existential questions...

[docmartin]

Is there any tea on this spaceship?

[pup]

Pup helpfully passes Docmartin a plastic cup filled with a liquid that is almost, but not
quite, entirely unlike tea.

Only the elevator is existential.

(At first I thought you were asking if there is any tea on a spaceship so I was going to ask a friend who works for NASA. )

[Chosen]

sorry for the derail..but...
I am completely clueless about what this means...Is there any tea on this spaceship? and although I like the way pup answered..(.it reminds me of Winnie the Pooh for some reason)... I have no idea what it means...

Even after reading what existential is..I remain clueless.. Why is that? Some words and their meanings escape me..Like the word existential.. another word is epic...I cannot grasp that word ..epic.. I have read and re-read the meaning and every time I hear ..epic.. it confuses me? There are many other words I find I have trouble with. It leaves me feeling I will contribute nothing to a conversation..so I say very little.

Now this word..existential, has the same affect...Unable to grasp the meaning and use it in a sentence..

Can someone explain why I cannot understand some words..nor how or when to use them..

Is there any tea on this spaceship? Made me think docmartin was drunk and wanted some tea to sober up... and then I thought it was about mood swings... and then I read pups answer and thought...I am even more confused than I thought..

[docmartin]

"Is there any tea on this spaceship" are words spoken by Arthur Dent in the 1980's BBC series "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" (3rd episode)
Since the spaceship was going to crash on an unknown planet, his question could be considered existential for an Englishman...

[Toad]

And Pups reply was based on the tea said spaceship produced, I only know what they meant as I'm a hitchhikers freak.
I have no idea what existential means. I think of epic as meaning completely over the top for a given situation but that may only be relavent to the way I use it...

It leaves me feeling I will contribute nothing to a conversation..so I say very little.

I can identify with this, I often feel like what I write will not be seen as worth reading so I don't write it.
You are not alone Chosen.

[pup]

I apologize, it must have sounded daft. As I said, it took me a few moments to catch on myself, but that's the fun of it.

As to my elevator comment, it was a joking reference to Hitchhiker's Guide based on this part of the story:

Lift descends. Door opens.

Marvin
Hello Lift.

Lift
(Soft muzakky sort of voice) Hello. I am to be your elevator for this trip to the floor of your choice. I have been designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation to take you, the visitor to the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, into these, their offices. If you enjoy your ride which will be swift and pleasurable then you may care to experience some of the other elevators which have recently been installed in the offices of the Galactic Tax Department, Boobiloo Baby Foods and the Sirian State Mental Hospital, where many ex-Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Executives will be delighted to welcome your visits, sympathy and happy tales of life out in the big wide world.

Zaphod
Yeah? What else to you do besides talk?

Lift
I go up or down.

Zaphod
Good. We're going up.

Lift
Or down.

Zaphod
Yeah, ok, up please.

Lift
Down's very nice.

Zaphod
Oh yeah?

Lift
Super.

Zaphod
Good. Now will you take us up?

Lift
May I ask you if you've considered all the possibilities that down might offer you?

Zaphod
Like what?

Lift
Well, er, there's the basement, the microfiles, the heating system... um. Nothing particularly exciting I'll admit, but they are alternative possibilities.

Zaphod
Ah, Zarquon's knees, did I ask for an existential elevator? What's the matter with the thing?