# His Hovercraft is full of eels--AND SEVERED HEADS!! Newslink
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 4, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459 "2011-08-04T14:23:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/1 "2011-08-04T14:23:12Z")
Ungrateful Hovercraft turns on it’s Creator, in fashion Frankensteinian, and decaptates him!
> **[Stuff](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5380361/Auckland-man-decapitated-testing-hovercraft)**
> [@](#):
>
> Nuttall said they were still unsure of what had happened and they had called in an engineer to examine the machine.
>
> He said they believed it was the first time the man had used the machine.
>
> It was not known whether the man had experience with hovercrafts and where he had purchased the kitset.
Truly, the Hovercraft is a savage & treacherous beastie.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/2 "2011-08-04T17:09:38Z")
If I were the Aucklland police, I would be questioning the eels.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/3 "2011-08-04T20:58:36Z")
_“If you swim back now, I promise no harm will come to you. I **doubt** you’ll get such an offer from the eels.”_
At least he can join the Headless Hunt, though.
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### Author:  [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/4 "2011-08-04T21:27:07Z")
What a horrible accident. However… makes me wonder what the guy was thinking sticking his head under the under carriage. There’s a big propeller down there.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/5 "2011-08-04T22:43:53Z")
In our chatroom at work, someone posted this story.
I asked if the hovercraft was full of eels.
No one got the joke. Which to me, was a great joke in it’s own right.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/6 "2011-08-04T22:50:36Z")
_sings_
“The head’ll come off, like Morrow.”
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/7 "2011-08-04T23:08:59Z")
Hovercraft have two functioning parts. The part that blows air down to get it to “hover”. Another that blows air back to get it to move forward. The first part is most often an enclosed blower, which is usually hard to get to. The second is usually something more like an airplane or airboat propellor at the back of the hovercraft, which will chop body parts off post haste under the right circumstances.
I’d bet that its the second part that got him. And, as a former avid reader of aviation related accidents I’ll tell you people get chopped up by propellors and helicopter rotors way more often than one would think…
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/8 "2011-08-05T06:54:09Z")
If they try to sell it used, I will not buy this hovercraft; it is scratched.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/9 "2011-08-05T15:14:33Z")
For the ignorant amongst us, please explain about the eels. I get that it’s probably some in-joke reference to some movie / game / book / etc. But what’s the rest of the story?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/10 "2011-08-05T15:19:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> For the ignorant amongst us, please explain about the eels. I get that it’s probably some in-joke reference to some movie / game / book / etc. But what’s the rest of the story?
[Monty Python sketch.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Hungarian_Phrasebook)
[YouTube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao)
You’ve no doubt seen some of these around the Boards.
> [@](#):
>
> Notable quotations[3]
>
> ```
> * "I will not buy this record; it is scratched."
> * "I will not buy this tobacconist's; it is scratched."
> * "My hovercraft is full of eels."
> * "Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
> * "You great poof."
> * "If I said you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" (a line made famous by Groucho Marx)
> * "I am no longer infected."
> * "You have beautiful thighs" (said to the policeman).
> * "Drop your panties, Sir William; I cannot wait until lunchtime!"
> * "The Hungarian phrase meaning 'Can you direct me to the station?' is here translated by the English phrase, 'Please fondle my bum.'"
> * "My nipples explode with delight!"
>
> ```
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/11 "2011-08-05T15:28:19Z")
That couldn’t have been an easy build, kit or not. Props to him for trying.
**LSLGuy** , It’s Python, the jist of it being the proof both that some languages don’t translate well and that some well-intentioned speakers of a foreign language in fact get it completely (laughably) wrong.
The frequent links to humorous Asian shop and warning signs you see here are a prime example.
ETA: What **runner pat** said.
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### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/12 "2011-08-05T16:08:51Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> That couldn’t have been an easy build, kit or not. _Props_ to him for trying.
Ehrrr… he got the props alright. :eek:
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/13 "2011-08-06T14:51:47Z")
I was a major Python fan back in the day, but I somehow missed the Hungarian in the Tobacconist sketch. Thanks all.
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### Author:  [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/14 "2011-08-14T01:57:40Z")
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A New Zealand man was decapitated in front of his family while taking a home-made hovercraft on a test run, according to reports Wednesday.
[http://tinyurl.com/4xqdz5j](http://tinyurl.com/4xqdz5j)
Charles Darwin never sleeps, it seems.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/15 "2011-08-14T02:14:13Z")
Silly bugger. Everybody knows kiwis can’t fly!
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/16 "2011-08-14T02:33:03Z")
You’ve been scooped:
[His Hovercraft is full of eels–AND SEVERED HEADS!! Newslink](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=618969&highlight=hovercraft)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/17 "2011-08-14T02:38:05Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> That couldn’t have been an easy build, kit or not. Props to him for trying.
He’s head and shoulders above those who don’t attempt to build and operate one.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/18 "2011-08-14T12:39:49Z")
Where is **Torgo** when it is his moment to shine?
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/19 "2011-08-14T13:25:13Z")
Merged duplicate threads.
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-hovercraft-is-full-of-eels-and-severed-heads-newslink/591459/20 "2011-08-14T14:05:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> He’s head and shoulders above those who don’t attempt to build and operate one.
[clouseau]Not anymore.[/clouseau]