Ford Perfect - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ tweaks

2026-05-10T18:20:47Z

‎Origin: tweaks

Schneelocke: sic

2026-05-10T10:11:47Z

sic

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ word choice

2024-06-21T08:29:41Z

‎Origin: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: thank you

2024-06-17T00:23:05Z

thank you

Furey: Grammar and punctuation.

2024-06-17T00:22:32Z

Grammar and punctuation.

Umbire the Phantom: can't forget the category

2024-06-17T00:21:12Z

can't forget the category

Umbire the Phantom: touch it up and then some

2024-06-17T00:18:40Z

touch it up and then some

Umbire the Phantom: Let's make us an actual proper article

2024-06-16T23:46:27Z

Let's make us an actual proper article

Furey: Introducing Ford Perfect.

2024-06-16T19:21:08Z

Introducing Ford Perfect.

New page

'''Ford Perfect''' is a [[monster]] in [[SlashTHEM]].

The SlashTHEM source code says:<ref>https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880</ref>
<tt>/* ------||---- --> THIS IS ***NOT*** A TYPO !!!! */</tt>
<tt>MON("Ford Perfect", S_HUMAN,</tt>

So be careful, editors. The character from [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] is named Ford ''Prefect''. The monster from SlashTHEM is named Ford ''Perfect''. Most (but not all) of the references in our articles are the latter. If you make an error, just use a [[towel]] to erase your [[engraving]], and try again.

== References ==
<references/>

{{stub}}

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 '''Ford Prefect''' (sic) is one of the main characters from the [[Douglas Adams]] franchise, [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. He is a Betelgeusian (rather than human as in SlashTHEM) who spent some time on Earth doing research for the titular guide, but what was intended to be a week of time became 15 years when he was stranded there, which is how he encounters [[wikipedia:Arthur Dent|Arthur Dent]] and eventually rescues him from the destruction of earth by [[wikipedia:Vogon|the Vogons]].
-"Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, causing his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
+"Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven that Ford's father was the only survivor of&mdash;Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, causing his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
 Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM.<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref> Editors on this wiki who make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 ==Origin==
 {{wikipedia|Ford Prefect (character)}}
-'''Ford Prefect''' is one of the main characters from the [[Douglas Adams]] franchise, [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. He is a Betelgeusian (rather than human as in SlashTHEM) who spent some time on Earth doing research for the titular guide, but what was intended to be a week of time became 15 years when he was stranded there, which is how he encounters [[wikipedia:Arthur Dent|Arthur Dent]] and eventually rescues him from the destruction of earth by [[wikipedia:Vogon|the Vogons]].
+'''Ford Prefect''' (sic) is one of the main characters from the [[Douglas Adams]] franchise, [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. He is a Betelgeusian (rather than human as in SlashTHEM) who spent some time on Earth doing research for the titular guide, but what was intended to be a week of time became 15 years when he was stranded there, which is how he encounters [[wikipedia:Arthur Dent|Arthur Dent]] and eventually rescues him from the destruction of earth by [[wikipedia:Vogon|the Vogons]].
 "Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, causing his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 '''Ford Prefect''' is one of the main characters from the [[Douglas Adams]] franchise, [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. He is a Betelgeusian (rather than human as in SlashTHEM) who spent some time on Earth doing research for the titular guide, but what was intended to be a week of time became 15 years when he was stranded there, which is how he encounters [[wikipedia:Arthur Dent|Arthur Dent]] and eventually rescues him from the destruction of earth by [[wikipedia:Vogon|the Vogons]].
-"Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, which caused his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
+"Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, causing his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
 Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM.<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref> Editors on this wiki who make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 "Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, which caused his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
-Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref>. Editors on this wiki who make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.
+Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM.<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref> Editors on this wiki who make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.
 ==Encyclopedia entry==

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 "Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, which caused his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
-Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref> editors on this wiki that make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.
+Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref>. Editors on this wiki who make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.
 ==Encyclopedia entry==

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 {{stub}}
 {{variant-343}}
 [[Category:SlashTHEM monsters]]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
   |reference=
 }}
-'''Ford Perfect''', {{white|@}}, is a [[monster]] that appears in [[SlashTHEM]]. He is a [[unique]] [[Human (monster attribute)|human]] monster.
+'''Ford Perfect''' (sic), {{white|@}}, is a [[monster]] that appears in [[NetHack: The Next Generation]] and [[SlashTHEM]]. He is a [[unique]] [[Human (monster attribute)|human]] monster.
 Ford Perfect has a single claw attack.
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 ==Origin==
 {{wikipedia|Ford Prefect (character)}}
-'''Ford Prefect''' is one of the main characters from the [[Douglas Adams]] franchise, [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. He is a Betelgeusian who spent some time on Earth doing research for the titular guide, but what was intended to be a week of time became 15 years when he was stranded there, which is how he encounters [[Arthur Dent]] and eventually rescues him from the destruction of earth by the [[Vogon]]s.
+'''Ford Prefect''' is one of the main characters from the [[Douglas Adams]] franchise, [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. He is a Betelgeusian (rather than human as in SlashTHEM) who spent some time on Earth doing research for the titular guide, but what was intended to be a week of time became 15 years when he was stranded there, which is how he encounters [[wikipedia:Arthur Dent|Arthur Dent]] and eventually rescues him from the destruction of earth by [[wikipedia:Vogon|the Vogons]].
 "Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, which caused his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
-Ford's last name is spelled as "Perfect" in SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo, and the change is likely to avoid possible copyright issues.<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref>
+Adams observed that US audiences believed his name was intended to be spelled as "Ford Perfect"; the joke about the line of cars as explained above is also largely lost on younger audiences in modern Britain, since the Ford Prefect now a rare sight on British roads. The film adaptation never states Ford's last name on-screen, but it is given in the credits as "Prefect". Ford's last name is deliberately spelled as "Perfect" in NetHack: The Next Generation and SlashTHEM: the source code emphasizes this is not a typo in both instances, with spoilers included in the original patch of The Next Generation jokingly suggesting that "Prefect" is the misspelling, and the comment included in the monst.c entry is left unaltered in SlashTHEM<ref>[https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880 SlashTHEM src/monst.c, line 4880]</ref> editors on this wiki that make this error, genuinely or otherwise, are advised to use a [[towel]] to erase their [[engraving]] and try again.
 ==References==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Ford Perfect''' is a [[monster]] in [[SlashTHEM]].
+{{monster
-The SlashTHEM source code says:<ref>https://github.com/Soviet5lo/SlashTHEM/blob/develop/src/monst.c#L4880</ref>
+Ford Perfect has a single claw attack.
-So be careful, editors. The character from [[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] is named Ford ''Prefect''. The monster from SlashTHEM is named Ford ''Perfect''. Most (but not all) of the references in our articles are the latter. If you make an error, just use a [[towel]] to erase your [[engraving]], and try again.
+==Origin==
-== References ==
+"Ford Prefect" is an assumed name based directly on [[wikipedia:Ford Prefect|the popular line of British cars]] manufactured from 1938 to 1961 - the story states that Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth's society, but had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research" and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous"; Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth to be the British car. A footnote in the novel explains that Ford's birth name is "only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect", which was almost wiped out by a mysterious catastrophe on the planet Betelgeuse Seven, which Ford's father was the only survivor of - Ford thus never learned to pronounce his birth name, which caused his father to literally die of shame (which is still considered a terminal disease in some parts of the Universe).
 <references/>
 {{stub}}