# Strange use of the word “Fit"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 29, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470 "2016-02-29T02:13:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470/1 "2016-02-29T02:13:50Z")

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The Audio series “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” has the various chapters labeled as “fit,” as in "Fit The Thirteenth,” Fit The Fourteenth,” etc.

What meaning of “fit” is this?

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470/2 "2016-02-29T02:56:36Z")

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I’ve always assumed that it’s fit as in spasm, paroxysm, convulsion, epileptic fit, and by analogy any sudden burst of activity, enthusiasm, etc.

But the OED says there is also an obsolete sense of _fit_ meaning a part or section of a poem or song. As Adams took a BA in English Literature at Cambridge he was possibly aware of this sense of the word, and his use of the word in _Hitchhiker_ may have been intended to evoke both senses.

Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem _The Hunting of the Snark_ is also divided into fits; Adams may have been inspired by this.

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470/3 "2016-02-29T03:04:33Z")

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> [@UDS](#):
>
> I’ve always assumed that it’s fit as in spasm, paroxysm, convulsion, epileptic fit, and by analogy any sudden burst of activity, enthusiasm, etc.
> 
> But the OED says there is also an obsolete sense of _fit_ meaning a part or section of a poem or song. As Adams took a BA in English Literature at Cambridge he was possibly aware of this sense of the word, and his use of the word in _Hitchhiker_ may have been intended to evoke both senses.
> 
> Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem _The Hunting of the Snark_ is also divided into fits; Adams may have been inspired by this.

wiki says

> [@](#):
>
> The first radio series of six episodes (called “Fits” after the names of the sections of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”)[9] was broadcast in 1978 on BBC Radio

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470/4 "2016-02-29T03:05:14Z")

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Thank you - that makes some sense.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-use-of-the-word-fit/747470/5 "2016-02-29T03:15:18Z")

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I thought you were going to ask about another odd (to my ears) use of “fit” in British English. Apparently, they use it to mean “hot,” “sexy,” or “attractive.” In my mind, someone can be “fit” (physically fit, that is, muscular, thin, not overweight, healthy, or something like that), and still be unattractive.