." (6.26)
We usually think that wars could be prevented if only people could talk to each other and share their feelings. But Hitchhiker's Guide turns this notion around, noting that wars are started because people can communicate. Oops.