NavList:

Sean, you wrote: 
"That reminded me of a joke I heard in an episode of "Futurama"."

Heh. Yeah, as soon as I saw you mention Futurama, I had a good guess where this was going. When I saw the URL with "smelloscope" in it, I knew I didn't need to wait for the video clip to load. One of my favorite moments from the early days of Futurama!

Speaking of the Georgian (as it was known before it became Uranus), I have wondered recently whether the re-naming was, in fact, an elaborate and brilliantly successful practical joke played on the English-speaking world. Continental Europeans and others were understandably annoyed by the preposterous choice of "The Georgian" for the seventh planet -- naming a major planet of the Solar System in honor of the reigning monarch of Britain. Certainly the majority of those who recommended the name Uranus also spoke some English. Did they realize that the name would embarrass some English astronomers and become a source of scatological humor among English speakers for centuries to come??

Comedy is an under-rated force in history.

Frank Reed
Clockwork Mapping / ReedNavigation.com
Conanicut Island USA