http://wiki.lspace.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Superluser&feedformat=atomDiscworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T02:07:41ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.40.0http://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=User_talk:Superluser&diff=34857User talk:Superluser2023-08-13T19:32:22Z<p>Superluser: thx</p>
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<div>Hi, Superluser. I'm enjoying reading your annotations. Much appreciated! [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum|talk]]) 00:14, 30 April 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:Hey, thanks for the kind words! I'm sorry I didn't say this earlier; I got a bit of tunnel vision in finishing the series once the HarperCollins strike ended here in the States [[User:Superluser|Superluser]] ([[User talk:Superluser|talk]])</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Shepherd%27s_Crown/Annotations&diff=34856Book:The Shepherd's Crown/Annotations2023-08-12T01:55:47Z<p>Superluser: Some annotations</p>
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<div>'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p10:'''''<br />
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Tiffany notices young Feegle are following her on her rounds and collecting examples of the strongest substance known to man, toenail clippings from the elderly. It is not specified as to what they do with them, but she suspects some sort of weapon-use is involved. Later in the book crescent-shaped boomerangs are deployed as weapons.<br />
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Compare this to Pat O'Shea's fantasy novel ''Hounds of the Morrigan'' ([http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Reading_suggestions#Pat_O.27Shea| Reading_Suggestions]) where the Celtic Irish war goddess Morrigan returns to Ireland. She/they (the Morrigan is a triple Goddess) uses her fingernails as a sort of boomerang-like ninja throwing star. This is also in Irish mythology, apparently. Where fingernails are lethal projectile weapons.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p19:'''''<br />
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''Mephistopheles'' is a good name for a goat. Although perhaps not as fitting as "Baphomet". Apparently Geoffrey Swivel got the name from a book. Geoffrey reads widely. Another literary Swivel on the Disc is the Ankh-Morpork Times' literary critic [[Tuppence Swivel]]. On Roundworld the demon Mephistopheles appears to Faust, in both book and opera, to offer him the Standard Contract. Demons, such as Baphomet, are closely associated with goats. And we know on the Discworld the nearest equivalent to the Faust thing happened with a youth called {{E}}. <br />
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And the story of the goat Mephistopheles - the rejected runt in the litter who needs intervention in order to survive - is echoed a little later when Tiffany Aching rescues the unwanted triplet Tiffany Robinson (p48). Foreshadowing? And things come in threes: Geoffrey is the youngest of three sons, Tiffany Robinson is the youngest of triplets, Mephistopheles the youngest of a litter of kids. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p21:'''''<br />
Langus, who like Daedelus managed to fly. This is not a million miles away from Lingus, as in the Irish national airline Aer Lingus. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p32 and on:'''''<br />
Pratchett tours the Disc to get a series of reactions, from established characters, to the Disc-changing event that marks the early part of this book (sorry: no spoilers. But it's a big one. We can rewrite this bit after the book has circulated a bit and people have had time to read it.) As he calls back to the events of {{ER}} - Smith's rag-rug on the bed and a very brief cameo from Esk - he reverts, in this chapter, to the second-person writing style that distinguished {{ER}} from the other early novels. And of course just as Esk was a girl who wanted to become a wizard, Geoffrey is a boy who wants to become a witch. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p42:'''''<br />
An enigma fated never to be be resolved: the second reference to [[Eskarina Smith]]'s son (although this is discussed on the [[Talk:Eskarina Smith|Eskarina Smith talk page]].<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p44:'''''<br />
Triplets are born. A daughter is disregarded after two sons. Tiffany takes charge and even names the girl Tiffany after herself. There is a hint that in the fullness of time this girl will become the next non-leader that the community of witches emphatically doesn't have; Pratchett's way of saying the circles of life continue? <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p45:'''''<br />
The white cat You's mysterious means of getting about. Elsewhere it has been speculated that this is a case of ''Schrödinger's Hat''....<br />
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'''''Harper paperback, p. 68''''' "the times they is a-changing" The Times They Are A-Changin' is one of Bob Dylan's most famous songs<br />
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'''''Harper paperback, p. 82''''' "Mephistopheles, how many people are in this pub?" A famous horse called Clever Hans could do the same "trick." In the case of Hans, the horse would continue to tap his hoof until the questioner's body language changed to indicate that the horse should stop tapping.<br />
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'''''Harper paperback, p. 207''''' "We will put a girdle of glamour around their world" "I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes." Puck, A Mudsummer Night's Dream, Act II Scene 1<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p214:'''''<br />
It ''had'' to happen. The concept that Discworld lumberjacks perform their duties better when wearing womens' clothing. And singing while they work. They even get the ''''''Biggerwoods''''' mail-order catalogue. In Britain, ''Littlewoods'' is a popular mail-order company specialising in women's clothing from lingerie up to outerwear and clothes and singing is a reference to the Monty Python lumberjack song. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p223'''''<br />
In this case Elvish has indeed left the building. A callback to {{SM}}. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p230:'''''<br />
A callback to Granny Weatherwax in {{LL}}. Only here, Tiffany is contemplating the possibility inherent - what if Elves really can be made to learn? What if they learn, and develop, and grow up a little? <br />
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'''''Harper paperback, p. 260''''' "Och no, I know who I am and he knows who he is and so does our other brother Callum." This is very reminiscent of Larry, Darryl & Darryl from the sitcom Newhart.<br />
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'''''Harper paperback, p. 260''''' "We happy few" This whole section is peppered with quotations & adaptations of the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p277:'''''<br />
A shout-out to a bleak old English ballad made relevant by Terry's favourite band, Steeleye Span. The ballad "Long Lankin" is about child-murder by night and named this particular elf. The LP that has this song, incidentally, is called ''The Commoner's Crown''. Listen to it '''''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSUH6YPM9oI here]'''''<br />
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[[Category:Annotations|The Shepherd's Crown]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Raising_Steam/Annotations&diff=34816Book:Raising Steam/Annotations2023-08-04T00:10:23Z<p>Superluser: Correcting spelling</p>
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<div>The idea of a group of religiously motivated terrorists, working out of a conviction that the new way is a blasphemy, and the only ways to follow are the old ways, guided of course by the only people who correctly interpret the sacred laws and texts - us. This shadowy group live in dark caves, spare an especial bile for fellows and co-believers who interpret the Faith and the Way more liberally, and who express dissent by bringing tall towers crashing down, followed by attacks on the railways. Hmmm.<br />
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And a common remark about tyrants and dictators on Earth, at least since 1900, has been ''At least he got the trains running on time''. (Famously said about Benito Mussolini, who in fact couldn't - there are limits to a Fascist dictator's power, and Benito discovered his was the Italian state railway. Adolf Hitler didn't have to exert himself - German state railways already ran to an incredible peak of efficiency without Nazi help. But see note about "Beamtenherrschaft", below). <br />
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This book could well be about one [[Vetinari|Tyrant]]'s desire to get the railways running not only on time but at all possible times... <br />
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The very first trainspotter appears on page 59. Many others follow, including Ponder Stibbons, Rufus Drumknott and others. These include [[Young Sam Vimes]] who has possibly found an equally smelly but less scatological hobby.<br />
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The idea of the previously despised Goblin race finding its niche in tending complex and hazardous machinery parellels the Warhammer 40K race known as ''Gretchin'' or ''Grots''. in the 40K universe, these are a lowly, physically puny, class of Ork who are generally despised, used as cannon-fodder, live on disgusting foodstuffs, and who have the brains to keep the war machines working.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p12 et seq:'''''<br />
[[Dick Simnel]] is introduced. British readers will instinctively recognise his accent is meant to reflect that of Northern England, the birthplace of British (and world) railways. But which bit of northern England? The experienced dialectologist will pick out occasional words in Yorkshire, Geordie and even Cumbrian slang. But the dominant accent emerging is that of Lancashire. And one particular part of Lancashire, at that. Dick's repeated use of the word ''"Gradely!"'', a Lancashire dialect word meaning "Great! Smashing! Brilliant! Ideal!" et c, along with other little quirks, points only in one direction. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/FredDibnah Fred Dibnah] (1938-2004) from Bolton, Lancashire, was a steeplejack and mechanic who embodied the old-time Northern engineer in everything he did. He became a celebrity on TV, initially for breath-taking steeplejacking, with a commentary delivered in a wry self-deprecating Northern voice, usually while hanging upside down a couple of hundred feet up. In later life, he had a second career restoring and driving old steam engines, which he loved. TV series were made about this aspect of his life. Reading Dick Simnel's dialogue in the best Bolton accent I can do, I realised there could only be one person being portrayed here. The great Fred Dibnah. Right down to the flat cap. Lots of clips are available on You-Tube but cannot be linked here. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p49:''''' Vetinari recaps events going back to {{RM}}, especially the life and interests of Ned Simnel. These included a wife and son. <br />
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'''''Anchor paperback, p. 64''''' ''Adora Belle Dearheart had provided evidence that the clacksmen had several times spotted nascent fires'' In fact, [https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r1/recreation/?cid=fsp5_030804 early firespotters in the US used the heliograph], & advances in technology can closely track fire technology. Advances in satellite technology on Roundworld have led to the Fire Information for Resource Management System, which can detect a fire from outer space & alert local people to put it out.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p65:'''''<br />
''Captain Angua, the most notable werewolf in the Watch...''<br />
Terry chooses words with care. Can we presume there is now more than one werewolf in the City Watch? <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p72:'''''<br />
Albrecht Albrechtsson is seen to make a telling point in a heated debate by smashing his axe right into the middle of the conference table. Sam Vimes once did something similar in a time of dissent involving the conference table in the Rats Chamber, and giving it a Quirmian Polish with a very big axe. The Blackboard Monitor is known and respected among Dwarfs. Hmmm. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p88 and throughout:'''''<br />
''[[Swine Town]]'' - a previously unregarded bucolic backwater, which becomes a strategic location for a railway depot located halfway between two important destinations. Compare ''Swindon'', which until the railway was built connecting London to the (then) second port city of Bristol was a very minor agricultural village. The Bristol railway, the Great Western, was built with the intention of bringing fresh perishable produce swiftly to the markets of the capital, whose river was so foul the local fish was utterly inedible. Swindon (whose name ''means'' Swine Town) became an oasis of heavy industry in Wiltshire, an otherwise entirely agricultural economy. Until privatisation, it remained a key strategic location in the British rail network, its factories building locomotives and directly feeding them into the system. Today, Britain incredibly ''imports'' railway locos and carriages from Europe and - believe this - transfers them to their destination ''by road''. It is possible we've lost the plot somewhere.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p112 et seq:'''''<br />
* This page probably holds the all-time record (outside of {{SM}}) for the maximum number of sly allusions, annotations, and shout-outs to music, history, and other works of literature on a single page. To take them in order:<br />
''Line 6'' - '''It's all about the Locomotion...''' The whole theme of the discussion between Mustrum Ridcully and Lu-Tze is indeed about the irresistable advent of the new. ''Everybody's doing a brand-new dance now!'' Indeed.<br />
Also, the very first George Stephenson-devised engine was called not ''The Rocket'' - that was later - but ''The Locomotion''.<br />
''Let's make a train now...''<br />
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''Line 9'' - the [[Ginnungagap]] is placed in its correct Discworld context as the primal chaos from which an ordered world emerged, with the proviso that if left badly managed, it will slide back into that chaos again.<br />
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''Lines 13-14'' - ''The only problem I have yet to solve is how to get from the dying world into the new world...'' Lu-Tze is referring back to earlier history monk stories. The Abbot has no problem with this - he is an adept at being serially reincarnated from a dying world into a new one! Lu-Tze has to go about things differently.<br />
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''Lines 15-16'' - ''even the Abbot is concerned about the arrival of steam-engines when it isn't steam-engine time'' - an aphorism originally coined by the chronicler of strange and anomalous things, Charles Fort. The full Fortean quote is:<br />
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''If human thought is a growth, like all other growths, its logic is without foundation of its own, and is only the adjusting constructiveness of all other growing things. A tree cannot find out, as it were, how to blossom, until comes blossom-time. A social growth cannot find out the use of steam engines, until comes steam-engine-time.'' (Charles Fort, '''''Lo!''''')<br />
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''Lines 30 - end'' ''...even the very wise have neglected to take notice of one rather important Goddess...Pippina, the lady with the Apple of Discord''. This invokes the Greek Eris, Goddess of discord, who famously incited war among Gods and men with the Golden Apple casually rolled into a roomful of vain deities, all of whom thought an apple inscribed "KALLISTI" - to the fairest one - was of course theirs by right. The fallout from the war among Gods became the ten-year Trojan War on Earth.<br />
<br />
The following conversation between Ridcully and Lu-Tze emphasises the need for balance between Chaos and Order. This is also a central theme of Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's ''Illuminatus!'' trilogy, where the Golden Apple is a plot -point, Eris walks the earth still as Goddess of disorder, her adherents greet each other with "All Hail Eris!", and the Chaos-Order thing is symbolised as Eristic forces versus Aneristic forces.<br />
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At the top of Page 113, Lu-Tze concedes that even the history monks can become a less than beneficial force once they get complacent and become part of the established order - he deliberately uses the term "bureaucracy" to describe this danger. This not only brings the Cosmic Auditors to mind - guardians of never-changing sterility - but also Shea and Wilson's assertion that chaos is born, out of sheer desperation, from stifling strangling bureaucracy - which is Order taken to a destructive extreme. Shea and Wilson have a word for this state in their philosophy, and yes, it's a German word - ''Beamtenherrschaft'', Bureaucracy.<br />
''Beamtenherrschaft'', in the original ''Illuminatus!'', is in fact explicitly defined as the sort of state of mind that will ensure the trains run precisely on time, that their human cargo is satisfactorily documented, itemised, counted, and delivered on schedule to the right destination, who then sign for the delivery, in triplicate and in the right places - ''and in the midst of all the paperwork, nobody sees anything wrong or out of place with the destination being Auschwitz.<br />
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There is also a sub-plot in one of Robert A. Wilson's solo novels where, in the 1760's, a brilliant mind devises (at least on paper) a theoretically workable steam engine - only to be universally derided and laughed at, even at the advanced universities he attended. France/Italy in the 1760's was evidently not the right orchard or season for "Steam-Engine Time" to come to blossom.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p115:'''''<br />
* Dick Simnel displays a familiarity with the events of {{SG}}, or at least the steam-engineering aspects. while he knows about "The Un-named" ([[Urn]]'s boat) via old books, does he also know the steam-engine was transferred to a landship afterwards? <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp115-116:'''''<br />
[[George Pony|Mister Pony]] tells Dick that he has to serve an apprenticeship to become a member of the [[Artificers' Guild]], even though there is no-one in the Guild who knows anything about working with steam. According to Wikipedia, a similar thing happened to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt James Watt] (the Scottish inventor and engineer) on Roundworld: "Watt travelled to London to study instrument-making for a year, then returned to Scotland, settling in the major commercial city of Glasgow intent on setting up his own instrument-making business. He made and repaired brass reflecting quadrants, parallel rulers, scales, parts for telescopes, and barometers, among other things. Because he had not served at least seven years as an apprentice, the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen (which had jurisdiction over any artisans using hammers) blocked his application, despite there being no other mathematical instrument makers in Scotland."<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p123 (footnote):'''''<br />
''Let the train take the strain'' - was for many years an advertising slogan of British Rail, although it is doubtful that they had the toilets in mind.<br />
Also, a footnote explicitly refers to "Mr de Worde ''and wife''". As both William and Sacharissa are elsewhere described as wearing wedding rings, this may point to their being married to each other. However, the reference does not elaborate as to ''whom'' William is married to. The mystery continues. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p124:'''''<br />
Another sign of the changing times. A large troll halts the train as it slows to a bridge. The passengers hold their breath apprehensively. No, it's not a shake-down for toll money, nor is it the prelude to an anxious request as to whether the train is carrying any billy-goats, gruff optional. The troll works for the railway company. He has a red flag to prove it. The only toll he wants to exact is public recognition that his building-gang constructed the bridge the train is about to cross. As a saying about the future has it, everyone will want his five minutes of fame.... and the future is here. Why dwell on the past?<br />
Later on in the book, we see a canny Moist franchising bridges to Troll families, who are given homes in the bridge pillars - complete with lavatories - and a guaranteed herd of goats. In return they tend to and maintain their bridges. As with Best Kept Station contests in Britain, there is a lot of competition to be the troll who has the Best-Tended Bridge. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p126:'''''<br />
''Go and tell Vimesy you want to be the first Railway Policemen, then. I'd love to see his face''<br />
<br />
The British Transport Police is one of the oldest forces in the country, instituted not long after the first railways began. The same Robert Peel who founded the first regular force authorised its commissioning. Author Andrew Martin has fictionalized this period in his Railway Detective novels featuring Sergeant Jim Stringer; author Edward Marston sets his railway police novels, featuring Inspector Colbert, in a slightly later period. however, Andrew Pepper sets his railway police mystery right at the beginning: ''The Revenge of Captain Paine'' investigates violent death and sabotage on a line being built. <br />
Additionally, it is worth noting that the Signalmen were originally in control of railway traffic by use of flags and whistles, just as the regular Police controlled road traffic. Signalmen to this day are still referred to as "bobbies", for this reason.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p131:'''''<br />
''Chemin de fer'' is indeed both the Quirmian for "railway" and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemin-de-fer card game]]. The card game is also known as ''Baccarat'' and it is likely the Gamblers' Guild know at least six more variations and anything up to ten alternative names. <br />
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'''''Corgi paperback (UK), p167'''''<br />
Binoculars produced by Herr Fleiss in Uberwald. Famous manufactorer of optical devices in Germany is the company founded by Karl Zeiss in Jena.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p137:'''''<br />
Two children, adventurous if ill-advised souls, are sensing the approach of a coming train by putting their heads to the track to feel the thrilling vibrations.... not just a shout-out to Western movies where the Red Indians detect coming-of-white-man's-iron-horse by this method (and WHY are they not of One-Man-Bucket's ethnicity?). Classic film ''The Railway Children'' introduces its central characters with a scene not unlike this. Although the kids here have the sense to lift their heads ''long'' before the train comes...<br />
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'''RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!'''<br />
Has several referents. A [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7jSp2xmmEE a tune by Fatboy Slim]tune by Fatboy Slim (1998) where these are the only lyrics, repeated incessantly, with all the insistency of a train at full throttle. Another possibility is a reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwpjsToHzAE the Jesus Jones song|the Jesus Jones song, which has changing times as its theme and contains the lyrics "Right here, right now/Watching the world wake up from history."<br />
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On '''pp 91-92''', two children, perhaps the same ones, make friends with Sergeant Fred Colon. The Railway Children of the film of Nesbitt's novel had a similar friendship with a police sergeant who was also older, good-natured and somewhat bumbling. <br />
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the "Railway Children" shout-out is more explicit later in the book ('''''p309 et seq:'''''), where a group of children flag down the Iron Girder to warn them about an avalanche which has blocked the line. Whilst Edith Nesmith does not wave her long petticoated knickers in the air to flag down the train (even in ''the Railway Children'', Jenny Agutter got her clothes off), the similarity to the film is remarkable. Terry does say the children ''appeared'' to be flagging the train down with their pinafores, though... Although Moist von Lipwig quickly recognises that being Discworld kids, in a town which is in the orbit of Ankh-Morpork, they engineered the lineslip themselves for attention and excitement..<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp172 - 174:'''''<br />
Moist von Lipwig, a man who normally shies away from physical combat (his weapons are other) is sized up by a shrewd assessor of personality, who realises that if his presence is going to effective in a stand-up fight, he needs chemical assistance. This is duly provided in the form of a goblin-brewed tonic, and completely alters his personality for just long enough. This evokes two similar literary accounts of similar potions, both applied to people of a Moist-like inclination. The great Victorian poltroon Sir Harry Flashman is beneficiary of an Arabian tonic administered by his lover just before a vital fight with the Russians in ''Flashman At The Charge''. As he is the only man who can direct the fight, something to dampen his natural cowardice is essential. And in ''The Stainless Steel Rat'', intergalactic con-man and bunco-artist Jim DiGriz realises the only way to understand his lethal adversary (and later wife), the rather ''spiky'' Angelina, is to ingest a chemical cocktail that simulates her marked anger-management problems. Sir Terry has definitely read all the ''Flashman'' books. And "Slippery" Jim and the spiky Angelina diGriz have so many suspicious similarities to Moist and Adora Belle... (now go to ''Reading Suggestions'' for more). Vimes recognises the essential Flashman-like aspect of Moist when he later reflects cowards fight harder and better as they have more consequences to fear.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p180 and perhaps throughout:'''''<br />
The first mention of the leopard being able to change its shorts (Vimes about Moist). Wondered when this was going to come up...<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p185:'''''<br />
* ''...you do enjoy a quantum of frisson, she tells me''. Moist cast in the James Bond role? <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p190:'''''<br />
A would-be saboteur emulates the passing of Ned Simnel and leaves this world in a massive cloud of pink steam. By the way, the steam is necessarily pink in these circumstances ''because''....<br />
Also, the uneasy suspicion forms in the mind of Moist Von Lipwig that the Iron Girder is sentient and somehow ''engineered'' a situation where a Dwarf who tried to do her harm was wafted to his afterlife in a cloud of hot pink steam. This is strikingly like an event in the Stephen King novel (and movie) "Christine", about a classic American car with sentience and a negative opinion of people trying to do her harm...<br />
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'''''Anchor paperback, pp. 195''''' ''which had elected to construct its engines to a gauge based on the horse-drawn cabbage delivery trucks'' This is a reference to the very popular urban legend (which I can never remember the truth of) that the gauge of modern railroads are based on the width of Roman chariots.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p218:'''''<br />
Chief constable Upshot Feeney of the Shires is privileged to have earned the right to call his Goblin constable simply ''Boney''. this is a ShoutOut to the books by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Upfield Arthur Upfield]] and to two TV spinoffs, the seventies Australian cop show [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boney_%28TV_series%29 Boney]] and the nineties [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_%28TV_series%29 Boney]]. In the books the Boney of the title is Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the one half-white, half-Aboriginal in the Queensland force, a man who uses native tracking skills and a shrewd understanding of people to resolve difficult crimes. The Upfield character is based on a man known as "Tracker Leon". The Goblin "Boney"'s real name is something far longer than Boney: his colleagues have to earn the right to abbreviate it.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p220:'''''<br />
It has to be handed to Terry. A nice little bit of misdirection leads us to a logical outcome nobody could have foreseen. After {{T!}}, we all thought the forthcoming One About Railways was going to be about establishing an Underground in Ankh-Morpork using the Dwarfish Devices for propulsion, right? Wrong... the Undertaking , in this respect, is going to be created by the emancipated and newly technically-savvy Goblins. They want a safe means of connecting all major Goblin settlements and providing a means to create and link a Goblin nation. And who knows where this will go to afterwards... no mention of the Devices since. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p223 et seq:'''''<br />
Mrs [[Georgina Bradshaw]], the chronicler of the railway network. Refer to Wikipedia: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bradshaw George Bradshaw]] in the middle 1800's was a railway fan who made a living of writing traveller's guides, even meticulously collating timetables so that, ultimately, a traveller using Bradshaw guides could plot a railway journey, together with stays in recommended cities and local hotels, to confidently craft a journey from Waverley Station, Edinburgh, to Kursky station in Moscow - within five minutes of accuracy all along the way. <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp228-229 and footnote p228:'''''<br />
The inevitable spin-off: model railways and train sets. Lady Effie is heard to complain that the trackside model of Sir Harry King makes him look too fat... a Fat Controller? whatever will they think of next...<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp229-230:'''''<br />
Although Iron Girder is (fortunately) better adjusted to a human rival than Stephen King's Christine: she is heard to purr approval to Emily King buffing up her nameplate till it shines, and indicating her affection for Dick Simnel. it would appear I.G. is only malevolently inclined towards people who are actively attempting to injure her.<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p237:'''''<br />
Lord Vetinari is seen playing with one of the new scale model railway sets. To model rail buffs, miniature systems where the engines run on live steam are the most expensive, deluxe, desirable models there could possibly be. Yet Vetinari is seen catching one as it derails and leaps over the edge of the table. Is he deliberately experimenting with crashes and getting an idea of what could go wrong with a railway in the event of misadventure or sabotage? All this calls to mind the patriarch of the Addams Family, Gomez, as he relaxes with ''his'' idea of what the model railway hobby should be... and Gomez has a wife who inescapably brings to mind Margalotta von Überwald...<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp244-245:'''''<br />
An, er ''Brief Encounter'' takes place at a railway station...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp250-251:'''''<br />
An even more explicit shout-out to the ''Stainless Steel Rat'' novels of Harry Harrison. In ''The Stainless Steel Rat for President!'', the opening scene is of the outraged police chief, Inskipp, sending men round to arrest the diGriz husband for embezzlement and mis-use of Special Corps funds. The spiky Angelina diGriz, taking exception at having her beauty sleep interrupted, intervenes with a large and unfriendly weapon so as to suggest good manners be considered on the part of the arresting officers. She takes charge and suggests the incriminatingly large sum of cash to be found in her husband's bank account is all down to one of ''those'' little book-keeping errors. Inskipp reluctantly agrees. Then takes revenge by sending the whole diGriz family out on one of ''those'' little missions involving death or glory but very little actual financial reward. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p262:'''''<br />
A call-back to {{P}}, as Moist contemplates the nature of the pyramid, its associations, and how it all has to fit together absolutely perfectly and in the right order and sequence. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p263 et seq:'''''<br />
The desperate attempt to restore Rhys to the Low Kingship, involving running a train all the way to Überwald despite frequent attacks and attempts to derail it: this is a shout-out to war movie ''von Ryan's Express'', where a hijacked train carrying a ''lot'' of battle-hardened tough cases trying to make it to safety is subjected to all manner of attacks by increasingly desperate Germans. <br />
There are other movies with the same sort of theme: 1948's ''Berlin Express'' references similar ideas, set in Germany during the Cold War at its coldest, with the Russians monitoring activities closely, as the train is in East Germany...<br />
<br />
Strange people aboard a train whose stories don't fit, sleeper carriages on a long-distance express heading in the Discworld referent of East.... ''Murder on the Orient Express''... all it needs is a murder and a French-speaking detective... although it all ''began'' in Quirm... and on '''page 370'''. Vimes lets slip that Lady Sybil has decreed the next Ramkin family holiday will be on the Überwald Express. He notes, in a metter of fact sort of way, that it doesn't matter if he's on holiday or not. He will inevitably walk into a crime. Is a sequel being set up here? <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p290:'''''<br />
''Too much travelling on the railways could make you a philosopher, although not a very good one''. A reference to the very popular radio philosopher of the 1940's. Doctor Joad, whose pronouncements were witty, down to earth and listenable, was a fixture on BBC panel show ''The Brains Trust''. Joad often travelled by rail and used railway analogies to explain philosophical conundrums, including the inevitable ''life is a journey..'' to explain determinism/free will. (Joad's analogy was that life is a train journey. The lines are fixed - determinism - but you have a choice of routes - free will Your starting point - birth - and terminus - death - are also predetermined. But in between your choices of stations and routes are your own - free will.). Unfortunately, Joad's exercise of his own free will granted him the power to evade his fares and travel for nothing. Determinism caught up with him in the form of a ticket inspector. After the court case for fare evasion, Joad was sacked by the BBC and faded into obscurity...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p293-294 et seq:'''''<br />
Moist von Lipwig gets practice at moving safely and confidently on the roof of a moving train and leaping from carriage to carriage. Why do you feel this is building up to the regular movie cliché of the protaganist slugging it out with the bad guy on the said pitching and rolling roof of a hypothetical moving train... Moist is seen getting practice in early, as if out of Narrativium nudging him and advising that this is something the good guy about to engage in battle aboard a train needs to learn, ''really quickly''.<br />
<br />
Also, Moist thinks of it as another extreme sport: like Edificeering or Extreme Sneezing. It could just be that he has introduced the Discworld to the Roundworld do-not-try-this-at-home of Train Surfing.<br />
<br />
Fittingly, both he and Sam Vimes - and an unremarked stoker with a shovel - all get to do this together in a stand-up fight, as befits Narrativium. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p296:'''''<br />
On the social heirarchy of railway workers and their being hard-drinking men on their down time. Wheeltappers and shunters are mentioned. A popular TV show of the 1970's was ''The Wheeltappers and Shunters' Social Club'', a live cabaret set in a fictitious Northern working-mens' club of a sort rooted in everyday reality. The real-life W&S Club would have been set up by and for wheeltappers and shunters; all other trades by invitation only. The show was hosted by the egregious Bernard Manning - think of a Harry King who also made money from muck, in this case dirty and doubtful jokes. Manning was a larger-than-life character who could have been a Roundworld Harry King, both in looks and attitude. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p299:'''''<br />
''[[Downsized Abbey]]''. Heh. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp309-312:'''''<br />
The reference is to Edith Nesbit<sup>1</sup>, ''The Railway Children'', originally serialised in ''The London Magazine'' during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906. It has been adapted for the screen several times.<BR><sup>1</sup>''But see also {{wp|Oswald Barron|Oswald Barron}} and {{wp|Ada J. Graves|Ada J. Graves}}; it's quite complicated.''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp317-320:'''''<br />
A King, on a mission to rescue a people from the Forces of Darkness, is stalled in impenetrable forest. with his way forward blocked, the forest-dwelling race, who are somewhat behind the times, timidly step out begging not to be hunted or killed. They provide the key to forward progress, and the King vows they will evermore have his protection. The whole scene between the Low Monarch and the forest Gnomes echoes King Theoden and the Wild Men of the Druadan forest in ''Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p336:'''''<br />
<br />
A gender revelation receives the response from Moist von Lipwig: "Well, nobody's perfect, your majesty." This is an echo of the response to a reverse relevation in ''Some Like it Hot''. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p361:'''''<br />
'''''Tak save The Queen!''''' <br />
Almost the opening line of a national anthem. And one whose first verse at least will be almost as easy to remember as ''Gold! Gold, Gold, Gold!''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p364-366:'''''<br />
The Brick Joke from the beginning of the book : the brick finally drops as Iron Girder reveals who she ''really'' is. It hearkens right back to the very first page.<br />
<br />
'''Corgi Paperback (UK), p468:'''''<br />
"the queen has changed her name to Blodwen". Blodwen is the name of the first opera in the Welsh (Llamedos) language and of the main character in it. In the opera the real father of Blowdwen is Rhys Gwyn. So both the male and female names of the Low King seem to refer to the opera. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blodwen.<br />
<br />
'''''Unsorted and needing page reference'''''; the scene where Moist is seen pretending to get drunk but diverting his host's alcohol to a hidden container inside his clothing. This wasn't made up. In the interesting days of American Prohibition, FBI agent Izzie Einstein had a funnel and tube setup in the lining of his coat which allowed him to have any alcohol he got out of illegal bars poured into a flask he kept in an inside coat pocket - the contents of which he would use as evidence in court. <br />
[[Category:Annotations|Raising Steam]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Raising_Steam/Annotations&diff=34801Book:Raising Steam/Annotations2023-07-30T11:23:40Z<p>Superluser: Some annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>The idea of a group of religiously motivated terrorists, working out of a conviction that the new way is a blasphemy, and the only ways to follow are the old ways, guided of course by the only people who correctly interpret the sacred laws and texts - us. This shadowy group live in dark caves, spare an especial bile for fellows and co-believers who interpret the Faith and the Way more liberally, and who express dissent by bringing tall towers crashing down, followed by attacks on the railways. Hmmm.<br />
<br />
And a common remark about tyrants and dictators on Earth, at least since 1900, has been ''At least he got the trains running on time''. (Famously said about Benito Mussolini, who in fact couldn't - there are limits to a Fascist dictator's power, and Benito discovered his was the Italian state railway. Adolf Hitler didn't have to exert himself - German state railways already ran to an incredible peak of efficiency without Nazi help. But see note about "Beamtenherrschaft", below). <br />
<br />
This book could well be about one [[Vetinari|Tyrant]]'s desire to get the railways running not only on time but at all possible times... <br />
<br />
The very first trainspotter appears on page 59. Many others follow, including Ponder Stibbons, Rufus Drumknott and others. These include [[Young Sam Vimes]] who has possibly found an equally smelly but less scatological hobby.<br />
<br />
The idea of the previously despised Goblin race finding its niche in tending complex and hazardous machinery parellels the Warhammer 40K race known as ''Gretchin'' or ''Grots''. in the 40K universe, these are a lowly, physically puny, class of Ork who are generally despised, used as cannon-fodder, live on disgusting foodstuffs, and who have the brains to keep the war machines working.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p12 et seq:'''''<br />
[[Dick Simnel]] is introduced. British readers will instinctively recognise his accent is meant to reflect that of Northern England, the birthplace of British (and world) railways. But which bit of northern England? The experienced dialectologist will pick out occasional words in Yorkshire, Geordie and even Cumbrian slang. But the dominant accent emerging is that of Lancashire. And one particular part of Lancashire, at that. Dick's repeated use of the word ''"Gradely!"'', a Lancashire dialect word meaning "Great! Smashing! Brilliant! Ideal!" et c, along with other little quirks, points only in one direction. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/FredDibnah Fred Dibnah] (1938-2004) from Bolton, Lancashire, was a steeplejack and mechanic who embodied the old-time Northern engineer in everything he did. He became a celebrity on TV, initially for breath-taking steeplejacking, with a commentary delivered in a wry self-deprecating Northern voice, usually while hanging upside down a couple of hundred feet up. In later life, he had a second career restoring and driving old steam engines, which he loved. TV series were made about this aspect of his life. Reading Dick Simnel's dialogue in the best Bolton accent I can do, I realised there could only be one person being portrayed here. The great Fred Dibnah. Right down to the flat cap. Lots of clips are available on You-Tube but cannot be linked here. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p49:''''' Vetinari recaps events going back to {{RM}}, especially the life and interests of Ned Simnel. These included a wife and son. <br />
<br />
'''''Anchor paperback, p. 64''''' ''Adora Belle Dearheart had provided evidence that the clacksmen had several times spotted nascent fires'' In fact, [https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r1/recreation/?cid=fsp5_030804 early firespotters in the US used the heliograph], & advances in technology can closely track fire technology. Advances in satellite technology on Roundworld have led to the Fire Information for Resource Management System, which can detect a fire from outer space & alert local people to put it out.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p65:'''''<br />
''Captain Angua, the most notable werewolf in the Watch...''<br />
Terry chooses words with care. Can we presume there is now more than one werewolf in the City Watch? <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p72:'''''<br />
Albrecht Albrechtsson is seen to make a telling point in a heated debate by smashing his axe right into the middle of the conference table. Sam Vimes once did something similar in a time of dissent involving the conference table in the Rats Chamber, and giving it a Quirmian Polish with a very big axe. The Blackboard Monitor is known and respected among Dwarfs. Hmmm. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p88 and throughout:'''''<br />
''[[Swine Town]]'' - a previously unregarded bucolic backwater, which becomes a strategic location for a railway depot located halfway between two important destinations. Compare ''Swindon'', which until the railway was built connecting London to the (then) second port city of Bristol was a very minor agricultural village. The Bristol railway, the Great Western, was built with the intention of bringing fresh perishable produce swiftly to the markets of the capital, whose river was so foul the local fish was utterly inedible. Swindon (whose name ''means'' Swine Town) became an oasis of heavy industry in Wiltshire, an otherwise entirely agricultural economy. Until privatisation, it remained a key strategic location in the British rail network, its factories building locomotives and directly feeding them into the system. Today, Britain incredibly ''imports'' railway locos and carriages from Europe and - believe this - transfers them to their destination ''by road''. It is possible we've lost the plot somewhere.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p112 et seq:'''''<br />
* This page probably holds the all-time record (outside of {{SM}}) for the maximum number of sly allusions, annotations, and shout-outs to music, history, and other works of literature on a single page. To take them in order:<br />
''Line 6'' - '''It's all about the Locomotion...''' The whole theme of the discussion between Mustrum Ridcully and Lu-Tze is indeed about the irresistable advent of the new. ''Everybody's doing a brand-new dance now!'' Indeed.<br />
Also, the very first George Stephenson-devised engine was called not ''The Rocket'' - that was later - but ''The Locomotion''.<br />
''Let's make a train now...''<br />
<br />
''Line 9'' - the [[Ginnungagap]] is placed in its correct Discworld context as the primal chaos from which an ordered world emerged, with the proviso that if left badly managed, it will slide back into that chaos again.<br />
<br />
''Lines 13-14'' - ''The only problem I have yet to solve is how to get from the dying world into the new world...'' Lu-Tze is referring back to earlier history monk stories. The Abbot has no problem with this - he is an adept at being serially reincarnated from a dying world into a new one! Lu-Tze has to go about things differently.<br />
<br />
''Lines 15-16'' - ''even the Abbot is concerned about the arrival of steam-engines when it isn't steam-engine time'' - an aphorism originally coined by the chronicler of strange and anomalous things, Charles Fort. The full Fortean quote is:<br />
<br />
''If human thought is a growth, like all other growths, its logic is without foundation of its own, and is only the adjusting constructiveness of all other growing things. A tree cannot find out, as it were, how to blossom, until comes blossom-time. A social growth cannot find out the use of steam engines, until comes steam-engine-time.'' (Charles Fort, '''''Lo!''''')<br />
<br />
<br />
''Lines 30 - end'' ''...even the very wise have neglected to take notice of one rather important Goddess...Pippina, the lady with the Apple of Discord''. This invokes the Greek Eris, Goddess of discord, who famously incited war among Gods and men with the Golden Apple casually rolled into a roomful of vain deities, all of whom thought an apple inscribed "KALLISTI" - to the fairest one - was of course theirs by right. The fallout from the war among Gods became the ten-year Trojan War on Earth.<br />
<br />
The following conversation between Ridcully and Lu-Tze emphasises the need for balance between Chaos and Order. This is also a central theme of Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's ''Illuminatus!'' trilogy, where the Golden Apple is a plot -point, Eris walks the earth still as Goddess of disorder, her adherents greet each other with "All Hail Eris!", and the Chaos-Order thing is symbolised as Eristic forces versus Aneristic forces.<br />
<br />
At the top of Page 113, Lu-Tze concedes that even the history monks can become a less than beneficial force once they get complacent and become part of the established order - he deliberately uses the term "bureaucracy" to describe this danger. This not only brings the Cosmic Auditors to mind - guardians of never-changing sterility - but also Shea and Wilson's assertion that chaos is born, out of sheer desperation, from stifling strangling bureaucracy - which is Order taken to a destructive extreme. Shea and Wilson have a word for this state in their philosophy, and yes, it's a German word - ''Beamtenherrschaft'', Bureaucracy.<br />
''Beamtenherrschaft'', in the original ''Illuminatus!'', is in fact explicitly defined as the sort of state of mind that will ensure the trains run precisely on time, that their human cargo is satisfactorily documented, itemised, counted, and delivered on schedule to the right destination, who then sign for the delivery, in triplicate and in the right places - ''and in the midst of all the paperwork, nobody sees anything wrong or out of place with the destination being Auschwitz.<br />
<br />
There is also a sub-plot in one of Robert A. Wilson's solo novels where, in the 1760's, a brilliant mind devises (at least on paper) a theoretically workable steam engine - only to be universally derided and laughed at, even at the advanced universities he attended. France/Italy in the 1760's was evidently not the right orchard or season for "Steam-Engine Time" to come to blossom.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p115:'''''<br />
* Dick Simnel displays a familiarity with the events of {{SG}}, or at least the steam-engineering aspects. while he knows about "The Un-named" ([[Urn]]'s boat) via old books, does he also know the steam-engine was transferred to a landship afterwards? <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp115-116:'''''<br />
[[George Pony|Mister Pony]] tells Dick that he has to serve an apprenticeship to become a member of the [[Artificers' Guild]], even though there is no-one in the Guild who knows anything about working with steam. According to Wikipedia, a similar thing happened to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt James Watt] (the Scottish inventor and engineer) on Roundworld: "Watt travelled to London to study instrument-making for a year, then returned to Scotland, settling in the major commercial city of Glasgow intent on setting up his own instrument-making business. He made and repaired brass reflecting quadrants, parallel rulers, scales, parts for telescopes, and barometers, among other things. Because he had not served at least seven years as an apprentice, the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen (which had jurisdiction over any artisans using hammers) blocked his application, despite there being no other mathematical instrument makers in Scotland."<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p123 (footnote):'''''<br />
''Let the train take the strain'' - was for many years an advertising slogan of British Rail, although it is doubtful that they had the toilets in mind.<br />
Also, a footnote explicitly refers to "Mr de Worde ''and wife''". As both William and Sacharissa are elsewhere described as wearing wedding rings, this may point to their being married to each other. However, the reference does not elaborate as to ''whom'' William is married to. The mystery continues. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p124:'''''<br />
Another sign of the changing times. A large troll halts the train as it slows to a bridge. The passengers hold their breath apprehensively. No, it's not a shake-down for toll money, nor is it the prelude to an anxious request as to whether the train is carrying any billy-goats, gruff optional. The troll works for the railway company. He has a red flag to prove it. The only toll he wants to exact is public recognition that his building-gang constructed the bridge the train is about to cross. As a saying about the future has it, everyone will want his five minutes of fame.... and the future is here. Why dwell on the past?<br />
Later on in the book, we see a canny Moist franchising bridges to Troll families, who are given homes in the bridge pillars - complete with lavatories - and a guaranteed herd of goats. In return they tend to and maintain their bridges. As with Best Kept Station contests in Britain, there is a lot of competition to be the troll who has the Best-Tended Bridge. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p126:'''''<br />
''Go and tell Vimesy you want to be the first Railway Policemen, then. I'd love to see his face''<br />
<br />
The British Transport Police is one of the oldest forces in the country, instituted not long after the first railways began. The same Robert Peel who founded the first regular force authorised its commissioning. Author Andrew Martin has fictionalized this period in his Railway Detective novels featuring Sergeant Jim Stringer; author Edward Marston sets his railway police novels, featuring Inspector Colbert, in a slightly later period. however, Andrew Pepper sets his railway police mystery right at the beginning: ''The Revenge of Captain Paine'' investigates violent death and sabotage on a line being built. <br />
Additionally, it is worth noting that the Signalmen were originally in control of railway traffic by use of flags and whistles, just as the regular Police controlled road traffic. Signalmen to this day are still referred to as "bobbies", for this reason.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p131:'''''<br />
''Chemin de fer'' is indeed both the Quirmian for "railway" and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemin-de-fer card game]]. The card game is also known as ''Baccarat'' and it is likely the Gamblers' Guild know at least six more variations and anything up to ten alternative names. <br />
<br />
'''''Corgi paperback (UK), p167'''''<br />
Binoculars produced by Herr Fleiss in Uberwald. Famous manufactorer of optical devices in Germany is the company founded by Karl Zeiss in Jena.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p137:'''''<br />
Two children, adventurous if ill-advised souls, are sensing the approach of a coming train by putting their heads to the track to feel the thrilling vibrations.... not just a shout-out to Western movies where the Red Indians detect coming-of-white-man's-iron-horse by this method (and WHY are they not of One-Man-Bucket's ethnicity?). Classic film ''The Railway Children'' introduces its central characters with a scene not unlike this. Although the kids here have the sense to lift their heads ''long'' before the train comes...<br />
<br />
'''RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!'''<br />
Has several referents. A [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7jSp2xmmEE a tune by Fatboy Slim]tune by Fatboy Slim (1998) where these are the only lyrics, repeated incessantly, with all the insistency of a train at full throttle. Another possibility is a reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwpjsToHzAE the Jesus Jones song|the Jesus Jones song, which has changing times as its theme and contains the lyrics "Right here, right now/Watching the world wake up from history."<br />
<br />
On '''pp 91-92''', two children, perhaps the same ones, make friends with Sergeant Fred Colon. The Railway Children of the film of Nesbitt's novel had a similar friendship with a police sergeant who was also older, good-natured and somewhat bumbling. <br />
<br />
the "Railway Children" shout-out is more explicit later in the book ('''''p309 et seq:'''''), where a group of children flag down the Iron Girder to warn them about an avalanche which has blocked the line. Whilst Edith Nesmith does not wave her long petticoated knickers in the air to flag down the train (even in ''the Railway Children'', Jenny Agutter got her clothes off), the similarity to the film is remarkable. Terry does say the children ''appeared'' to be flagging the train down with their pinafores, though... Although Moist von Lipwig quickly recognises that being Discworld kids, in a town which is in the orbit of Ankh-Morpork, they engineered the lineslip themselves for attention and excitement..<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp172 - 174:'''''<br />
Moist von Lipwig, a man who normally shies away from physical combat (his weapons are other) is sized up by a shrewd assessor of personality, who realises that if his presence is going to effective in a stand-up fight, he needs chemical assistance. This is duly provided in the form of a goblin-brewed tonic, and completely alters his personality for just long enough. This evokes two similar literary accounts of similar potions, both applied to people of a Moist-like inclination. The great Victorian poltroon Sir Harry Flashman is beneficiary of an Arabian tonic administered by his lover just before a vital fight with the Russians in ''Flashman At The Charge''. As he is the only man who can direct the fight, something to dampen his natural cowardice is essential. And in ''The Stainless Steel Rat'', intergalactic con-man and bunco-artist Jim DiGriz realises the only way to understand his lethal adversary (and later wife), the rather ''spiky'' Angelina, is to ingest a chemical cocktail that simulates her marked anger-management problems. Sir Terry has definitely read all the ''Flashman'' books. And "Slippery" Jim and the spiky Angelina diGriz have so many suspicious similarities to Moist and Adora Belle... (now go to ''Reading Suggestions'' for more). Vimes recognises the essential Flashman-like aspect of Moist when he later reflects cowards fight harder and better as they have more consequences to fear.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p180 and perhaps throughout:'''''<br />
The first mention of the leopard being able to change its shorts (Vimes about Moist). Wondered when this was going to come up...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p185:'''''<br />
* ''...you do enjoy a quantum of frisson, she tells me''. Moist cast in the James Bond role? <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p190:'''''<br />
A would-be saboteur emulates the passing of Ned Simnel and leaves this world in a massive cloud of pink steam. By the way, the steam is necessarily pink in these circumstances ''because''....<br />
Also, the uneasy suspicion forms in the mind of Moist Von Lipwig that the Iron Girder is sentient and somehow ''engineered'' a situation where a Dwarf who tried to do her harm was wafted to his afterlife in a cloud of hot pink steam. This is strikingly like an event in the Stephen King novel (and movie) "Christine", about a classic American car with sentience and a negative opinion of people trying to do her harm...<br />
<br />
'''''Anchor paperback, pp. 195''''' ''which had elected to construct its engines to a gauge based on the horse-drawn cabbage delivery trucks'' This is a reference to the very popular urban legend (which I can never remember the truth of) that the gauge of modern railroads are based on tje width Roman chariots.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p218:'''''<br />
Chief constable Upshot Feeney of the Shires is privileged to have earned the right to call his Goblin constable simply ''Boney''. this is a ShoutOut to the books by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Upfield Arthur Upfield]] and to two TV spinoffs, the seventies Australian cop show [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boney_%28TV_series%29 Boney]] and the nineties [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_%28TV_series%29 Boney]]. In the books the Boney of the title is Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the one half-white, half-Aboriginal in the Queensland force, a man who uses native tracking skills and a shrewd understanding of people to resolve difficult crimes. The Upfield character is based on a man known as "Tracker Leon". The Goblin "Boney"'s real name is something far longer than Boney: his colleagues have to earn the right to abbreviate it.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p220:'''''<br />
It has to be handed to Terry. A nice little bit of misdirection leads us to a logical outcome nobody could have foreseen. After {{T!}}, we all thought the forthcoming One About Railways was going to be about establishing an Underground in Ankh-Morpork using the Dwarfish Devices for propulsion, right? Wrong... the Undertaking , in this respect, is going to be created by the emancipated and newly technically-savvy Goblins. They want a safe means of connecting all major Goblin settlements and providing a means to create and link a Goblin nation. And who knows where this will go to afterwards... no mention of the Devices since. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p223 et seq:'''''<br />
Mrs [[Georgina Bradshaw]], the chronicler of the railway network. Refer to Wikipedia: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bradshaw George Bradshaw]] in the middle 1800's was a railway fan who made a living of writing traveller's guides, even meticulously collating timetables so that, ultimately, a traveller using Bradshaw guides could plot a railway journey, together with stays in recommended cities and local hotels, to confidently craft a journey from Waverley Station, Edinburgh, to Kursky station in Moscow - within five minutes of accuracy all along the way. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp228-229 and footnote p228:'''''<br />
The inevitable spin-off: model railways and train sets. Lady Effie is heard to complain that the trackside model of Sir Harry King makes him look too fat... a Fat Controller? whatever will they think of next...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp229-230:'''''<br />
Although Iron Girder is (fortunately) better adjusted to a human rival than Stephen King's Christine: she is heard to purr approval to Emily King buffing up her nameplate till it shines, and indicating her affection for Dick Simnel. it would appear I.G. is only malevolently inclined towards people who are actively attempting to injure her.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p237:'''''<br />
Lord Vetinari is seen playing with one of the new scale model railway sets. To model rail buffs, miniature systems where the engines run on live steam are the most expensive, deluxe, desirable models there could possibly be. Yet Vetinari is seen catching one as it derails and leaps over the edge of the table. Is he deliberately experimenting with crashes and getting an idea of what could go wrong with a railway in the event of misadventure or sabotage? All this calls to mind the patriarch of the Addams Family, Gomez, as he relaxes with ''his'' idea of what the model railway hobby should be... and Gomez has a wife who inescapably brings to mind Margalotta von Überwald...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp244-245:'''''<br />
An, er ''Brief Encounter'' takes place at a railway station...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp250-251:'''''<br />
An even more explicit shout-out to the ''Stainless Steel Rat'' novels of Harry Harrison. In ''The Stainless Steel Rat for President!'', the opening scene is of the outraged police chief, Inskipp, sending men round to arrest the diGriz husband for embezzlement and mis-use of Special Corps funds. The spiky Angelina diGriz, taking exception at having her beauty sleep interrupted, intervenes with a large and unfriendly weapon so as to suggest good manners be considered on the part of the arresting officers. She takes charge and suggests the incriminatingly large sum of cash to be found in her husband's bank account is all down to one of ''those'' little book-keeping errors. Inskipp reluctantly agrees. Then takes revenge by sending the whole diGriz family out on one of ''those'' little missions involving death or glory but very little actual financial reward. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p262:'''''<br />
A call-back to {{P}}, as Moist contemplates the nature of the pyramid, its associations, and how it all has to fit together absolutely perfectly and in the right order and sequence. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p263 et seq:'''''<br />
The desperate attempt to restore Rhys to the Low Kingship, involving running a train all the way to Überwald despite frequent attacks and attempts to derail it: this is a shout-out to war movie ''von Ryan's Express'', where a hijacked train carrying a ''lot'' of battle-hardened tough cases trying to make it to safety is subjected to all manner of attacks by increasingly desperate Germans. <br />
There are other movies with the same sort of theme: 1948's ''Berlin Express'' references similar ideas, set in Germany during the Cold War at its coldest, with the Russians monitoring activities closely, as the train is in East Germany...<br />
<br />
Strange people aboard a train whose stories don't fit, sleeper carriages on a long-distance express heading in the Discworld referent of East.... ''Murder on the Orient Express''... all it needs is a murder and a French-speaking detective... although it all ''began'' in Quirm... and on '''page 370'''. Vimes lets slip that Lady Sybil has decreed the next Ramkin family holiday will be on the Überwald Express. He notes, in a metter of fact sort of way, that it doesn't matter if he's on holiday or not. He will inevitably walk into a crime. Is a sequel being set up here? <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p290:'''''<br />
''Too much travelling on the railways could make you a philosopher, although not a very good one''. A reference to the very popular radio philosopher of the 1940's. Doctor Joad, whose pronouncements were witty, down to earth and listenable, was a fixture on BBC panel show ''The Brains Trust''. Joad often travelled by rail and used railway analogies to explain philosophical conundrums, including the inevitable ''life is a journey..'' to explain determinism/free will. (Joad's analogy was that life is a train journey. The lines are fixed - determinism - but you have a choice of routes - free will Your starting point - birth - and terminus - death - are also predetermined. But in between your choices of stations and routes are your own - free will.). Unfortunately, Joad's exercise of his own free will granted him the power to evade his fares and travel for nothing. Determinism caught up with him in the form of a ticket inspector. After the court case for fare evasion, Joad was sacked by the BBC and faded into obscurity...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p293-294 et seq:'''''<br />
Moist von Lipwig gets practice at moving safely and confidently on the roof of a moving train and leaping from carriage to carriage. Why do you feel this is building up to the regular movie cliché of the protaganist slugging it out with the bad guy on the said pitching and rolling roof of a hypothetical moving train... Moist is seen getting practice in early, as if out of Narrativium nudging him and advising that this is something the good guy about to engage in battle aboard a train needs to learn, ''really quickly''.<br />
<br />
Also, Moist thinks of it as another extreme sport: like Edificeering or Extreme Sneezing. It could just be that he has introduced the Discworld to the Roundworld do-not-try-this-at-home of Train Surfing.<br />
<br />
Fittingly, both he and Sam Vimes - and an unremarked stoker with a shovel - all get to do this together in a stand-up fight, as befits Narrativium. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p296:'''''<br />
On the social heirarchy of railway workers and their being hard-drinking men on their down time. Wheeltappers and shunters are mentioned. A popular TV show of the 1970's was ''The Wheeltappers and Shunters' Social Club'', a live cabaret set in a fictitious Northern working-mens' club of a sort rooted in everyday reality. The real-life W&S Club would have been set up by and for wheeltappers and shunters; all other trades by invitation only. The show was hosted by the egregious Bernard Manning - think of a Harry King who also made money from muck, in this case dirty and doubtful jokes. Manning was a larger-than-life character who could have been a Roundworld Harry King, both in looks and attitude. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p299:'''''<br />
''[[Downsized Abbey]]''. Heh. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp309-312:'''''<br />
The reference is to Edith Nesbit<sup>1</sup>, ''The Railway Children'', originally serialised in ''The London Magazine'' during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906. It has been adapted for the screen several times.<BR><sup>1</sup>''But see also {{wp|Oswald Barron|Oswald Barron}} and {{wp|Ada J. Graves|Ada J. Graves}}; it's quite complicated.''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), pp317-320:'''''<br />
A King, on a mission to rescue a people from the Forces of Darkness, is stalled in impenetrable forest. with his way forward blocked, the forest-dwelling race, who are somewhat behind the times, timidly step out begging not to be hunted or killed. They provide the key to forward progress, and the King vows they will evermore have his protection. The whole scene between the Low Monarch and the forest Gnomes echoes King Theoden and the Wild Men of the Druadan forest in ''Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p336:'''''<br />
<br />
A gender revelation receives the response from Moist von Lipwig: "Well, nobody's perfect, your majesty." This is an echo of the response to a reverse relevation in ''Some Like it Hot''. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p361:'''''<br />
'''''Tak save The Queen!''''' <br />
Almost the opening line of a national anthem. And one whose first verse at least will be almost as easy to remember as ''Gold! Gold, Gold, Gold!''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback (UK), p364-366:'''''<br />
The Brick Joke from the beginning of the book : the brick finally drops as Iron Girder reveals who she ''really'' is. It hearkens right back to the very first page.<br />
<br />
'''Corgi Paperback (UK), p468:'''''<br />
"the queen has changed her name to Blodwen". Blodwen is the name of the first opera in the Welsh (Llamedos) language and of the main character in it. In the opera the real father of Blowdwen is Rhys Gwyn. So both the male and female names of the Low King seem to refer to the opera. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blodwen.<br />
<br />
'''''Unsorted and needing page reference'''''; the scene where Moist is seen pretending to get drunk but diverting his host's alcohol to a hidden container inside his clothing. This wasn't made up. In the interesting days of American Prohibition, FBI agent Izzie Einstein had a funnel and tube setup in the lining of his coat which allowed him to have any alcohol he got out of illegal bars poured into a flask he kept in an inside coat pocket - the contents of which he would use as evidence in court. <br />
[[Category:Annotations|Raising Steam]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Snuff/Annotations&diff=34790Book:Snuff/Annotations2023-07-23T02:40:20Z<p>Superluser: Know thyself</p>
<hr />
<div>On the '''''Shires''''', the debatable border region between Ankh-Morpork and Quirm. Perhaps just the tiniest of shout-outs to JRR Tolkien, who devised The Shire as the home for an inoffensive people of small stature who lived in what amounted to holes in the ground? A minor plot-point, after all, is a ring first found on a severed finger. A similar artefact is something Fred Colon finds impossible to put down, which is so inexplicably, er, ''precious'' to him that he claims vehement ownership of it, and which totally alters his personality. The Lord of the Manor sets out on a quest to defeat evil that leads him into the dark places beneath the earth - except that he has a [[Summoning Dark|tame balrog]] on his side. The rest of the (human) peasantry exhibits all the parochial small-mindedness of the Hobbiton population, although the local pub ain't the Prancing Pony and Jiminy has little in common with Barliman Butterbur, save that both keep a stout club under the counter and disregard the licencing laws... and of course Sam Vimes, like Master Samwise before him, has to set about a Scouring of the Shires to eliminate the incurably evil, bring to brook the ringleaders, and discern between gloating colloborators who needed no encouragement as opposed to those who were scared into submission. No wizards or fireworks, though... and a Rider in Black (Willikins) claimed Statford in the end, on a lonely road miles from anywhere...<br />
<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 24:-'''''<br />
''the hats look wrong on them.'' Lady Sybil is bang on the money about gamekeepers and bowler hats. They were originally devised by Edward Coke of Leicester as practical wear for his gamekeepers. See ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat|here]''. In confusing them with bailiffs, Vimes is perhaps thinking of the sort of hard men employed by Lord deWorde to remove his embarrassing son William, encountered in the climactic scene towards the end of {{TT}}, who are described as wearing bowlers and as the sort of hard men every Lord finds it useful to employ to smooth such distasteful moments. And a ''really'' big distasteful moment in which such men were used to do the dirty work (hinted at on p169) is of course at the heart of the crime Sam discovers. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 32 and onwards:-'''''<br />
Sybil introduces Vimes to a sadly widowed friend of hers, Lady Ariadne, who has six spinster daughters who live in full expectation of the acknowledged truth that a man, once in possession of an independent income and a country estate, will surely be looking for a wife. One of them is even ''called'' Jane, and she's the strange self-sufficient one who closely observes the world around her and wants to become a writer. Hmmm.... <br />
Supported by Sybil, Sam Vimes proceeds to deconstruct a certain Regency novel with extreme prejudice, whilst advising the girls to show a little pride in themselves. Among other things he imparts the truism that Jane is best-advised to base a novel on what she knows best...<br />
<br />
<br />
''''' Around page 40 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The spinning maidservants are another example of the most unlikely of Sir Terry's plot details being true in Roundworld. At Warwick Castle, in the main part of the castle, there is a set of rules for servants, including how to behave in the presence of their betters, which says turn and face the wall and try to look invisible. The reason given is so that your betters don't have to notice you, rather than to protect against randy aristocrats, but then they would say that wouldn't they ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 54:-'''''<br />
The local pub, the [[Goblin's Head]] - oddly evocative of The Bull, the gossip and social exchange of the town of Ambridge, immortalised in long-running BBC radio rural soap opera, ''The Archers''. Its mine host, Sid Perks, also had a little experience of the police behind him - and his (deceased) first wife was called ''Polly''.... (Annotation for {{MR}} too?) <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 60 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The game of [[crockett]], the game of games and king of games, played on village greens over several days and governed by the sort of arcane laws that made Sam Vimes' eyes glaze over while a keen player was earnestly explaining them to him... on the surface such an easy one -- but please also bear in mind {{wp|Croquet|croquet}} ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 61:-'''''<br />
''St Onan's Theological College''... in the Bible, Onan is struck dead by the merciful LORD for "spilling his seed on the ground", an action taken by generations of theological commentators to be masturbation. (although a sympathetic and open-minded reading of the source text suggests that the real offence is Onan's use of the withdrawal method as contraception, otherwise known as ''Vatican Roulette'' to the disrespectful.) However, the "sin of Onan" is forever associated with masturbation. Which leads to the interesting question of what sort of theology this college teaches, and how on the Discworld Onan got his sainthood. Jackson Fieldfair, a student who is now Bishop of Quirm, is said to have taken his mallet in both hands and given the ball a gentle tap... hold on, that's the origin of crockett... The location of this singular seminary is said to be Ham-on-Rye, presumably not to be confused with the village of [[Ham-on-Koom]] previously visited by Vimes and Lady Sybil, giving him a previous taster of country life. <br />
Again, is Terry being mischievous and slipping in a dirty joke that will be appreciated by those who know and which will pass under the radar of those who don't?<br />
<br />
''"Ham-on-Rye"'' - an inadvertent taunt to Sam's desperate craving for a proper bacon sandwich, which by express command of Lady Sybil is now denied to him?<br />
<br />
Also consider the Roundworld town {{wp|Hay-on-Wye|Hay-on-Wye}}, which of course could never be ''too'' far from the front of the mind of ''any'' British author.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.89f'''''<br />
''Duke it out, haha... the word 'duke' absolutely means that you do fight'' The etymology of "duke" has come up before but with these two different meanings of the word coming in quick succession, it's worth spelling out to avoid confusion: "duke" comes from the Latin for "leader." In practice in Imperial Rome, this came to mean military commanders who were not emperor. "Duke it out" is completely unrelated & comes from Cockney rhyming slang, where "Duke" = "Duke of York" = "fork" = "fist."<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, pp 120-121:-'''''<br />
A harkening back to {{T!}} and the [[Summoning Dark]]. Sam discovers his arm is itching, the arm marked by the quasi-demonic entity he fought and defeated with the aid of the [[Guarding Dark]]. As the goblin [[Stinky]] tries to articulate his people's need for ''just ice'', Vimes is given a vision of a dark cave and the desire for "terrible endless vengeance". He attributes this to Stinky having touched him on the scar left by the Summoning Dark, and really wishes he hadn't, as ''while all coppers must have a bit of villain in them, nobody wants to walk around with a bit of demon as a tattoo''. <br />
Could it be that in defeating the Summoning Dark, it is now working for him?<br />
Sam discovers later that he can see in the dark as well as any deep-down dwarf: a gift the Dark has left him with? He also acknowledges that having faced it down and defeated it, he meets the Summoning Dark in dreams and it treats him with respect.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p165:-'''''<br />
''Vimes stared at the rolling acres stretching out far below: his fields, his trees, his fields of yellow corn...'' A shout-out to {{RM}}? Death realises that the harvest should hope for and expect the care of the Reaper Man and creates fields of waving corn in Death's Domain to remind him of this. Here Vimes the policeman is about to embark on a course of action that will, in the name of the dead, reap a harvest. Looking out over the rolling corn and realising it belongs to him, Vimes the landowner is beginning to grasp the realities of ownership and mastery. Ownership means a duty to that which is owned. He is, in short, having the same sort of epiphany as Death. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p174:-'''''<br />
<br />
The case of the Marquis of Fantailler, who stabbed his wife to death and tried to evade justice by fleeing to Fourecks, and disguising himself by the simple expedient of not using his title. In investigating the case, [[Sam Vimes]] ran up against the entrenched hostility of Ankh-Morpork's nobility who closed ranks and refused to talk, over and above expressing their collective indignation that a member of the nobility was being hounded as if he were a common criminal. Damn the thief-taker Vimes for getting ideas above his station, can't a chap commit ''one'' murder in peace? Besides, it was his wife's fault for having the crass and inconvenient bad taste to let herself die after only one stab! Vimes recollects this investigation in {{SN}}, while pondering the tendency of the nobility to hide behind privilege, and close ranks to protect each other.<br />
<br />
The murder committed by the Marquis and his flight into self-imposed exile is very reminiscent of the Roundworld case of Lord Lucan. This member of the nobility tried to stab his wife to death one dark night. Incredibly, he got the wrong woman, and murdered his children's nanny, then fled in panic. The resultant closed-rank silence of the British nobility in protecting one of their own was not edifying and said a lot about their sense of ingrained privilege and of being above the law. The police claimed to have tried their hardest to crack the case, but may have been deterred by a sense of social expectations - ie, you cannot haul in relatives of royalty and give them the same sort of robust questioning you wouldn't think twice about giving to an Irish bombing suspect or a West Indian or a striking miner. Comment was made about "It was only the nanny, for goodness sake!" and the British nobility made it clear (as a challenge to any authority that believed it could treat them like commoners) that they knew perfectly well where Lucan was, but were not going to tell. In 2011, it is believed a criminal who fled justice in 1974 and was covertly helped out by cash handouts from other nobles died in exile, possibly in Australia or New Zealand.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 175 and onwards:-'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes' visit to Miss Beedle. She lives in a scenario which is reminiscent of the Starkadders' smallholding at Cold Comfort Farm. (another literary shout-out to novels of rural England). The role of Elfine, the unworldly free spirit, is taken by the goblin girl, Tears of the Mushroom, and the unhinged Starkadder family, those archetypes of inbred rurality, would in this context be the habitues of Jiminy's public house, the Goblin's Head. Miss Felicity Beedle might well be Flora Poste, the displaced city intellectual who reads a lot, and who acts as a stone cast into the still and stagnant local pond, sending ripples everywhere. <br />
The owl-shaped clock in Miss Beedle's cottage also appears on Miss Flitworth's parlour wall in {{RM}}, where it serves to seriously discomfort Death in his Bill Door mortal aspect. Here, it worries Sam Vimes. (another reference to the deeper themes of {{RM}}, also a novel set largely in the rural Shires?) It need not necessarily be the same one. A search on Google produces quite a few manufacturers of owl-shaped curio clocks, which are unaccountably popular. Google also throws up articles on the social, literary and folklorique connotations of the owl, as a symbol of death, passage into eternity, and a harbinger of change, suggesting the ghostly nocturnal aspect of this bird together with its haunting night cry might link it to the Banshee myth - ie, hearing it call in the night is a harbinger of death to somebody or something. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 185 and onwards:-'''''<br />
A.E. Pessimal (now a police inspector) is dispassionately analysing the practice of eating one's own children - an allegation often levelled at despised minority groups by people who have a vested interest in keeping them despised, powerless and friendless (see below) - and considering that in certain circumstances there may be justification to it. Pessimal is talking from actuarial, biological and pragmatic grounds rather than moral or ethical. Cheery Littlebottom is suitably appalled. <br />
While there is historical and anthropological evidence that this has been the practice in certain human societies - usually for the reasons Pessimal summarises and invariably among marginal "primitive" groups living in inhospitable margins - this has always even in those tribal societies been an absolute desperation measure by those confronted with the "dreadful algebra". For instance, a cannibal clan was known to have persisted in the wilds of Scotland until wiped out by appalled neighbours in the late 1600's. A more sympathetic modern interpretation suggests that they were the last hold-out of the original stone-age Picts - a race who are speculated to be the origin of folk-myths about elves, gnomes and ''goblins'' in British folklore... <br />
The clue to the referent here lies in Pessimal's specific reference to ''famine''. Pessimal is, with an absolutely straight face, expounding the arguments of Jonathan Swift, Dean of Dublin, who wrote a satirical pamphlet attacking the English attitude to destructive famine in Ireland. Swift's '''''A Modest Proposal''''' makes the eminent proposal that no welfare benefit should be forthcoming to succour the peasant Irish, who as everyone knows are feckless and idle and even if they were not, would have their self-reliance and willingness to perform honest work fatally weakened by hand-outs and charity. As long as they have resources to consume and goods to sell in an open market, they should exhaust all such resources before any sort of charity is permissible. And as Swift points out, an under-stated resource happens to be all those peasant Irish children these people persist in having by the wagonload. Irish babies should be seen as a cost-effective, economical and easily replaced source of nutrition and calories for their parents, who are otherwise too fond of holding up shrivelled and decayed potatoes, yelling "famine!", and expecting to sit back and receive hand-outs from the foolishly over-generous English. Indeed, the choicer cuts of their children could also be exported to England to grace the tables of genteel English homes, the price for which would defray the expenses to absentee landlords in housing and sheltering these people. Why should the Irish have the best, even of their own children?<br />
<br />
Swift was dismayed and made even more cynical that what he had intended as bitter, mordant, satire on the way England had bled his country dry, still expected more, and saw its people as feckless savages who only needed the slightest incentive to start eating their own young, was taken as face value in England and so many people were saying to him "dam' good idea, Swift! We're too dam' soft on those people as it is!" <br />
<br />
'''''A Modest Proposal''''' is also a broader satire on the way the rich think about the poor. How many conservative politicians have you heard lately saying "welfare dependency" sucks the will of the poor to work hard or indeed work at all? These attitudes have been around a ''long'' time and have ''always'' been used to demonise a chosen target group....<br />
<br />
This was suggested by the current Pratchett novel, ''The Long Earth''. In which reference is made to a book by Roundworld riverboat pilot and writer Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) called ''Life on the Mississippi''. An episode of which involves a fight between two riverboat pilots, which has to be frequently stopped so that the pilot whose boat it is can adjust speed and station on a rough unforgiving river...<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.232''''' ''you can die if you live only on rabbit'' This is {{wp|Protein_poisoning|Protein Poisoning}} also known as Rabbit Starvation because Rabbit does indeed lack enough fat for the body to remain healthy if nothing else is eaten<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 246:-'''''<br />
"According to the Omnians it was the third crime ever committed!" Vimes is referring to murder. The footnote says the first two crimes in human history were theft and common indecency. <br />
The reference is to Genesis, the first book of the Bible: the theft is of God's property, to whit one apple. When Adam and Eve subsequently looked upon each other and were ashamed at their nakedness - that's the "common indecency". And after an interval of time, their two sons had a falling-out and Cain slew Abel. This is of course the murder. <br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p 270''''' ''Little crimes breeding big crimes. You smile at the little crimes and then big crimes blow your head off'' This is the central thesis of {{wp|Broken_windows_theory|Broken Windows Theory}}, a criminological theory that used to be (& still is) very popular in the US, but which has been criticized for the police excesses that it can cause<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.288''''' ''Horrids'' Presumably a pun on the upscale Harrods Department Store in London.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 304:-'''''<br />
Vimes notes the presence of Quirmian gendarmes, in their distinctive helmets, the ones he thinks are too fussy and militaristic and impractical for proper coppers. He could be referring to the Adrian helmet of WW1 and the early years of WW2, also worn by French policemen and firemen of the era: see ''[http://www.militarytrader.com/military-trader-news/the_first_modern_steel_combat_helmet_the_french_adrian here].''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 306:-'''''<br />
''Our relationship with Commandant Fournier is cordial at the moment, is it not?'' - Vimes is alluding to an ''entente cordiale'' between Quirm and Ankh-Morpork....<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 321:-'''''<br />
''rue de Wakening'' - one of TP's blink-and-you've-missed-it puns.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 351:-'''''<br />
Vimes comments on how good the cells and locks are in Quirm and how it is unlikely anyone put into a Quirmian cell, under continual guard, encased in thick stone walls and with the best locks on the best doors, could ever escape. Hmmm. Could we call this a ''Bastille''?<br />
<br />
Towards the end of the book, Sam takes Young Sam to the Quirm zoo, where his incessant plea to "see the elephant" is finally answered. A continuity shout-out to the end of {{WA}}, where the Lancre witches return home the long way round, "seeing the Elephant" and inadvertently precipitating the events of {{LL}}; or to Sam and Sybil deliberately taking the long way home at the end of {{T5E}}, also explicitly described as "seeing the Elephant"?<br />
<br />
It's interesting that the people responsible for the card-based RPG, '''''Magic: The Gathering''''' have recently released a new card: ''Tivadar's Crusade'', which launches a human pogrom against goblins...<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.431''''' ''Some bloke they reckoned was a great thinker once said, "Know yourself"'' This well-known axiom was said by Plato but by others before him, possibly back to Heraclitus.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page unknown(someone please provide):-'''''<br />
Various references to Sybil's ancestor [[Woolsthorpe Ramkin]] echo Sir Isaac Newton, who was living at his ancestral home, Woolsthorpe Manor, when a falling apple led him to the theory of gravity. In Woolsthorpe Ramkin's case this get slightly confused with Sir Isaac's law of motion "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".<br />
<br />
The goblin district of the city, nearby to Harry King's premises in [[New Ankh]], is a ramshackle shanty town where goblin homes are built, often ingeniously well, out of materials vrecycled from the waste being processed by Harry. This is largely because goblins are informally not tolerated within the city walls and informal sanctions have been known to apply to those incautious enough to try to live there. Hmm. Is this an unsubtle reference to apartheid in the old South Africa, and the fact that the black labour necessary to do the dirty jobs the whites didn't want (who could not live ''inside'' the city limits of Johannesburg because of apartheid law) had to dwell somewhere. Therefore townships like Soweto grew up, tacitly accepted but without official sanction and which could be demolished if the white authorities deemed this necessary for public order. Terry has created Ankh-Morpork's Soweto here... <br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Snuff/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Snuff/Annotations&diff=34789Book:Snuff/Annotations2023-07-21T21:58:54Z<p>Superluser: correcting formatting</p>
<hr />
<div>On the '''''Shires''''', the debatable border region between Ankh-Morpork and Quirm. Perhaps just the tiniest of shout-outs to JRR Tolkien, who devised The Shire as the home for an inoffensive people of small stature who lived in what amounted to holes in the ground? A minor plot-point, after all, is a ring first found on a severed finger. A similar artefact is something Fred Colon finds impossible to put down, which is so inexplicably, er, ''precious'' to him that he claims vehement ownership of it, and which totally alters his personality. The Lord of the Manor sets out on a quest to defeat evil that leads him into the dark places beneath the earth - except that he has a [[Summoning Dark|tame balrog]] on his side. The rest of the (human) peasantry exhibits all the parochial small-mindedness of the Hobbiton population, although the local pub ain't the Prancing Pony and Jiminy has little in common with Barliman Butterbur, save that both keep a stout club under the counter and disregard the licencing laws... and of course Sam Vimes, like Master Samwise before him, has to set about a Scouring of the Shires to eliminate the incurably evil, bring to brook the ringleaders, and discern between gloating colloborators who needed no encouragement as opposed to those who were scared into submission. No wizards or fireworks, though... and a Rider in Black (Willikins) claimed Statford in the end, on a lonely road miles from anywhere...<br />
<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 24:-'''''<br />
''the hats look wrong on them.'' Lady Sybil is bang on the money about gamekeepers and bowler hats. They were originally devised by Edward Coke of Leicester as practical wear for his gamekeepers. See ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat|here]''. In confusing them with bailiffs, Vimes is perhaps thinking of the sort of hard men employed by Lord deWorde to remove his embarrassing son William, encountered in the climactic scene towards the end of {{TT}}, who are described as wearing bowlers and as the sort of hard men every Lord finds it useful to employ to smooth such distasteful moments. And a ''really'' big distasteful moment in which such men were used to do the dirty work (hinted at on p169) is of course at the heart of the crime Sam discovers. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 32 and onwards:-'''''<br />
Sybil introduces Vimes to a sadly widowed friend of hers, Lady Ariadne, who has six spinster daughters who live in full expectation of the acknowledged truth that a man, once in possession of an independent income and a country estate, will surely be looking for a wife. One of them is even ''called'' Jane, and she's the strange self-sufficient one who closely observes the world around her and wants to become a writer. Hmmm.... <br />
Supported by Sybil, Sam Vimes proceeds to deconstruct a certain Regency novel with extreme prejudice, whilst advising the girls to show a little pride in themselves. Among other things he imparts the truism that Jane is best-advised to base a novel on what she knows best...<br />
<br />
<br />
''''' Around page 40 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The spinning maidservants are another example of the most unlikely of Sir Terry's plot details being true in Roundworld. At Warwick Castle, in the main part of the castle, there is a set of rules for servants, including how to behave in the presence of their betters, which says turn and face the wall and try to look invisible. The reason given is so that your betters don't have to notice you, rather than to protect against randy aristocrats, but then they would say that wouldn't they ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 54:-'''''<br />
The local pub, the [[Goblin's Head]] - oddly evocative of The Bull, the gossip and social exchange of the town of Ambridge, immortalised in long-running BBC radio rural soap opera, ''The Archers''. Its mine host, Sid Perks, also had a little experience of the police behind him - and his (deceased) first wife was called ''Polly''.... (Annotation for {{MR}} too?) <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 60 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The game of [[crockett]], the game of games and king of games, played on village greens over several days and governed by the sort of arcane laws that made Sam Vimes' eyes glaze over while a keen player was earnestly explaining them to him... on the surface such an easy one -- but please also bear in mind {{wp|Croquet|croquet}} ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 61:-'''''<br />
''St Onan's Theological College''... in the Bible, Onan is struck dead by the merciful LORD for "spilling his seed on the ground", an action taken by generations of theological commentators to be masturbation. (although a sympathetic and open-minded reading of the source text suggests that the real offence is Onan's use of the withdrawal method as contraception, otherwise known as ''Vatican Roulette'' to the disrespectful.) However, the "sin of Onan" is forever associated with masturbation. Which leads to the interesting question of what sort of theology this college teaches, and how on the Discworld Onan got his sainthood. Jackson Fieldfair, a student who is now Bishop of Quirm, is said to have taken his mallet in both hands and given the ball a gentle tap... hold on, that's the origin of crockett... The location of this singular seminary is said to be Ham-on-Rye, presumably not to be confused with the village of [[Ham-on-Koom]] previously visited by Vimes and Lady Sybil, giving him a previous taster of country life. <br />
Again, is Terry being mischievous and slipping in a dirty joke that will be appreciated by those who know and which will pass under the radar of those who don't?<br />
<br />
''"Ham-on-Rye"'' - an inadvertent taunt to Sam's desperate craving for a proper bacon sandwich, which by express command of Lady Sybil is now denied to him?<br />
<br />
Also consider the Roundworld town {{wp|Hay-on-Wye|Hay-on-Wye}}, which of course could never be ''too'' far from the front of the mind of ''any'' British author.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.89f'''''<br />
''Duke it out, haha... the word 'duke' absolutely means that you do fight'' The etymology of "duke" has come up before but with these two different meanings of the word coming in quick succession, it's worth spelling out to avoid confusion: "duke" comes from the Latin for "leader." In practice in Imperial Rome, this came to mean military commanders who were not emperor. "Duke it out" is completely unrelated & comes from Cockney rhyming slang, where "Duke" = "Duke of York" = "fork" = "fist."<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, pp 120-121:-'''''<br />
A harkening back to {{T!}} and the [[Summoning Dark]]. Sam discovers his arm is itching, the arm marked by the quasi-demonic entity he fought and defeated with the aid of the [[Guarding Dark]]. As the goblin [[Stinky]] tries to articulate his people's need for ''just ice'', Vimes is given a vision of a dark cave and the desire for "terrible endless vengeance". He attributes this to Stinky having touched him on the scar left by the Summoning Dark, and really wishes he hadn't, as ''while all coppers must have a bit of villain in them, nobody wants to walk around with a bit of demon as a tattoo''. <br />
Could it be that in defeating the Summoning Dark, it is now working for him?<br />
Sam discovers later that he can see in the dark as well as any deep-down dwarf: a gift the Dark has left him with? He also acknowledges that having faced it down and defeated it, he meets the Summoning Dark in dreams and it treats him with respect.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p165:-'''''<br />
''Vimes stared at the rolling acres stretching out far below: his fields, his trees, his fields of yellow corn...'' A shout-out to {{RM}}? Death realises that the harvest should hope for and expect the care of the Reaper Man and creates fields of waving corn in Death's Domain to remind him of this. Here Vimes the policeman is about to embark on a course of action that will, in the name of the dead, reap a harvest. Looking out over the rolling corn and realising it belongs to him, Vimes the landowner is beginning to grasp the realities of ownership and mastery. Ownership means a duty to that which is owned. He is, in short, having the same sort of epiphany as Death. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p174:-'''''<br />
<br />
The case of the Marquis of Fantailler, who stabbed his wife to death and tried to evade justice by fleeing to Fourecks, and disguising himself by the simple expedient of not using his title. In investigating the case, [[Sam Vimes]] ran up against the entrenched hostility of Ankh-Morpork's nobility who closed ranks and refused to talk, over and above expressing their collective indignation that a member of the nobility was being hounded as if he were a common criminal. Damn the thief-taker Vimes for getting ideas above his station, can't a chap commit ''one'' murder in peace? Besides, it was his wife's fault for having the crass and inconvenient bad taste to let herself die after only one stab! Vimes recollects this investigation in {{SN}}, while pondering the tendency of the nobility to hide behind privilege, and close ranks to protect each other.<br />
<br />
The murder committed by the Marquis and his flight into self-imposed exile is very reminiscent of the Roundworld case of Lord Lucan. This member of the nobility tried to stab his wife to death one dark night. Incredibly, he got the wrong woman, and murdered his children's nanny, then fled in panic. The resultant closed-rank silence of the British nobility in protecting one of their own was not edifying and said a lot about their sense of ingrained privilege and of being above the law. The police claimed to have tried their hardest to crack the case, but may have been deterred by a sense of social expectations - ie, you cannot haul in relatives of royalty and give them the same sort of robust questioning you wouldn't think twice about giving to an Irish bombing suspect or a West Indian or a striking miner. Comment was made about "It was only the nanny, for goodness sake!" and the British nobility made it clear (as a challenge to any authority that believed it could treat them like commoners) that they knew perfectly well where Lucan was, but were not going to tell. In 2011, it is believed a criminal who fled justice in 1974 and was covertly helped out by cash handouts from other nobles died in exile, possibly in Australia or New Zealand.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 175 and onwards:-'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes' visit to Miss Beedle. She lives in a scenario which is reminiscent of the Starkadders' smallholding at Cold Comfort Farm. (another literary shout-out to novels of rural England). The role of Elfine, the unworldly free spirit, is taken by the goblin girl, Tears of the Mushroom, and the unhinged Starkadder family, those archetypes of inbred rurality, would in this context be the habitues of Jiminy's public house, the Goblin's Head. Miss Felicity Beedle might well be Flora Poste, the displaced city intellectual who reads a lot, and who acts as a stone cast into the still and stagnant local pond, sending ripples everywhere. <br />
The owl-shaped clock in Miss Beedle's cottage also appears on Miss Flitworth's parlour wall in {{RM}}, where it serves to seriously discomfort Death in his Bill Door mortal aspect. Here, it worries Sam Vimes. (another reference to the deeper themes of {{RM}}, also a novel set largely in the rural Shires?) It need not necessarily be the same one. A search on Google produces quite a few manufacturers of owl-shaped curio clocks, which are unaccountably popular. Google also throws up articles on the social, literary and folklorique connotations of the owl, as a symbol of death, passage into eternity, and a harbinger of change, suggesting the ghostly nocturnal aspect of this bird together with its haunting night cry might link it to the Banshee myth - ie, hearing it call in the night is a harbinger of death to somebody or something. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 185 and onwards:-'''''<br />
A.E. Pessimal (now a police inspector) is dispassionately analysing the practice of eating one's own children - an allegation often levelled at despised minority groups by people who have a vested interest in keeping them despised, powerless and friendless (see below) - and considering that in certain circumstances there may be justification to it. Pessimal is talking from actuarial, biological and pragmatic grounds rather than moral or ethical. Cheery Littlebottom is suitably appalled. <br />
While there is historical and anthropological evidence that this has been the practice in certain human societies - usually for the reasons Pessimal summarises and invariably among marginal "primitive" groups living in inhospitable margins - this has always even in those tribal societies been an absolute desperation measure by those confronted with the "dreadful algebra". For instance, a cannibal clan was known to have persisted in the wilds of Scotland until wiped out by appalled neighbours in the late 1600's. A more sympathetic modern interpretation suggests that they were the last hold-out of the original stone-age Picts - a race who are speculated to be the origin of folk-myths about elves, gnomes and ''goblins'' in British folklore... <br />
The clue to the referent here lies in Pessimal's specific reference to ''famine''. Pessimal is, with an absolutely straight face, expounding the arguments of Jonathan Swift, Dean of Dublin, who wrote a satirical pamphlet attacking the English attitude to destructive famine in Ireland. Swift's '''''A Modest Proposal''''' makes the eminent proposal that no welfare benefit should be forthcoming to succour the peasant Irish, who as everyone knows are feckless and idle and even if they were not, would have their self-reliance and willingness to perform honest work fatally weakened by hand-outs and charity. As long as they have resources to consume and goods to sell in an open market, they should exhaust all such resources before any sort of charity is permissible. And as Swift points out, an under-stated resource happens to be all those peasant Irish children these people persist in having by the wagonload. Irish babies should be seen as a cost-effective, economical and easily replaced source of nutrition and calories for their parents, who are otherwise too fond of holding up shrivelled and decayed potatoes, yelling "famine!", and expecting to sit back and receive hand-outs from the foolishly over-generous English. Indeed, the choicer cuts of their children could also be exported to England to grace the tables of genteel English homes, the price for which would defray the expenses to absentee landlords in housing and sheltering these people. Why should the Irish have the best, even of their own children?<br />
<br />
Swift was dismayed and made even more cynical that what he had intended as bitter, mordant, satire on the way England had bled his country dry, still expected more, and saw its people as feckless savages who only needed the slightest incentive to start eating their own young, was taken as face value in England and so many people were saying to him "dam' good idea, Swift! We're too dam' soft on those people as it is!" <br />
<br />
'''''A Modest Proposal''''' is also a broader satire on the way the rich think about the poor. How many conservative politicians have you heard lately saying "welfare dependency" sucks the will of the poor to work hard or indeed work at all? These attitudes have been around a ''long'' time and have ''always'' been used to demonise a chosen target group....<br />
<br />
This was suggested by the current Pratchett novel, ''The Long Earth''. In which reference is made to a book by Roundworld riverboat pilot and writer Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) called ''Life on the Mississippi''. An episode of which involves a fight between two riverboat pilots, which has to be frequently stopped so that the pilot whose boat it is can adjust speed and station on a rough unforgiving river...<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.232''''' ''you can die if you live only on rabbit'' This is {{wp|Protein_poisoning|Protein Poisoning}} also known as Rabbit Starvation because Rabbit does indeed lack enough fat for the body to remain healthy if nothing else is eaten<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 246:-'''''<br />
"According to the Omnians it was the third crime ever committed!" Vimes is referring to murder. The footnote says the first two crimes in human history were theft and common indecency. <br />
The reference is to Genesis, the first book of the Bible: the theft is of God's property, to whit one apple. When Adam and Eve subsequently looked upon each other and were ashamed at their nakedness - that's the "common indecency". And after an interval of time, their two sons had a falling-out and Cain slew Abel. This is of course the murder. <br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p 270''''' ''Little crimes breeding big crimes. You smile at the little crimes and then big crimes blow your head off'' This is the central thesis of {{wp|Broken_windows_theory|Broken Windows Theory}}, a criminological theory that used to be (& still is) very popular in the US, but which has been criticized for the police excesses that it can cause<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.288''''' ''Horrids'' Presumably a pun on the upscale Harrods Department Store in London.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 304:-'''''<br />
Vimes notes the presence of Quirmian gendarmes, in their distinctive helmets, the ones he thinks are too fussy and militaristic and impractical for proper coppers. He could be referring to the Adrian helmet of WW1 and the early years of WW2, also worn by French policemen and firemen of the era: see ''[http://www.militarytrader.com/military-trader-news/the_first_modern_steel_combat_helmet_the_french_adrian here].''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 306:-'''''<br />
''Our relationship with Commandant Fournier is cordial at the moment, is it not?'' - Vimes is alluding to an ''entente cordiale'' between Quirm and Ankh-Morpork....<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 321:-'''''<br />
''rue de Wakening'' - one of TP's blink-and-you've-missed-it puns.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 351:-'''''<br />
Vimes comments on how good the cells and locks are in Quirm and how it is unlikely anyone put into a Quirmian cell, under continual guard, encased in thick stone walls and with the best locks on the best doors, could ever escape. Hmmm. Could we call this a ''Bastille''?<br />
<br />
Towards the end of the book, Sam takes Young Sam to the Quirm zoo, where his incessant plea to "see the elephant" is finally answered. A continuity shout-out to the end of {{WA}}, where the Lancre witches return home the long way round, "seeing the Elephant" and inadvertently precipitating the events of {{LL}}; or to Sam and Sybil deliberately taking the long way home at the end of {{T5E}}, also explicitly described as "seeing the Elephant"?<br />
<br />
It's interesting that the people responsible for the card-based RPG, '''''Magic: The Gathering''''' have recently released a new card: ''Tivadar's Crusade'', which launches a human pogrom against goblins...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page unknown(someone please provide):-'''''<br />
Various references to Sybil's ancestor [[Woolsthorpe Ramkin]] echo Sir Isaac Newton, who was living at his ancestral home, Woolsthorpe Manor, when a falling apple led him to the theory of gravity. In Woolsthorpe Ramkin's case this get slightly confused with Sir Isaac's law of motion "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".<br />
<br />
The goblin district of the city, nearby to Harry King's premises in [[New Ankh]], is a ramshackle shanty town where goblin homes are built, often ingeniously well, out of materials vrecycled from the waste being processed by Harry. This is largely because goblins are informally not tolerated within the city walls and informal sanctions have been known to apply to those incautious enough to try to live there. Hmm. Is this an unsubtle reference to apartheid in the old South Africa, and the fact that the black labour necessary to do the dirty jobs the whites didn't want (who could not live ''inside'' the city limits of Johannesburg because of apartheid law) had to dwell somewhere. Therefore townships like Soweto grew up, tacitly accepted but without official sanction and which could be demolished if the white authorities deemed this necessary for public order. Terry has created Ankh-Morpork's Soweto here... <br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Snuff/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Snuff/Annotations&diff=34788Book:Snuff/Annotations2023-07-21T21:56:34Z<p>Superluser: Some annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>On the '''''Shires''''', the debatable border region between Ankh-Morpork and Quirm. Perhaps just the tiniest of shout-outs to JRR Tolkien, who devised The Shire as the home for an inoffensive people of small stature who lived in what amounted to holes in the ground? A minor plot-point, after all, is a ring first found on a severed finger. A similar artefact is something Fred Colon finds impossible to put down, which is so inexplicably, er, ''precious'' to him that he claims vehement ownership of it, and which totally alters his personality. The Lord of the Manor sets out on a quest to defeat evil that leads him into the dark places beneath the earth - except that he has a [[Summoning Dark|tame balrog]] on his side. The rest of the (human) peasantry exhibits all the parochial small-mindedness of the Hobbiton population, although the local pub ain't the Prancing Pony and Jiminy has little in common with Barliman Butterbur, save that both keep a stout club under the counter and disregard the licencing laws... and of course Sam Vimes, like Master Samwise before him, has to set about a Scouring of the Shires to eliminate the incurably evil, bring to brook the ringleaders, and discern between gloating colloborators who needed no encouragement as opposed to those who were scared into submission. No wizards or fireworks, though... and a Rider in Black (Willikins) claimed Statford in the end, on a lonely road miles from anywhere...<br />
<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 24:-'''''<br />
''the hats look wrong on them.'' Lady Sybil is bang on the money about gamekeepers and bowler hats. They were originally devised by Edward Coke of Leicester as practical wear for his gamekeepers. See ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat|here]''. In confusing them with bailiffs, Vimes is perhaps thinking of the sort of hard men employed by Lord deWorde to remove his embarrassing son William, encountered in the climactic scene towards the end of {{TT}}, who are described as wearing bowlers and as the sort of hard men every Lord finds it useful to employ to smooth such distasteful moments. And a ''really'' big distasteful moment in which such men were used to do the dirty work (hinted at on p169) is of course at the heart of the crime Sam discovers. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 32 and onwards:-'''''<br />
Sybil introduces Vimes to a sadly widowed friend of hers, Lady Ariadne, who has six spinster daughters who live in full expectation of the acknowledged truth that a man, once in possession of an independent income and a country estate, will surely be looking for a wife. One of them is even ''called'' Jane, and she's the strange self-sufficient one who closely observes the world around her and wants to become a writer. Hmmm.... <br />
Supported by Sybil, Sam Vimes proceeds to deconstruct a certain Regency novel with extreme prejudice, whilst advising the girls to show a little pride in themselves. Among other things he imparts the truism that Jane is best-advised to base a novel on what she knows best...<br />
<br />
<br />
''''' Around page 40 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The spinning maidservants are another example of the most unlikely of Sir Terry's plot details being true in Roundworld. At Warwick Castle, in the main part of the castle, there is a set of rules for servants, including how to behave in the presence of their betters, which says turn and face the wall and try to look invisible. The reason given is so that your betters don't have to notice you, rather than to protect against randy aristocrats, but then they would say that wouldn't they ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 54:-'''''<br />
The local pub, the [[Goblin's Head]] - oddly evocative of The Bull, the gossip and social exchange of the town of Ambridge, immortalised in long-running BBC radio rural soap opera, ''The Archers''. Its mine host, Sid Perks, also had a little experience of the police behind him - and his (deceased) first wife was called ''Polly''.... (Annotation for {{MR}} too?) <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 60 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The game of [[crockett]], the game of games and king of games, played on village greens over several days and governed by the sort of arcane laws that made Sam Vimes' eyes glaze over while a keen player was earnestly explaining them to him... on the surface such an easy one -- but please also bear in mind {{wp|Croquet|croquet}} ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 61:-'''''<br />
''St Onan's Theological College''... in the Bible, Onan is struck dead by the merciful LORD for "spilling his seed on the ground", an action taken by generations of theological commentators to be masturbation. (although a sympathetic and open-minded reading of the source text suggests that the real offence is Onan's use of the withdrawal method as contraception, otherwise known as ''Vatican Roulette'' to the disrespectful.) However, the "sin of Onan" is forever associated with masturbation. Which leads to the interesting question of what sort of theology this college teaches, and how on the Discworld Onan got his sainthood. Jackson Fieldfair, a student who is now Bishop of Quirm, is said to have taken his mallet in both hands and given the ball a gentle tap... hold on, that's the origin of crockett... The location of this singular seminary is said to be Ham-on-Rye, presumably not to be confused with the village of [[Ham-on-Koom]] previously visited by Vimes and Lady Sybil, giving him a previous taster of country life. <br />
Again, is Terry being mischievous and slipping in a dirty joke that will be appreciated by those who know and which will pass under the radar of those who don't?<br />
<br />
''"Ham-on-Rye"'' - an inadvertent taunt to Sam's desperate craving for a proper bacon sandwich, which by express command of Lady Sybil is now denied to him?<br />
<br />
Also consider the Roundworld town {{wp|Hay-on-Wye|Hay-on-Wye}}, which of course could never be ''too'' far from the front of the mind of ''any'' British author.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.89f'''''<br />
''Duke it out, haha... the word 'duke' absolutely means that you do fight'' The etymology of "duke" has come up before but with these two different meanings of the word coming in quick succession, it's worth spelling out to avoid confusion: "duke" comes from the Latin for "leader." In practice in Imperial Rome, this came to mean military commanders who were not emperor. "Duke it out" is completely unrelated & comes from Cockney rhyming slang, where "Duke" = "Duke of York" = "fork" = "fist."<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, pp 120-121:-'''''<br />
A harkening back to {{T!}} and the [[Summoning Dark]]. Sam discovers his arm is itching, the arm marked by the quasi-demonic entity he fought and defeated with the aid of the [[Guarding Dark]]. As the goblin [[Stinky]] tries to articulate his people's need for ''just ice'', Vimes is given a vision of a dark cave and the desire for "terrible endless vengeance". He attributes this to Stinky having touched him on the scar left by the Summoning Dark, and really wishes he hadn't, as ''while all coppers must have a bit of villain in them, nobody wants to walk around with a bit of demon as a tattoo''. <br />
Could it be that in defeating the Summoning Dark, it is now working for him?<br />
Sam discovers later that he can see in the dark as well as any deep-down dwarf: a gift the Dark has left him with? He also acknowledges that having faced it down and defeated it, he meets the Summoning Dark in dreams and it treats him with respect.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p165:-'''''<br />
''Vimes stared at the rolling acres stretching out far below: his fields, his trees, his fields of yellow corn...'' A shout-out to {{RM}}? Death realises that the harvest should hope for and expect the care of the Reaper Man and creates fields of waving corn in Death's Domain to remind him of this. Here Vimes the policeman is about to embark on a course of action that will, in the name of the dead, reap a harvest. Looking out over the rolling corn and realising it belongs to him, Vimes the landowner is beginning to grasp the realities of ownership and mastery. Ownership means a duty to that which is owned. He is, in short, having the same sort of epiphany as Death. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p174:-'''''<br />
<br />
The case of the Marquis of Fantailler, who stabbed his wife to death and tried to evade justice by fleeing to Fourecks, and disguising himself by the simple expedient of not using his title. In investigating the case, [[Sam Vimes]] ran up against the entrenched hostility of Ankh-Morpork's nobility who closed ranks and refused to talk, over and above expressing their collective indignation that a member of the nobility was being hounded as if he were a common criminal. Damn the thief-taker Vimes for getting ideas above his station, can't a chap commit ''one'' murder in peace? Besides, it was his wife's fault for having the crass and inconvenient bad taste to let herself die after only one stab! Vimes recollects this investigation in {{SN}}, while pondering the tendency of the nobility to hide behind privilege, and close ranks to protect each other.<br />
<br />
The murder committed by the Marquis and his flight into self-imposed exile is very reminiscent of the Roundworld case of Lord Lucan. This member of the nobility tried to stab his wife to death one dark night. Incredibly, he got the wrong woman, and murdered his children's nanny, then fled in panic. The resultant closed-rank silence of the British nobility in protecting one of their own was not edifying and said a lot about their sense of ingrained privilege and of being above the law. The police claimed to have tried their hardest to crack the case, but may have been deterred by a sense of social expectations - ie, you cannot haul in relatives of royalty and give them the same sort of robust questioning you wouldn't think twice about giving to an Irish bombing suspect or a West Indian or a striking miner. Comment was made about "It was only the nanny, for goodness sake!" and the British nobility made it clear (as a challenge to any authority that believed it could treat them like commoners) that they knew perfectly well where Lucan was, but were not going to tell. In 2011, it is believed a criminal who fled justice in 1974 and was covertly helped out by cash handouts from other nobles died in exile, possibly in Australia or New Zealand.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 175 and onwards:-'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes' visit to Miss Beedle. She lives in a scenario which is reminiscent of the Starkadders' smallholding at Cold Comfort Farm. (another literary shout-out to novels of rural England). The role of Elfine, the unworldly free spirit, is taken by the goblin girl, Tears of the Mushroom, and the unhinged Starkadder family, those archetypes of inbred rurality, would in this context be the habitues of Jiminy's public house, the Goblin's Head. Miss Felicity Beedle might well be Flora Poste, the displaced city intellectual who reads a lot, and who acts as a stone cast into the still and stagnant local pond, sending ripples everywhere. <br />
The owl-shaped clock in Miss Beedle's cottage also appears on Miss Flitworth's parlour wall in {{RM}}, where it serves to seriously discomfort Death in his Bill Door mortal aspect. Here, it worries Sam Vimes. (another reference to the deeper themes of {{RM}}, also a novel set largely in the rural Shires?) It need not necessarily be the same one. A search on Google produces quite a few manufacturers of owl-shaped curio clocks, which are unaccountably popular. Google also throws up articles on the social, literary and folklorique connotations of the owl, as a symbol of death, passage into eternity, and a harbinger of change, suggesting the ghostly nocturnal aspect of this bird together with its haunting night cry might link it to the Banshee myth - ie, hearing it call in the night is a harbinger of death to somebody or something. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 185 and onwards:-'''''<br />
A.E. Pessimal (now a police inspector) is dispassionately analysing the practice of eating one's own children - an allegation often levelled at despised minority groups by people who have a vested interest in keeping them despised, powerless and friendless (see below) - and considering that in certain circumstances there may be justification to it. Pessimal is talking from actuarial, biological and pragmatic grounds rather than moral or ethical. Cheery Littlebottom is suitably appalled. <br />
While there is historical and anthropological evidence that this has been the practice in certain human societies - usually for the reasons Pessimal summarises and invariably among marginal "primitive" groups living in inhospitable margins - this has always even in those tribal societies been an absolute desperation measure by those confronted with the "dreadful algebra". For instance, a cannibal clan was known to have persisted in the wilds of Scotland until wiped out by appalled neighbours in the late 1600's. A more sympathetic modern interpretation suggests that they were the last hold-out of the original stone-age Picts - a race who are speculated to be the origin of folk-myths about elves, gnomes and ''goblins'' in British folklore... <br />
The clue to the referent here lies in Pessimal's specific reference to ''famine''. Pessimal is, with an absolutely straight face, expounding the arguments of Jonathan Swift, Dean of Dublin, who wrote a satirical pamphlet attacking the English attitude to destructive famine in Ireland. Swift's '''''A Modest Proposal''''' makes the eminent proposal that no welfare benefit should be forthcoming to succour the peasant Irish, who as everyone knows are feckless and idle and even if they were not, would have their self-reliance and willingness to perform honest work fatally weakened by hand-outs and charity. As long as they have resources to consume and goods to sell in an open market, they should exhaust all such resources before any sort of charity is permissible. And as Swift points out, an under-stated resource happens to be all those peasant Irish children these people persist in having by the wagonload. Irish babies should be seen as a cost-effective, economical and easily replaced source of nutrition and calories for their parents, who are otherwise too fond of holding up shrivelled and decayed potatoes, yelling "famine!", and expecting to sit back and receive hand-outs from the foolishly over-generous English. Indeed, the choicer cuts of their children could also be exported to England to grace the tables of genteel English homes, the price for which would defray the expenses to absentee landlords in housing and sheltering these people. Why should the Irish have the best, even of their own children?<br />
<br />
Swift was dismayed and made even more cynical that what he had intended as bitter, mordant, satire on the way England had bled his country dry, still expected more, and saw its people as feckless savages who only needed the slightest incentive to start eating their own young, was taken as face value in England and so many people were saying to him "dam' good idea, Swift! We're too dam' soft on those people as it is!" <br />
<br />
'''''A Modest Proposal''''' is also a broader satire on the way the rich think about the poor. How many conservative politicians have you heard lately saying "welfare dependency" sucks the will of the poor to work hard or indeed work at all? These attitudes have been around a ''long'' time and have ''always'' been used to demonise a chosen target group....<br />
<br />
This was suggested by the current Pratchett novel, ''The Long Earth''. In which reference is made to a book by Roundworld riverboat pilot and writer Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) called ''Life on the Mississippi''. An episode of which involves a fight between two riverboat pilots, which has to be frequently stopped so that the pilot whose boat it is can adjust speed and station on a rough unforgiving river...<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.232''''' '''you can die if you live only on rabbit''' This is {{wp|Protein_poisoning|Protein Poisoning}} also known as Rabbit Starvation because Rabbit does indeed lack enough fat for the body to remain healthy if nothing else is eaten<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 246:-'''''<br />
"According to the Omnians it was the third crime ever committed!" Vimes is referring to murder. The footnote says the first two crimes in human history were theft and common indecency. <br />
The reference is to Genesis, the first book of the Bible: the theft is of God's property, to whit one apple. When Adam and Eve subsequently looked upon each other and were ashamed at their nakedness - that's the "common indecency". And after an interval of time, their two sons had a falling-out and Cain slew Abel. This is of course the murder. <br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p 270''''' '''Little crimes breeding big crimes. You smile at the little crimes and then big crimes blow your head off''' This is the central thesis of {{wp|Broken_windows_theory|Broken Windows Theory}}, a criminological theory that used to be (& still is) very popular in the US, but which has been criticized for the police excesses that it can cause<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.288''''' '''Horrids''' Presumably a pun on the upscale Harrods Department Store in London.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 304:-'''''<br />
Vimes notes the presence of Quirmian gendarmes, in their distinctive helmets, the ones he thinks are too fussy and militaristic and impractical for proper coppers. He could be referring to the Adrian helmet of WW1 and the early years of WW2, also worn by French policemen and firemen of the era: see ''[http://www.militarytrader.com/military-trader-news/the_first_modern_steel_combat_helmet_the_french_adrian here].''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 306:-'''''<br />
''Our relationship with Commandant Fournier is cordial at the moment, is it not?'' - Vimes is alluding to an ''entente cordiale'' between Quirm and Ankh-Morpork....<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 321:-'''''<br />
''rue de Wakening'' - one of TP's blink-and-you've-missed-it puns.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 351:-'''''<br />
Vimes comments on how good the cells and locks are in Quirm and how it is unlikely anyone put into a Quirmian cell, under continual guard, encased in thick stone walls and with the best locks on the best doors, could ever escape. Hmmm. Could we call this a ''Bastille''?<br />
<br />
Towards the end of the book, Sam takes Young Sam to the Quirm zoo, where his incessant plea to "see the elephant" is finally answered. A continuity shout-out to the end of {{WA}}, where the Lancre witches return home the long way round, "seeing the Elephant" and inadvertently precipitating the events of {{LL}}; or to Sam and Sybil deliberately taking the long way home at the end of {{T5E}}, also explicitly described as "seeing the Elephant"?<br />
<br />
It's interesting that the people responsible for the card-based RPG, '''''Magic: The Gathering''''' have recently released a new card: ''Tivadar's Crusade'', which launches a human pogrom against goblins...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page unknown(someone please provide):-'''''<br />
Various references to Sybil's ancestor [[Woolsthorpe Ramkin]] echo Sir Isaac Newton, who was living at his ancestral home, Woolsthorpe Manor, when a falling apple led him to the theory of gravity. In Woolsthorpe Ramkin's case this get slightly confused with Sir Isaac's law of motion "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".<br />
<br />
The goblin district of the city, nearby to Harry King's premises in [[New Ankh]], is a ramshackle shanty town where goblin homes are built, often ingeniously well, out of materials vrecycled from the waste being processed by Harry. This is largely because goblins are informally not tolerated within the city walls and informal sanctions have been known to apply to those incautious enough to try to live there. Hmm. Is this an unsubtle reference to apartheid in the old South Africa, and the fact that the black labour necessary to do the dirty jobs the whites didn't want (who could not live ''inside'' the city limits of Johannesburg because of apartheid law) had to dwell somewhere. Therefore townships like Soweto grew up, tacitly accepted but without official sanction and which could be demolished if the white authorities deemed this necessary for public order. Terry has created Ankh-Morpork's Soweto here... <br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Snuff/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Snuff/Annotations&diff=34786Book:Snuff/Annotations2023-07-16T12:48:49Z<p>Superluser: Duke etymology</p>
<hr />
<div>On the '''''Shires''''', the debatable border region between Ankh-Morpork and Quirm. Perhaps just the tiniest of shout-outs to JRR Tolkien, who devised The Shire as the home for an inoffensive people of small stature who lived in what amounted to holes in the ground? A minor plot-point, after all, is a ring first found on a severed finger. A similar artefact is something Fred Colon finds impossible to put down, which is so inexplicably, er, ''precious'' to him that he claims vehement ownership of it, and which totally alters his personality. The Lord of the Manor sets out on a quest to defeat evil that leads him into the dark places beneath the earth - except that he has a [[Summoning Dark|tame balrog]] on his side. The rest of the (human) peasantry exhibits all the parochial small-mindedness of the Hobbiton population, although the local pub ain't the Prancing Pony and Jiminy has little in common with Barliman Butterbur, save that both keep a stout club under the counter and disregard the licencing laws... and of course Sam Vimes, like Master Samwise before him, has to set about a Scouring of the Shires to eliminate the incurably evil, bring to brook the ringleaders, and discern between gloating colloborators who needed no encouragement as opposed to those who were scared into submission. No wizards or fireworks, though... and a Rider in Black (Willikins) claimed Statford in the end, on a lonely road miles from anywhere...<br />
<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 24:-'''''<br />
''the hats look wrong on them.'' Lady Sybil is bang on the money about gamekeepers and bowler hats. They were originally devised by Edward Coke of Leicester as practical wear for his gamekeepers. See ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat|here]''. In confusing them with bailiffs, Vimes is perhaps thinking of the sort of hard men employed by Lord deWorde to remove his embarrassing son William, encountered in the climactic scene towards the end of {{TT}}, who are described as wearing bowlers and as the sort of hard men every Lord finds it useful to employ to smooth such distasteful moments. And a ''really'' big distasteful moment in which such men were used to do the dirty work (hinted at on p169) is of course at the heart of the crime Sam discovers. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 32 and onwards:-'''''<br />
Sybil introduces Vimes to a sadly widowed friend of hers, Lady Ariadne, who has six spinster daughters who live in full expectation of the acknowledged truth that a man, once in possession of an independent income and a country estate, will surely be looking for a wife. One of them is even ''called'' Jane, and she's the strange self-sufficient one who closely observes the world around her and wants to become a writer. Hmmm.... <br />
Supported by Sybil, Sam Vimes proceeds to deconstruct a certain Regency novel with extreme prejudice, whilst advising the girls to show a little pride in themselves. Among other things he imparts the truism that Jane is best-advised to base a novel on what she knows best...<br />
<br />
<br />
''''' Around page 40 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The spinning maidservants are another example of the most unlikely of Sir Terry's plot details being true in Roundworld. At Warwick Castle, in the main part of the castle, there is a set of rules for servants, including how to behave in the presence of their betters, which says turn and face the wall and try to look invisible. The reason given is so that your betters don't have to notice you, rather than to protect against randy aristocrats, but then they would say that wouldn't they ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 54:-'''''<br />
The local pub, the [[Goblin's Head]] - oddly evocative of The Bull, the gossip and social exchange of the town of Ambridge, immortalised in long-running BBC radio rural soap opera, ''The Archers''. Its mine host, Sid Perks, also had a little experience of the police behind him - and his (deceased) first wife was called ''Polly''.... (Annotation for {{MR}} too?) <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 60 and onwards:-'''''<br />
The game of [[crockett]], the game of games and king of games, played on village greens over several days and governed by the sort of arcane laws that made Sam Vimes' eyes glaze over while a keen player was earnestly explaining them to him... on the surface such an easy one -- but please also bear in mind {{wp|Croquet|croquet}} ...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 61:-'''''<br />
''St Onan's Theological College''... in the Bible, Onan is struck dead by the merciful LORD for "spilling his seed on the ground", an action taken by generations of theological commentators to be masturbation. (although a sympathetic and open-minded reading of the source text suggests that the real offence is Onan's use of the withdrawal method as contraception, otherwise known as ''Vatican Roulette'' to the disrespectful.) However, the "sin of Onan" is forever associated with masturbation. Which leads to the interesting question of what sort of theology this college teaches, and how on the Discworld Onan got his sainthood. Jackson Fieldfair, a student who is now Bishop of Quirm, is said to have taken his mallet in both hands and given the ball a gentle tap... hold on, that's the origin of crockett... The location of this singular seminary is said to be Ham-on-Rye, presumably not to be confused with the village of [[Ham-on-Koom]] previously visited by Vimes and Lady Sybil, giving him a previous taster of country life. <br />
Again, is Terry being mischievous and slipping in a dirty joke that will be appreciated by those who know and which will pass under the radar of those who don't?<br />
<br />
''"Ham-on-Rye"'' - an inadvertent taunt to Sam's desperate craving for a proper bacon sandwich, which by express command of Lady Sybil is now denied to him?<br />
<br />
Also consider the Roundworld town {{wp|Hay-on-Wye|Hay-on-Wye}}, which of course could never be ''too'' far from the front of the mind of ''any'' British author.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Edition, p.89f'''''<br />
''Duke it out, haha... the word 'duke' absolutely means that you do fight'' The etymology of "duke" has come up before but with these two different meanings of the word coming in quick succession, it's worth spelling out to avoid confusion: "duke" comes from the Latin for "leader." In practice in Imperial Rome, this came to mean military commanders who were not emperor. "Duke it out" is completely unrelated & comes from Cockney rhyming slang, where "Duke" = "Duke of York" = "fork" = "fist."<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, pp 120-121:-'''''<br />
A harkening back to {{T!}} and the [[Summoning Dark]]. Sam discovers his arm is itching, the arm marked by the quasi-demonic entity he fought and defeated with the aid of the [[Guarding Dark]]. As the goblin [[Stinky]] tries to articulate his people's need for ''just ice'', Vimes is given a vision of a dark cave and the desire for "terrible endless vengeance". He attributes this to Stinky having touched him on the scar left by the Summoning Dark, and really wishes he hadn't, as ''while all coppers must have a bit of villain in them, nobody wants to walk around with a bit of demon as a tattoo''. <br />
Could it be that in defeating the Summoning Dark, it is now working for him?<br />
Sam discovers later that he can see in the dark as well as any deep-down dwarf: a gift the Dark has left him with? He also acknowledges that having faced it down and defeated it, he meets the Summoning Dark in dreams and it treats him with respect.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p165:-'''''<br />
''Vimes stared at the rolling acres stretching out far below: his fields, his trees, his fields of yellow corn...'' A shout-out to {{RM}}? Death realises that the harvest should hope for and expect the care of the Reaper Man and creates fields of waving corn in Death's Domain to remind him of this. Here Vimes the policeman is about to embark on a course of action that will, in the name of the dead, reap a harvest. Looking out over the rolling corn and realising it belongs to him, Vimes the landowner is beginning to grasp the realities of ownership and mastery. Ownership means a duty to that which is owned. He is, in short, having the same sort of epiphany as Death. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, p174:-'''''<br />
<br />
The case of the Marquis of Fantailler, who stabbed his wife to death and tried to evade justice by fleeing to Fourecks, and disguising himself by the simple expedient of not using his title. In investigating the case, [[Sam Vimes]] ran up against the entrenched hostility of Ankh-Morpork's nobility who closed ranks and refused to talk, over and above expressing their collective indignation that a member of the nobility was being hounded as if he were a common criminal. Damn the thief-taker Vimes for getting ideas above his station, can't a chap commit ''one'' murder in peace? Besides, it was his wife's fault for having the crass and inconvenient bad taste to let herself die after only one stab! Vimes recollects this investigation in {{SN}}, while pondering the tendency of the nobility to hide behind privilege, and close ranks to protect each other.<br />
<br />
The murder committed by the Marquis and his flight into self-imposed exile is very reminiscent of the Roundworld case of Lord Lucan. This member of the nobility tried to stab his wife to death one dark night. Incredibly, he got the wrong woman, and murdered his children's nanny, then fled in panic. The resultant closed-rank silence of the British nobility in protecting one of their own was not edifying and said a lot about their sense of ingrained privilege and of being above the law. The police claimed to have tried their hardest to crack the case, but may have been deterred by a sense of social expectations - ie, you cannot haul in relatives of royalty and give them the same sort of robust questioning you wouldn't think twice about giving to an Irish bombing suspect or a West Indian or a striking miner. Comment was made about "It was only the nanny, for goodness sake!" and the British nobility made it clear (as a challenge to any authority that believed it could treat them like commoners) that they knew perfectly well where Lucan was, but were not going to tell. In 2011, it is believed a criminal who fled justice in 1974 and was covertly helped out by cash handouts from other nobles died in exile, possibly in Australia or New Zealand.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 175 and onwards:-'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes' visit to Miss Beedle. She lives in a scenario which is reminiscent of the Starkadders' smallholding at Cold Comfort Farm. (another literary shout-out to novels of rural England). The role of Elfine, the unworldly free spirit, is taken by the goblin girl, Tears of the Mushroom, and the unhinged Starkadder family, those archetypes of inbred rurality, would in this context be the habitues of Jiminy's public house, the Goblin's Head. Miss Felicity Beedle might well be Flora Poste, the displaced city intellectual who reads a lot, and who acts as a stone cast into the still and stagnant local pond, sending ripples everywhere. <br />
The owl-shaped clock in Miss Beedle's cottage also appears on Miss Flitworth's parlour wall in {{RM}}, where it serves to seriously discomfort Death in his Bill Door mortal aspect. Here, it worries Sam Vimes. (another reference to the deeper themes of {{RM}}, also a novel set largely in the rural Shires?) It need not necessarily be the same one. A search on Google produces quite a few manufacturers of owl-shaped curio clocks, which are unaccountably popular. Google also throws up articles on the social, literary and folklorique connotations of the owl, as a symbol of death, passage into eternity, and a harbinger of change, suggesting the ghostly nocturnal aspect of this bird together with its haunting night cry might link it to the Banshee myth - ie, hearing it call in the night is a harbinger of death to somebody or something. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 185 and onwards:-'''''<br />
A.E. Pessimal (now a police inspector) is dispassionately analysing the practice of eating one's own children - an allegation often levelled at despised minority groups by people who have a vested interest in keeping them despised, powerless and friendless (see below) - and considering that in certain circumstances there may be justification to it. Pessimal is talking from actuarial, biological and pragmatic grounds rather than moral or ethical. Cheery Littlebottom is suitably appalled. <br />
While there is historical and anthropological evidence that this has been the practice in certain human societies - usually for the reasons Pessimal summarises and invariably among marginal "primitive" groups living in inhospitable margins - this has always even in those tribal societies been an absolute desperation measure by those confronted with the "dreadful algebra". For instance, a cannibal clan was known to have persisted in the wilds of Scotland until wiped out by appalled neighbours in the late 1600's. A more sympathetic modern interpretation suggests that they were the last hold-out of the original stone-age Picts - a race who are speculated to be the origin of folk-myths about elves, gnomes and ''goblins'' in British folklore... <br />
The clue to the referent here lies in Pessimal's specific reference to ''famine''. Pessimal is, with an absolutely straight face, expounding the arguments of Jonathan Swift, Dean of Dublin, who wrote a satirical pamphlet attacking the English attitude to destructive famine in Ireland. Swift's '''''A Modest Proposal''''' makes the eminent proposal that no welfare benefit should be forthcoming to succour the peasant Irish, who as everyone knows are feckless and idle and even if they were not, would have their self-reliance and willingness to perform honest work fatally weakened by hand-outs and charity. As long as they have resources to consume and goods to sell in an open market, they should exhaust all such resources before any sort of charity is permissible. And as Swift points out, an under-stated resource happens to be all those peasant Irish children these people persist in having by the wagonload. Irish babies should be seen as a cost-effective, economical and easily replaced source of nutrition and calories for their parents, who are otherwise too fond of holding up shrivelled and decayed potatoes, yelling "famine!", and expecting to sit back and receive hand-outs from the foolishly over-generous English. Indeed, the choicer cuts of their children could also be exported to England to grace the tables of genteel English homes, the price for which would defray the expenses to absentee landlords in housing and sheltering these people. Why should the Irish have the best, even of their own children?<br />
<br />
Swift was dismayed and made even more cynical that what he had intended as bitter, mordant, satire on the way England had bled his country dry, still expected more, and saw its people as feckless savages who only needed the slightest incentive to start eating their own young, was taken as face value in England and so many people were saying to him "dam' good idea, Swift! We're too dam' soft on those people as it is!" <br />
<br />
'''''A Modest Proposal''''' is also a broader satire on the way the rich think about the poor. How many conservative politicians have you heard lately saying "welfare dependency" sucks the will of the poor to work hard or indeed work at all? These attitudes have been around a ''long'' time and have ''always'' been used to demonise a chosen target group....<br />
<br />
This was suggested by the current Pratchett novel, ''The Long Earth''. In which reference is made to a book by Roundworld riverboat pilot and writer Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) called ''Life on the Mississippi''. An episode of which involves a fight between two riverboat pilots, which has to be frequently stopped so that the pilot whose boat it is can adjust speed and station on a rough unforgiving river...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 246:-'''''<br />
"According to the Omnians it was the third crime ever committed!" Vimes is referring to murder. The footnote says the first two crimes in human history were theft and common indecency. <br />
The reference is to Genesis, the first book of the Bible: the theft is of God's property, to whit one apple. When Adam and Eve subsequently looked upon each other and were ashamed at their nakedness - that's the "common indecency". And after an interval of time, their two sons had a falling-out and Cain slew Abel. This is of course the murder. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 304:-'''''<br />
Vimes notes the presence of Quirmian gendarmes, in their distinctive helmets, the ones he thinks are too fussy and militaristic and impractical for proper coppers. He could be referring to the Adrian helmet of WW1 and the early years of WW2, also worn by French policemen and firemen of the era: see ''[http://www.militarytrader.com/military-trader-news/the_first_modern_steel_combat_helmet_the_french_adrian here].''<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 306:-'''''<br />
''Our relationship with Commandant Fournier is cordial at the moment, is it not?'' - Vimes is alluding to an ''entente cordiale'' between Quirm and Ankh-Morpork....<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 321:-'''''<br />
''rue de Wakening'' - one of TP's blink-and-you've-missed-it puns.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page 351:-'''''<br />
Vimes comments on how good the cells and locks are in Quirm and how it is unlikely anyone put into a Quirmian cell, under continual guard, encased in thick stone walls and with the best locks on the best doors, could ever escape. Hmmm. Could we call this a ''Bastille''?<br />
<br />
Towards the end of the book, Sam takes Young Sam to the Quirm zoo, where his incessant plea to "see the elephant" is finally answered. A continuity shout-out to the end of {{WA}}, where the Lancre witches return home the long way round, "seeing the Elephant" and inadvertently precipitating the events of {{LL}}; or to Sam and Sybil deliberately taking the long way home at the end of {{T5E}}, also explicitly described as "seeing the Elephant"?<br />
<br />
It's interesting that the people responsible for the card-based RPG, '''''Magic: The Gathering''''' have recently released a new card: ''Tivadar's Crusade'', which launches a human pogrom against goblins...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday/Waterstones Edition, page unknown(someone please provide):-'''''<br />
Various references to Sybil's ancestor [[Woolsthorpe Ramkin]] echo Sir Isaac Newton, who was living at his ancestral home, Woolsthorpe Manor, when a falling apple led him to the theory of gravity. In Woolsthorpe Ramkin's case this get slightly confused with Sir Isaac's law of motion "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".<br />
<br />
The goblin district of the city, nearby to Harry King's premises in [[New Ankh]], is a ramshackle shanty town where goblin homes are built, often ingeniously well, out of materials vrecycled from the waste being processed by Harry. This is largely because goblins are informally not tolerated within the city walls and informal sanctions have been known to apply to those incautious enough to try to live there. Hmm. Is this an unsubtle reference to apartheid in the old South Africa, and the fact that the black labour necessary to do the dirty jobs the whites didn't want (who could not live ''inside'' the city limits of Johannesburg because of apartheid law) had to dwell somewhere. Therefore townships like Soweto grew up, tacitly accepted but without official sanction and which could be demolished if the white authorities deemed this necessary for public order. Terry has created Ankh-Morpork's Soweto here... <br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Snuff/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:I_Shall_Wear_Midnight/Annotations&diff=34782Book:I Shall Wear Midnight/Annotations2023-07-11T21:59:26Z<p>Superluser: Some annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>Annotations for {{ISWM}}. Unless otherwise specified, page numbers below are for the first edition, the UK hardcover published by Doubleday.<br />
<br />
== General annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
<br />
''None yet.''<br />
<br />
== Specific annotations ==<br />
;Pages 11-13:The scouring fair and the Giant: this still happens in England, where a remarkably similar and somewhat [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerne_Abbas_giant priapic giant] is carved in the chalk at Cerne Abbas, in Dorset. Every so often his lines need cleaning. According to popular belief, for many years postcards of the giant were the only pornographic images that could legally be sent through the Royal Mail. Meanwhile at Uffington the White Horse is similarly (though less ribaldly) scoured, and the event is celebrated by a fair, with all the usual entertainments, including Cheese Rolling and ducking for apples, though not apparently ducking for frogs.<br />
<br />
;Page 103:''Still, it could have been worse,'' she told herself. ''There could have been snakes on the broomstick.''<br />
:Terry is fond of this urban myth. See the relevant annotations for {{T5E}} (hypothetical snakes on a sleigh) and {{CJ}} (putative snakes in a coach). It could also be a reference to the 2006 action film ''[[wikipedia:Snakes on a Plane|Snakes on a Plane]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 105:Tiffany's landing of a stricken broomstick on top of a moving coach almost exactly mirrors the standard operating procedure for aircraft landing on the deck of a moving carrier at sea - all that's needed now is the arrester hook and transverse cable. Another first for research witchcraft, after ravens used as black-box flight recorders, and in-flight refuelling? <br />
<br />
;Page 118:''Because you're worthless'' - a play on the commercial slogan for cosmetic company [[wikipedia:L'Oréal|L'Oréal]], "Because you're worth it." The slogan is here used for [[Boffo]]'s "Hag in a Hurry" range, a play on "For the Woman in a Hurry" style product names used since the 1950s. One famous example is the cookbook ''Quick Dishes for the Woman in a Hurry'', first published in 1955.<br />
<br />
;Page 137:''"I told you to find him; I didn't tell you you were supposed to pull the doors off!"''<br />
:Tiffany's rebuke to the Feegle echoes the most famous line from the 1968 British comedy heist movie ''[[wikipedia:The Italian Job|The Italian Job]]''. After a practice run with explosives destroys the test armoured van, Michael Caine's character angrily tells the explosive expert: "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" See also the annotation for page 307 of {{TFE}} (Corgi paperback edition).<br />
<br />
;Page 149:Long-term solitary confinement prisoners, often dangerous killers, keeping caged birds for company in their cells is now a cliche, thanks to the "Birdman of Alcatraz". Depressingly, the real-life "Birdman", Robert Stroud, never kept caged birds in his life, and certainly not during his incarceration. Stroud was a devious, manipulative and thoroughly loathsome double murderer with paedophilic tendencies, who knew how to play a good PR game. He convinced a charismatic lawyer to fight his appeals, leading to a romantic and wildly inaccurate book being written about him, Thomas E. Gaddis' ''Birdman of Alcatraz'', in 1955. [[wikipedia:Birdman of Alcatraz (film)|The 1962 Hollywood film starring Burt Lancaster]] established the fiction firmly in the public eye. (Source: [https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Perfect-Victims/Bill-James/9780857203922 '''''Perfect Victims''''' by Bill James], Simon and Schuster, 2011)<br />
<br />
;p.163 (Harper Edition):"Do not suffer a witch to live" Exodus 22:18 (KJV) reads "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," though I am told the context is less "You must murder..." as "Do not contribute to the livelihood of..." which isn't particularly nice either<br />
<br />
;Page 164:[[Wee Mad Arthur]] declares of the Unreal Estate, "It will be certain death to go in there. Certain death! You'll all be doomed!" This resembles the catch-phrase of Scottish comic actor John Laurie, who played the gloomy undertaker and over-age soldier Private Frazer in the British sitcom ''[[wikipedia:Dad's Army|Dad's Army]]''. Wee Mad Arthur doesn’t make a habit of it, though, and isn’t gloomy at all, so this one might just be coincidence. (Arthur is also, before this book, usually written with a more Northern accent than a Scottish one.)<br />
<br />
;Page 176:”In this neighbourhood we don’t just watch!” A reference to [[wikipedia:Neighbourhood Watch|Neighbourhood Watch]], originally a community “crime prevention movement” started in New York in the 1960s. In 2007 the “Neighbourhood Watch Network” organisation was set up in the UK to coordinate local Neighbourhood Watch groups, helping them liaise with the police. <br />
<br />
;Pages 176-177 (Gift Edition pages 210-211):Since last being heard of in {{ER}}, Simon is described (via third-party accounts Tiffany remembers) as having his illnesses and allergies multiplied to the point where he resembles Unseen University's analogue of Stephen Hawking - unable to move or do very much for himself. (He is still able to speak, though.)<br />
:''"the young Eskarina had met at the University a young man called Simon who had been cursed by the Gods with almost every possible ailment that mankind was prone to. But, because the gods have a sense of humour, even though it's a rather strange one, they had granted him the power to understand - well - everything. He could barely walk without assistance but was so brilliant that he managed to keep the whole universe in his head. Wizards [...] would flock to hear him talk about space and time and magic as if they were all part of the same thing. And young Eskarina had fed him and cleaned him and helped him get about and learned from him - well - everything."''<br />
:And Simon describes part of the knowledge as ''elasticated string theory'', a phenomena which Eskarina says, in a discourse with Tiffany, has at least sixteen different dimensions... Compare this to Hawking on superspace and string theory. (See also page 332, below.)<br />
<br />
;Page 175:When Mrs Proust performs magic on the statue of Lord Albert Rust to turn it into a temporary Golem under her will, this is reminiscent of “The Equestrian Statue”, a song by 1960s prankster musicians, the [[wikipedia:Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band|Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band]]. In the song a statue in the park takes it into its head to wake up and have a canter up and down the square. (“Little old ladies stop and say ‘Well, I declare!’”) You can [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKtfFmYiI40 listen to “The Equestrian Statue” on YouTube].<br />
<br />
;Page 216:Rob Anybody describes the abortive attempt to evict the Feegle as having been carried out by a bunch of "mound-digging Cromwells". This is a strange expression for the Disc, as Oliver Cromwell was the Lord Protector of England who is even today vilified for a policy of mass slaughter and destruction during his campaign in Ireland. Fan-fiction aside, there is no "official" Discworld analogue for Ireland or all things Irish*, and the only other analogue to Cromwell on the Discworld is Stoneface Vimes - a man who, while capable of executing a King, would not have countenanced the destruction of a city and the slaughter of all its inhabitants. A Vimes would happily kill a King, but only to protect and serve the people.<br />
:Perhaps on their journeys through the dimensions, the Feegle may have visited Ireland in the 1650's and 1660's; Irish folklore preserves the myth of a terrible, wrathful and cunning Little People living in mounds and barrows, who are to leprechauns what Feegle are to flower fairies. Little People are, after all, common to all the Celtic mythologies - Scottish, Welsh, Manx, Breton and Irish. <br />
:(* The otherwise unknown and unreferenced country of Hergen has been proposed, but this is strictly non-canon, with nothing to support it, except its geographical location on the far side of Llamedos. It is interesting in this context that {{UA}} introduces a place on the Disc with the very unambiguously Irish-sounding name of ''Cladh''. Was there a Discworld Ireland which was never revealed?)<br />
<br />
;p. 219 (Harper Edition):"There is said to be a code in the number and placement of the horse's hooves." It is indeed said, but the supposed code does not match up to reality. Perhaps a sculptor might choose a more dynamic pose to suggest that the rider should be remembered for something other than the time the rider failed to protect the life of the highest ranking soldier under his command (i.e. him or herself).<br />
<br />
;Pages 199-200:The goings-on at the castle in the run up to a funeral and a wedding. Why is this reminiscent of Swamp Castle in ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''? Especially when a seemingly dim guard (Preston) is not ''quite'' getting it right about the need to lock up a prisoner, and an increasingly exasperated employer cannot get the idea across...<br />
<br />
;p. 225 (Harper Edition):"Swan on a Hot Tin Lake" would appear to be a combination of the restrained Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake & the somewhat more ribald Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.<br />
<br />
;Page 274:''The world needs cheesemakers.'' Not a million miles away from "Blessed are the cheese-makers", the misinterpretation of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount heard in ''Monty Python's Life of Brian''. <br />
<br />
;Page 316:''...by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.''<br />
:Shakespeare again: ''Macbeth''. Alluding to the ability of a witch to sense things others cannot. See also the line early in Wyrd Sisters (page?) - "Can you tell by the pricking of your thumbs?" "By the pricking of my ears." <br />
<br />
;p.324 (Harper Edition):"a hand thrust its way through the book's cover before a metal plate slammed down on it" making it the witch burner getting pressed instead of the witch.<br />
<br />
;Page 332:We learn that Eskarina has a son, whom she must protect. This is the only mention of him in the book. Theories about this tantalising standalone fact may be found [[Talk:Eskarina Smith|on the Discussion page]] for the [[Eskarina Smith]].<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Talk:Book:I_Shall_Wear_Midnight/Annotations&diff=34780Talk:Book:I Shall Wear Midnight/Annotations2023-07-10T01:51:23Z<p>Superluser: /* Pub names */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div>==Simon Hawking==<br />
The idea of Simon becoming the Stephen Hawking of the Discworld is certainly a beguiling one and fits the character as we saw him in {{ER}}, quite admirably. Especially since our own S.H. would be dead by now were it not for the attentions of a series of nurses/care assistants/wives who have devoted themselves to doing the things he cannot do for himself - with a certain associated controversy. (One alleged mental and physical cruelty; another, a Cambridge physics postgrad herself, is allegedly whispered to have given him her ideas to develop...)<br />
<br />
But two things leave me wondering. <br />
<br />
At the end of {{ER}}, after his visit to the Dungeon Dimensions and Esk's rescue of him, Simon is apparently ''cured'' of all his ailments, allergies and stammer - <br />
<br />
"They seem to have all gone, sir!" <br />
<br />
Secondly, since {{MP}}, Ponder Stibbons has progresively filled the niche for super-intelligent research wizard. The H.E.M. has increased in importance, especially after HEX and the {{SOD1}} series, and if there were a "Stephen Hawking" in residence at UU, he'd have been known about before now? Stibbons might find the academic rivalry jarring, but he'd be sensible enough not to let such a fantastic theoretician go by un-used.... but we haven't seen a sdign of this, so far? (OK, we are told Esk and Simon went off touring and researching together for an unspecified length of time. And it is posible Simon might have followed "Henry" in the brain-drain to Brazenose... but nothing has been said of this.)<br />
<br />
It would be fun to develop - Windle Poons' wheelchair comes out of mothballs and is given a speech recognition unit somehow linked to HEX (an imp and an oscilloscope fragment?) Simon stirs the imp by means of a keyboard, which taps a corresponding part of the imp's body, who then assembles the knocks into speech...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 10:24, 10 September 2010 (CEST)<br />
<br />
==Missing quotes==<br />
The "strength of the witch is the coven" bit and the "we're all doomed" bit... i'm not sure they exist. I've searched through the E-books - there is a close quote for the latter on DD page 164, but it's Wee Mad Arthur saying "You'll be doomed". Can't find the coven quote at all. [[User:JaffaCakeLover|JaffaCakeLover]] 23:44, 12 December 2010 (CET)<br />
:I’ve done this search too, and I agree - the “coven” quote isn’t there in any of the Tiffany books. In case it crops up somewhere else (and I think there is something at least similar in one of them), I’ll preserve it here:<br />
<br />
=== Annotations missing page numbers ===<br />
;Page unknown:"The strength of the witch is the coven and the strength of the coven is the witch" seems equivalent to Kipling's "The Law for the Wolves", as found in ''The Second Jungle Book'':<br />
:''As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back</br>For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.''<br />
<br />
== Pub names ==<br />
<br />
I don't know enough on the subject to add an annotation myself but I know there's a deeper meaning to why so many pubs are called things like The King's Head (p. 157 of Harper Paperback), that that one in particular was often formerly The Pope's Head, prior to Henry VII, & the naming is a longer story than that, which, if I knew it better, I could make it a shorter story [[User:Superluser|Superluser]] ([[User talk:Superluser|talk]])</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Talk:Book:Unseen_Academicals/Annotations&diff=34779Talk:Book:Unseen Academicals/Annotations2023-07-07T00:42:13Z<p>Superluser: /* "It is now" */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Dedication''':- ''This book is dedicated to Rob Wilkins, who typed most of it and had the good sense to laugh occasionally.''<br />
<br />
As various commentators have pointed out, this is perhaps evidence of Terry's Alzheimer's beginning to affect his writing - Terry himself has pointed out that the most obvious evidence of the disease is that his typing skills have declined and he now finds the physical effort of typing to be beyond him. Hence the amanuensis. <br />
<br />
Terry's wit and his ability to create a challenging and entertaining plot are certainly not in doubt - {{UA}} works and it can hold its own as part of the canon. <br />
<br />
Having said that, some serious continuity errors have crept in which put this at odds with earlier books in the series. The Arch-Chancellor's Hat, for instance, making a reappearance after being destroyed in {{S}}. Ridcully's parentage and upbringing having been arbitrarily changed - from prosperous land-owning gentry brought up in the country outside A-M, (ref. {{MP}}, {{RM}}), the Ridcully brothers have now been reduced in the social ranking to the sons of a well-off City butcher. Yet Mustrum still acts like a rumbustious country squire. <br />
<br />
OK, it ''could'' be History Monks, but it felt ''wrong'' to come up against this stuff - the suspicion is that earlier Discworld books would have edited out basic errors like this. And with all respect to Rob Wilkins - as the routine manufacture of the books passes out of Terry's hands, for all the right and benign reasons (whilst still retaining his creativity) , then how much of the error-checking process, that Terry might have done himself in happier days, is going to fail? Terry himself might have paused on the Ridcully thing and reflected that something isn't quite right here. A third party less used to the Discworld has perhaps missed the error? <br />
<br />
Ah well. Perhaps I'm ungrateful and asking too much... I should rejoice we still have Terry with us who has said that there are a few novels left in him yet! --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 23:46, 15 November 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I p****d and moaned about at some length on my own page. I felt that Mr Wilkins, however talented, was an intervention and a barrier to the direct text communication we've always known. Terry even used to type to fans on a.f.p and answer e-mail, before the volume became ridiculous. He spoke directly to the audience through the keyboard.<br />
<br />
A second reading and more consideration show up more strengths, as usual, but the oddities remain. I say "oddities", because there may yet be a method behind them that disqualifies them from "errors".<br />
This book is deep. Weird, flawed, but deep. And weird. ''Change'' seems to be the central theme. The homily "the leopard does not change his shorts" is repeated beyond reason, and there are many examples to refute it. Nutt, Trevor, Juliet, Glenda, football, Ponder Stibbons, Ridcully, Vetinari (I may have missed some) are all changed or changing, although Margolotta probably hasn't changed for two hundred years. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 00:39, 16 November 2009 (UTC)<br />
:Weird is right, it felt like the book was starting to wrap up the DW series whilst at the same time asking more questions than it answered. I really ''really'' hope I'm wrong with this but could TP be preparing to hand the reins over to someone else? --[[User:Megahurts|Megahurts]] 09:10, 11 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==(Dis)Continuity==<br />
* Biggest problem I noted was the creation of the new ball, why didn't they just ask Carrot? He said in [[book:Jingo|Jingo]] that he always carried a deflated ball in his pack, and the game matches the one the wizards 'invent'. We know it's earlier too, because the Dean is mentioned, with the crystal ball viewing of the [[Leshp]] fights. [[User:Ktetch|Ktetch]] 23:01, 4 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
:Now why did no one else notice ''this''? I'd like to propose that the story precedes {{J}}, but that's very difficult in the short space of Carrot's career until then. ''(Insertion from AgProv:- {{UA}} cannot precede {{J}}, as Constable Haddock is a character in {{UA}} - he was not a Watchman at the time of {{J}}, or he'd have joined a suddenly much smaller Watch in sailing for Klatch).'' Of course, the Dean has just left the faculty, placing {{UA}} most recently; another bugger for the serious student. TP has always been friendly to the fans while taunting them mercilessly. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 01:02, 5 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
::I think in this case there's no error: The ball created for 'football' in {{UA}} is clearly for what Americans call 'soccer,' while we can infer from the text of {{J}} that the 'football' that Carrot had in his pack was most likely an actual 'football' instead of a soccer ball. In any case, the football presented in {{UA}} is somewhat ghetto in appearance, and I wouldn't be surprised if the space between {{J}} and {{UA}} saw enough of a decline in the standards of football to actually change the composition of the ball.<br />
<br />
::Or Carrot could have just been a bit ahead of the game. [[User:Doctor Whiteface|Doctor Whiteface]] 03:41, 5 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: Remember that Carrot is a dwarf. And that they had to go to a dwarf to get a proper ball made since vulcanized rubber was a dwarfen invention. Carrot may not have even known it was something new to the city --[[User:Fhh98|Fhh98]] 04:00, 5 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Nope, it won't wash. "...Captain Carrot was ''bouncing'' an ''inflated pig's bladder''." ({{J}}) You can only bounce an ovoid ball once and then you have to go and pick it up again. Dave Likely's game used a Rugby-shaped ball but I see no evidence of anything but soccer in the matches organised by Carrot years earlier. These involved many street boys, so the game shouldn't have been unknown. The game also appeared to be familiar to both armies in the brief war over Leshp. How do you infer otherwise from the text? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 18:01, 5 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Who said anything about text. I was going on obviously faulty memory there. [[User:Fhh98|Fhh98]] 19:07, 5 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[[User:Doctor Whiteface|Doctor Whiteface]], above. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 19:25, 5 December 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Sorry to bring some heresy to this discussion, but perhaps Terry decided to sacrifice continuity to spinning a good yarn? [[User:V|V]] 13:22, 20 December 2010 (CET)<br />
<br />
<br />
Page 352 (UK hardback) the foonote about master of Music writing down Macarona Unum est...<br />
makes me immediately thing of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarena_%28song%29 but I don't know the words of that if there is a better match<br />
<br />
[[User:AlanD|AlanD]] This is a reference to the now-generic football chant "There's only one <insert your name of choice>"<br />
<br />
https://www.whosampled.com/news/2014/07/10/10-songs-that-unexpectedly-became-football-chants/<br />
<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFAwqfFutMs<br />
<br />
<br />
With regards to Ridcully's background, should I point out that in the same scene Ponder Stibbons experienced deja vu without the original vu? He may not have been the only one to do so, just the only one to acknowledge it...<br />
: I've just been thinking, who says the country estates belonged to his dad? Just says 'Family'. It could have been his (childless) uncle's, or belonged to his mother's parents. It's not so much a contradiction. Dad a butcher, mother a rich country lady who went to town, saw him, fancied him etc. not all that impossible. [[User:Ktetch|Ktetch]] 04:09, 13 February 2010 (UTC). We know about Ridcully that the explicit reason he was not at the University to be drawn into the Sourceror's war was that he had retired from active wizardry, to look after the family estates deep in the country. This was on behalf of his mother {{MP}}, {{RM}}. So as you say, not incompatible. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 15:20, 11 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
And with regards to the hat, we know it was destroyed in Sourcery, but perhaps Ridcully has found it a good idea to keep alive rumours that he had recovered it after those events had eventuated, to preserve the tradition that all wizards should be united under the Hat's owner...<br />
:Isn't there an explicit reference to Mustrum not wearing the hat since he doesn't like its voice? Is it possible that the Luggage recovered the hat off-scene during the final events of Sourcery? Admittedly it's been a while since I last read it though.--[[User:Megahurts|Megahurts]] 14:58, 10 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::That comment was made in {{UA}} --[[User:Fhh98|Fhh98]] 15:50, 10 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::I know, Ridcully saying that in UA implies that the hat is still extant. --[[User:Megahurts|Megahurts]] 08:09, 11 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
::::Or that he is trying to cover up the destruction, he does say that every archchancellor for the last 1000 years has complained in exactly the same way. So the problematic comments made by the hat are a matter of record and he could be simply attempting to preserve a tradition as previously suggested. UU has some pretty interesting traditions, if people pretend they loose their keys every night then having someone pretend to own a destroyed hat isn't that odd.-- [[Erin B|Erin B]]16:01, 14 June 2011<br />
<br />
: In regards to V's mention of ''spinning a good yarn'': I think (worry) that's the case gone wrong. A many things previously canon have been dropped in favour of cheap shots, if I may say so. A minor example just jumped at me upon re-reading lately: In the past books Rincewind's main job (Cruel and Unusual Geography) was more or less described as the bottom of the foodchain, represented by the statement(amongst others) that he wasn't paid any sort of loan, but got his laundry done etc. In UA now we are being told that a 'real wizard' always works without payment. It's a minor thing, but it is another drop in the barrel. (will check which page exactly it was later on)--[[User:LilMaibe|LilMaibe]] 16:01, 28 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
<br />
==A possible resolution of continuity errors?==<br />
Terry himself has excused cotinuity glitches in the Discworld cycle by invoking alternate pasts and interference by History Monks. <br />
I have been re-reading {{TLC}} lately and to my shame, a possible resolution for continuity glitches in {{UA}} that I should have seen at the time has (belatedly) fallen into my lap. It is possible to suspect that Terry set up a mechanism for explaining away any messing with, or contradiction of, known facts from previous books. Especially as they relate to the wizards. I don't think TP set this up years before the event with specifically {{UA}} in mind - more as a general insurance policy, if he was thinking of it at all. <br />
<br />
To explain. In {{TLC}}, the wizards pass from winter in the city to high summer in the Discworld equivalent of the South Pacific. I'm sure reluctantly: the mission to save the Librarian would have been the most important thing. It is only later on that Ponder Stibbons realises the Faculty has ''also'' been thrown back in time by several thousand years. (Corgi pb, {{TLC}}, pp 1140-153)<br />
<br />
Rincewind the Wizzard has also, separately, been thrown back several thousand years, to XXXX. as Scrappy the Trickster-God tells him (corgi pb p96-97):-<br />
<br />
''"Something went wrong in the past. Your arrival caused a wrong note. What in? All this ...You could just call it the Song"''<br />
<br />
From page 142 onwards, Ponder first has to convince Ridcully and the others that he is right, and then , in the manner of a ''Star Trek'' captain trying to get a thick red-shirted crew member to understand the Prime Directive, goes through all the classic arguments about what happens when you interfere with the past.<br />
<br />
These include the classic:- ''the important thing is not to kill your own grandfather'' and ''what I was trying to get across, sir, is that '''anything''' you do in the past changes the future. The tiniest little thing actions can have huge consequences. You might... tread on an ant now and it might entirely prevent somebody else from being born in the future!''<br />
<br />
While Ridcully and the rest totally deconstruct Ponder with typical Ankh-Morpork logic, which builds into a summary of the philosophical case ''against'' the idea that actions in the past cause change in the present, it cannot be denied that:-<br />
<br />
i) By going back in time the wizards, Rincewind in particular, have already changed the course of time - Scrappy said so. <br />
<br />
ii) As for not killing anything while you are there - oh dear. Ridcully has called for the whole of his animal-slaying kit to be sent, right down to and including the amateur taxidermy set. (Corgi pb p65 lists the items in the armoury. The Assassins would have been proud.) And the original Egregious Professor is killed, here in the past, to be replaced with Rincewind - a man who already has such a tortuously convoluted personal timeline that even Death has given up trying to work his nodes out. <br />
Ridcully slays quite a few things for food, the Thunder Lizard is slain, and a lot of bushes are plundered for fruit, samples even being taken back to the future for the attention of the Professor of Extreme Horticulture. <br />
<br />
iii) the God of Evolution's personal timeline is changed through interacting with the wizards. What effects might this have several thousand years on - in perhaps the evolution of those lifeforms destined to bring forth Wizards at the appropriate time? <br />
<br />
Could this course of events serve to alter history just long enough to erase the War of the Sourceror, so the Arch-Chancellor's Hat never left the University, and Klatch was never governed by Creosote and Abrim? (this is a discontinuity between {{S}} and {{J}} - how do you get from one form of government in Klatch to the rule of the Princes as seen in {{J}}?) <br />
<br />
Might it also create a slightly changed Ridcully, who smokes, and who is the son not of a propertied landowner but of a City butcher? And a more assertive Ponder Stibbons, one confident enough to stand between the Dean and Ridcully and say "no" to both...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 15:01, 24 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
<br />
:Funny, I just yesterday finished a very short story on history correction around the War of the Sourceror. I never got the Hat controversy: the last page of {{S}} says ''"Silence drifted around the remains of a hat, heavily battered and frayed and charred around the edges, that had been placed with some ceremony in a niche in the wall"'' (apparently of the Library). <BR><br />
:How do you get from one form of government to another...? Assassination, usually. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 15:45, 24 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
::That hat the Librarian puts in the niche is Rincewind's. He lost it when hopping through the rift to safe Coin.--[[User:LilMaibe|LilMaibe]] 16:30, 24 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
:This makes sense since the Librarian seems to be involved, but I still don't know why the extremely magical Archchancellors' hat should be assumed destroyed. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 17:47, 24 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
::Well, how much of your clothes would remain if you'd stand on the very point of impact of an atombombe?--[[User:LilMaibe|LilMaibe]] 18:10, 24 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
<br />
:I think not all the stories we hear/read are from the same Trouserleg of Time. So we have the History Monk's messing and a continued drifting from one leg to the other.--[[User:LilMaibe|LilMaibe]] 16:33, 24 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
<br />
== Terry himself ==<br />
<br />
Intervewed in The ''Guardian'', Sat 12th Dec 2009, Terry Pratchett said about {{UA}}:-<br />
<br />
''Various factors made it somewhat difficult to write, and like every book I have ever written, I wished I could have given it a fortnight's worth of extra time. But the editor's whistle was about to blow, so i had to take the shot''.<br />
<br />
== Flowers for Algernon reference. ==<br />
<br />
On pg. 94, just before he "dies", Mr. Nutt says "Do you know, sir, that your situation here is very similar to that described by Vonmausberger in his treatise on his experiments with rats?" to a character ''named'' Algernon who is incidentally also very stupid. This seems to be a reference to the short story [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_algernon Flowers for Algernon]<br />
<br />
== '''''Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintainance'''''==<br />
<br />
Ref. Robert M. Pirsig's work of popular philosophy, '''''Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintainance'''''. I am getting one of ''those'' intuitions that with regard to Mr Nutt's quest for ''worth'', there will be a lot of Pirsig references, homages and reprises scattered throughout {{UA}}, possibly hidden among all the joke philosophy and quasi-Pythonic philosophers you see on the surface. Just off to get a copy of Pirsig and refresh my memory....--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 09:37, 8 July 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The Ridcully Parentage thing ==<br />
<br />
We know Ridcully has family estates. We know his father was a butcher. We know one of his grandfathers was a prize fighter. Could his MOTHER not have been an heiress, who married significantly below herself, been cut off from her family (hence Daddy needing to keep working), and then when Rich Grandpa died, the family got the estates? Just a thought.<br />
<br />
== The Moving Pictures thing ==<br />
Bear with me, this is my first edit, but I disagree with there being a continuity error or significant date placement where Glenda references Moving pictures. The older ladies she swaps romance novels with are certainly the type that would have gone to Moving Pictures when they were offered. --[[User:Erin B|Erin B]] 15:49, 14 June 2011<br />
<br />
==Who Ate the Pies==<br />
{{wp|William_Foulke_(footballer)|William Henry "Fatty" Foulke}}, Sheffield United keeper; [http://www.easterroad.com/george-foulkes-buffoonery-2/ George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock], Labour politician and Midlothian supporter, each probably unique. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 02:26, 27 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
<br />
<br />
Correction gladly accepted! The story was on a BBC4 programme last night about pioneering early film-makers who took their cameras to record everyday life in the North of England, including the first filming of professional football games as sports journalism (a shout-out to William de Worde?) I was watching with half an eye until Foulkes appeared, the man-mountain of the Sheffield goal, and then I was absorbed: he was only referred to as Foulkes, although "George" stuck from somewhere as a first name, goodness knows why...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:15, 27 July 2011 (CEST)<br />
And of course the fat man on the football pitch is called ''Henry''....<br />
<br />
== Kitchen Maid Literature ==<br />
<br />
Wasn't this the type of literature parodied by Wodehouse? With lines like "he knew she was only a kitchen maid..." [[User:Marmosetpower|Marmosetpower]] 11:44, 29 September 2011 (CEST)<br />
I think this term combines the general idea of Romance Novels (Mills and Boon style, typified by Barbera Cartland's stuff) with Bodice-Rippers and is an inverted reference to kitchen-sink drama. --[[User:AlanD|AlanD]] ([[User talk:AlanD|talk]]) 15:34, 28 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Possible further annotations? ==<br />
<br />
About a year back I posted THIS: http://youtu.be/ehKGlT2EW1Q (0:05 to 0:37, obviously)... at the discussion concerning Macarona and his list of titles. Possible reference?--[[User:LilMaibe|LilMaibe]] 06:50, 19 May 2012 (CEST)<br />
<br />
== Hunting the Megapode ==<br />
<br />
Surely this is a reference to the Hunt of the Mallard at All Souls, Oxford, rather than the to the Hunting of the Wrens?<br />
<br />
== "It is now" ==<br />
<br />
I was not familiar with the 1966 World Cup, & so I looked up the clip referenced in the annotations, because the context for "it is now" was lost on me. From what I could see, the commentator was confused as to whether the game were over, repeating "they think it's over" a few times, coincidentally having just said this when England advanced & scored another goal, leading to the "it is now!" comment, since a two goal lead is effectively impossible to come back from in extra time. I'm also not well versed in historical football, so it's possible I got the context wrong.[[User:Superluser|Superluser]] ([[User talk:Superluser|talk]])</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Unseen_Academicals/Annotations&diff=34778Book:Unseen Academicals/Annotations2023-07-07T00:29:04Z<p>Superluser: more annotations, a little clarification on "It is now"</p>
<hr />
<div>== [[Book:Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]] Annotations ==<br />
<br />
General:- <br />
<br />
It has been suggested that the opening pages of the book, in which Rudolf Scattering, night-watchman at the Royal Art Museum receives a nasty surprise, is a deliberate parody of Dan Brown's mystery thrillers of the ''Da Vinci Code'' genre. <br />
<br />
[[Pedestriana]] - the plucky barefoot Goddess of Football. According to the Guardian, (edition of 30/12/09), in an article on the weird compulsion of men to collect, in this case a man with a desire to own a match programme for ''every'' game ever played by London side Tottenham Hotspur. The newspaper reproduces the front cover of the 1921 F.A. Cup Final programme, which features...guess what... a robed and barefoot Goddess of Football, the winged angel standing bare of foot atop the ball... documentary evidence, hopefully, will follow...[http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jcprogrammes.co.uk/images/1921.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.jcprogrammes.co.uk/Top_Sellers&usg=__CyDPShHA8tx7m4LNmGsFF_d1X00=&h=301&w=200&sz=57&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=Q4vZroN2lUWNFM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=77&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFA%2BCup%2Bfinal,%2B1921,%2Bprogramme%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26cr%3DcountryUK%257CcountryGB%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1]<br />
<br />
The name ''Dimwell'' seems close to ''Millwall'', area and football club in London noted for the belligerence of their supporters. House chant: <br />
''Nobody loves us. And we don't care!'' Once combined an away visit to Manchester City with looting jeweller's shops on Wilmslow Road whilst the police were marching them to the ground. Two thousand fans overwhelmed three coppers and in the subsequent Shove, managed to gut a jewellers. See here for discussion:- [http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=121060]<br />
<br />
Dimwell, like Millwall for London, is a dockside area that must provide most of Ankh-Morpork's stevedores, dockers and longshoremen. In fact: one of Andy Shanks' associates shares out the bounty at one point - of loose goods purloined while working a casual shift at the docks, unloading an incoming ship. <br />
<br />
There are a fair number of "Lord of the Rings" references in "Unseen Academicals." Is [[micromail]] (see reference in article for alternative in sci-fi/fantasy) a reference to Frodo's mithril shirt? A metal called "moonsilver" is cited by Pepe as being a major component of micromail - "moonsilver" is a translation of the elvish "mithril". <br />
<br />
A recurring theme throughout the book is Mr Nutt's search for ''worth''. This leads him to many uncomfortable, even dangerous, places, and involves mental and emotional anguish, at one point a near-Death experience. <br />
<br />
Later in the book, he has the Margolotta-guided insight that the worth he seeks is not a property of deeds or created things, but an ongoing process of creation. <br />
<br />
This echoes the quest of the narrator of Robert M. Pirsig's work of popular philosophy, '''''Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance''''', who undergoes similar travails in search of elusive ''quality'' only to realise it isn't so much a ''thing'' as an ongoing ''process''. {{SM}} apart, there are no motorbikes on the Discworld. Pirsig's character grounds himself via looking after his motorcycle - but Mr Nutt is an accomplished amateur blacksmith who succeeds in re-shoeing the most difficult horse on the Quirm Flyer (horses are as near as the Disc gets, in general?)<br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.11)''' '''''Speaking of Glenda's teddy bear, Mr. Wobble. "Traditionally, in the lexicon of pathos, such a bear should have only one eye, but as the result of a childhood error in Glenda's sewing, he has three, and is more enlightened than the average bear."'''''<br />
<br />
The picnic basket-stealing cartoon character, Yogi Bear, is frequently described as "smarter than the average bear." It is also a reference to "opening one's third eye", a feature of several spiritual traditions, usually having to do with gaining insight into the workings of the universe. The word "yogi" can also mean a practitioner of some of these traditions.<br />
<br />
'''(Corgi paperback, UK, p28)''' '''''Hunting the Megapode''''' The Roundworld equivalent, {{wp|Wren_Day|The Hunting of the Wrens}}, is forgotten almost as totally as the Discworld version. The {{wp|Megapode|megapode}} is a real bird, whose name appropriately enough means "Bigfoot". The Megapode Hunt may also refer to the Oxford tradition of Hunting the Mallard, as suggested in The Culture of Discworld. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p27)''' '''''"in most cases the minutes could be written beforehand"''''' Ponder Stibbons' technique for creating minutes of Faculty meetings is, in purpose and execution, identical to standard British Civil Service policy. (As described in the great satire of government life, '''Yes, Prime Minister''', in which Sir Humphrey Appleby is an adept at predicting in advance how a meeting will work out and can quite safely dictate the minutes in advance.)<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p36)''' '''''"No one could have been neutral when the Dark War had engulfed Far Überwald"'''''. A sideways reference to Tolkien's {{wp|Middle-earth|Middle-earth}}, perhaps, especially in the light of Mr Nutt's [[Orcs|species]] and their perceived role in the Dark War of antiquity. '''''"Alas, when the time came to write down their story, his people hadn't even got a pencil"'''''. Unlike more favoured races who had time and liberty to craft entire ''Red Books of Westmarch'' to get their side of the story out first... the Dark War is referred to on page 58 by Vetinari and on page 60 by Ridcully, where Vetinari likens the playing pieces on the Thud board to the Dark Hordes, in their lack of free will and their having been crafted for a single purpose - to fight. Ridcully reflects on what "the monsters" had been bred to do, and wonders what became of the thousands upon thousands of ''them'' who were bred to fight. Also, re-referencing Middle-earth, Treebeard speculates that Saruman had crossbred Orcs and Men, which he calls "a black evil", to create the {{wp|Uruk-hai|Uruk-hai}}, perfect fighting machines to fight in a war that engulfs a large area of land... Vetinari himself notes that it wasn't Igoring goblins that produced orcs, but using humans, in whom the natural capacity for violence and evil is so much greater. There's also a slight resonance with the original Tolkien orcs which were created when (Middle-earthen) elves were betrayed and corrupted. In neither case are they natural creatures - they have been twisted into these shapes through evil intent. In the Jackson film version of the LOTR, they are even ''more'' "bred": the Uruk-hai are dug from the ground in a grotesque birthing sequence. There is a reference to the spawning of Orcs from the ground earlier in the book, where Nutt is contemplating the tallow vats, permanently bubbling and seething, (as per the film) as a place where he finds himself feeling safe and peaceful in an odd and nursery-like way. ''People in the streets had jeered to him that he'd been made in a vat. Although Brother Oats had told him that this was silly, the gently bubbling tallow had called to him. He felt at peace here.'' ('''p33''')<br />
<br />
It is also worth noting that the phrase '''''"No one could have been neutral..."''''' has associations when one ponders the evolution of the fantasy fiction novel. J.R.R. Tolkien's master work has a rather simplistic two-dimensional ''"you are either Good or Evil and that's all there is to it.''" feel about the morality and the motivation of characters. As Tolkien's Middle Earth was heavily influenced by Tolkien's Christianity, and the notion that all that is Good comes of faith in and duty to God, while all that is Evil comes of rejection of God and joining in the Fall, this dichotomy excludes a Third Way. <br />
<br />
The Third Way is introduced by fantasy writer Michael Moorcock, who thought about the mechanics involved, and came up with a moral picture drawn as much from science as from mysticism. Moorcock, drawing his cue from the scientific laws of thermodynamics, insisted the primal struggle in the Multiverse was not between Good and Evil but between the opposed forces of Law and Chaos. After making that primal alignment, a character was free to make a secondary alignment with Good, Evil or the third state - '''''Neutral''''' - as he or she pleased. <br />
<br />
Being of the Law does not necessarily mean you are Good - consider the [[Auditors]] - and being of Chaos does not necessarily mean you are Evil. Consider Ronnie [[Soak]].<br />
<br />
Moorcock's system offers so much choice and scope for delineating more complex three-dimensional characters that [[Dungeons and Dragons]] creator Gary Gygax adopted it wholesale. But here, in the Discworld, we are being explicitly told it is not an option - '''''"No one could have been Neutral when the Dark War had engulfed Far Überwald"''''' The Dark War takes its referents, therefore, from Tolkien and not Moorcock/Gygax. <br />
<br />
<br />
('''''More Here:- [[http://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Reading_suggestions&section=32]]. Ref.''''' author Mary Gentle and book "''Grunts''". In which a captured Orc is heavily laden with chains and secured to an anvil in the hope that this renders it dormant.)<br />
<br />
Mary Gentle, like Neil Gaiman, is the subject of a dedication of an earlier Discworld book (the [[H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Fun Club]] consisted of her and several others from the new wave of British sci-fi/fantasy, including Neil). ''Two'' previous Discworld novels, in fact: she gets an explicit personal dedication in {{G!G!}}. It would seem logical then, that TP is aware of her writing and has perhaps referenced it in the Discworld. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p45)''' '''''Ridcully swayed backwards, like a man subjected to an attack by a hitherto comatose sheep'''''<br />
<br />
In the UK House of Commons in June 1978 the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer was Denis Healey. <br />
He described being attacked in June 1978 by mild mannered Conservative shadow Chancellor Geoffrey Howe as ''"like being savaged by a dead sheep".''<br />
<br />
Such an attack can be lethal if timed right. The selfsame Sir Geoffrey Howe, formerly a fawning loyalist, lost his temper in 1990 and launched a bitter and scathing speech to a packed Commons that contributed to the downfall of the previously unassailable Margaret Thatcher. Within a fortnight of Howe's attack - again likened to that of a dead sheep - she was gone, deposed as PM. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Paperback, p43)''' '''''most number of goals scored by one man in his whole life is four. That was Dave Likely, of course'''''<br />
<br />
Four goals in football was the claim to fame of Al Bundy, of Married with Children (though Bundy's were touchdowns in gridiron football), which has a certain resonance with Trevor Likely's relationship with his father, whom he sees as not valuable apart from his legendary status in football.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p46)''' '''''-How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless Dean'''''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is being paraphrased here. King Lear's furious and anguished speech of betrayal on being (apparently) rejected by an ungrateful child, despite everything he has done for her, in which he at first wishes infertility on her, and then<br />
<br />
''If she must teem,'' <br />
<br />
''Create her child of spleen; that it may live,'' <br />
<br />
''And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!''<br />
<br />
''Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;'' <br />
<br />
''With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;'' <br />
<br />
''Turn all her mother's pains and benefits'' <br />
<br />
''To laughter and contempt; that she may feel'' <br />
<br />
'''''How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is''''' <br />
<br />
'''''To have a thankless child!''''' ''Away, away!''<br />
<br />
from '''''King Lear''''' [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/188900.html]<br />
<br />
Other Shakeperian references, filtered on the Discworld through the prolific pen of the dwarf [[Hwel]], occur on '''''page 167''''', where Ridcully and Stibbons are considering the ball that goes ''gloing!'' (''There are more things in Heaven and Disc than are dreamed of in our philosophies...'').<br />
And on '''''page 387,''''', where Glenda and Mr Nutt go to the theatre to witness a Hix-suggested production by the [[Dolly Sisters Players]], called '''''Starcrossed''''', also written by Hwel. This not only continues the ''Romeo and Juliet'' motif running through the book, it is explicitly described as ''one of the great romantic plays of the last fifty years''. In our timescale, the Bernstein/Sondheim musical '''''West Side Story''''', where the plot of ''Romeo and Juliet'' is updated to warring city street gangs, was first performed in 1957, making it 52 years old.<br />
<br />
I don't think it's pressing things too far to suggest that the evil Dr Hix's love of amateur dramatics might be a sly dig at one CMOT Briggs...<br />
<br />
Another piece of Python-esque British humour that can be referenced here is the classic radio comedy sketch performed by the ''Son of Cliché'' troupe (including a very young and pre-Arnold Rimmer comedian called Christopher Barrie), in which the FA Cup final of 1982 is re-written as though it were a Shakesperian play of the heroic ''Henry V'' genre being performed at London's National Theatre. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.49)''' '''''"Just speak with a little more class, eh? You don't have to sound like--"'''''<br />
<br />
'''''"My fare, lady?"'''''<br />
<br />
Referring to "My Fair Lady" where street flower seller Eliza Doolittle improves her cockney speech to the point where she's taken for a fine lady at an embassy ball.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p51)''' '''''"Miss Healstether found him a book on scent"'''''. Mr Nutt's early life, education and reception by his peers is reminiscent of that of the character Grenouille in Patrick Süskind's novel '''''Perfume''''', who is similarly scorned, hated, and making his way up (or at least across) from the bottom. It is also worth noting that Grenouille was raised by a priest, for at least part of his life, and was effectively chained to a Hell-like cellar apprenticeship until offered opportunity to better himself. Like Steerpike in Gormenghast, (another literary anti-hero who has a similar early life), Grenouille finally becomes a manipulative monster with a sinister power over people...<br />
<br />
'''Football team colours''' - from Wikipedia:-<br />
<br />
*The leader in the Giro d'Italia cycle race wears a pink jersey (''maglia rosa''); this reflects the distinctive pink-colored newsprint of the sponsoring Italian La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. <br />
*The University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium visitors' locker room is painted pink. The decor has sparked controversy, perceived by some people as suggesting sexism and homophobia. <br />
* Palermo, a soccer team based in Palermo, Italy, traditionally wears pink home jerseys. <br />
<br />
Palermo is also the heart of Mafia and Machismo country, in Sicily: presumably they have transcended the whole pink thing as immaterial. <br />
<br />
The Hungarian international strip appears to be red and green with pink trim. <br />
<br />
The Liseberg district of Gothenberg in Sweden hosts three soccer clubs. The local city colours are pink and green, which goes back to mediaeval times, but alas none of the three clubs plays in them. <br />
<br />
One manufacturer of soccer favours markets a pink-and-green scarf, but regrettably there's no clue as to which club it is associated with.<br />
<br />
In many cities in the North of England, in pre-Internet and pre-Sky TV days, there would be a late edition of the Saturday evening paper, carrying nothing but the final sports results of the day, and it would be printed on pink paper. (Except in Sheffield, where for some reason it was the Sporting Green). Pink and Green again...<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p52)''' '''''Miss Healstether sounded bitter. "Stand by then, because he's discovered the [[Bonk School]]."'''''<br />
This is the Discworld equivalent of later German/Austrian philosophers such as Wittgenstein. On Roundworld, the Vienna School is also a collective name used for the emergent psychoanalysts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Freud, Jung and Adler, whose works are often taught in university philosophy departments for want of anywhere less controversial to pigeon-hole them. This leads to several amusingly entertaining associations: given Mr Nutt's later destiny as football team manager, with the more reflective, introverted and philosophical sort of squad boss such as Sven-Göran Eriksson. There are also echoes of famously philosophical players, such as the Manchester United and France star Eric Cantona, an interview with whom could easily befuddle the average back-page journalist, as Cantona was (and is) fond of peppering interviews with philosophical ''apercus''. Also, need we mention the classic Monty Python sketch where the whole of the German and Greek international football teams are made up of their nations' respective star philosophers? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiZt79UKUFQ] The one exception in the German team, who deserves mention for going along with the joke, is the then West German national football team captain Franz Beckenbauer, who appears on the field looking frustrated at the philosophical reflection and lack of football going on around him. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p53)''' '''''"They are the ones who go on about what happens if ladies don't get enough mutton, and they say cigars are--"<br />
"That is a fallacy!"'''''<br />
<br />
Sigmund Freud, when asked if his cigar was a phallic symbol, is supposed to have said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."<br />
<br />
A similar phallus/fallacy joke has appeared in a previous Discworld book in reference to witches' broomsticks.<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p67)''' '''''"They're two teams alike in villainy."'''''<br />
<br />
Prologue to "Romeo and Juliet" "Two households, both alike in dignity..." It could also be an example of football commentators' random (if sometimes intellectual) phrases... <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p70)''' '''''"But I'm a Face, right?"'''''. Trevor Likely's proud assertion of his status in the ranks of the Dimmers, and his being known throughout all the Boroughs, reflects British soccer hooligan counter-culture where the leaders, best fighters, and other notorious individuals in the various Firms are known as Faces. The term was also used by counter-cultural young male gangs in the 1950's and 1960's: Teddy Boys in the 50's, and Mods and Rockers in the 60's, most notorious gang members and hardest fighters were called Faces. In the latter case - 1960's scooter mods - there is even a musical about it: the Who's rock opera ''Quadrophenia'', about London Mods. The Who also had an early single called called ''I'm the Face'', written for them by their then-manager Peter Meaden, who had also changed their name to The High Numbers. The single, an attempt to appeal to the mod audience, flopped, The High Numbers changed managers again and reverted to being The Who. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p73)''' ''''' 'Gentlemen' Ridcully began ...'or should I say, fellow workers by hand and brain' '''''<br />
<br />
'Workers by hand and brain' is a key phrase in original Clause IV for the British Labour Party. This was written by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, leading members of the Fabian Society.<br />
<br />
''To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service''<br />
<br />
Clause IV was revised (not abolished) in 1995.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p80)'''. With regard to the makeover of Professor Hicks into the University's licensed evil wizard. In his physical description and general attitude, is there a certain sly reference creeping in to the teaching wizards of Slytherin House, in a certain J.K. Rowling's fantasies about a school of wizardry? Or, indeed, to a certain Dark Lord whose name cannot be uttered, save that it most coincidentally also begins with a "V"? And all this is in the context a of a sport which wizards must learn to love (if only to stop their cornucopia drying up and the flow of big dinners ebbing to a trickle.) A sport which most categorically must be played within agreed rules, with no magic ''at all'' being used, which involves getting a resolutely un-magical ball into a goal. Anyone for Quidditch, whoops sorry, Foot-the-Ball? Interestingly, when Ridcully is temporarily possessed by the shade of PE master Evans the Striped, it is Hix who performs a crude but effective exorcism with the knob on the end of his staff. What might Hix be able to reveal about the act of insorcism that put Evans' soul in there in the first place? <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p87)''': ''Glenda would have followed him like a homing vulture'' A reference to ex-Python Michael Palin's gritty slice of Northern working-class life, ''The Testing of Eric Olthwaite'', in which the little-known Northern English sport of racing homing vultures is discussed at great length. It is possible one of Reg Bag's prize homing vultures was called ''Glenda''. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p107)''' '''''"I just happened to be holding a knife. You are holding a knife.We hold knives. This is a kitchen."'''''<br />
<br />
Reminiscent of "The Lion in Winter", where Queen Elanor says "Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!"<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p113)''' '''''"Oh, Mr Trevor Likely" said Glenda, folding her arms. "Just one question: who ate all the pies?"'''''<br />
<br />
This is a classic chant to be heard across British football grounds. Fans tend to be merciless to a player perceived as having fallen from the pinnacle of physical fitness and to have put weight on, in the form of visible fat. The full chant, aimed at the luckless fat boy, runs: ''Who ate all the pies? Who ate all the pies? '''''You''''' fat bastard, '''''you''''' fat bastard, you ate all the pies!'' (tune: '''Knees up, Mother Brown'''). Footballers thus singled out for dietary advice from the terraces have included England's idiot savant and flawed genius, Paul Gascoigne.<br />
<br />
A charming piece of trivia. ''Who ate all the pies?'' is quite possibly the oldest known fan chant to have been continuously sung on English terraces. It was born in honour of {{wp|William_Foulke_(footballer)|William Henry "Fatty" Foulke}}, the legendary Sheffield United goalkeeper whose playing career spanned 1894-1910. Six foot two and a svelte twelve stone at the start of his career, he was an early victim of success and the extravagant professional footballer lifestyle (Edwardian style). By 1902, he was estimated to weigh twenty-five stones (350 pounds) ''and was still playing top-level football.'' His Sheffield United faithful sang it in his honour, albeit without the "you fat bastard" line. You wonder if Terry was aware of this when he wrote the character of the Ankh United goalkeeper, who is seen eating and gorging his way through the big game...<br />
:Rotund, pie-eating keepers are still seen, at least in the National League, but the Association is clamping down...see [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/sports/soccer/wayne-shaw-sutton-soccer-pie.html Wayne Shaw]. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Paperback, p118)''' '''''Its surgeons were even known to wash their hands before operating as well as after'''''<br />
<br />
This makes the standard of care at Lady Sybil's relatively advanced compared to other Ankh-Morpork technology. Handwashing did not become common in European & American medicine until the second half of the 19th century.<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.122)''' '''''Robert Scandal's famous poem, "Oi! To his Deaf Mistress".'''''<br />
<br />
Refers to Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress".<br />
<br />
Also '''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p122)''' '''''Nutt was technically an expert on love poetry throughout the ages... he had tried to discuss it with Ladyship, but she had laughed and said that it was frivolity, although quite useful as a tutorial on the art of vocabulary, scansion rhythm, and affect as a means to an end, to wit, getting a young lady to take all her clothes off.'''''<br />
<br />
This is suspiciously reminiscent of Sigismundo Celine's reflections on romantic poetry, in guerrilla ontologist Robert Anton Wilson's '''''The historical Illuminatus: The Widow's Son'''''. In which the wunderkind Celine, imprisoned in the Bastille, passes time by reading the prison library. He decides about love poems that <br />
<br />
''they mostly argue the case that a Certain Woman is like a certain Natural Phenomenon (sunlight, stars, birds, flowers, et c) and that the poet's heart, in response to this fact, was like another Natural Phenomenon (parched desert, wounded animal, dark cave, et c) and that there was only one natural resolution to this natural conjunction of natural phenomena. He gathered that she would have to take her clothes off.'' (p. 149 R.A.Wilson, '''''The Widow's Son''''', Lynx Books, New York, pub. 1985) For more Wilson and hints on other ways his thoughts and ideas might have filtered through Pratchett's brain and into Discworld, see Reading Suggestions). <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.124)''' '''''[S]omeone at the Royal Art Museum had found the urn in an old storeroom, and it contained scrolls which, it said here, had the original rules of foot-the-ball laid down in the early years of the century of the Summer Weevil, a thousand years ago, when the game was played in honour of the goddess Pedestriana.'''''<br />
<br />
As gods and religion are involved, it may be of note that a similar incident is described in the Bible, specifically in 2 Kings Ch. 22. Supposedly, a "Book of the Law" was found in the Temple, dating back centuries to Moses himself, but which had somehow been lost. As the book described rules that were in the best interests of the Temple and the priests there, scholars who aren't Biblical fundamentalists generally suspect that the ancient book (likely an early version of what we now call Deuteronomy) had been recently composed.<br />
<br />
This being the Discworld, this book of rules apparently is ancient ''and'' has just been composed.<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p135)''' '''''"Good point, well put," said Ridcully, "and I shall marshal my responses thusly." He flicked a finger and, with a smell of gooseberries and a pop, a small red globe appeared in the air over the table.'''''<br />
<br />
Is this a magical powerpoint demonstration?<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p158)''' '''''"Dolly Sisters, right? Sounds like the Botney Street area. I'm sure of it". said Pépé ''''' This is in the crab-bucket discourse, about how people from lowly areas with big ideas are beaten back into thinking small by their peers. <br />
<br />
Satirical magazine '''''Private Eye''''' once revealed a secret about BBC Arts supremo, talking head on the gentler, more refined, things in life, and broadcasting giant, Alan Yentob. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Yentob] Although Yentob adamantly denies it, the Eye revealed that he was born in lowly circumstances in East London as Alan ''Botney'', and reversed his surname for professional reasons to make it look more interesting and artsy. Yentob/Botney has refrained, however, from suing the Eye for libel over this assertion. Is this a hidden reason for Terry's naming a street in Lobbin Clout after him? <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p167)''' '''''"You gave the ball a mighty kick, Mister Stibbons, and yet you are, by your own admission, a wet and a weed."'''''<br />
Molesworth, a schoolboy and the narrating character in a series of books by Geoffrey Willans, would consistently refer to his brother, Molesworth 2, as "a wet and a weed."<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p198)''' '''''"Owlspring-Tips diagram"'''''<br />
<br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_diagram Herzsprung-Russell diagram] is used in astronomy to plot the absolute magnitude of stars against their spectral class.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p201)''' '''''"That's right, of course" said the former Dean. "Your father was a butcher, as I recall".'''''<br />
Later on, there is explicit mention of the large, strong, hands Ridcully inherited from his butcher father. <br />
There is a continuity problem here: when Ridcully first enters the series in {{MP}}, it is explicitly said that he became a seventh-level mage at a phenomenally young age, then retired from active Wizarding to return home and run the extensive family estates. Certainly, his demeanour and behaviour is that of the rumbustious country squire who drinks port by the pint and considers slaughtering the wildlife to be a perk of social rank. Such a man would not concern himself with butchering, save in the rough-and-ready method utilised just after a successful hunt. Similarly, a butcher would not normally be expected to kill his animals - in normal circumstances, they arrive freshly killed by somebody else. And to be able to afford large country estates, you would surely need be a ''very successful'' butcher? Something of a problem here, I fear. On '''page 41''', Ridcully's grandfather is first mentioned as a religiously-inclined prizefighter who made musical boxes for a living and who scored two goals against Dimwell ''in one match''. This can be excused and incorporated into the canon without breaking continuity with what we already know about Ridcully - everybody gets two grandfathers, after all. But the wiggle room disappears when his father is described as a city-based butcher and not a country squire.... It is possible that the land comes from his mother's side of the family. Being the offspring of a frowned-upon marriage (highborn lady, lowborn butcher) may well explain some of Ridcully's stubborn attitude.<br />
<br />
Also, the book suggests Ridcully was brought up in Ankh-Morpork and his butcher father took him to football matches. This really doesn't square with what we know about the Ridcully brothers from previous books in the series. <br />
<br />
However, it is mentioned that not all those experiences were true ones. Ponder, for instance, remembers being taken to see the football by his father despite being raised by an aunt.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p200)''' '''''"You are after the Hat" said Ridcully, flatly.'''''<br />
<br />
The rivalry between Mustrum and, er, Henry, crystallises in Henry's offer that the two magical Universities should fight it out on the field of sport, the stake being the [[Archchancellor's Hat]] in which reposes the soul of Wizardry and the essence of many thousands of Archchancellors past. This is made clear in an earlier dialogue on pp197-199. <br />
<br />
There is a continuity problem here with events in {{S}}. Having got the Hat out of Ankh-Morpork over to Klatch and therefore temporarily out of reach of the Sourcerer, Rincewind and Conina are imprisoned by the wicked vizier Abrim, who takes the Hat for his own. Abrim then builds a tower and challenges Ankh-Morpork, but owing to intervention by the Luggage, is distracted for just long enough for concentrated magic to blow him, the tower, and most crucially the Hat, into tiny tiny smithereens. After Abrim's destruction, the Hat is never heard of again - it is presumed destroyed, atomized by greater forces. It is certainly not used again as a plot device in {{S}}, and is in the fullness replaced by Ridcully's wilderness-survival Hat: a symbol of a different University with different priorities. Yet on pp225-227, Vetinari discusses the Hat as if it is still in physical existence, none the worse for its trip to Klatch and its last known wearing on the head of a failed wizard who was blasted into his component atoms. <br />
<br />
Unless Henry and Mustrum are playing for a purely symbolic Hat (which like the Ashes never leaves London, however often Australia beat England), or the original Hat was included in Coin's promise to the Librarian to restore everything to what it was, as good as old (but it is never mentioned again in the canon, until now?), then it's hard to see anything other than a continuity glitch here.<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p202)''' '''''Ponder Stibbons says "I'm even the Camerlengo, which means that if you drop dead, Archchancellor, from any cause other than legitimate succession under the Dead Man's Pointy Shoes tradition, I run this place until a successor is elected which, given the nature of wizardry, will mean a job for life."'''''<br />
<br />
The [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03217a.htm Camerlengo](Italian for "chamberlain) of the Roman Catholic Church is, among other duties, the person in charge of the Vatican between the death of one pope and the election of the next. His job is not normally as exciting as Dan Brown describes it in "Angels and Demons."<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p203)''' '''''"Most of them were old enough to recall at least two pitched battles among factions of wizards, the worst of which had only been brought to a conclusion by Rincewind, wielding a half-brick in a sock..."'''''<br />
<br />
As described at the end of ''"Sourcery."''<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p224)''' '''''Glenda says "You're giving them Avec. Nearly every dish has got Avec in it, but stuff with Avec in the name is an acquired taste."'''''<br />
<br />
"Avec" is the French (and probably restaurant Quirmian) word for "with."<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p251)''' '''''"What is your favourite spoon?"''''' <br />
<br />
Pepe has just informed Glenda that a lot of people want to ask Juliet some very important questions, including this one. <br />
<br />
The satirical magazine '''''Private Eye''''' carries a "Me and My Spoon" column in every edition, in which a celebrity is quizzed minutely about their favourite spoon. This column is meant as a joke at the expense of those journalists - not always on gossip/trivia magazines of the [[Bu-Bubble]] type - who persist in asking the most vacuous, trivial, and lazy questions of the people they are interviewing. As a sort of foreshadowing of this, Vetinari is seen to be playing with a spoon during the dinner at the University, thoughtfully studying it and the way the varying concavity and convexity of it alters his reflection. <br />
<br />
Interestingly, a place-name with an unambiguously Irish ring to it - ''Cladh'' - is introduced here. Until now - with the possible exception of a couple of minor character names - there has not been a hint of anywhere Ireland-like on the Disc, although there is a Wales-like country and a suspiciously Caledonian aura to the NacMac Feegle. Is this a portent for the future? ''Cladh", pronounced "Cla(h)'', may derive from an Irish Gaelic root for "circle" or "ring". <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p272-273)'''<br />
The crowd gathering to witness Nutt in his travail, chained to a bench and fully aware of his Orc-hood for the first time. The named speakers are a Butcher and a Baker. Who are looking upon Nutt, a Candle(stick)maker....<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p282)''' '''''"Is this going to be like the Moving Pictures?"''''' <br />
<br />
Given that Dr Hix, via a handy Omniscope, is proposing to replay part of the Battle of '''Orc's Deep''', then the answer may be "yes". This could well be a back handed tribute to the film adaptation of ''{{wp|The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Two_Towers|The Two Towers}}'', the second in the film trilogy of ''The Lord Of The Rings'' dealing with the battle of Helm's Deep, and introducing Orcs as a potent fighting force. The fact Glenda also remembers the Moving Pictures is significant, as she can be no older than twenty. Doubly interesting, in a city where a convenient group amnesia appears to settle at the end of every fad or fancy... Another (minor) continuity slip occurs here: Hix, acknowledging Glenda's reference to the Moving Pictures, refers to "popcorn", a word unknown on the Disc. Which does, however, have "banged grains" (although - continuity slip within continuity slip! - [[Hwel]] briefly mentions "popcorn" in one of his plays during {{WS}}). The second referent is to the Roundworld battle of Rorke's Drift, but this has already been parodied in an orc-related context by fantasy writer Mary Gentle (in her short story "The Battle of Orc's Drift", the Orcs are surprised and stitched up a treat by an enemy with lots of similarity to the Feegle). <br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p314)''' '''''"Was it a football team of Orcs?"''''' By his own admission, Terry Pratchett was once heavily involved in fantasy RPG gaming of the "Dungeons and Dragons" variety. A spin-off from D&D, marketed by the British fantasy gaming and world domination corporation Games Workshop, was called '''''Blood Bowl [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl]'''''. In this, a board game/RPG loosely based on American Football, teams drawn from the various fantasy races played each other, utilising their traditional cultural and racial strengths and weaknesses in a sport combining grace, athleticism, and sadistic brutality. It is difficult to believe TP is not aware of this game, nor of the fact that Orcs, being nearest in temperament and body shape to American footballers, had an inbuilt advantage. It may also be a reference to another game by Games Workshop called Warhammer 40,000; the orcs in this series (here called Orks) are often said to have been based on 'English football hooligans' and serve as a comedy relief race in the setting. It is notable that they would be very enthusiastic about the more brutal form of Ankh-Morpork foot-the-ball.<br />
<br />
"Orc's Deep" may also have a second level of allusion, to the famous Roundworld battle of Rorke's Drift. However, ''"The Battle of Orc's Drift"'' has already been done by fantasy writer Mary Gentle. (see above) In her story, the Orcs encounter a faerie race not unlike the Feegle...<br />
and in any case, Terry Pratchett has referenced, although not expanded on, a famous Discworld battle at ''Lawke's Drain'', which may have been in Howondaland. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p320)''' "Fartmeister" Carter has just been badly beaten up by the established villain Andy and his gang, at least in part to send an unmistakable message to Trev Likely. This echoes a scene in the classic gangster film '''''Get Carter''''', in which the local mob, inconvenienced by London gangster Carter's attempts to disrupt them, go gunning for him. They miss Carter (Michael Caine), but console themselves by beating his friend and local ally to a bloody pulp. In this case - Carter has been well and truly got. <br />
<br />
"Fartmeister" echoes the case of the star professional footballer let down by a bad choice of best friend, who can so easily become a leech on him. Think of the role played by Jimmy "Two-Bellies" in the drink-related downfall of genuinely gifted flawed legend Paul Gascoigne - an ill-advised best friend who Gascoigne could not bear to lose on becoming famous and who provided embarrassment at best, and career-destroying drunken benders at worst. And the film "Get Carter" is even set in Newcastle, Gascoigne's home town...<br />
<br />
And there is also virtually the entire Rooney family, a clan of Liverpool scallies so notorious that the fragrant Coleen wanted to exclude the entire tribe from her wedding to Wayne. (a gifted footballer not known for his physical good looks: there is a certain Orc-like component to Wayne even in a good light). <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p321, 327, 361)''' - Mrs Atkinson - ''..one of the most feared Faces who had ever wielded a sharpened umbrella with malice aforethought.''<br />
<br />
This elderly lady, as well as evoking a freelance [[Agony Aunts|Agony Aunt]], is very typical of the hordes of shrieking old ladies who would descend on professional wrestling events* every Saturday to berate, belabour and batter the participants. Eighteen stone muscle-mountains would be scared of them, as a Mrs Atkinson rushing the ring who had deliberately sharpened her umbrella to a point could really ''hurt'' if she jabbed it into the thigh or buttock. Any wrestler thrown out of the ring to land theatrically in among the seated crowd ould not want to be dropped among a group of Atkinsons, who could be relied upon to prod, poke, pinch, kick, stab and spit as he made his shaky way back to the bottom rope. Kendo Nagasaki, a legend among British pro wrestlers, who played the evil baddie role in the ring, is on record as saying he feared nothing so much as a bloodthirsty seventy-year old lady with a sharp umbrella. <br />
<br />
* *We are talking about British pro wrestling here, generally a more cheap and cheerful spit-and-sawdust affair than the glitzy and improbable American WWF circuit. This is the sort of contest broadcast live from Dewsbury City Hall at four o'clock on a Saturday, invariably hosted by Kent Walton, while the nation waited for its football results in the 1970's. Ah, great days. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p330)''' - Mr Nutt quotes book title ''The Doors of Deception''. A play on Aldous Huxley's philosophical treatise on using psychedelic drugs to expand the senses - ''The Doors of Perception''. (This also inspired the name of a 60's psychedelic rock band fronted by Jim Morrison, of course).<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Paperback, p447)''' '''''"Well, they could give it one hundred and ten percent if they tried harder"..."that would mean that you had just made the one hundred percent bigger"''''' Giving 110% is a standard sports metaphor, but Ponder Stibbons' response is proportionally identical to Marty DiBergi's from This Is Spinal Tap, "Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top... number... and make that a little louder?"<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p336)''' Another troubling continuity error emerges concerning Mustrum Ridcully. In {{RM}}, the detail emerges, in the context of a conversation with his brother Hughnon the High Priest, whilst discussing life's little consolations in the face of Mrs Cake, that Hughnon is a teetotaller and cannot for religious reasons touch his brother's emergency brandy (but subsequently does anyway); he then asks Mustrum for a cigarette, and it emerges that his brother is a non-smoker with equally vehement reasons not to touch the blasted things. But here, on pages 338 and 339, after forbidding sex, smokes, strong drink and excess food to the football team, Mustrum is desperately searching his rooms for an emergency cigarette only to discover Mrs Whitlow has hidden them all, in accordance with his wishes. Far from being a non-smoker, Mustrum Ridcully now has at least three stashes of tobacco, rolling paper and cigarettes for emergencies. In the interim since {{RM}}, has Ridcully taken up the evil habit, as might be contractually expected of a senior Wizard? This is a niggling continuity point. (And has been since {{H}}, when Ridcully's pipe is mentioned on three occasions, including the detail that he uses "herbal tobacco" that smells of bonfires; perhaps it's only the regular stuff he objects to.)<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, pp360-62)''' The incident of the banana(s) flung onto the pitch. This reflects the nasty and distasteful racist streak in British football fans as recently as the 1990's, where if a team played a black player (in an overwhelmingly white side) a predominantly white crowd was likely to welcome the black player with massed "ook-ook!" monkey noises, mimed scratching of armpits and flea-picking, and the throwing onto the pitch of many, many, bananas. (One of the earliest black players to join a British team, London's West Ham, made a brave face of it by saying he'd never needed to pay for another banana ever again. West Ham, incidentally, were the preferred side of fictional TV racist Alf Garnett).<br />
<br />
Of course a real ape would attract "ook-ook" noises, a stand full of idiots all trying to get away with the m-word in relative safety, and, in this case, a poisoned banana. <br />
<br />
This practice has been virtually eradicated in British football (by sanctions including ensuring local greengrocers do not sell bananas to football fans on match days, refusing entry to the ground to those carrying bananas, and making the throwing of them into an ejection/arrestable offence.) But it persists in Europe, especially in Spain. <br />
<br />
The final taboo in British football is now beginning to be addressed: up until recently it was seen as a huge joke to verbally belabour gay players as black footballers were before them. (Note the presence in this game of Bengo Macarona, a man who has led indignant ''wives'' to bring divorce actions.) In real life, footballer Justin Fashanu[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Fashanu] had it twice over: once for being black, and once for coming out as gay. Fashanu eventually committed suicide. The story is quite shocking from anybody's point of view and is by all accounts typical of the treatment of out gay men in professional sport. Incidentally, Macarona's squad number is "69" for some unfathomable reason. (Although elsewhere we are told the Seamstresses' Guld clacks number is Ankh-Morpork 69, chosen for the advertising associations, this surely must be coincidence...)<br />
<br />
Also on page 361: Glenda Sugarbean invents what, if this were {{SM}} and the crowd were gathered for a rock concert, would be called "crowd-surfing" as she descends down from the stands to the pitch. A hazard of crowd-surfing in the mosh-pit for most women would be inadvertent or deliberate groping: Glenda is disappointed that this happens to her not even once. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p366)''' Bledlow Nobbs, a man desperately trying to deny a relationship to Nobby Nobbs of the Watch, is summed up by Trev with "Nobbsy is a clogger at heart."<br />
<br />
A member of England's World Cup winning team of 1966 was Manchester United legend Nobby Stiles, an uncompromising defender who had lost all his teeth young, some to natural causes, and who used to disconcert opposing forwards by a toothless gummy grin before he went into tackle. Nobby Stiles was a very definite clogger of the old school.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p385)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p389)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p397)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p400)''' '''''"It is now!"'''''<br />
<br />
A reference to the classic BBC commentary at the end of the World Cup Final in 1966, where at Wembley Stadium in London, England beat West Germany 4-2 with the referee unaccountably adding more and more extra time. Kenneth Wolstenholme drily says ''there are some people on the pitch... they think it's all over... [England scores another goal, taking it from 3-2 to 4-2] it is now!'' This piece of British deadpan, where a South American or Italian commentator would have been screaming with excitement, has justly gone down in commentating glory. <br />
<br />
As a secondary note, it is commonly believed that the English side winning the World Cup in 1966 occurred in the run-up to a general election. Eventual winner Harold Wilson, an exceedingly sharp Prime Minister more than slightly touched by Vetinari-ish deviousness, who is supposed to have later said that the feelgood factor engendered by the football match was the biggest single decider that elected him back into office. He speculated that had England ''lost'', government change would have been inevitable, for the same superficially irrelevant reason. What would a similar "feelgood factor" do for Lord Vetinari, a man not concerned with mere elections... In reality, the 1966 general election took place in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1966 March], while the World Cup took place in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_World_Cup July], and could not have affected the result.<br />
<br />
This was borne out in 1970, where the World Cup Finals actually did coincide with the run-up to an election called by Wilson. Against all expectations, holders England crashed out at a lower stage - to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_FIFA_World_Cup#Quarter-finals West Germany] - and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson duly found himself the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1970 Leader of the Opposition]. <br />
<br />
'''kitchen maid literature'''<br />
<br />
In Dutch, we have an expression 'kitchen maid literature' for the kind of books Glenda reads. I have not been able to ascertain if the same expression also exists in English, but if it does... Of course Glenda is a cook, not a kitchen maid, but still.<br />
<br />
'''Juliet the WAG'''<br />
<br />
Juliet is, of course, the Discworld's first example of what the UK press refer to as a "WAG" - the 'Wives And Girlfriends' of famous footballers (eg Victoria ('Posh') Beckham). Stereotypically, WAGS are incredibly glamourous but also incredibly vacuous, just like Juliet. The union of a famous footballer (ie Trev Likely) to a fashion model (ie Juliet) is a very typical WAG situation. Trev & Juliet are the Discworld's "Posh & Becks" (Mr & Mrs David Beckham).<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Unseen Academicals]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Unseen_Academicals/Annotations&diff=34777Book:Unseen Academicals/Annotations2023-07-05T15:05:55Z<p>Superluser: Some annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>== [[Book:Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]] Annotations ==<br />
<br />
General:- <br />
<br />
It has been suggested that the opening pages of the book, in which Rudolf Scattering, night-watchman at the Royal Art Museum receives a nasty surprise, is a deliberate parody of Dan Brown's mystery thrillers of the ''Da Vinci Code'' genre. <br />
<br />
[[Pedestriana]] - the plucky barefoot Goddess of Football. According to the Guardian, (edition of 30/12/09), in an article on the weird compulsion of men to collect, in this case a man with a desire to own a match programme for ''every'' game ever played by London side Tottenham Hotspur. The newspaper reproduces the front cover of the 1921 F.A. Cup Final programme, which features...guess what... a robed and barefoot Goddess of Football, the winged angel standing bare of foot atop the ball... documentary evidence, hopefully, will follow...[http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jcprogrammes.co.uk/images/1921.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.jcprogrammes.co.uk/Top_Sellers&usg=__CyDPShHA8tx7m4LNmGsFF_d1X00=&h=301&w=200&sz=57&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=Q4vZroN2lUWNFM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=77&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFA%2BCup%2Bfinal,%2B1921,%2Bprogramme%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26cr%3DcountryUK%257CcountryGB%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1]<br />
<br />
The name ''Dimwell'' seems close to ''Millwall'', area and football club in London noted for the belligerence of their supporters. House chant: <br />
''Nobody loves us. And we don't care!'' Once combined an away visit to Manchester City with looting jeweller's shops on Wilmslow Road whilst the police were marching them to the ground. Two thousand fans overwhelmed three coppers and in the subsequent Shove, managed to gut a jewellers. See here for discussion:- [http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=121060]<br />
<br />
Dimwell, like Millwall for London, is a dockside area that must provide most of Ankh-Morpork's stevedores, dockers and longshoremen. In fact: one of Andy Shanks' associates shares out the bounty at one point - of loose goods purloined while working a casual shift at the docks, unloading an incoming ship. <br />
<br />
There are a fair number of "Lord of the Rings" references in "Unseen Academicals." Is [[micromail]] (see reference in article for alternative in sci-fi/fantasy) a reference to Frodo's mithril shirt? A metal called "moonsilver" is cited by Pepe as being a major component of micromail - "moonsilver" is a translation of the elvish "mithril". <br />
<br />
A recurring theme throughout the book is Mr Nutt's search for ''worth''. This leads him to many uncomfortable, even dangerous, places, and involves mental and emotional anguish, at one point a near-Death experience. <br />
<br />
Later in the book, he has the Margolotta-guided insight that the worth he seeks is not a property of deeds or created things, but an ongoing process of creation. <br />
<br />
This echoes the quest of the narrator of Robert M. Pirsig's work of popular philosophy, '''''Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance''''', who undergoes similar travails in search of elusive ''quality'' only to realise it isn't so much a ''thing'' as an ongoing ''process''. {{SM}} apart, there are no motorbikes on the Discworld. Pirsig's character grounds himself via looking after his motorcycle - but Mr Nutt is an accomplished amateur blacksmith who succeeds in re-shoeing the most difficult horse on the Quirm Flyer (horses are as near as the Disc gets, in general?)<br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.11)''' '''''Speaking of Glenda's teddy bear, Mr. Wobble. "Traditionally, in the lexicon of pathos, such a bear should have only one eye, but as the result of a childhood error in Glenda's sewing, he has three, and is more enlightened than the average bear."'''''<br />
<br />
The picnic basket-stealing cartoon character, Yogi Bear, is frequently described as "smarter than the average bear." It is also a reference to "opening one's third eye", a feature of several spiritual traditions, usually having to do with gaining insight into the workings of the universe. The word "yogi" can also mean a practitioner of some of these traditions.<br />
<br />
'''(Corgi paperback, UK, p28)''' '''''Hunting the Megapode''''' The Roundworld equivalent, {{wp|Wren_Day|The Hunting of the Wrens}}, is forgotten almost as totally as the Discworld version. The {{wp|Megapode|megapode}} is a real bird, whose name appropriately enough means "Bigfoot". The Megapode Hunt may also refer to the Oxford tradition of Hunting the Mallard, as suggested in The Culture of Discworld. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p27)''' '''''"in most cases the minutes could be written beforehand"''''' Ponder Stibbons' technique for creating minutes of Faculty meetings is, in purpose and execution, identical to standard British Civil Service policy. (As described in the great satire of government life, '''Yes, Prime Minister''', in which Sir Humphrey Appleby is an adept at predicting in advance how a meeting will work out and can quite safely dictate the minutes in advance.)<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p36)''' '''''"No one could have been neutral when the Dark War had engulfed Far Überwald"'''''. A sideways reference to Tolkien's {{wp|Middle-earth|Middle-earth}}, perhaps, especially in the light of Mr Nutt's [[Orcs|species]] and their perceived role in the Dark War of antiquity. '''''"Alas, when the time came to write down their story, his people hadn't even got a pencil"'''''. Unlike more favoured races who had time and liberty to craft entire ''Red Books of Westmarch'' to get their side of the story out first... the Dark War is referred to on page 58 by Vetinari and on page 60 by Ridcully, where Vetinari likens the playing pieces on the Thud board to the Dark Hordes, in their lack of free will and their having been crafted for a single purpose - to fight. Ridcully reflects on what "the monsters" had been bred to do, and wonders what became of the thousands upon thousands of ''them'' who were bred to fight. Also, re-referencing Middle-earth, Treebeard speculates that Saruman had crossbred Orcs and Men, which he calls "a black evil", to create the {{wp|Uruk-hai|Uruk-hai}}, perfect fighting machines to fight in a war that engulfs a large area of land... Vetinari himself notes that it wasn't Igoring goblins that produced orcs, but using humans, in whom the natural capacity for violence and evil is so much greater. There's also a slight resonance with the original Tolkien orcs which were created when (Middle-earthen) elves were betrayed and corrupted. In neither case are they natural creatures - they have been twisted into these shapes through evil intent. In the Jackson film version of the LOTR, they are even ''more'' "bred": the Uruk-hai are dug from the ground in a grotesque birthing sequence. There is a reference to the spawning of Orcs from the ground earlier in the book, where Nutt is contemplating the tallow vats, permanently bubbling and seething, (as per the film) as a place where he finds himself feeling safe and peaceful in an odd and nursery-like way. ''People in the streets had jeered to him that he'd been made in a vat. Although Brother Oats had told him that this was silly, the gently bubbling tallow had called to him. He felt at peace here.'' ('''p33''')<br />
<br />
It is also worth noting that the phrase '''''"No one could have been neutral..."''''' has associations when one ponders the evolution of the fantasy fiction novel. J.R.R. Tolkien's master work has a rather simplistic two-dimensional ''"you are either Good or Evil and that's all there is to it.''" feel about the morality and the motivation of characters. As Tolkien's Middle Earth was heavily influenced by Tolkien's Christianity, and the notion that all that is Good comes of faith in and duty to God, while all that is Evil comes of rejection of God and joining in the Fall, this dichotomy excludes a Third Way. <br />
<br />
The Third Way is introduced by fantasy writer Michael Moorcock, who thought about the mechanics involved, and came up with a moral picture drawn as much from science as from mysticism. Moorcock, drawing his cue from the scientific laws of thermodynamics, insisted the primal struggle in the Multiverse was not between Good and Evil but between the opposed forces of Law and Chaos. After making that primal alignment, a character was free to make a secondary alignment with Good, Evil or the third state - '''''Neutral''''' - as he or she pleased. <br />
<br />
Being of the Law does not necessarily mean you are Good - consider the [[Auditors]] - and being of Chaos does not necessarily mean you are Evil. Consider Ronnie [[Soak]].<br />
<br />
Moorcock's system offers so much choice and scope for delineating more complex three-dimensional characters that [[Dungeons and Dragons]] creator Gary Gygax adopted it wholesale. But here, in the Discworld, we are being explicitly told it is not an option - '''''"No one could have been Neutral when the Dark War had engulfed Far Überwald"''''' The Dark War takes its referents, therefore, from Tolkien and not Moorcock/Gygax. <br />
<br />
<br />
('''''More Here:- [[http://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Reading_suggestions&section=32]]. Ref.''''' author Mary Gentle and book "''Grunts''". In which a captured Orc is heavily laden with chains and secured to an anvil in the hope that this renders it dormant.)<br />
<br />
Mary Gentle, like Neil Gaiman, is the subject of a dedication of an earlier Discworld book (the [[H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Fun Club]] consisted of her and several others from the new wave of British sci-fi/fantasy, including Neil). ''Two'' previous Discworld novels, in fact: she gets an explicit personal dedication in {{G!G!}}. It would seem logical then, that TP is aware of her writing and has perhaps referenced it in the Discworld. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p45)''' '''''Ridcully swayed backwards, like a man subjected to an attack by a hitherto comatose sheep'''''<br />
<br />
In the UK House of Commons in June 1978 the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer was Denis Healey. <br />
He described being attacked in June 1978 by mild mannered Conservative shadow Chancellor Geoffrey Howe as ''"like being savaged by a dead sheep".''<br />
<br />
Such an attack can be lethal if timed right. The selfsame Sir Geoffrey Howe, formerly a fawning loyalist, lost his temper in 1990 and launched a bitter and scathing speech to a packed Commons that contributed to the downfall of the previously unassailable Margaret Thatcher. Within a fortnight of Howe's attack - again likened to that of a dead sheep - she was gone, deposed as PM. <br />
<br />
;p.43 (Harper Paperback):"most number of goals scored by one man in his whole life is four. That was Dave Likely, of course" Four goals in football was the claim to fame of Al Bundy, of Married with Children (though Bundy's were touchdowns in gridiron football), which has a certain resonance with Trevor Likely's relationship with his father, whom he sees as not valuable apart from his legendary status in football.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p46)''' '''''-How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless Dean'''''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is being paraphrased here. King Lear's furious and anguished speech of betrayal on being (apparently) rejected by an ungrateful child, despite everything he has done for her, in which he at first wishes infertility on her, and then<br />
<br />
''If she must teem,'' <br />
<br />
''Create her child of spleen; that it may live,'' <br />
<br />
''And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!''<br />
<br />
''Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;'' <br />
<br />
''With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;'' <br />
<br />
''Turn all her mother's pains and benefits'' <br />
<br />
''To laughter and contempt; that she may feel'' <br />
<br />
'''''How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is''''' <br />
<br />
'''''To have a thankless child!''''' ''Away, away!''<br />
<br />
from '''''King Lear''''' [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/188900.html]<br />
<br />
Other Shakeperian references, filtered on the Discworld through the prolific pen of the dwarf [[Hwel]], occur on '''''page 167''''', where Ridcully and Stibbons are considering the ball that goes ''gloing!'' (''There are more things in Heaven and Disc than are dreamed of in our philosophies...'').<br />
And on '''''page 387,''''', where Glenda and Mr Nutt go to the theatre to witness a Hix-suggested production by the [[Dolly Sisters Players]], called '''''Starcrossed''''', also written by Hwel. This not only continues the ''Romeo and Juliet'' motif running through the book, it is explicitly described as ''one of the great romantic plays of the last fifty years''. In our timescale, the Bernstein/Sondheim musical '''''West Side Story''''', where the plot of ''Romeo and Juliet'' is updated to warring city street gangs, was first performed in 1957, making it 52 years old.<br />
<br />
I don't think it's pressing things too far to suggest that the evil Dr Hix's love of amateur dramatics might be a sly dig at one CMOT Briggs...<br />
<br />
Another piece of Python-esque British humour that can be referenced here is the classic radio comedy sketch performed by the ''Son of Cliché'' troupe (including a very young and pre-Arnold Rimmer comedian called Christopher Barrie), in which the FA Cup final of 1982 is re-written as though it were a Shakesperian play of the heroic ''Henry V'' genre being performed at London's National Theatre. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.49)''' '''''"Just speak with a little more class, eh? You don't have to sound like--"'''''<br />
<br />
'''''"My fare, lady?"'''''<br />
<br />
Referring to "My Fair Lady" where street flower seller Eliza Doolittle improves her cockney speech to the point where she's taken for a fine lady at an embassy ball.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p51)''' '''''"Miss Healstether found him a book on scent"'''''. Mr Nutt's early life, education and reception by his peers is reminiscent of that of the character Grenouille in Patrick Süskind's novel '''''Perfume''''', who is similarly scorned, hated, and making his way up (or at least across) from the bottom. It is also worth noting that Grenouille was raised by a priest, for at least part of his life, and was effectively chained to a Hell-like cellar apprenticeship until offered opportunity to better himself. Like Steerpike in Gormenghast, (another literary anti-hero who has a similar early life), Grenouille finally becomes a manipulative monster with a sinister power over people...<br />
<br />
'''Football team colours''' - from Wikipedia:-<br />
<br />
*The leader in the Giro d'Italia cycle race wears a pink jersey (''maglia rosa''); this reflects the distinctive pink-colored newsprint of the sponsoring Italian La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. <br />
*The University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium visitors' locker room is painted pink. The decor has sparked controversy, perceived by some people as suggesting sexism and homophobia. <br />
* Palermo, a soccer team based in Palermo, Italy, traditionally wears pink home jerseys. <br />
<br />
Palermo is also the heart of Mafia and Machismo country, in Sicily: presumably they have transcended the whole pink thing as immaterial. <br />
<br />
The Hungarian international strip appears to be red and green with pink trim. <br />
<br />
The Liseberg district of Gothenberg in Sweden hosts three soccer clubs. The local city colours are pink and green, which goes back to mediaeval times, but alas none of the three clubs plays in them. <br />
<br />
One manufacturer of soccer favours markets a pink-and-green scarf, but regrettably there's no clue as to which club it is associated with.<br />
<br />
In many cities in the North of England, in pre-Internet and pre-Sky TV days, there would be a late edition of the Saturday evening paper, carrying nothing but the final sports results of the day, and it would be printed on pink paper. (Except in Sheffield, where for some reason it was the Sporting Green). Pink and Green again...<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p52)''' '''''Miss Healstether sounded bitter. "Stand by then, because he's discovered the [[Bonk School]]."'''''<br />
This is the Discworld equivalent of later German/Austrian philosophers such as Wittgenstein. On Roundworld, the Vienna School is also a collective name used for the emergent psychoanalysts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Freud, Jung and Adler, whose works are often taught in university philosophy departments for want of anywhere less controversial to pigeon-hole them. This leads to several amusingly entertaining associations: given Mr Nutt's later destiny as football team manager, with the more reflective, introverted and philosophical sort of squad boss such as Sven-Göran Eriksson. There are also echoes of famously philosophical players, such as the Manchester United and France star Eric Cantona, an interview with whom could easily befuddle the average back-page journalist, as Cantona was (and is) fond of peppering interviews with philosophical ''apercus''. Also, need we mention the classic Monty Python sketch where the whole of the German and Greek international football teams are made up of their nations' respective star philosophers? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiZt79UKUFQ] The one exception in the German team, who deserves mention for going along with the joke, is the then West German national football team captain Franz Beckenbauer, who appears on the field looking frustrated at the philosophical reflection and lack of football going on around him. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p53)''' '''''"They are the ones who go on about what happens if ladies don't get enough mutton, and they say cigars are--"<br />
"That is a fallacy!"'''''<br />
<br />
Sigmund Freud, when asked if his cigar was a phallic symbol, is supposed to have said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."<br />
<br />
A similar phallus/fallacy joke has appeared in a previous Discworld book in reference to witches' broomsticks.<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p67)''' '''''"They're two teams alike in villainy."'''''<br />
<br />
Prologue to "Romeo and Juliet" "Two households, both alike in dignity..." It could also be an example of football commentators' random (if sometimes intellectual) phrases... <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p70)''' '''''"But I'm a Face, right?"'''''. Trevor Likely's proud assertion of his status in the ranks of the Dimmers, and his being known throughout all the Boroughs, reflects British soccer hooligan counter-culture where the leaders, best fighters, and other notorious individuals in the various Firms are known as Faces. The term was also used by counter-cultural young male gangs in the 1950's and 1960's: Teddy Boys in the 50's, and Mods and Rockers in the 60's, most notorious gang members and hardest fighters were called Faces. In the latter case - 1960's scooter mods - there is even a musical about it: the Who's rock opera ''Quadrophenia'', about London Mods. The Who also had an early single called called ''I'm the Face'', written for them by their then-manager Peter Meaden, who had also changed their name to The High Numbers. The single, an attempt to appeal to the mod audience, flopped, The High Numbers changed managers again and reverted to being The Who. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p73)''' ''''' 'Gentlemen' Ridcully began ...'or should I say, fellow workers by hand and brain' '''''<br />
<br />
'Workers by hand and brain' is a key phrase in original Clause IV for the British Labour Party. This was written by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, leading members of the Fabian Society.<br />
<br />
''To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service''<br />
<br />
Clause IV was revised (not abolished) in 1995.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p80)'''. With regard to the makeover of Professor Hicks into the University's licensed evil wizard. In his physical description and general attitude, is there a certain sly reference creeping in to the teaching wizards of Slytherin House, in a certain J.K. Rowling's fantasies about a school of wizardry? Or, indeed, to a certain Dark Lord whose name cannot be uttered, save that it most coincidentally also begins with a "V"? And all this is in the context a of a sport which wizards must learn to love (if only to stop their cornucopia drying up and the flow of big dinners ebbing to a trickle.) A sport which most categorically must be played within agreed rules, with no magic ''at all'' being used, which involves getting a resolutely un-magical ball into a goal. Anyone for Quidditch, whoops sorry, Foot-the-Ball? Interestingly, when Ridcully is temporarily possessed by the shade of PE master Evans the Striped, it is Hix who performs a crude but effective exorcism with the knob on the end of his staff. What might Hix be able to reveal about the act of insorcism that put Evans' soul in there in the first place? <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p87)''': ''Glenda would have followed him like a homing vulture'' A reference to ex-Python Michael Palin's gritty slice of Northern working-class life, ''The Testing of Eric Olthwaite'', in which the little-known Northern English sport of racing homing vultures is discussed at great length. It is possible one of Reg Bag's prize homing vultures was called ''Glenda''. <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p107)''' '''''"I just happened to be holding a knife. You are holding a knife.We hold knives. This is a kitchen."'''''<br />
<br />
Reminiscent of "The Lion in Winter", where Queen Elanor says "Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!"<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p113)''' '''''"Oh, Mr Trevor Likely" said Glenda, folding her arms. "Just one question: who ate all the pies?"'''''<br />
<br />
This is a classic chant to be heard across British football grounds. Fans tend to be merciless to a player perceived as having fallen from the pinnacle of physical fitness and to have put weight on, in the form of visible fat. The full chant, aimed at the luckless fat boy, runs: ''Who ate all the pies? Who ate all the pies? '''''You''''' fat bastard, '''''you''''' fat bastard, you ate all the pies!'' (tune: '''Knees up, Mother Brown'''). Footballers thus singled out for dietary advice from the terraces have included England's idiot savant and flawed genius, Paul Gascoigne.<br />
<br />
A charming piece of trivia. ''Who ate all the pies?'' is quite possibly the oldest known fan chant to have been continuously sung on English terraces. It was born in honour of {{wp|William_Foulke_(footballer)|William Henry "Fatty" Foulke}}, the legendary Sheffield United goalkeeper whose playing career spanned 1894-1910. Six foot two and a svelte twelve stone at the start of his career, he was an early victim of success and the extravagant professional footballer lifestyle (Edwardian style). By 1902, he was estimated to weigh twenty-five stones (350 pounds) ''and was still playing top-level football.'' His Sheffield United faithful sang it in his honour, albeit without the "you fat bastard" line. You wonder if Terry was aware of this when he wrote the character of the Ankh United goalkeeper, who is seen eating and gorging his way through the big game...<br />
:Rotund, pie-eating keepers are still seen, at least in the National League, but the Association is clamping down...see [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/sports/soccer/wayne-shaw-sutton-soccer-pie.html Wayne Shaw]. <br />
<br />
;p.118 (Harper Paperback):"Its surgeons were even known to wash their hands before operating as well as after" This makes the standard of care at Lady Sybil's relatively advanced compared to other Ankh-Morpork technology. Handwashing did not become common in European & American medicine until the second half of the 19th century.<br />
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'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.122)''' '''''Robert Scandal's famous poem, "Oi! To his Deaf Mistress".'''''<br />
<br />
Refers to Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress".<br />
<br />
Also '''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p122)''' '''''Nutt was technically an expert on love poetry throughout the ages... he had tried to discuss it with Ladyship, but she had laughed and said that it was frivolity, although quite useful as a tutorial on the art of vocabulary, scansion rhythm, and affect as a means to an end, to wit, getting a young lady to take all her clothes off.'''''<br />
<br />
This is suspiciously reminiscent of Sigismundo Celine's reflections on romantic poetry, in guerrilla ontologist Robert Anton Wilson's '''''The historical Illuminatus: The Widow's Son'''''. In which the wunderkind Celine, imprisoned in the Bastille, passes time by reading the prison library. He decides about love poems that <br />
<br />
''they mostly argue the case that a Certain Woman is like a certain Natural Phenomenon (sunlight, stars, birds, flowers, et c) and that the poet's heart, in response to this fact, was like another Natural Phenomenon (parched desert, wounded animal, dark cave, et c) and that there was only one natural resolution to this natural conjunction of natural phenomena. He gathered that she would have to take her clothes off.'' (p. 149 R.A.Wilson, '''''The Widow's Son''''', Lynx Books, New York, pub. 1985) For more Wilson and hints on other ways his thoughts and ideas might have filtered through Pratchett's brain and into Discworld, see Reading Suggestions). <br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.124)''' '''''[S]omeone at the Royal Art Museum had found the urn in an old storeroom, and it contained scrolls which, it said here, had the original rules of foot-the-ball laid down in the early years of the century of the Summer Weevil, a thousand years ago, when the game was played in honour of the goddess Pedestriana.'''''<br />
<br />
As gods and religion are involved, it may be of note that a similar incident is described in the Bible, specifically in 2 Kings Ch. 22. Supposedly, a "Book of the Law" was found in the Temple, dating back centuries to Moses himself, but which had somehow been lost. As the book described rules that were in the best interests of the Temple and the priests there, scholars who aren't Biblical fundamentalists generally suspect that the ancient book (likely an early version of what we now call Deuteronomy) had been recently composed.<br />
<br />
This being the Discworld, this book of rules apparently is ancient ''and'' has just been composed.<br />
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'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p135)''' '''''"Good point, well put," said Ridcully, "and I shall marshal my responses thusly." He flicked a finger and, with a smell of gooseberries and a pop, a small red globe appeared in the air over the table.'''''<br />
<br />
Is this a magical powerpoint demonstration?<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p158)''' '''''"Dolly Sisters, right? Sounds like the Botney Street area. I'm sure of it". said Pépé ''''' This is in the crab-bucket discourse, about how people from lowly areas with big ideas are beaten back into thinking small by their peers. <br />
<br />
Satirical magazine '''''Private Eye''''' once revealed a secret about BBC Arts supremo, talking head on the gentler, more refined, things in life, and broadcasting giant, Alan Yentob. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Yentob] Although Yentob adamantly denies it, the Eye revealed that he was born in lowly circumstances in East London as Alan ''Botney'', and reversed his surname for professional reasons to make it look more interesting and artsy. Yentob/Botney has refrained, however, from suing the Eye for libel over this assertion. Is this a hidden reason for Terry's naming a street in Lobbin Clout after him? <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p167)''' '''''"You gave the ball a mighty kick, Mister Stibbons, and yet you are, by your own admission, a wet and a weed."'''''<br />
Molesworth, a schoolboy and the narrating character in a series of books by Geoffrey Willans, would consistently refer to his brother, Molesworth 2, as "a wet and a weed."<br />
<br />
'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p198)''' '''''"Owlspring-Tips diagram"'''''<br />
<br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_diagram Herzsprung-Russell diagram] is used in astronomy to plot the absolute magnitude of stars against their spectral class.<br />
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'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p201)''' '''''"That's right, of course" said the former Dean. "Your father was a butcher, as I recall".'''''<br />
Later on, there is explicit mention of the large, strong, hands Ridcully inherited from his butcher father. <br />
There is a continuity problem here: when Ridcully first enters the series in {{MP}}, it is explicitly said that he became a seventh-level mage at a phenomenally young age, then retired from active Wizarding to return home and run the extensive family estates. Certainly, his demeanour and behaviour is that of the rumbustious country squire who drinks port by the pint and considers slaughtering the wildlife to be a perk of social rank. Such a man would not concern himself with butchering, save in the rough-and-ready method utilised just after a successful hunt. Similarly, a butcher would not normally be expected to kill his animals - in normal circumstances, they arrive freshly killed by somebody else. And to be able to afford large country estates, you would surely need be a ''very successful'' butcher? Something of a problem here, I fear. On '''page 41''', Ridcully's grandfather is first mentioned as a religiously-inclined prizefighter who made musical boxes for a living and who scored two goals against Dimwell ''in one match''. This can be excused and incorporated into the canon without breaking continuity with what we already know about Ridcully - everybody gets two grandfathers, after all. But the wiggle room disappears when his father is described as a city-based butcher and not a country squire.... It is possible that the land comes from his mother's side of the family. Being the offspring of a frowned-upon marriage (highborn lady, lowborn butcher) may well explain some of Ridcully's stubborn attitude.<br />
<br />
Also, the book suggests Ridcully was brought up in Ankh-Morpork and his butcher father took him to football matches. This really doesn't square with what we know about the Ridcully brothers from previous books in the series. <br />
<br />
However, it is mentioned that not all those experiences were true ones. Ponder, for instance, remembers being taken to see the football by his father despite being raised by an aunt.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p200)''' '''''"You are after the Hat" said Ridcully, flatly.'''''<br />
<br />
The rivalry between Mustrum and, er, Henry, crystallises in Henry's offer that the two magical Universities should fight it out on the field of sport, the stake being the [[Archchancellor's Hat]] in which reposes the soul of Wizardry and the essence of many thousands of Archchancellors past. This is made clear in an earlier dialogue on pp197-199. <br />
<br />
There is a continuity problem here with events in {{S}}. Having got the Hat out of Ankh-Morpork over to Klatch and therefore temporarily out of reach of the Sourcerer, Rincewind and Conina are imprisoned by the wicked vizier Abrim, who takes the Hat for his own. Abrim then builds a tower and challenges Ankh-Morpork, but owing to intervention by the Luggage, is distracted for just long enough for concentrated magic to blow him, the tower, and most crucially the Hat, into tiny tiny smithereens. After Abrim's destruction, the Hat is never heard of again - it is presumed destroyed, atomized by greater forces. It is certainly not used again as a plot device in {{S}}, and is in the fullness replaced by Ridcully's wilderness-survival Hat: a symbol of a different University with different priorities. Yet on pp225-227, Vetinari discusses the Hat as if it is still in physical existence, none the worse for its trip to Klatch and its last known wearing on the head of a failed wizard who was blasted into his component atoms. <br />
<br />
Unless Henry and Mustrum are playing for a purely symbolic Hat (which like the Ashes never leaves London, however often Australia beat England), or the original Hat was included in Coin's promise to the Librarian to restore everything to what it was, as good as old (but it is never mentioned again in the canon, until now?), then it's hard to see anything other than a continuity glitch here.<br />
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'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p202)''' '''''Ponder Stibbons says "I'm even the Camerlengo, which means that if you drop dead, Archchancellor, from any cause other than legitimate succession under the Dead Man's Pointy Shoes tradition, I run this place until a successor is elected which, given the nature of wizardry, will mean a job for life."'''''<br />
<br />
The [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03217a.htm Camerlengo](Italian for "chamberlain) of the Roman Catholic Church is, among other duties, the person in charge of the Vatican between the death of one pope and the election of the next. His job is not normally as exciting as Dan Brown describes it in "Angels and Demons."<br />
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'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p203)''' '''''"Most of them were old enough to recall at least two pitched battles among factions of wizards, the worst of which had only been brought to a conclusion by Rincewind, wielding a half-brick in a sock..."'''''<br />
<br />
As described at the end of ''"Sourcery."''<br />
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'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p224)''' '''''Glenda says "You're giving them Avec. Nearly every dish has got Avec in it, but stuff with Avec in the name is an acquired taste."'''''<br />
<br />
"Avec" is the French (and probably restaurant Quirmian) word for "with."<br />
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'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p251)''' '''''"What is your favourite spoon?"''''' <br />
<br />
Pepe has just informed Glenda that a lot of people want to ask Juliet some very important questions, including this one. <br />
<br />
The satirical magazine '''''Private Eye''''' carries a "Me and My Spoon" column in every edition, in which a celebrity is quizzed minutely about their favourite spoon. This column is meant as a joke at the expense of those journalists - not always on gossip/trivia magazines of the [[Bu-Bubble]] type - who persist in asking the most vacuous, trivial, and lazy questions of the people they are interviewing. As a sort of foreshadowing of this, Vetinari is seen to be playing with a spoon during the dinner at the University, thoughtfully studying it and the way the varying concavity and convexity of it alters his reflection. <br />
<br />
Interestingly, a place-name with an unambiguously Irish ring to it - ''Cladh'' - is introduced here. Until now - with the possible exception of a couple of minor character names - there has not been a hint of anywhere Ireland-like on the Disc, although there is a Wales-like country and a suspiciously Caledonian aura to the NacMac Feegle. Is this a portent for the future? ''Cladh", pronounced "Cla(h)'', may derive from an Irish Gaelic root for "circle" or "ring". <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p272-273)'''<br />
The crowd gathering to witness Nutt in his travail, chained to a bench and fully aware of his Orc-hood for the first time. The named speakers are a Butcher and a Baker. Who are looking upon Nutt, a Candle(stick)maker....<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p282)''' '''''"Is this going to be like the Moving Pictures?"''''' <br />
<br />
Given that Dr Hix, via a handy Omniscope, is proposing to replay part of the Battle of '''Orc's Deep''', then the answer may be "yes". This could well be a back handed tribute to the film adaptation of ''{{wp|The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Two_Towers|The Two Towers}}'', the second in the film trilogy of ''The Lord Of The Rings'' dealing with the battle of Helm's Deep, and introducing Orcs as a potent fighting force. The fact Glenda also remembers the Moving Pictures is significant, as she can be no older than twenty. Doubly interesting, in a city where a convenient group amnesia appears to settle at the end of every fad or fancy... Another (minor) continuity slip occurs here: Hix, acknowledging Glenda's reference to the Moving Pictures, refers to "popcorn", a word unknown on the Disc. Which does, however, have "banged grains" (although - continuity slip within continuity slip! - [[Hwel]] briefly mentions "popcorn" in one of his plays during {{WS}}). The second referent is to the Roundworld battle of Rorke's Drift, but this has already been parodied in an orc-related context by fantasy writer Mary Gentle (in her short story "The Battle of Orc's Drift", the Orcs are surprised and stitched up a treat by an enemy with lots of similarity to the Feegle). <br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p314)''' '''''"Was it a football team of Orcs?"''''' By his own admission, Terry Pratchett was once heavily involved in fantasy RPG gaming of the "Dungeons and Dragons" variety. A spin-off from D&D, marketed by the British fantasy gaming and world domination corporation Games Workshop, was called '''''Blood Bowl [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl]'''''. In this, a board game/RPG loosely based on American Football, teams drawn from the various fantasy races played each other, utilising their traditional cultural and racial strengths and weaknesses in a sport combining grace, athleticism, and sadistic brutality. It is difficult to believe TP is not aware of this game, nor of the fact that Orcs, being nearest in temperament and body shape to American footballers, had an inbuilt advantage. It may also be a reference to another game by Games Workshop called Warhammer 40,000; the orcs in this series (here called Orks) are often said to have been based on 'English football hooligans' and serve as a comedy relief race in the setting. It is notable that they would be very enthusiastic about the more brutal form of Ankh-Morpork foot-the-ball.<br />
<br />
"Orc's Deep" may also have a second level of allusion, to the famous Roundworld battle of Rorke's Drift. However, ''"The Battle of Orc's Drift"'' has already been done by fantasy writer Mary Gentle. (see above) In her story, the Orcs encounter a faerie race not unlike the Feegle...<br />
and in any case, Terry Pratchett has referenced, although not expanded on, a famous Discworld battle at ''Lawke's Drain'', which may have been in Howondaland. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p320)''' "Fartmeister" Carter has just been badly beaten up by the established villain Andy and his gang, at least in part to send an unmistakable message to Trev Likely. This echoes a scene in the classic gangster film '''''Get Carter''''', in which the local mob, inconvenienced by London gangster Carter's attempts to disrupt them, go gunning for him. They miss Carter (Michael Caine), but console themselves by beating his friend and local ally to a bloody pulp. In this case - Carter has been well and truly got. <br />
<br />
"Fartmeister" echoes the case of the star professional footballer let down by a bad choice of best friend, who can so easily become a leech on him. Think of the role played by Jimmy "Two-Bellies" in the drink-related downfall of genuinely gifted flawed legend Paul Gascoigne - an ill-advised best friend who Gascoigne could not bear to lose on becoming famous and who provided embarrassment at best, and career-destroying drunken benders at worst. And the film "Get Carter" is even set in Newcastle, Gascoigne's home town...<br />
<br />
And there is also virtually the entire Rooney family, a clan of Liverpool scallies so notorious that the fragrant Coleen wanted to exclude the entire tribe from her wedding to Wayne. (a gifted footballer not known for his physical good looks: there is a certain Orc-like component to Wayne even in a good light). <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p321, 327, 361)''' - Mrs Atkinson - ''..one of the most feared Faces who had ever wielded a sharpened umbrella with malice aforethought.''<br />
<br />
This elderly lady, as well as evoking a freelance [[Agony Aunts|Agony Aunt]], is very typical of the hordes of shrieking old ladies who would descend on professional wrestling events* every Saturday to berate, belabour and batter the participants. Eighteen stone muscle-mountains would be scared of them, as a Mrs Atkinson rushing the ring who had deliberately sharpened her umbrella to a point could really ''hurt'' if she jabbed it into the thigh or buttock. Any wrestler thrown out of the ring to land theatrically in among the seated crowd ould not want to be dropped among a group of Atkinsons, who could be relied upon to prod, poke, pinch, kick, stab and spit as he made his shaky way back to the bottom rope. Kendo Nagasaki, a legend among British pro wrestlers, who played the evil baddie role in the ring, is on record as saying he feared nothing so much as a bloodthirsty seventy-year old lady with a sharp umbrella. <br />
<br />
* *We are talking about British pro wrestling here, generally a more cheap and cheerful spit-and-sawdust affair than the glitzy and improbable American WWF circuit. This is the sort of contest broadcast live from Dewsbury City Hall at four o'clock on a Saturday, invariably hosted by Kent Walton, while the nation waited for its football results in the 1970's. Ah, great days. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p330)''' - Mr Nutt quotes book title ''The Doors of Deception''. A play on Aldous Huxley's philosophical treatise on using psychedelic drugs to expand the senses - ''The Doors of Perception''. (This also inspired the name of a 60's psychedelic rock band fronted by Jim Morrison, of course).<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p336)''' Another troubling continuity error emerges concerning Mustrum Ridcully. In {{RM}}, the detail emerges, in the context of a conversation with his brother Hughnon the High Priest, whilst discussing life's little consolations in the face of Mrs Cake, that Hughnon is a teetotaller and cannot for religious reasons touch his brother's emergency brandy (but subsequently does anyway); he then asks Mustrum for a cigarette, and it emerges that his brother is a non-smoker with equally vehement reasons not to touch the blasted things. But here, on pages 338 and 339, after forbidding sex, smokes, strong drink and excess food to the football team, Mustrum is desperately searching his rooms for an emergency cigarette only to discover Mrs Whitlow has hidden them all, in accordance with his wishes. Far from being a non-smoker, Mustrum Ridcully now has at least three stashes of tobacco, rolling paper and cigarettes for emergencies. In the interim since {{RM}}, has Ridcully taken up the evil habit, as might be contractually expected of a senior Wizard? This is a niggling continuity point. (And has been since {{H}}, when Ridcully's pipe is mentioned on three occasions, including the detail that he uses "herbal tobacco" that smells of bonfires; perhaps it's only the regular stuff he objects to.)<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, pp360-62)''' The incident of the banana(s) flung onto the pitch. This reflects the nasty and distasteful racist streak in British football fans as recently as the 1990's, where if a team played a black player (in an overwhelmingly white side) a predominantly white crowd was likely to welcome the black player with massed "ook-ook!" monkey noises, mimed scratching of armpits and flea-picking, and the throwing onto the pitch of many, many, bananas. (One of the earliest black players to join a British team, London's West Ham, made a brave face of it by saying he'd never needed to pay for another banana ever again. West Ham, incidentally, were the preferred side of fictional TV racist Alf Garnett).<br />
<br />
Of course a real ape would attract "ook-ook" noises, a stand full of idiots all trying to get away with the m-word in relative safety, and, in this case, a poisoned banana. <br />
<br />
This practice has been virtually eradicated in British football (by sanctions including ensuring local greengrocers do not sell bananas to football fans on match days, refusing entry to the ground to those carrying bananas, and making the throwing of them into an ejection/arrestable offence.) But it persists in Europe, especially in Spain. <br />
<br />
The final taboo in British football is now beginning to be addressed: up until recently it was seen as a huge joke to verbally belabour gay players as black footballers were before them. (Note the presence in this game of Bengo Macarona, a man who has led indignant ''wives'' to bring divorce actions.) In real life, footballer Justin Fashanu[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Fashanu] had it twice over: once for being black, and once for coming out as gay. Fashanu eventually committed suicide. The story is quite shocking from anybody's point of view and is by all accounts typical of the treatment of out gay men in professional sport. Incidentally, Macarona's squad number is "69" for some unfathomable reason. (Although elsewhere we are told the Seamstresses' Guld clacks number is Ankh-Morpork 69, chosen for the advertising associations, this surely must be coincidence...)<br />
<br />
Also on page 361: Glenda Sugarbean invents what, if this were {{SM}} and the crowd were gathered for a rock concert, would be called "crowd-surfing" as she descends down from the stands to the pitch. A hazard of crowd-surfing in the mosh-pit for most women would be inadvertent or deliberate groping: Glenda is disappointed that this happens to her not even once. <br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p366)''' Bledlow Nobbs, a man desperately trying to deny a relationship to Nobby Nobbs of the Watch, is summed up by Trev with "Nobbsy is a clogger at heart."<br />
<br />
A member of England's World Cup winning team of 1966 was Manchester United legend Nobby Stiles, an uncompromising defender who had lost all his teeth young, some to natural causes, and who used to disconcert opposing forwards by a toothless gummy grin before he went into tackle. Nobby Stiles was a very definite clogger of the old school.<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p385)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p389)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p397)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''<br />
<br />
'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p400)''' '''''"It is now!"'''''<br />
<br />
A reference to the classic BBC commentary at the end of the World Cup Final in 1966, where at Wembley Stadium in London, England beat West Germany 4-2 with the referee unaccountably adding more and more extra time. Kenneth Wolstenholme drily says ''there are some people on the pitch... they think it's all over... it is now!'' This piece of British deadpan, where a South American or Italian commentator would have been screaming with excitement, has justly gone down in commentating glory. <br />
<br />
As a secondary note, it is commonly believed that the English side winning the World Cup in 1966 occurred in the run-up to a general election. Eventual winner Harold Wilson, an exceedingly sharp Prime Minister more than slightly touched by Vetinari-ish deviousness, who is supposed to have later said that the feelgood factor engendered by the football match was the biggest single decider that elected him back into office. He speculated that had England ''lost'', government change would have been inevitable, for the same superficially irrelevant reason. What would a similar "feelgood factor" do for Lord Vetinari, a man not concerned with mere elections... In reality, the 1966 general election took place in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1966 March], while the World Cup took place in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_World_Cup July], and could not have affected the result.<br />
<br />
This was borne out in 1970, where the World Cup Finals actually did coincide with the run-up to an election called by Wilson. Against all expectations, holders England crashed out at a lower stage - to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_FIFA_World_Cup#Quarter-finals West Germany] - and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson duly found himself the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1970 Leader of the Opposition]. <br />
<br />
'''kitchen maid literature'''<br />
<br />
In Dutch, we have an expression 'kitchen maid literature' for the kind of books Glenda reads. I have not been able to ascertain if the same expression also exists in English, but if it does... Of course Glenda is a cook, not a kitchen maid, but still.<br />
<br />
'''Juliet the WAG'''<br />
<br />
Juliet is, of course, the Discworld's first example of what the UK press refer to as a "WAG" - the 'Wives And Girlfriends' of famous footballers (eg Victoria ('Posh') Beckham). Stereotypically, WAGS are incredibly glamourous but also incredibly vacuous, just like Juliet. The union of a famous footballer (ie Trev Likely) to a fashion model (ie Juliet) is a very typical WAG situation. Trev & Juliet are the Discworld's "Posh & Becks" (Mr & Mrs David Beckham).<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Unseen Academicals]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Making_Money/Annotations&diff=34766Book:Making Money/Annotations2023-06-30T02:13:38Z<p>Superluser: annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for {{MM}}. Note that this book lacks an entry with any detail in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]].<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
<br />
* Throughout the books are sly references to the Roundworld game of '''[[wikipedia:Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]''', which involves a bank, financial speculation, capital investment in a city, and striving to reduce your opponents to absolute penury and degradation. This is dealt with in more detail ''[[Exclusive Possession|here]]''.<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
Page numbers refer to the UK hardcover edition unless specified. Equivalent pages in the US hardcover are given in parentheses where known.<br />
<br />
;Author's Note:"{{wp|Hemline_index|Hemlines as a measure of national crisis}}" Not much to add but a link is provided to this well-known (though not necessarily well-regarded) economic index.<br />
<br />
;Page 23:“’If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-‘ Moist began.” <br />
:This is a reference to Vimes' statement on page 40 of {{T!}}: “‘Remember the cabbage-scented stamp last month?...They actually caught fire if you put too many of them together!’” <br />
<br />
;Pages 42-43:Discussing the Elim, the smallest coin of all, traditionally made by widows "and of course it's handy to drop in the charity box". In the bible, Jesus's parable of '''''the widow's mite''''', in which the smallest coin of all, donated by a poor widow, has more value than all the gold ostentatiously placed in there by the Pharisees, simply because it is all she has to give. <br />
<br />
;p.61 (Harper Paperback):"The crash of 88, the crash of 93, the crash of 98" It appears that the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork has entered the Century of the Anchovy & started using decimal years.<br />
<br />
;Page 109:“Food gets you through times of no gold better than gold gets you through times of no food” - this is a clever re-stating of Shelton and Mavrides' hippy maxim, used in their comic books about the alternative lifestyle trio '''''{{wp|Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers|The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers}}''''', which originally states: "Dope gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no dope."<br />
:And of course a form of "dope", considered superior by cannabis connoisseurs, is known as Acapulco Gold...<br />
<br />
;Page 127:"Jack Proust" is an aging comic, the central character in [http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-05-12/calendar/send-in-the-clowns/ ''The First 100 Years''], written and performed by former [[Fools' Guild|clown]] {{wp|Geoff_Hoyle|Geoff Hoyle}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 145 (Corgi Paperback UK):"Ad Urbem Pertinet" = "Belongs to the City". Written on Von Lipwig's draft banknote, see also the following.<br />
<br />
;Page 146 (Corgi Paperback UK):"''promitto fore ut possessori postulanti nummum unum solvem an apte satisfaciam''" = "I promise to pay an adequate defense, the owner asked for one piece”. Although that is the literal translation, this refers to the inscription on English banknotes, beneath the words "Bank of England", which read "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of" followed by the denomination of the note. Originally this meant the note would be exchanged by the bank for the equivalent value in gold; since Britain abandoned the gold standard the phrase is entirely decorative.<br />
<br />
;Page 155 (US 167):"Bent stood up in one unfolding moment, like a jack-in-the-box." This foreshadowing will later prove as subtle as a pie in the face.<br />
<br />
;p.236 (Harper Paperback):"We're going to need some bigger notes" One of the most memorable lines from the movie Jaws was the ad-lib, "We're going to need a bigger boat."<br />
<br />
;Pages 190-200 (US 208-218):The [[Cabinet of Curiosity]] may be the [http://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Natural-Curiosities-Complete-1734-1765/dp/3822847941/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4978409-2923019 Cabinet of Natural Curiosities], a natural history by Albertus Seba. The back cover of the book has a plate of a giant squid. (A lot of museums have a Cabinet of Curiosity as part of their collection.)<br />
<br />
;p.262 (Harper Paperback):"city of Um" The ancient Roundworld city-state of Ur sounds like a different hesitation marker.<br />
<br />
;Page 214 (US 236):The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer [[wikipedia:John Dee|John Dee]]. It uses letter by letter substitution to create the effect. The Formal Golem language is designated as appropriate to a near-contemporary of Umnian's multi-meaninged tongue. The characters for r/m, i/y, c/k, and u/v/w are effectively indistinguishable, and the s and e are quite similar. Translated, Adora Belle says "I can speak formal golem.”<br />
:John Dee himself appears in {{SOD2}}, where he hosts wizards visiting from Discworld. In Elizabethan London, Dee lived at [[Mort Lake|Mortlake]], which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork. <br />
<br />
;Page 221 (US 244):In Formal Golem, Flead first says, "You make eternity bearable!" and then asks "Why do you care about golems? They have no passionate parts!" [http://www.stooryduster.co.uk/images/pages/common-private-golem-language.htm A visual key to the Enochian alphabet can be found here] where you can try the translations yourself.<br />
<br />
;Page 262 (US 293):Moist initially makes the same mistake as [[William de Worde]], and assumes that just because [[Nobby Nobbs]] requires proof of species, he's the "Watch Werewolf". <br />
<br />
;p.316 (Harper Paperback):"Today's 'Jikan no Muda,' sir" It appears that in Discworld, the number puzzle Sudoku (digit-single) is called [[Jikan no Muda]] (時間の無駄), Japanese for Waste of Time.<br />
<br />
;Page 268 (US 299-300):[[Mr Fusspot]]'s courtship of [[Angua von Überwald]] is reminiscent of the battery-powered dog toys beloved of British shopping centres, which yap, somersault and repeat, although none of them come with the "new toy" delicately described by [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Captain Carrot]] as "a wind-up clockwork item of an intimate nature".<br />
<br />
;Page 333: ''Tell us the secret, Mr Lipwig." Vetinari is putting subtle pressure on Moist to explain the secret of the Umnian golems. "Tell '''''us'''''" could refer to the fact Adora Belle also wants to know. However. In Freemasonry, a higher-level Initiation involves the candidate being symbolically tortured by pitiless creatures who continually demand "Tell us the secret!" If the Candidate withstands the torture, his tormentors turn to the Grand Master and regretfully say things like "I vexed his inner soul and spirit most greatly, Master, but he remained mute." To which the Master shakes his head regretfully, and orders the candidate to be killed and buried. Who is then interred in a closed coffin and left to stew for a few hours. After which he is symbolically reborn into the Light as a higher-level Mason and a new person... Killed and resurrected - offered an Angel, perhaps? (Robert Anton Wilson uses this as a theme in one of the ''Illuminatus!'' fantasy novels.) <br />
<br />
;p 436 (Harper Paperback):"I Am Doing It For Myself" Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves by The Eurythmics & Aretha Franklin became a sort of feminist anthem.<br />
<br />
=== Specific annotations lacking page numbers ===<br />
* The [[Lavishes]] are distinctly reminiscent of the Borgias. The same extended family, devious infighting, and desire for political power. The most famous Borgia dynasty includes Cesare and Lucrezia "Lucci" Borgia, mirrored here as [[Cosmo Lavish]] and [[Pucci Lavish]], although an alternate source for the name of Cosmo would be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_de'_Medici Cosimo de Medici], the first of the Medici to become ruler (Patrician?) of Florence.<br />
:Incidentally, Pucci is also the name of another influential family from Florence, political allies to the Medici family, particularly Cosimo. Possibly such references to other members (or allies) of the Medici family exist among the Lavishes.<br />
<br />
* In {{TT}}, Mr. Tuttle Scrope is put up as the replacement Patrician for Vetinari. He runs a shop that sells leatherwork and "rubber work...and feathers...and whips...and...little jiggly things" and was, presumably, the supplier for Sir Joshua Lavish in ''Making Money'', who had the cabinet full of such supplies.<br />
<br />
* Moist's plan to sell the gold of the bank mirrors the actions of {{wp|Gordon Brown|Gordon Brown}}, who sold 400 tons of Gold Bullion between 1999 and 2002. His comments on gold have been a recurring theme in the Discworld books, ever since the Colour of Magic.<br />
<br />
* Brown's predecessor, {{wp|John Major|John Major}}, was an accountant and son of a trapeze artist; he has been described as "the only man to run away from the circus to become an accountant."<br />
<br />
* Moist mentions that his family in Uberwald belong to a religion which he describes as the "plain potato church." There is also an "Ancient and Orthodox" potato church -- could this be related to Mr Tulip's religion in {{TT}}? Both men originally come from an unspecified place in Far Uberwald and Mr Tulip mentions that his religion goes back hundreds of years... is it possible that Moist comes from the same village or one nearby?<br />
<br />
=== Famous Quotes ===<br />
<br />
There are a number of famous quotes, particularly on the subject of confidence games, alluded to in the book. I'm not sure if these qualify as annotations but there are a lot of them so we can put them all together & if you like, skip this bit.<br />
<br />
;p. 58 (Harper Paperback):"Fooling all of the people all of the time" The phrase is "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time," variously attributed to Abraham Lincoln or PT Barnum, among others<br />
;p.60 (Harper Paperback):"sell the sizzle" ...not the steak, coined by American salesman Elmer Wheeler <br />
;p.62 (Harper Paperback):"Someone who can prove they don't need the money?" Bob Hope, "A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it."<br />
;p.354 (Harper Paperback):"Old necromancers never die" The Roundworld phrase is "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away"<br />
;p.379 (Harper Paperback):"famous dictum of General Tacticus, 'Those who desire war, prepare for war'" The Roundworld phrase is usually given as "Si vis pacem, para bellum," or "If you want peace, prepare for war." Tacticus appears to operate on a different principle<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Making Money/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Making_Money/Annotations&diff=34764Book:Making Money/Annotations2023-06-27T22:41:20Z<p>Superluser: Jikan no Muda</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for {{MM}}. Note that this book lacks an entry with any detail in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]].<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
<br />
* Throughout the books are sly references to the Roundworld game of '''[[wikipedia:Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]''', which involves a bank, financial speculation, capital investment in a city, and striving to reduce your opponents to absolute penury and degradation. This is dealt with in more detail ''[[Exclusive Possession|here]]''.<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
Page numbers refer to the UK hardcover edition unless specified. Equivalent pages in the US hardcover are given in parentheses where known.<br />
<br />
;Author's Note:"{{wp|Hemline_index|Hemlines as a measure of national crisis}}" Not much to add but a link is provided to this well-known (though not necessarily well-regarded) economic index.<br />
<br />
;Page 23:“’If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-‘ Moist began.” <br />
:This is a reference to Vimes' statement on page 40 of {{T!}}: “‘Remember the cabbage-scented stamp last month?...They actually caught fire if you put too many of them together!’” <br />
<br />
;Pages 42-43:Discussing the Elim, the smallest coin of all, traditionally made by widows "and of course it's handy to drop in the charity box". In the bible, Jesus's parable of '''''the widow's mite''''', in which the smallest coin of all, donated by a poor widow, has more value than all the gold ostentatiously placed in there by the Pharisees, simply because it is all she has to give. <br />
<br />
;p.61 (Harper Paperback):"The crash of 88, the crash of 93, the crash of 98" It appears that the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork has entered the Century of the Anchovy & started using decimal years.<br />
<br />
;Page 109:“Food gets you through times of no gold better than gold gets you through times of no food” - this is a clever re-stating of Shelton and Mavrides' hippy maxim, used in their comic books about the alternative lifestyle trio '''''{{wp|Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers|The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers}}''''', which originally states: "Dope gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no dope."<br />
:And of course a form of "dope", considered superior by cannabis connoisseurs, is known as Acapulco Gold...<br />
<br />
;Page 127:"Jack Proust" is an aging comic, the central character in [http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-05-12/calendar/send-in-the-clowns/ ''The First 100 Years''], written and performed by former [[Fools' Guild|clown]] {{wp|Geoff_Hoyle|Geoff Hoyle}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 145 (Corgi Paperback UK):"Ad Urbem Pertinet" = "Belongs to the City". Written on Von Lipwig's draft banknote, see also the following.<br />
<br />
;Page 146 (Corgi Paperback UK):"''promitto fore ut possessori postulanti nummum unum solvem an apte satisfaciam''" = "I promise to pay an adequate defense, the owner asked for one piece”. Although that is the literal translation, this refers to the inscription on English banknotes, beneath the words "Bank of England", which read "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of" followed by the denomination of the note. Originally this meant the note would be exchanged by the bank for the equivalent value in gold; since Britain abandoned the gold standard the phrase is entirely decorative.<br />
<br />
;Page 155 (US 167):"Bent stood up in one unfolding moment, like a jack-in-the-box." This foreshadowing will later prove as subtle as a pie in the face.<br />
<br />
;p.236 (Harper Paperback):"We're going to need some bigger notes" One of the most memorable lines from the movie Jaws was the ad-lib, "We're going to need a bigger boat."<br />
<br />
;Pages 190-200 (US 208-218):The [[Cabinet of Curiosity]] may be the [http://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Natural-Curiosities-Complete-1734-1765/dp/3822847941/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4978409-2923019 Cabinet of Natural Curiosities], a natural history by Albertus Seba. The back cover of the book has a plate of a giant squid. (A lot of museums have a Cabinet of Curiosity as part of their collection.)<br />
<br />
;p.262 (Harper Paperback):"city of Um" The ancient Roundworld city-state of Ur sounds like a different hesitation marker.<br />
<br />
;Page 214 (US 236):The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer [[wikipedia:John Dee|John Dee]]. It uses letter by letter substitution to create the effect. The Formal Golem language is designated as appropriate to a near-contemporary of Umnian's multi-meaninged tongue. The characters for r/m, i/y, c/k, and u/v/w are effectively indistinguishable, and the s and e are quite similar. Translated, Adora Belle says "I can speak formal golem.”<br />
:John Dee himself appears in {{SOD2}}, where he hosts wizards visiting from Discworld. In Elizabethan London, Dee lived at [[Mort Lake|Mortlake]], which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork. <br />
<br />
;Page 221 (US 244):In Formal Golem, Flead first says, "You make eternity bearable!" and then asks "Why do you care about golems? They have no passionate parts!" [http://www.stooryduster.co.uk/images/pages/common-private-golem-language.htm A visual key to the Enochian alphabet can be found here] where you can try the translations yourself.<br />
<br />
;Page 262 (US 293):Moist initially makes the same mistake as [[William de Worde]], and assumes that just because [[Nobby Nobbs]] requires proof of species, he's the "Watch Werewolf". <br />
<br />
;p.316 (Harper Paperback):"Today's 'Jikan no Muda,' sir" It appears that in Discworld, the number puzzle Sudoku (digit-single) is called [[Jikan no Muda]] (時間の無駄), Japanese for Waste of Time.<br />
<br />
;Page 268 (US 299-300):[[Mr Fusspot]]'s courtship of [[Angua von Überwald]] is reminiscent of the battery-powered dog toys beloved of British shopping centres, which yap, somersault and repeat, although none of them come with the "new toy" delicately described by [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Captain Carrot]] as "a wind-up clockwork item of an intimate nature".<br />
<br />
;Page 333: ''Tell us the secret, Mr Lipwig." Vetinari is putting subtle pressure on Moist to explain the secret of the Umnian golems. "Tell '''''us'''''" could refer to the fact Adora Belle also wants to know. However. In Freemasonry, a higher-level Initiation involves the candidate being symbolically tortured by pitiless creatures who continually demand "Tell us the secret!" If the Candidate withstands the torture, his tormentors turn to the Grand Master and regretfully say things like "I vexed his inner soul and spirit most greatly, Master, but he remained mute." To which the Master shakes his head regretfully, and orders the candidate to be killed and buried. Who is then interred in a closed coffin and left to stew for a few hours. After which he is symbolically reborn into the Light as a higher-level Mason and a new person... Killed and resurrected - offered an Angel, perhaps? (Robert Anton Wilson uses this as a theme in one of the ''Illuminatus!'' fantasy novels.) <br />
<br />
=== Specific annotations lacking page numbers ===<br />
* The [[Lavishes]] are distinctly reminiscent of the Borgias. The same extended family, devious infighting, and desire for political power. The most famous Borgia dynasty includes Cesare and Lucrezia "Lucci" Borgia, mirrored here as [[Cosmo Lavish]] and [[Pucci Lavish]], although an alternate source for the name of Cosmo would be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_de'_Medici Cosimo de Medici], the first of the Medici to become ruler (Patrician?) of Florence.<br />
:Incidentally, Pucci is also the name of another influential family from Florence, political allies to the Medici family, particularly Cosimo. Possibly such references to other members (or allies) of the Medici family exist among the Lavishes.<br />
<br />
* In {{TT}}, Mr. Tuttle Scrope is put up as the replacement Patrician for Vetinari. He runs a shop that sells leatherwork and "rubber work...and feathers...and whips...and...little jiggly things" and was, presumably, the supplier for Sir Joshua Lavish in ''Making Money'', who had the cabinet full of such supplies.<br />
<br />
* Moist's plan to sell the gold of the bank mirrors the actions of {{wp|Gordon Brown|Gordon Brown}}, who sold 400 tons of Gold Bullion between 1999 and 2002. His comments on gold have been a recurring theme in the Discworld books, ever since the Colour of Magic.<br />
<br />
* Brown's predecessor, {{wp|John Major|John Major}}, was an accountant and son of a trapeze artist; he has been described as "the only man to run away from the circus to become an accountant."<br />
<br />
* Moist mentions that his family in Uberwald belong to a religion which he describes as the "plain potato church." There is also an "Ancient and Orthodox" potato church -- could this be related to Mr Tulip's religion in {{TT}}? Both men originally come from an unspecified place in Far Uberwald and Mr Tulip mentions that his religion goes back hundreds of years... is it possible that Moist comes from the same village or one nearby?<br />
<br />
=== Famous Quotes ===<br />
<br />
There are a number of famous quotes, particularly on the subject of confidence games, alluded to in the book. I'm not sure if these qualify as annotations but there are a lot of them so we can put them all together & if you like, skip this bit.<br />
<br />
;p. 58 (Harper Paperback):"Fooling all of the people all of the time" The phrase is "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time," variously attributed to Abraham Lincoln or PT Barnum, among others<br />
;p.60 (Harper Paperback):"sell the sizzle" ...not the steak, coined by American salesman Elmer Wheeler <br />
;p.62 (Harper Paperback):"Someone who can prove they don't need the money?" Bob Hope, "A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it."<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Making Money/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Making_Money/Annotations&diff=34763Book:Making Money/Annotations2023-06-27T08:24:23Z<p>Superluser: more annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for {{MM}}. Note that this book lacks an entry with any detail in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]].<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
<br />
* Throughout the books are sly references to the Roundworld game of '''[[wikipedia:Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]''', which involves a bank, financial speculation, capital investment in a city, and striving to reduce your opponents to absolute penury and degradation. This is dealt with in more detail ''[[Exclusive Possession|here]]''.<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
Page numbers refer to the UK hardcover edition unless specified. Equivalent pages in the US hardcover are given in parentheses where known.<br />
<br />
;Author's Note:"{{wp|Hemline_index|Hemlines as a measure of national crisis}}" Not much to add but a link is provided to this well-known (though not necessarily well-regarded) economic index.<br />
<br />
;Page 23:“’If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-‘ Moist began.” <br />
:This is a reference to Vimes' statement on page 40 of {{T!}}: “‘Remember the cabbage-scented stamp last month?...They actually caught fire if you put too many of them together!’” <br />
<br />
;Pages 42-43:Discussing the Elim, the smallest coin of all, traditionally made by widows "and of course it's handy to drop in the charity box". In the bible, Jesus's parable of '''''the widow's mite''''', in which the smallest coin of all, donated by a poor widow, has more value than all the gold ostentatiously placed in there by the Pharisees, simply because it is all she has to give. <br />
<br />
;p.61 (Harper Paperback):"The crash of 88, the crash of 93, the crash of 98" It appears that the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork has entered the Century of the Anchovy & started using decimal years.<br />
<br />
;Page 109:“Food gets you through times of no gold better than gold gets you through times of no food” - this is a clever re-stating of Shelton and Mavrides' hippy maxim, used in their comic books about the alternative lifestyle trio '''''{{wp|Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers|The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers}}''''', which originally states: "Dope gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no dope."<br />
:And of course a form of "dope", considered superior by cannabis connoisseurs, is known as Acapulco Gold...<br />
<br />
;Page 127:"Jack Proust" is an aging comic, the central character in [http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-05-12/calendar/send-in-the-clowns/ ''The First 100 Years''], written and performed by former [[Fools' Guild|clown]] {{wp|Geoff_Hoyle|Geoff Hoyle}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 145 (Corgi Paperback UK):"Ad Urbem Pertinet" = "Belongs to the City". Written on Von Lipwig's draft banknote, see also the following.<br />
<br />
;Page 146 (Corgi Paperback UK):"''promitto fore ut possessori postulanti nummum unum solvem an apte satisfaciam''" = "I promise to pay an adequate defense, the owner asked for one piece”. Although that is the literal translation, this refers to the inscription on English banknotes, beneath the words "Bank of England", which read "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of" followed by the denomination of the note. Originally this meant the note would be exchanged by the bank for the equivalent value in gold; since Britain abandoned the gold standard the phrase is entirely decorative.<br />
<br />
;Page 155 (US 167):"Bent stood up in one unfolding moment, like a jack-in-the-box." This foreshadowing will later prove as subtle as a pie in the face.<br />
<br />
;p.236 (Harper Paperback):"We're going to need some bigger notes" One of the most memorable lines from the movie Jaws was the ad-lib, "We're going to need a bigger boat."<br />
<br />
;Pages 190-200 (US 208-218):The [[Cabinet of Curiosity]] may be the [http://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Natural-Curiosities-Complete-1734-1765/dp/3822847941/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4978409-2923019 Cabinet of Natural Curiosities], a natural history by Albertus Seba. The back cover of the book has a plate of a giant squid. (A lot of museums have a Cabinet of Curiosity as part of their collection.)<br />
<br />
;p.262 (Harper Paperback):"city of Um" The ancient Roundworld city-state of Ur sounds like a different hesitation marker.<br />
<br />
;Page 214 (US 236):The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer [[wikipedia:John Dee|John Dee]]. It uses letter by letter substitution to create the effect. The Formal Golem language is designated as appropriate to a near-contemporary of Umnian's multi-meaninged tongue. The characters for r/m, i/y, c/k, and u/v/w are effectively indistinguishable, and the s and e are quite similar. Translated, Adora Belle says "I can speak formal golem.”<br />
:John Dee himself appears in {{SOD2}}, where he hosts wizards visiting from Discworld. In Elizabethan London, Dee lived at [[Mort Lake|Mortlake]], which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork. <br />
<br />
;Page 221 (US 244):In Formal Golem, Flead first says, "You make eternity bearable!" and then asks "Why do you care about golems? They have no passionate parts!" [http://www.stooryduster.co.uk/images/pages/common-private-golem-language.htm A visual key to the Enochian alphabet can be found here] where you can try the translations yourself.<br />
<br />
;Page 262 (US 293):Moist initially makes the same mistake as [[William de Worde]], and assumes that just because [[Nobby Nobbs]] requires proof of species, he's the "Watch Werewolf". <br />
<br />
;Page 268 (US 299-300):[[Mr Fusspot]]'s courtship of [[Angua von Überwald]] is reminiscent of the battery-powered dog toys beloved of British shopping centres, which yap, somersault and repeat, although none of them come with the "new toy" delicately described by [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Captain Carrot]] as "a wind-up clockwork item of an intimate nature".<br />
<br />
;Page 333: ''Tell us the secret, Mr Lipwig." Vetinari is putting subtle pressure on Moist to explain the secret of the Umnian golems. "Tell '''''us'''''" could refer to the fact Adora Belle also wants to know. However. In Freemasonry, a higher-level Initiation involves the candidate being symbolically tortured by pitiless creatures who continually demand "Tell us the secret!" If the Candidate withstands the torture, his tormentors turn to the Grand Master and regretfully say things like "I vexed his inner soul and spirit most greatly, Master, but he remained mute." To which the Master shakes his head regretfully, and orders the candidate to be killed and buried. Who is then interred in a closed coffin and left to stew for a few hours. After which he is symbolically reborn into the Light as a higher-level Mason and a new person... Killed and resurrected - offered an Angel, perhaps? (Robert Anton Wilson uses this as a theme in one of the ''Illuminatus!'' fantasy novels.) <br />
<br />
=== Specific annotations lacking page numbers ===<br />
* The [[Lavishes]] are distinctly reminiscent of the Borgias. The same extended family, devious infighting, and desire for political power. The most famous Borgia dynasty includes Cesare and Lucrezia "Lucci" Borgia, mirrored here as [[Cosmo Lavish]] and [[Pucci Lavish]], although an alternate source for the name of Cosmo would be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_de'_Medici Cosimo de Medici], the first of the Medici to become ruler (Patrician?) of Florence.<br />
:Incidentally, Pucci is also the name of another influential family from Florence, political allies to the Medici family, particularly Cosimo. Possibly such references to other members (or allies) of the Medici family exist among the Lavishes.<br />
<br />
* In {{TT}}, Mr. Tuttle Scrope is put up as the replacement Patrician for Vetinari. He runs a shop that sells leatherwork and "rubber work...and feathers...and whips...and...little jiggly things" and was, presumably, the supplier for Sir Joshua Lavish in ''Making Money'', who had the cabinet full of such supplies.<br />
<br />
* Moist's plan to sell the gold of the bank mirrors the actions of {{wp|Gordon Brown|Gordon Brown}}, who sold 400 tons of Gold Bullion between 1999 and 2002. His comments on gold have been a recurring theme in the Discworld books, ever since the Colour of Magic.<br />
<br />
* Brown's predecessor, {{wp|John Major|John Major}}, was an accountant and son of a trapeze artist; he has been described as "the only man to run away from the circus to become an accountant."<br />
<br />
* Moist mentions that his family in Uberwald belong to a religion which he describes as the "plain potato church." There is also an "Ancient and Orthodox" potato church -- could this be related to Mr Tulip's religion in {{TT}}? Both men originally come from an unspecified place in Far Uberwald and Mr Tulip mentions that his religion goes back hundreds of years... is it possible that Moist comes from the same village or one nearby?<br />
<br />
=== Famous Quotes ===<br />
<br />
There are a number of famous quotes, particularly on the subject of confidence games, alluded to in the book. I'm not sure if these qualify as annotations but there are a lot of them so we can put them all together & if you like, skip this bit.<br />
<br />
;p. 58 (Harper Paperback):"Fooling all of the people all of the time" The phrase is "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time," variously attributed to Abraham Lincoln or PT Barnum, among others<br />
;p.60 (Harper Paperback):"sell the sizzle" ...not the steak, coined by American salesman Elmer Wheeler <br />
;p.62 (Harper Paperback):"Someone who can prove they don't need the money?" Bob Hope, "A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it."<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Making Money/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Making_Money/Annotations&diff=34761Book:Making Money/Annotations2023-06-25T01:24:25Z<p>Superluser: Quotes & annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for {{MM}}. Note that this book lacks an entry with any detail in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]].<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
<br />
* Throughout the books are sly references to the Roundworld game of '''[[wikipedia:Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]''', which involves a bank, financial speculation, capital investment in a city, and striving to reduce your opponents to absolute penury and degradation. This is dealt with in more detail ''[[Exclusive Possession|here]]''.<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
Page numbers refer to the UK hardcover edition unless specified. Equivalent pages in the US hardcover are given in parentheses where known.<br />
<br />
;Author's Note:"{{wp|Hemline_index|Hemlines as a measure of national crisis}}" Not much to add but a link is provided to this well-known (though not necessarily well-regarded) economic index.<br />
<br />
;Page 23:“’If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-‘ Moist began.” <br />
:This is a reference to Vimes' statement on page 40 of {{T!}}: “‘Remember the cabbage-scented stamp last month?...They actually caught fire if you put too many of them together!’” <br />
<br />
;Pages 42-43:Discussing the Elim, the smallest coin of all, traditionally made by widows "and of course it's handy to drop in the charity box". In the bible, Jesus's parable of '''''the widow's mite''''', in which the smallest coin of all, donated by a poor widow, has more value than all the gold ostentatiously placed in there by the Pharisees, simply because it is all she has to give. <br />
<br />
;p.61 (Harper Paperback):"The crash of 88, the crash of 93, the crash of 98" It appears that the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork has entered the Century of the Anchovy & started using decimal years.<br />
<br />
;Page 109:“Food gets you through times of no gold better than gold gets you through times of no food” - this is a clever re-stating of Shelton and Mavrides' hippy maxim, used in their comic books about the alternative lifestyle trio '''''{{wp|Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers|The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers}}''''', which originally states: "Dope gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no dope."<br />
:And of course a form of "dope", considered superior by cannabis connoisseurs, is known as Acapulco Gold...<br />
<br />
;Page 127:"Jack Proust" is an aging comic, the central character in [http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-05-12/calendar/send-in-the-clowns/ ''The First 100 Years''], written and performed by former [[Fools' Guild|clown]] {{wp|Geoff_Hoyle|Geoff Hoyle}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 145 (Corgi Paperback UK):"Ad Urbem Pertinet" = "Belongs to the City". Written on Von Lipwig's draft banknote, see also the following.<br />
<br />
;Page 146 (Corgi Paperback UK):"''promitto fore ut possessori postulanti nummum unum solvem an apte satisfaciam''" = "I promise to pay an adequate defense, the owner asked for one piece”. Although that is the literal translation, this refers to the inscription on English banknotes, beneath the words "Bank of England", which read "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of" followed by the denomination of the note. Originally this meant the note would be exchanged by the bank for the equivalent value in gold; since Britain abandoned the gold standard the phrase is entirely decorative.<br />
<br />
;Page 155 (US 167):"Bent stood up in one unfolding moment, like a jack-in-the-box." This foreshadowing will later prove as subtle as a pie in the face.<br />
<br />
;Pages 190-200 (US 208-218):The [[Cabinet of Curiosity]] may be the [http://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Natural-Curiosities-Complete-1734-1765/dp/3822847941/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4978409-2923019 Cabinet of Natural Curiosities], a natural history by Albertus Seba. The back cover of the book has a plate of a giant squid. (A lot of museums have a Cabinet of Curiosity as part of their collection.)<br />
<br />
;Page 214 (US 236):The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer [[wikipedia:John Dee|John Dee]]. It uses letter by letter substitution to create the effect. The Formal Golem language is designated as appropriate to a near-contemporary of Umnian's multi-meaninged tongue. The characters for r/m, i/y, c/k, and u/v/w are effectively indistinguishable, and the s and e are quite similar. Translated, Adora Belle says "I can speak formal golem.”<br />
:John Dee himself appears in {{SOD2}}, where he hosts wizards visiting from Discworld. In Elizabethan London, Dee lived at [[Mort Lake|Mortlake]], which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork. <br />
<br />
;Page 221 (US 244):In Formal Golem, Flead first says, "You make eternity bearable!" and then asks "Why do you care about golems? They have no passionate parts!" [http://www.stooryduster.co.uk/images/pages/common-private-golem-language.htm A visual key to the Enochian alphabet can be found here] where you can try the translations yourself.<br />
<br />
;Page 262 (US 293):Moist initially makes the same mistake as [[William de Worde]], and assumes that just because [[Nobby Nobbs]] requires proof of species, he's the "Watch Werewolf". <br />
<br />
;Page 268 (US 299-300):[[Mr Fusspot]]'s courtship of [[Angua von Überwald]] is reminiscent of the battery-powered dog toys beloved of British shopping centres, which yap, somersault and repeat, although none of them come with the "new toy" delicately described by [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Captain Carrot]] as "a wind-up clockwork item of an intimate nature".<br />
<br />
;Page 333: ''Tell us the secret, Mr Lipwig." Vetinari is putting subtle pressure on Moist to explain the secret of the Umnian golems. "Tell '''''us'''''" could refer to the fact Adora Belle also wants to know. However. In Freemasonry, a higher-level Initiation involves the candidate being symbolically tortured by pitiless creatures who continually demand "Tell us the secret!" If the Candidate withstands the torture, his tormentors turn to the Grand Master and regretfully say things like "I vexed his inner soul and spirit most greatly, Master, but he remained mute." To which the Master shakes his head regretfully, and orders the candidate to be killed and buried. Who is then interred in a closed coffin and left to stew for a few hours. After which he is symbolically reborn into the Light as a higher-level Mason and a new person... Killed and resurrected - offered an Angel, perhaps? (Robert Anton Wilson uses this as a theme in one of the ''Illuminatus!'' fantasy novels.) <br />
<br />
=== Specific annotations lacking page numbers ===<br />
* The [[Lavishes]] are distinctly reminiscent of the Borgias. The same extended family, devious infighting, and desire for political power. The most famous Borgia dynasty includes Cesare and Lucrezia "Lucci" Borgia, mirrored here as [[Cosmo Lavish]] and [[Pucci Lavish]], although an alternate source for the name of Cosmo would be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_de'_Medici Cosimo de Medici], the first of the Medici to become ruler (Patrician?) of Florence.<br />
:Incidentally, Pucci is also the name of another influential family from Florence, political allies to the Medici family, particularly Cosimo. Possibly such references to other members (or allies) of the Medici family exist among the Lavishes.<br />
<br />
* In {{TT}}, Mr. Tuttle Scrope is put up as the replacement Patrician for Vetinari. He runs a shop that sells leatherwork and "rubber work...and feathers...and whips...and...little jiggly things" and was, presumably, the supplier for Sir Joshua Lavish in ''Making Money'', who had the cabinet full of such supplies.<br />
<br />
* Moist's plan to sell the gold of the bank mirrors the actions of {{wp|Gordon Brown|Gordon Brown}}, who sold 400 tons of Gold Bullion between 1999 and 2002. His comments on gold have been a recurring theme in the Discworld books, ever since the Colour of Magic.<br />
<br />
* Brown's predecessor, {{wp|John Major|John Major}}, was an accountant and son of a trapeze artist; he has been described as "the only man to run away from the circus to become an accountant."<br />
<br />
* Moist mentions that his family in Uberwald belong to a religion which he describes as the "plain potato church." There is also an "Ancient and Orthodox" potato church -- could this be related to Mr Tulip's religion in {{TT}}? Both men originally come from an unspecified place in Far Uberwald and Mr Tulip mentions that his religion goes back hundreds of years... is it possible that Moist comes from the same village or one nearby?<br />
<br />
=== Famous Quotes ===<br />
<br />
There are a number of famous quotes, particularly on the subject of confidence games, alluded to in the book. I'm not sure if these qualify as annotations but there are a lot of them so we can put them all together & if you like, skip this bit.<br />
<br />
;p. 58 (Harper Paperback):"Fooling all of the people all of the time" The phrase is "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time," variously attributed to Abraham Lincoln or PT Barnum, among others<br />
;p.60 (Harper Paperback):"sell the sizzle" ...not the steak, coined by American salesman Elmer Wheeler <br />
;p.62 (Harper Paperback):"Someone who can prove they don't need the money?" Bob Hope, "A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it."<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Making Money/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Wintersmith/Annotations&diff=34737Book:Wintersmith/Annotations2023-06-16T00:09:55Z<p>Superluser: divers annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Chaffinch's Mythology''' Bullfinch's Mythology is a standard book of classical European mythology that.students will run into in courses on the subject<br />
<br />
'''Harper paperback, p37'''<br />
"Enochi... Athootita... 'Guilt and 'Innocence'" This is in fact Greek, ενοχή & αγνότητα.<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p163'''<br />
A call-back to {{P}} in a discussion about the intent and purposes of grave-goods.<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, PP 170-71'''<br />
[[Eumenides Treason]] decrees she should go into the grave with a ham sandwich to sustain her in the afterlife. There is a dialogue with DEATH on the post-mortem status of sandwich materials and condiments. This could be compared to Sir Terry Pratchett, writing in [[Book:A Slip of the Keyboard]], on his own near-death experience on the operating table where an otherwise routine operation got rather less routine. Terry was witnessed to sit up and have a dialogue with an unseen other party about sandwiches. Ham ones. (''pp47-49, in article "A Scribbling Intruder"'')<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p234'''<br />
Reading the pulp-fiction romance novel provided by the Feegle, Tiffany realises ''looking for nuts in June'' is a euphemism for something else entirely. She translates it into the familiar Chalk euphemism ''looking for cuckoo nests''. Compare this to the old English folk ballad ''Drink Down The Moon'', one of ''those'' songs Granny Weatherwax would term "one of ''them'' songs, about ''goings-on''" and for which Nanny Ogg would know all the words and verses. [[Maddy Prior|Steeleye Span]], one of Terry's favourite bands, do a very good version. Listen to it '''''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OivzThpJbk| here]'''''<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p240'''<br />
a group of otherwise streetwise Ankh-Morpork kids are talking to what is apparently a sentient snowman. One hopefully asks ''Is there any chance you can take us flying?'' But no walking in the air for them.<br />
<br />
'''Harper paperback, p336'''<br />
"снова похолодало" is Russian for "it got cold again" according to Google Translate<br />
<br />
'''Harper paperback, p379''' "Orpheo rescuing Euniphon from the Underworld" Orpheus rescues Eurydice from the Underworld in Greek legend<br />
<br />
'''Harper paperback, p423''' "'An' don't look back until we're well oot o' here,' said Rob Anybody. 'It's kind of traditional.'" Orpheus was told not to look back at Eurydice while leaving the Underworld but he did & Eurydice was trapped.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Wintersmith/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Wintersmith/Annotations&diff=34736Book:Wintersmith/Annotations2023-06-13T21:40:55Z<p>Superluser: some russian</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Harper paperback, p37'''<br />
"Enochi... Athootita... 'Guilt and 'Innocence'" This is in fact Greek, ενοχή & αγνότητα.<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p163'''<br />
A call-back to {{P}} in a discussion about the intent and purposes of grave-goods.<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, PP 170-71'''<br />
[[Eumenides Treason]] decrees she should go into the grave with a ham sandwich to sustain her in the afterlife. There is a dialogue with DEATH on the post-mortem status of sandwich materials and condiments. This could be compared to Sir Terry Pratchett, writing in [[Book:A Slip of the Keyboard]], on his own near-death experience on the operating table where an otherwise routine operation got rather less routine. Terry was witnessed to sit up and have a dialogue with an unseen other party about sandwiches. Ham ones. (''pp47-49, in article "A Scribbling Intruder"'')<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p234'''<br />
Reading the pulp-fiction romance novel provided by the Feegle, Tiffany realises ''looking for nuts in June'' is a euphemism for something else entirely. She translates it into the familiar Chalk euphemism ''looking for cuckoo nests''. Compare this to the old English folk ballad ''Drink Down The Moon'', one of ''those'' songs Granny Weatherwax would term "one of ''them'' songs, about ''goings-on''" and for which Nanny Ogg would know all the words and verses. [[Maddy Prior|Steeleye Span]], one of Terry's favourite bands, do a very good version. Listen to it '''''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OivzThpJbk| here]'''''<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p240'''<br />
a group of otherwise streetwise Ankh-Morpork kids are talking to what is apparently a sentient snowman. One hopefully asks ''Is there any chance you can take us flying?'' But no walking in the air for them.<br />
<br />
'''Harper paperback, p336'''<br />
"снова похолодало" is Russian for "it got cold again" according to Google Translate<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Wintersmith/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Wintersmith/Annotations&diff=34733Book:Wintersmith/Annotations2023-06-10T02:17:20Z<p>Superluser: Guilt and innocence skulls</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Harper paperback, p37'''<br />
"Enochi... Athootita... 'Guilt and 'Innocence'" This is in fact Greek, ενοχή & αγνότητα.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p163'''<br />
A call-back to {{P}} in a discussion about the intent and purposes of grave-goods.<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, PP 170-71'''<br />
[[Eumenides Treason]] decrees she should go into the grave with a ham sandwich to sustain her in the afterlife. There is a dialogue with DEATH on the post-mortem status of sandwich materials and condiments. This could be compared to Sir Terry Pratchett, writing in [[Book:A Slip of the Keyboard]], on his own near-death experience on the operating table where an otherwise routine operation got rather less routine. Terry was witnessed to sit up and have a dialogue with an unseen other party about sandwiches. Ham ones. (''pp47-49, in article "A Scribbling Intruder"'')<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p234'''<br />
Reading the pulp-fiction romance novel provided by the Feegle, Tiffany realises ''looking for nuts in June'' is a euphemism for something else entirely. She translates it into the familiar Chalk euphemism ''looking for cuckoo nests''. Compare this to the old English folk ballad ''Drink Down The Moon'', one of ''those'' songs Granny Weatherwax would term "one of ''them'' songs, about ''goings-on''" and for which Nanny Ogg would know all the words and verses. [[Maddy Prior|Steeleye Span]], one of Terry's favourite bands, do a very good version. Listen to it '''''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OivzThpJbk| here]'''''<br />
<br />
'''Doubleday Hardback, p240'''<br />
a group of otherwise streetwise Ankh-Morpork kids are talking to what is apparently a sentient snowman. One hopefully asks ''Is there any chance you can take us flying?'' But no walking in the air for them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Wintersmith/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thud!/Annotations&diff=34732Book:Thud!/Annotations2023-06-09T22:13:49Z<p>Superluser: Uffington White Horse</p>
<hr />
<div>Annotations for {{T!}}. Unless otherwise specified, page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition.<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
* The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar. See also the "long chant" of [[Trolls (The Long Earth)|the other trolls]] in [[The Long Earth]] and sequels.<br />
* Right at the end of the book, Colon and Nobbs are on guard duty in the Cave of the Kings. After discussing the state of play between Nobby and his pole-dancer girlfriend Tawneee, Colon, perhaps by association of ideas, reins in an over-enthusiastic Dwarf with the rebuke "No touching, sir, or I'm afraid I shall have to cut your fingers orf". Almost as if he were acting as bouncer in a pole-dancing club, where there is usually a strict rule about touching...<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
;Unnumbered pages:[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's {{wp|Allegory of the cave|Allegory of the cave}} completely on its head.<br />
:A curious coincidence is that Tak, the name of the creator in dwarfish mythology, is also the name of an ancient evil spirit featured in two of Stephen King's novels, ''Desperation'' and ''The Regulators'' (written as Richard Bachman). Like the Summoning Dark, King's Tak comes out of a deep mine and inhabits a human host - in ''Desperation'' it is a police officer who becomes a sort of berserker. The similarities go no nearer than that, but it is slightly unsettling.<br />
;Page 14:“[[Fizz]]” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as [[wikipedia:Phiz|Phiz]], the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens, and sometime cartoonist for ''Punch'' magazine.<br />
;Harper paperback, p.14:"but they end 'von Humpeding.'" Very reminiscent of the Monty Python sketch "It's the Arts" where they discuss "Johann Gambolputty de von [trimmed for brevity] von Hautkopft of Ulm"<br />
;Page 17:[[Otto Chriek]] – “Little, fussy Otto, in his red-lined black opera cloak...his carefully cut widow’s peak and, not least, his ridiculous accent.... He looked funny, a joke, a music-hall vampire.” Otto resembles the campy vampire, made famous by Bela Lugosi.<br />
;Page 19:the “Ankh-Morpork Mission of the Uberwald League of Temperance" and black ribbons - A reference to the various temperance organizations in active in the 19th Century in Britain and other countries, such as the [[wikipedia:Woman's Christian Temperance Union|Woman's Christian Temperance Movement]] (which used a white ribbon.) These organizations required members to take a pledge of abstinence from all forms of alcohol. The black ribbons are reminiscent of the scarlet sash worn by members of the Junior Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s 1984. Similar red ribbons were worn by the {{wp|Komsomol|Komsomolyet}} (Коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи) movement - the Soviet Communist Party's youth wing. <br />
:Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a tee-totaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.<br />
:Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' colour a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!<br />
;Page 30:''Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”<br />
:Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”''<br />
:A reference to Mr. Clean cleanser, a product made by Proctor and Gamble. Or possibly, given that Pterry is British, to Mr Sheen brand of cleaners and polishes made by Reckitt Benckiser.<br />
<br />
;Page 31:''"...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."''<br />
:Foreshadowing.<br />
<br />
;Page 32:“Koom Valley Day” - Koom Valley Day and the ongoing theme of the dwarves and trolls reliving an ancient battle again and again is reminiscent of the parades held in Northern Ireland by Unionist and Republican groups. The largest of these are usually held by Protestant organizations on the twelfth of July in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. The Republican parades celebrating the Easter Rising can be large, but are not nearly so provocative, as they are not deliberately routed through Loyalist areas. <br />
<br />
;Page 34 (US page 25):"That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"<br />
:A slightly obscure cross-book joke: in {{GP}}, [[Moist von Lipwig]] handed over handling of the issuing of new stamps to [[Stanley]], who is said on (US p. 33) of said book to have been "raised '''by''' peas", a "[v]ery unusual case. A good lad [...], but he tends to twist toward the sun, sir, if you get my meaning." Thus, "pea-brained" is here not so much an insult as a descriptor.<br />
<br />
;Page 37:"And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."<br />
:So what we have here is an {{wp|Interview With A Vampire|Interview With A Vampire}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 42:Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. <br />
:It has also been suggested that there is a strong resemblance, in voice and manner and aesthetic, to Roundworld art critic Brian Sewell (of the London Evening Standard, of the hernia-inducing Sunday heavy papers, and a frequently used pundit on those late night TV arts shows like "Newsnight Review" and "The South Bank Show"). Read his surname as "Sew-Well" in the (non)-seamstress [[Sandra Battye]] sense, and it can be seen how he mutates into "Reynold Stitched".<br />
:For a sample of the real-life Reynold Stitched in action as art critic, try this: [http://iiiiiiandy.vodpod.com/video/37749-last-of-the-medici-brian-sewell]<br />
<br />
;Page 42:The Battle of Koom Valley painting – a cyclorama is a panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to provide a viewer standing in the middle of the cylinder with a 360° view of the painting. The intended effect is to make a viewer, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of a historic event or famous place. Panoramas were invented by Irishman Robert Barker, who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama in Edinburgh in 1787. Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century. (from Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
;Page 48:painting of "The Goddess [[Anoia]] Arising from the Cutlery" - A reference to The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Unfortunately for Nobby, it does not have an urn or plinth in it, but there are two cherubs.<br />
<br />
;Page 48 (Corgi page 57):"The title was ''The [[Koom Valley Codex]]''."<br />
:The whole craze about people buying this book claiming secret messages in a painting is an obvious reference to ''The DaVinci Code'', which claims that there are secrets hidden in the Mona Lisa. ''The DaVinci Code'' is a work of fiction, though, whereas ''The Koom Valley Codex''</I> seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the ''{{wp|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail}}'' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980s enjoyed a certain vogue and later on served to inspire ''The DaVinci Code''. (Dan Brown's character Leigh Teabing is a direct homage to HBHG's authors.) In these books, the authors link together a set of historical puzzles and anomalies, including the claim that occult secrets are encoded in a series of well-known paintings, to support the hypothesis that Jesus Christ did not actually die on the cross. (In fact, he was resuscitated from near-death, and smuggled to the South of France by Joseph of Arimathea to live out a quiet life in retirement. He married Mary Magdalene, and their bloodline not only became that of the Kings of France, it persists today in exceptionally able or gifted people around the world.) If true, this claim would have the effect of wholly discrediting Christianity, and they claim that the truth has thus been suppressed by generations of Popes. It's worth noting that one of the authors has since acknowledged that the content of the book was a hoax.<br />
:More obscurely, the obsessives who searched Rascal's painting for clues are reminiscent of the real-life searchers (Masqueraders) who'd tromped all over England looking for a jeweled-hare pendant from 1979 to 1982, guided by clues they'd found (or imagined finding) in Kit Williams' picture book ''Masquerade''. As in ''Thud!'', the hare was initially found by searchers who'd resorted to unscrupulous methods (murder by the deep-downers, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.<br />
<br />
;Page 57 (Corgi page 68):"War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. <br />
:"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" <br />
:"Absol- Well, okay."<br />
:A reference to the popular song by Edwin Starr, whose refrain goes, "War: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing." It has been covered by countless bands since then.<br />
:Nobby's suggestions that war might be good for freeing slaves or for defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor appear to refer to the American Civil War and World War II, often considered just or worthwhile wars for those reasons.<br />
:Also - to my mind at least - a clear reference to the famous scene in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'', when Reg (the leader of one of the innumerable rebellious groups that infest Judea) asks "What have the Romans ever done for us?" and is then more than exasperated when his (equally anti-Roman) collaborators proceed to enumerate about fifteen immensely impressive achievements of the Romans that have made life far better for the peoples they have subjugated.<br />
<br />
;Page 59:“Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go spare?” - “Spare - adj. British. Out of control, furious. The word usually in the form ‘go spare’ has been in use since before World War II. It derives from the notion of excess.” From “The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang” by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990). (from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/572.html)<br />
;Harper paperback, p.60:"Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go postal?” - This is what was in my US version of the quote for the above annotation. For further details, please see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the Discworld book Going Postal]].<br />
<br />
;Page 62:"I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry&trade;"..."<br />
:The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose&trade; Integrated Messenger Service?"<br />
:Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks. A "bluenose" is a Whitehousian crusader against pornographic ("blue") material, particularly one that is suspiciously good at locating said material in order to be offended by it. These two jokes are evidently Pterry having a little dig at the irony that "social" media devices are often (mainly?) used for the twin purposes of ruining human interaction and solo sex. <br />
<br />
;Page 63:"How about a game of Splong!&trade;, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."<br />
:Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"My iHUM&trade; function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time&mdash;"<br />
:{{wp|iTunes|iTunes}} is a digital media player application developed by Apple Computers, for playing and organizing digital music and video files, and for transferring them to its iPod portable MP3 players (and, later, iPhones). iPhones now access music etc independently, and on macOS iTunes has been replaced by seperate apps for Music, Podcasts, Books and TV, but its still available for Windows. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE&trade; technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like <i>Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis</i> and predated the iPod by a significant amount. Also note that the word itself is "iHUM"; we can assume that the imp simply hums the tune in question rather than replicating it exactly. It also suggests, if one is prepared to mentally squint, the polite euphemism used to describe their trade by Assassins: they ''inhume'' rather than ''murder''. Does this suggest that the imp is perfectly capable of ''murdering'' a tune, rather like those ever-so-subtly not-quite-right MIDI files which digitize otherwise quite nice tunes and turn them into a sort of lift muzak? (Shades of the robotic Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Company Choir in Douglas Adams' ''Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy'' singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune.)<br />
<br />
;Page 69]:"[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."<br />
:The "Long Dark" rune, the symbol for a mine, is the same shape as the sign for the London Underground. This may be foreshadowing to the Patricians plans for the Devices, such as mining carts loaded with people (wink wink).<br />
<br />
;Pages 74, 93:The “Following Dark” symbol which Helmclever makes with his spilled coffee (explained by Carrot later) is a circle with two diagonal lines through it. This is similar to British roadsigns meaning “No Parking.”<br />
<br />
;Page 83:"There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."<br />
:Referring to the text-based computer game ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', which contains the memorable line "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.98:"In, Out, and Shake It All About" Vimes' trays appear to be named after actions from folk dance the Hokey Pokey, & may imply that items cycle between In & Out until someone decides to Shake It All About.<br />
<br />
;Page 110:The [[Breccia]] - Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia - is named after a type of rock, specifically "rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay)" (thanks Merriam-Webster).<br />
<br />
;Page 112:Chrysoprase says “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (''quod erat demonstrandum''), Latin meaning “Thus it is proven.”<br />
<br />
;Page 114:Chrysoprase – “And dey cuts Slab wi ‘ bad sulphides an’ cooks it up wi’ ferric chloride and crap like dat. You thought that Slab was bad? You wait till you see Slide.”<br />
:This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine. It's also no wonder ferric chloride has a nasty effect on trolls' silicon brains - it's used to cut circuit boards.<br />
<br />
[[File:The Kansas Saloon Smashers.png|240px|thumb|A warning of the awful consequences of intemperance.]]<br />
;Page 132: Angua comments on the Black Ribboners: 'Lips that touch Ichor shall never touch Mine'<br />
This quotation comes from the song, The Kiss of Prohibition by Harriet Ann Glazebrook, popular with the Temperance movement, having the refrain 'The lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_A._Glazebrook Wikipedia])<br />
<br />
;Page 151: “the clacks company” – The Clacks is the Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine, and is based on the optical telegraphs popular in the late 18th - early 19th century, especially in France. They were introduced in {{TFE}}, but feature most significantly in {{GP}}; see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the latter book]] for more.<br />
<br />
— "That’s a feast for vurms." — ''A Feast for Wormes'' was a 1620 book of poems by English poet Francis Quarles. The titular poem related to human mortality, and the title itself has entered the language as a sort of ''memento mori'' akin to "ashes to ashes". Quarles' title is most probably a reference itself to Henry IV, Part One where the line started by Hotspur and finished by Hal is -"no, Percy, thou art dust<br />
And food for--" <br />
"...for worms, brave Percy..."<br />
<br />
— “And, incidentally, tomato ketchup is not a vegetable,” Sybil added. — In 1981, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration attempted to reclassify tomato ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables rather than condiments for school lunch programs. The goal was to relax nutritional requirements and cut costs. The measure met with resounding disapproval and was eventually rejected. <br />
<br />
;Page 157 (Corgi page 189):"They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."<br />
:Though the book describes [[Andy Hancock|Special Constable Hancock]]'s "new Truncheon" as something very similar to Japanese Nunchukus (usually pronounced "Nunchucks"), the word "numb-nuts" is an insult as well.<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.160:"Even the river catches fire in a hot summer": A few Roundworld rivers have caught fire, but it is most commonly associated with the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. It should not be surprising that the river Ankh can manage the same feat.<br />
<br />
;Pages 169-170 (Harper Torch paperback edition):The footnote describing Empirical Crescent, built by [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]]: "On the outside it was a normal terraced crescent of the period, built of honey-colored stone with the occasional pillar or cherub nailed on. Inside, the front door of No. 1 opened into the back bedroom of No. 15, the ground-floor front window of No. 3 showed the view appropriate to the second floor of No. 9, and smoke from the dining-room fireplace of No. 2 cane out of the chimney of No. 19."<br />
:Reminiscent of the tesseract house in Robert Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House" where the stairs that should lead to the roof deliver you to the ground floor, going out the front door puts you on the second floor and various windows show views of other rooms in the house, a view straight down the side of the Empire State Building (even though the house is in California),an upside down seascape, absolute nothingness and a strange desert landscape. <br />
<br />
;Page 178:Sally says “Well here’s another fine mess.” - a variation of the catch phrase from Laurel and Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”<br />
<br />
;Page 181:''“‘Tawnee’s actually only her pole name,’ Nobby said. ‘She says no one would be interested in an exotic dancer with a name like Betty. She says it sounds like she’d be better with a bowl of cake mixture.’”''<br />
:A reference to both Betty Crocker, a fictional character invented for a brand of cake mixes, and also famous 1940s and '50s burlesque perfomer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A Betty Page], a woman still rated as an icon today who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese. Less likely, but still possible, is Betty Howard, another stripper famous in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
;Page 192:''“Brick thought [...] the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut...”''<br />
:A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.<br />
<br />
;Page 193:Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.<br />
<br />
;Page 199:Vimes is reflecting on the military axiom "couldn't tell if it were arseholes or breakfast time". Vimes considers that however confused he got through lack of sleep, he'd still be able to tell the difference, as "only one involves coffee". Vimes has so far not heard of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_enema coffee enema], then. Maybe his ignorance should be cherished. <br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Gabbro is so good at playing from the [[Dwarfs|dwarf]] viewpoint that his [[Trolls|troll]] game is suffering, and he wants to go to Copperhead to learn from some of the dwarf thudmeisters there."<br />
:Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.<br />
<br />
;Page 214:the game [[Thud]] was developed by Trevor Truran, Bernard the stout, Cunning Artificer to the Gentry, and Terry Pratchett. The game is based on games of the Tafl family, which are distinguished by the unequal size of the opposing forces. The objective is usually for the force of fewer numbers to take all the members of the larger forces whose aim is generally to stop them doing so. A fragment of a gaming board of 18 x 18 squares, found in Wimose, Fyn, Denmark dated prior to AD400 is the first evidence of a game called Tafl, which also regularly appears in the early Icelandic sagas. (from http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Tafl.html)<br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Water dripping on a stone, dissolving and removing. Changing the shape of the world, one drop at a time. Water dripping on a stone, Commander."<br />
:This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.<br />
:"Who knows what old evil exists in the deep darkness under the mountains?"<br />
:There is a hint of ''Lord of the Rings'' here: "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." And: "They delved [...] too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled: Durins Bane."<br />
<br />
;Page 238:"'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."<br />
:24/7 is the usual phrase (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), but it can be easy to forget that the [[Discworld calendar|Discworld week]] contains 8 days. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.<br />
<br />
;Page 243:In the immediate aftermath of the attempt to kill not just Vimes but also Sybil and Young Sam, a nervous deputation of dwarfish civil dignitaries visits Pseudopolis Yard at least partially to assure Vimes they had no part in it. Vimes, under the influence of the vengeful and vindictive Summoning Dark, is in no mood to be diplomatic and his first instinct is to humiliate these dwarfs. His inner dialogue at this point is a stream of hateful invective: "You scum, you rat-sucking little worm eaters!" (etc., for half a page of internalised diatribe)<br />
:It is interesting that American TV cop Sledge Hammer not only ''thinks'' like this, he ''speaks'' and ''acts'' like this - ''all the time''. In fact, one of Sledge's favourite pieces of invective to a suspect is a variation on a theme of "scum-sucker".(Or even ''yoghurt-eater.'') Sledge Hammer is a parody on Dirty Harry, with all the knobs turned up to way past eleven... but this cop-with-issues, played for laughs admittedly, must have at some point contracted the Summoning Dark! Now I'm still looking for any instance of Vimes saying ''Trust me, I know what I'm doing''...<br />
:Sledge is generally prevented (by restraint or persuasion) from causing extreme mayhem, by his totally-opposite-to-the-point-of-cliché partner. Sergeant Dori Doreau is a thoughtful, gentle, liberally inclined policewoman who acts as the brains of the outfit, while Sledge provides the muscle. Later in the book, Angua and Cheery assume the Doreau role to Vimes' Sledge, and bring him back to rational normality from a beserker-like frenzy.<br />
<br />
;Page 249/US paperback page 258:"Turd races in the gutter [...] with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".<br />
:A reference to the game of Pooh-sticks from the Winnie the Pooh stories, where the characters have races with sticks floating under a bridge. Also mentioned at this point is 'Tiddley-rats', the Ankh-Morpork gutter version of Tiddlywinks.<br />
<br />
;Page 253:"There's throwin' up and yellin' and unladylike behavior and takin' their vests off and I don't know what. 'S called...' he scratched his head '... [[Roistering|minge drinking]]."<br />
:Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].<br />
<br />
;Page 274:Constable [[Visit-the-Ungodly-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets]], with his door-to-door evangelical zeal, is a reference to Roundworld Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute their religious pamphlets in a similar manner. His god, [[Om]], is named for the mystical or sacred syllable in many Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.<br />
<br />
;(Harper paperback, p.295):"'What?' said Angua, reading the menu, 'is a screaming orgasm?'...'Almonté, Wahlulu, Bearhuggers Whiskey Cream and vodka'" According to Wikipedia, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm_%28cocktail%29?wprov=sfla1 the roundworld cocktail] is made from 2 cl Vodka, Kahlúa (Wahlulu), Amaretto (Almonté), Bailey's Irish Cream (Bearhuggers Whiskey Cream), & 4 cl milk<br />
<br />
;Page 290:Detritus’ crossbow, “The [[Piecemaker]]” - a pun on the famous handgun, the [[wikipedia:Colt_Single_Action_Army|Colt "Peacemaker" .45 revolver]], as supposedly used by Wyatt Earp.<br />
<br />
;Page 290/Corgi page 352:"Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."<br />
:The speed limit and flaming cabbages is probably a nod to the ''Back to the Future'' films, where the DeLorean traveled through time when it reached 88 mph, leaving flaming trails behind it. Pratchett was known to be a fan of the films; as recounted in {{ALWF}} he once almost bought a DeLorean.<br />
<br />
;Page 294/UK paperback page 356:"He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."<br />
:Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.<br />
<br />
;Page 298:"The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes.<br />'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."<br />
:Another possible reference to ''Back to the Future'', in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".<br />
<br />
;Audible part 2, 2:55:18:"... Brick, who had not picked a good day to go cold turkey, it was turning out to be frozen Roc."<br />
:Aside from the rock (stone) / roc (giant mythical bird) pun in the punchline, the setup is also funny as a reference to the "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines/sniffing glue!" running gag by the air-traffic control tower supervisor in 1980 comedy film ''[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Airplane!#Steve_McCroskey Airplane!]'' (known as ''Flying High!'' in some countries). This may not have been intended, but the scene does involve a rough landing of a flying vehicle (into cabbages).<br />
<br />
;Page 301:Sybil’s friends from the Quirm College for Young Ladies “all seemed to have names like Bunny or Bubbles” – a reference to stereotypical British public-school girls' nicknames. <br />
<br />
;Page 305/Corgi p. 368:"The other thing he noticed was that the landscape ahead was strangely bluish, while behind them it had a relatively red tint."<br />
:This is a reference to the blue and red shift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move toward a source of waves, the wave frequency gets higher; when you move away from the wave source, you observe a lower frequency. Blue has a higher frequency than red, so things you're moving toward look bluer, and things you're moving away from look redder. This effect is only noticeable when you're moving at a significant fraction of light speed - like, for galaxies moving away from the Milky Way. But on Discworld, the speed of light is only a few hundred miles per hour (rather than nearly a billion miles per hour in our world). So the coach at 60 mph or so according to Willikins' calculation is going fast enough to see blue and red shift. This is also the only time vehicles carrying officers of the Watch have red and blue lights, just as police cars do in many places on Roundworld.<br />
<br />
;Page 328:“''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes''” - a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which literally translates to “Who will guard the guards themselves?”, and is variously translated in colloquial English as “Who watches the watchmen?”, “Who watches the watchers?”, “Who will guard the guards?”, “Who shall watch the watchers?”, “Who polices the police?” etc. Made famous in the graphic novel ''[[wikipedia:Watchmen|Watchmen]]'' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the ''Watchmen'' are vigilantes (i.e. costumed superheroes) that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. This is taken to extremes: several of the "heroes" kill criminals they encounter.<br />
<br />
;Page 329:''... until they reached a stalagmite. It was about eight feet high. It was a troll. It wasn't a rock shaped like a troll, it was a troll.'''<br />
:Although items left in limestone caves can become coated (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Shipton%27s_Cave Mother Shipton's cave]), I can find no known example of an actual human being petrified in this way. However in Rider Haggard's story, King Solomons Mines (1885, p160), the Kukuana people preserve their deceased monarchs in this way.<br />
<br />
:... presently we observed that from the roof of the chamber the water fell steadily, drip! drop! drip! on to the neck of the corpse, whence it ran down over the entire surface, and finally escaped into the rock through a tiny hole in the table. Then I guessed what the film was — Twala's body was being transformed into a stalactite.<br />
<br />
;Page 344:''"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'''<br />
:This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.<br />
<br />
;Page 348:''"Bashfullsson rose, looking shocked and massaging his hand. 'It is like using an axe,' he said, to no one in particular, 'but without the axe...'"''<br />
:It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.354:"The part of a horse that was, in fact, Horse" - This horse, based on the chalk figure of the Uffington White Horse, last appeared in A Hat Full of Sky, where it is better explained in the Author's Note than I could do justice here.<br />
<br />
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thud!]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thud!/Annotations&diff=34723Book:Thud!/Annotations2023-06-06T22:50:08Z<p>Superluser: cocktail</p>
<hr />
<div>Annotations for {{T!}}. Unless otherwise specified, page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition.<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
* The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar. See also the "long chant" of [[Trolls (The Long Earth)|the other trolls]] in [[The Long Earth]] and sequels.<br />
* Right at the end of the book, Colon and Nobbs are on guard duty in the Cave of the Kings. After discussing the state of play between Nobby and his pole-dancer girlfriend Tawneee, Colon, perhaps by association of ideas, reins in an over-enthusiastic Dwarf with the rebuke "No touching, sir, or I'm afraid I shall have to cut your fingers orf". Almost as if he were acting as bouncer in a pole-dancing club, where there is usually a strict rule about touching...<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
;Unnumbered pages:[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's {{wp|Allegory of the cave|Allegory of the cave}} completely on its head.<br />
:A curious coincidence is that Tak, the name of the creator in dwarfish mythology, is also the name of an ancient evil spirit featured in two of Stephen King's novels, ''Desperation'' and ''The Regulators'' (written as Richard Bachman). Like the Summoning Dark, King's Tak comes out of a deep mine and inhabits a human host - in ''Desperation'' it is a police officer who becomes a sort of berserker. The similarities go no nearer than that, but it is slightly unsettling.<br />
;Page 14:“[[Fizz]]” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as [[wikipedia:Phiz|Phiz]], the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens, and sometime cartoonist for ''Punch'' magazine.<br />
;Harper paperback, p.14:"but they end 'von Humpeding.'" Very reminiscent of the Monty Python sketch "It's the Arts" where they discuss "Johann Gambolputty de von [trimmed for brevity] von Hautkopft of Ulm"<br />
;Page 17:[[Otto Chriek]] – “Little, fussy Otto, in his red-lined black opera cloak...his carefully cut widow’s peak and, not least, his ridiculous accent.... He looked funny, a joke, a music-hall vampire.” Otto resembles the campy vampire, made famous by Bela Lugosi.<br />
;Page 19:the “Ankh-Morpork Mission of the Uberwald League of Temperance" and black ribbons - A reference to the various temperance organizations in active in the 19th Century in Britain and other countries, such as the [[wikipedia:Woman's Christian Temperance Union|Woman's Christian Temperance Movement]] (which used a white ribbon.) These organizations required members to take a pledge of abstinence from all forms of alcohol. The black ribbons are reminiscent of the scarlet sash worn by members of the Junior Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s 1984. Similar red ribbons were worn by the {{wp|Komsomol|Komsomolyet}} (Коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи) movement - the Soviet Communist Party's youth wing. <br />
:Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a tee-totaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.<br />
:Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' colour a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!<br />
;Page 30:''Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”<br />
:Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”''<br />
:A reference to Mr. Clean cleanser, a product made by Proctor and Gamble. Or possibly, given that Pterry is British, to Mr Sheen brand of cleaners and polishes made by Reckitt Benckiser.<br />
<br />
;Page 31:''"...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."''<br />
:Foreshadowing.<br />
<br />
;Page 32:“Koom Valley Day” - Koom Valley Day and the ongoing theme of the dwarves and trolls reliving an ancient battle again and again is reminiscent of the parades held in Northern Ireland by Unionist and Republican groups. The largest of these are usually held by Protestant organizations on the twelfth of July in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. The Republican parades celebrating the Easter Rising can be large, but are not nearly so provocative, as they are not deliberately routed through Loyalist areas. <br />
<br />
;Page 34 (US page 25):"That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"<br />
:A slightly obscure cross-book joke: in {{GP}}, [[Moist von Lipwig]] handed over handling of the issuing of new stamps to [[Stanley]], who is said on (US p. 33) of said book to have been "raised '''by''' peas", a "[v]ery unusual case. A good lad [...], but he tends to twist toward the sun, sir, if you get my meaning." Thus, "pea-brained" is here not so much an insult as a descriptor.<br />
<br />
;Page 37:"And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."<br />
:So what we have here is an {{wp|Interview With A Vampire|Interview With A Vampire}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 42:Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. <br />
:It has also been suggested that there is a strong resemblance, in voice and manner and aesthetic, to Roundworld art critic Brian Sewell (of the London Evening Standard, of the hernia-inducing Sunday heavy papers, and a frequently used pundit on those late night TV arts shows like "Newsnight Review" and "The South Bank Show"). Read his surname as "Sew-Well" in the (non)-seamstress [[Sandra Battye]] sense, and it can be seen how he mutates into "Reynold Stitched".<br />
:For a sample of the real-life Reynold Stitched in action as art critic, try this: [http://iiiiiiandy.vodpod.com/video/37749-last-of-the-medici-brian-sewell]<br />
<br />
;Page 42:The Battle of Koom Valley painting – a cyclorama is a panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to provide a viewer standing in the middle of the cylinder with a 360° view of the painting. The intended effect is to make a viewer, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of a historic event or famous place. Panoramas were invented by Irishman Robert Barker, who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama in Edinburgh in 1787. Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century. (from Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
;Page 48:painting of "The Goddess [[Anoia]] Arising from the Cutlery" - A reference to The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Unfortunately for Nobby, it does not have an urn or plinth in it, but there are two cherubs.<br />
<br />
;Page 48 (Corgi page 57):"The title was ''The [[Koom Valley Codex]]''."<br />
:The whole craze about people buying this book claiming secret messages in a painting is an obvious reference to ''The DaVinci Code'', which claims that there are secrets hidden in the Mona Lisa. ''The DaVinci Code'' is a work of fiction, though, whereas ''The Koom Valley Codex''</I> seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the ''{{wp|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail}}'' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980s enjoyed a certain vogue and later on served to inspire ''The DaVinci Code''. (Dan Brown's character Leigh Teabing is a direct homage to HBHG's authors.) In these books, the authors link together a set of historical puzzles and anomalies, including the claim that occult secrets are encoded in a series of well-known paintings, to support the hypothesis that Jesus Christ did not actually die on the cross. (In fact, he was resuscitated from near-death, and smuggled to the South of France by Joseph of Arimathea to live out a quiet life in retirement. He married Mary Magdalene, and their bloodline not only became that of the Kings of France, it persists today in exceptionally able or gifted people around the world.) If true, this claim would have the effect of wholly discrediting Christianity, and they claim that the truth has thus been suppressed by generations of Popes. It's worth noting that one of the authors has since acknowledged that the content of the book was a hoax.<br />
:More obscurely, the obsessives who searched Rascal's painting for clues are reminiscent of the real-life searchers (Masqueraders) who'd tromped all over England looking for a jeweled-hare pendant from 1979 to 1982, guided by clues they'd found (or imagined finding) in Kit Williams' picture book ''Masquerade''. As in ''Thud!'', the hare was initially found by searchers who'd resorted to unscrupulous methods (murder by the deep-downers, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.<br />
<br />
;Page 57 (Corgi page 68):"War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. <br />
:"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" <br />
:"Absol- Well, okay."<br />
:A reference to the popular song by Edwin Starr, whose refrain goes, "War: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing." It has been covered by countless bands since then.<br />
:Nobby's suggestions that war might be good for freeing slaves or for defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor appear to refer to the American Civil War and World War II, often considered just or worthwhile wars for those reasons.<br />
:Also - to my mind at least - a clear reference to the famous scene in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'', when Reg (the leader of one of the innumerable rebellious groups that infest Judea) asks "What have the Romans ever done for us?" and is then more than exasperated when his (equally anti-Roman) collaborators proceed to enumerate about fifteen immensely impressive achievements of the Romans that have made life far better for the peoples they have subjugated.<br />
<br />
;Page 59:“Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go spare?” - “Spare - adj. British. Out of control, furious. The word usually in the form ‘go spare’ has been in use since before World War II. It derives from the notion of excess.” From “The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang” by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990). (from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/572.html)<br />
;Harper paperback, p.60:"Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go postal?” - This is what was in my US version of the quote for the above annotation. For further details, please see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the Discworld book Going Postal]].<br />
<br />
;Page 62:"I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry&trade;"..."<br />
:The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose&trade; Integrated Messenger Service?"<br />
:Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks. A "bluenose" is a Whitehousian crusader against pornographic ("blue") material, particularly one that is suspiciously good at locating said material in order to be offended by it. These two jokes are evidently Pterry having a little dig at the irony that "social" media devices are often (mainly?) used for the twin purposes of ruining human interaction and solo sex. <br />
<br />
;Page 63:"How about a game of Splong!&trade;, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."<br />
:Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"My iHUM&trade; function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time&mdash;"<br />
:{{wp|iTunes|iTunes}} is a digital media player application developed by Apple Computers, for playing and organizing digital music and video files, and for transferring them to its iPod portable MP3 players (and, later, iPhones). iPhones now access music etc independently, and on macOS iTunes has been replaced by seperate apps for Music, Podcasts, Books and TV, but its still available for Windows. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE&trade; technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like <i>Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis</i> and predated the iPod by a significant amount. Also note that the word itself is "iHUM"; we can assume that the imp simply hums the tune in question rather than replicating it exactly. It also suggests, if one is prepared to mentally squint, the polite euphemism used to describe their trade by Assassins: they ''inhume'' rather than ''murder''. Does this suggest that the imp is perfectly capable of ''murdering'' a tune, rather like those ever-so-subtly not-quite-right MIDI files which digitize otherwise quite nice tunes and turn them into a sort of lift muzak? (Shades of the robotic Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Company Choir in Douglas Adams' ''Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy'' singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune.)<br />
<br />
;Page 69]:"[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."<br />
:The "Long Dark" rune, the symbol for a mine, is the same shape as the sign for the London Underground. This may be foreshadowing to the Patricians plans for the Devices, such as mining carts loaded with people (wink wink).<br />
<br />
;Pages 74, 93:The “Following Dark” symbol which Helmclever makes with his spilled coffee (explained by Carrot later) is a circle with two diagonal lines through it. This is similar to British roadsigns meaning “No Parking.”<br />
<br />
;Page 83:"There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."<br />
:Referring to the text-based computer game ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', which contains the memorable line "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.98:"In, Out, and Shake It All About" Vimes' trays appear to be named after actions from folk dance the Hokey Pokey, & may imply that items cycle between In & Out until someone decides to Shake It All About.<br />
<br />
;Page 110:The [[Breccia]] - Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia - is named after a type of rock, specifically "rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay)" (thanks Merriam-Webster).<br />
<br />
;Page 112:Chrysoprase says “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (''quod erat demonstrandum''), Latin meaning “Thus it is proven.”<br />
<br />
;Page 114:Chrysoprase – “And dey cuts Slab wi ‘ bad sulphides an’ cooks it up wi’ ferric chloride and crap like dat. You thought that Slab was bad? You wait till you see Slide.”<br />
:This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine. It's also no wonder ferric chloride has a nasty effect on trolls' silicon brains - it's used to cut circuit boards.<br />
<br />
[[File:The Kansas Saloon Smashers.png|240px|thumb|A warning of the awful consequences of intemperance.]]<br />
;Page 132: Angua comments on the Black Ribboners: 'Lips that touch Ichor shall never touch Mine'<br />
This quotation comes from the song, The Kiss of Prohibition by Harriet Ann Glazebrook, popular with the Temperance movement, having the refrain 'The lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_A._Glazebrook Wikipedia])<br />
<br />
;Page 151: “the clacks company” – The Clacks is the Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine, and is based on the optical telegraphs popular in the late 18th - early 19th century, especially in France. They were introduced in {{TFE}}, but feature most significantly in {{GP}}; see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the latter book]] for more.<br />
<br />
— "That’s a feast for vurms." — ''A Feast for Wormes'' was a 1620 book of poems by English poet Francis Quarles. The titular poem related to human mortality, and the title itself has entered the language as a sort of ''memento mori'' akin to "ashes to ashes". Quarles' title is most probably a reference itself to Henry IV, Part One where the line started by Hotspur and finished by Hal is -"no, Percy, thou art dust<br />
And food for--" <br />
"...for worms, brave Percy..."<br />
<br />
— “And, incidentally, tomato ketchup is not a vegetable,” Sybil added. — In 1981, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration attempted to reclassify tomato ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables rather than condiments for school lunch programs. The goal was to relax nutritional requirements and cut costs. The measure met with resounding disapproval and was eventually rejected. <br />
<br />
;Page 157 (Corgi page 189):"They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."<br />
:Though the book describes [[Andy Hancock|Special Constable Hancock]]'s "new Truncheon" as something very similar to Japanese Nunchukus (usually pronounced "Nunchucks"), the word "numb-nuts" is an insult as well.<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.160:"Even the river catches fire in a hot summer": A few Roundworld rivers have caught fire, but it is most commonly associated with the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. It should not be surprising that the river Ankh can manage the same feat.<br />
<br />
;Pages 169-170 (Harper Torch paperback edition):The footnote describing Empirical Crescent, built by [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]]: "On the outside it was a normal terraced crescent of the period, built of honey-colored stone with the occasional pillar or cherub nailed on. Inside, the front door of No. 1 opened into the back bedroom of No. 15, the ground-floor front window of No. 3 showed the view appropriate to the second floor of No. 9, and smoke from the dining-room fireplace of No. 2 cane out of the chimney of No. 19."<br />
:Reminiscent of the tesseract house in Robert Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House" where the stairs that should lead to the roof deliver you to the ground floor, going out the front door puts you on the second floor and various windows show views of other rooms in the house, a view straight down the side of the Empire State Building (even though the house is in California),an upside down seascape, absolute nothingness and a strange desert landscape. <br />
<br />
;Page 178:Sally says “Well here’s another fine mess.” - a variation of the catch phrase from Laurel and Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”<br />
<br />
;Page 181:''“‘Tawnee’s actually only her pole name,’ Nobby said. ‘She says no one would be interested in an exotic dancer with a name like Betty. She says it sounds like she’d be better with a bowl of cake mixture.’”''<br />
:A reference to both Betty Crocker, a fictional character invented for a brand of cake mixes, and also famous 1940s and '50s burlesque perfomer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A Betty Page], a woman still rated as an icon today who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese. Less likely, but still possible, is Betty Howard, another stripper famous in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
;Page 192:''“Brick thought [...] the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut...”''<br />
:A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.<br />
<br />
;Page 193:Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.<br />
<br />
;Page 199:Vimes is reflecting on the military axiom "couldn't tell if it were arseholes or breakfast time". Vimes considers that however confused he got through lack of sleep, he'd still be able to tell the difference, as "only one involves coffee". Vimes has so far not heard of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_enema coffee enema], then. Maybe his ignorance should be cherished. <br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Gabbro is so good at playing from the [[Dwarfs|dwarf]] viewpoint that his [[Trolls|troll]] game is suffering, and he wants to go to Copperhead to learn from some of the dwarf thudmeisters there."<br />
:Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.<br />
<br />
;Page 214:the game [[Thud]] was developed by Trevor Truran, Bernard the stout, Cunning Artificer to the Gentry, and Terry Pratchett. The game is based on games of the Tafl family, which are distinguished by the unequal size of the opposing forces. The objective is usually for the force of fewer numbers to take all the members of the larger forces whose aim is generally to stop them doing so. A fragment of a gaming board of 18 x 18 squares, found in Wimose, Fyn, Denmark dated prior to AD400 is the first evidence of a game called Tafl, which also regularly appears in the early Icelandic sagas. (from http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Tafl.html)<br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Water dripping on a stone, dissolving and removing. Changing the shape of the world, one drop at a time. Water dripping on a stone, Commander."<br />
:This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.<br />
:"Who knows what old evil exists in the deep darkness under the mountains?"<br />
:There is a hint of ''Lord of the Rings'' here: "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." And: "They delved [...] too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled: Durins Bane."<br />
<br />
;Page 238:"'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."<br />
:24/7 is the usual phrase (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), but it can be easy to forget that the [[Discworld calendar|Discworld week]] contains 8 days. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.<br />
<br />
;Page 243:In the immediate aftermath of the attempt to kill not just Vimes but also Sybil and Young Sam, a nervous deputation of dwarfish civil dignitaries visits Pseudopolis Yard at least partially to assure Vimes they had no part in it. Vimes, under the influence of the vengeful and vindictive Summoning Dark, is in no mood to be diplomatic and his first instinct is to humiliate these dwarfs. His inner dialogue at this point is a stream of hateful invective: "You scum, you rat-sucking little worm eaters!" (etc., for half a page of internalised diatribe)<br />
:It is interesting that American TV cop Sledge Hammer not only ''thinks'' like this, he ''speaks'' and ''acts'' like this - ''all the time''. In fact, one of Sledge's favourite pieces of invective to a suspect is a variation on a theme of "scum-sucker".(Or even ''yoghurt-eater.'') Sledge Hammer is a parody on Dirty Harry, with all the knobs turned up to way past eleven... but this cop-with-issues, played for laughs admittedly, must have at some point contracted the Summoning Dark! Now I'm still looking for any instance of Vimes saying ''Trust me, I know what I'm doing''...<br />
:Sledge is generally prevented (by restraint or persuasion) from causing extreme mayhem, by his totally-opposite-to-the-point-of-cliché partner. Sergeant Dori Doreau is a thoughtful, gentle, liberally inclined policewoman who acts as the brains of the outfit, while Sledge provides the muscle. Later in the book, Angua and Cheery assume the Doreau role to Vimes' Sledge, and bring him back to rational normality from a beserker-like frenzy.<br />
<br />
;Page 249/US paperback page 258:"Turd races in the gutter [...] with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".<br />
:A reference to the game of Pooh-sticks from the Winnie the Pooh stories, where the characters have races with sticks floating under a bridge. Also mentioned at this point is 'Tiddley-rats', the Ankh-Morpork gutter version of Tiddlywinks.<br />
<br />
;Page 253:"There's throwin' up and yellin' and unladylike behavior and takin' their vests off and I don't know what. 'S called...' he scratched his head '... [[Roistering|minge drinking]]."<br />
:Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].<br />
<br />
;Page 274:Constable [[Visit-the-Ungodly-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets]], with his door-to-door evangelical zeal, is a reference to Roundworld Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute their religious pamphlets in a similar manner. His god, [[Om]], is named for the mystical or sacred syllable in many Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.<br />
<br />
;(Harper paperback, p.295):"'What?' said Angua, reading the menu, 'is a screaming orgasm?'...'Almonté, Wahlulu, Bearhuggers Whiskey Cream and vodka'" According to Wikipedia, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm_%28cocktail%29?wprov=sfla1 the roundworld cocktail] is made from 2 cl Vodka, Kahlúa (Wahlulu), Amaretto (Almonté), Bailey's Irish Cream (Bearhuggers Whiskey Cream), & 4 cl milk<br />
<br />
;Page 290:Detritus’ crossbow, “The [[Piecemaker]]” - a pun on the famous handgun, the [[wikipedia:Colt_Single_Action_Army|Colt "Peacemaker" .45 revolver]], as supposedly used by Wyatt Earp.<br />
<br />
;Page 290/Corgi page 352:"Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."<br />
:The speed limit and flaming cabbages is probably a nod to the ''Back to the Future'' films, where the DeLorean traveled through time when it reached 88 mph, leaving flaming trails behind it. Pratchett was known to be a fan of the films; as recounted in {{ALWF}} he once almost bought a DeLorean.<br />
<br />
;Page 294/UK paperback page 356:"He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."<br />
:Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.<br />
<br />
;Page 298:"The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes.<br />'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."<br />
:Another possible reference to ''Back to the Future'', in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".<br />
<br />
;Audible part 2, 2:55:18:"... Brick, who had not picked a good day to go cold turkey, it was turning out to be frozen Roc."<br />
:Aside from the rock (stone) / roc (giant mythical bird) pun in the punchline, the setup is also funny as a reference to the "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines/sniffing glue!" running gag by the air-traffic control tower supervisor in 1980 comedy film ''[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Airplane!#Steve_McCroskey Airplane!]'' (known as ''Flying High!'' in some countries). This may not have been intended, but the scene does involve a rough landing of a flying vehicle (into cabbages).<br />
<br />
;Page 301:Sybil’s friends from the Quirm College for Young Ladies “all seemed to have names like Bunny or Bubbles” – a reference to stereotypical British public-school girls' nicknames. <br />
<br />
;Page 305/Corgi p. 368:"The other thing he noticed was that the landscape ahead was strangely bluish, while behind them it had a relatively red tint."<br />
:This is a reference to the blue and red shift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move toward a source of waves, the wave frequency gets higher; when you move away from the wave source, you observe a lower frequency. Blue has a higher frequency than red, so things you're moving toward look bluer, and things you're moving away from look redder. This effect is only noticeable when you're moving at a significant fraction of light speed - like, for galaxies moving away from the Milky Way. But on Discworld, the speed of light is only a few hundred miles per hour (rather than nearly a billion miles per hour in our world). So the coach at 60 mph or so according to Willikins' calculation is going fast enough to see blue and red shift. This is also the only time vehicles carrying officers of the Watch have red and blue lights, just as police cars do in many places on Roundworld.<br />
<br />
;Page 328:“''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes''” - a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which literally translates to “Who will guard the guards themselves?”, and is variously translated in colloquial English as “Who watches the watchmen?”, “Who watches the watchers?”, “Who will guard the guards?”, “Who shall watch the watchers?”, “Who polices the police?” etc. Made famous in the graphic novel ''[[wikipedia:Watchmen|Watchmen]]'' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the ''Watchmen'' are vigilantes (i.e. costumed superheroes) that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. This is taken to extremes: several of the "heroes" kill criminals they encounter.<br />
<br />
;Page 329:''... until they reached a stalagmite. It was about eight feet high. It was a troll. It wasn't a rock shaped like a troll, it was a troll.'''<br />
:Although items left in limestone caves can become coated (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Shipton%27s_Cave Mother Shipton's cave]), I can find no known example of an actual human being petrified in this way. However in Rider Haggard's story, King Solomons Mines (1885, p160), the Kukuana people preserve their deceased monarchs in this way.<br />
<br />
:... presently we observed that from the roof of the chamber the water fell steadily, drip! drop! drip! on to the neck of the corpse, whence it ran down over the entire surface, and finally escaped into the rock through a tiny hole in the table. Then I guessed what the film was — Twala's body was being transformed into a stalactite.<br />
<br />
;Page 344:''"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'''<br />
:This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.<br />
<br />
;Page 348:''"Bashfullsson rose, looking shocked and massaging his hand. 'It is like using an axe,' he said, to no one in particular, 'but without the axe...'"''<br />
:It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thud!]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thud!/Annotations&diff=34714Book:Thud!/Annotations2023-06-05T01:09:37Z<p>Superluser: Cuyahoga River</p>
<hr />
<div>Annotations for {{T!}}. Unless otherwise specified, page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition.<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
* The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar. See also the "long chant" of [[Trolls (The Long Earth)|the other trolls]] in [[The Long Earth]] and sequels.<br />
* Right at the end of the book, Colon and Nobbs are on guard duty in the Cave of the Kings. After discussing the state of play between Nobby and his pole-dancer girlfriend Tawneee, Colon, perhaps by association of ideas, reins in an over-enthusiastic Dwarf with the rebuke "No touching, sir, or I'm afraid I shall have to cut your fingers orf". Almost as if he were acting as bouncer in a pole-dancing club, where there is usually a strict rule about touching...<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
;Unnumbered pages:[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's {{wp|Allegory of the cave|Allegory of the cave}} completely on its head.<br />
:A curious coincidence is that Tak, the name of the creator in dwarfish mythology, is also the name of an ancient evil spirit featured in two of Stephen King's novels, ''Desperation'' and ''The Regulators'' (written as Richard Bachman). Like the Summoning Dark, King's Tak comes out of a deep mine and inhabits a human host - in ''Desperation'' it is a police officer who becomes a sort of berserker. The similarities go no nearer than that, but it is slightly unsettling.<br />
;Page 14:“[[Fizz]]” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as [[wikipedia:Phiz|Phiz]], the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens, and sometime cartoonist for ''Punch'' magazine.<br />
;Harper paperback, p.14:"but they end 'von Humpeding.'" Very reminiscent of the Monty Python sketch "It's the Arts" where they discuss "Johann Gambolputty de von [trimmed for brevity] von Hautkopft of Ulm"<br />
;Page 17:[[Otto Chriek]] – “Little, fussy Otto, in his red-lined black opera cloak...his carefully cut widow’s peak and, not least, his ridiculous accent.... He looked funny, a joke, a music-hall vampire.” Otto resembles the campy vampire, made famous by Bela Lugosi.<br />
;Page 19:the “Ankh-Morpork Mission of the Uberwald League of Temperance" and black ribbons - A reference to the various temperance organizations in active in the 19th Century in Britain and other countries, such as the [[wikipedia:Woman's Christian Temperance Union|Woman's Christian Temperance Movement]] (which used a white ribbon.) These organizations required members to take a pledge of abstinence from all forms of alcohol. The black ribbons are reminiscent of the scarlet sash worn by members of the Junior Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s 1984. Similar red ribbons were worn by the {{wp|Komsomol|Komsomolyet}} (Коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи) movement - the Soviet Communist Party's youth wing. <br />
:Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a tee-totaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.<br />
:Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' colour a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!<br />
;Page 30:''Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”<br />
:Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”''<br />
:A reference to Mr. Clean cleanser, a product made by Proctor and Gamble. Or possibly, given that Pterry is British, to Mr Sheen brand of cleaners and polishes made by Reckitt Benckiser.<br />
<br />
;Page 31:''"...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."''<br />
:Foreshadowing.<br />
<br />
;Page 32:“Koom Valley Day” - Koom Valley Day and the ongoing theme of the dwarves and trolls reliving an ancient battle again and again is reminiscent of the parades held in Northern Ireland by Unionist and Republican groups. The largest of these are usually held by Protestant organizations on the twelfth of July in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. The Republican parades celebrating the Easter Rising can be large, but are not nearly so provocative, as they are not deliberately routed through Loyalist areas. <br />
<br />
;Page 34 (US page 25):"That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"<br />
:A slightly obscure cross-book joke: in {{GP}}, [[Moist von Lipwig]] handed over handling of the issuing of new stamps to [[Stanley]], who is said on (US p. 33) of said book to have been "raised '''by''' peas", a "[v]ery unusual case. A good lad [...], but he tends to twist toward the sun, sir, if you get my meaning." Thus, "pea-brained" is here not so much an insult as a descriptor.<br />
<br />
;Page 37:"And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."<br />
:So what we have here is an {{wp|Interview With A Vampire|Interview With A Vampire}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 42:Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. <br />
:It has also been suggested that there is a strong resemblance, in voice and manner and aesthetic, to Roundworld art critic Brian Sewell (of the London Evening Standard, of the hernia-inducing Sunday heavy papers, and a frequently used pundit on those late night TV arts shows like "Newsnight Review" and "The South Bank Show"). Read his surname as "Sew-Well" in the (non)-seamstress [[Sandra Battye]] sense, and it can be seen how he mutates into "Reynold Stitched".<br />
:For a sample of the real-life Reynold Stitched in action as art critic, try this: [http://iiiiiiandy.vodpod.com/video/37749-last-of-the-medici-brian-sewell]<br />
<br />
;Page 42:The Battle of Koom Valley painting – a cyclorama is a panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to provide a viewer standing in the middle of the cylinder with a 360° view of the painting. The intended effect is to make a viewer, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of a historic event or famous place. Panoramas were invented by Irishman Robert Barker, who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama in Edinburgh in 1787. Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century. (from Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
;Page 48:painting of "The Goddess [[Anoia]] Arising from the Cutlery" - A reference to The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Unfortunately for Nobby, it does not have an urn or plinth in it, but there are two cherubs.<br />
<br />
;Page 48 (Corgi page 57):"The title was ''The [[Koom Valley Codex]]''."<br />
:The whole craze about people buying this book claiming secret messages in a painting is an obvious reference to ''The DaVinci Code'', which claims that there are secrets hidden in the Mona Lisa. ''The DaVinci Code'' is a work of fiction, though, whereas ''The Koom Valley Codex''</I> seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the ''{{wp|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail}}'' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980s enjoyed a certain vogue and later on served to inspire ''The DaVinci Code''. (Dan Brown's character Leigh Teabing is a direct homage to HBHG's authors.) In these books, the authors link together a set of historical puzzles and anomalies, including the claim that occult secrets are encoded in a series of well-known paintings, to support the hypothesis that Jesus Christ did not actually die on the cross. (In fact, he was resuscitated from near-death, and smuggled to the South of France by Joseph of Arimathea to live out a quiet life in retirement. He married Mary Magdalene, and their bloodline not only became that of the Kings of France, it persists today in exceptionally able or gifted people around the world.) If true, this claim would have the effect of wholly discrediting Christianity, and they claim that the truth has thus been suppressed by generations of Popes. It's worth noting that one of the authors has since acknowledged that the content of the book was a hoax.<br />
:More obscurely, the obsessives who searched Rascal's painting for clues are reminiscent of the real-life searchers (Masqueraders) who'd tromped all over England looking for a jeweled-hare pendant from 1979 to 1982, guided by clues they'd found (or imagined finding) in Kit Williams' picture book ''Masquerade''. As in ''Thud!'', the hare was initially found by searchers who'd resorted to unscrupulous methods (murder by the deep-downers, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.<br />
<br />
;Page 57 (Corgi page 68):"War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. <br />
:"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" <br />
:"Absol- Well, okay."<br />
:A reference to the popular song by Edwin Starr, whose refrain goes, "War: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing." It has been covered by countless bands since then.<br />
:Nobby's suggestions that war might be good for freeing slaves or for defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor appear to refer to the American Civil War and World War II, often considered just or worthwhile wars for those reasons.<br />
:Also - to my mind at least - a clear reference to the famous scene in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'', when Reg (the leader of one of the innumerable rebellious groups that infest Judea) asks "What have the Romans ever done for us?" and is then more than exasperated when his (equally anti-Roman) collaborators proceed to enumerate about fifteen immensely impressive achievements of the Romans that have made life far better for the peoples they have subjugated.<br />
<br />
;Page 59:“Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go spare?” - “Spare - adj. British. Out of control, furious. The word usually in the form ‘go spare’ has been in use since before World War II. It derives from the notion of excess.” From “The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang” by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990). (from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/572.html)<br />
;Harper paperback, p.60:"Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go postal?” - This is what was in my US version of the quote for the above annotation. For further details, please see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the Discworld book Going Postal]].<br />
<br />
;Page 62:"I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry&trade;"..."<br />
:The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose&trade; Integrated Messenger Service?"<br />
:Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks. A "bluenose" is a Whitehousian crusader against pornographic ("blue") material, particularly one that is suspiciously good at locating said material in order to be offended by it. These two jokes are evidently Pterry having a little dig at the irony that "social" media devices are often (mainly?) used for the twin purposes of ruining human interaction and solo sex. <br />
<br />
;Page 63:"How about a game of Splong!&trade;, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."<br />
:Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"My iHUM&trade; function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time&mdash;"<br />
:{{wp|iTunes|iTunes}} is a digital media player application developed by Apple Computers, for playing and organizing digital music and video files, and for transferring them to its iPod portable MP3 players (and, later, iPhones). iPhones now access music etc independently, and on macOS iTunes has been replaced by seperate apps for Music, Podcasts, Books and TV, but its still available for Windows. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE&trade; technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like <i>Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis</i> and predated the iPod by a significant amount. Also note that the word itself is "iHUM"; we can assume that the imp simply hums the tune in question rather than replicating it exactly. It also suggests, if one is prepared to mentally squint, the polite euphemism used to describe their trade by Assassins: they ''inhume'' rather than ''murder''. Does this suggest that the imp is perfectly capable of ''murdering'' a tune, rather like those ever-so-subtly not-quite-right MIDI files which digitize otherwise quite nice tunes and turn them into a sort of lift muzak? (Shades of the robotic Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Company Choir in Douglas Adams' ''Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy'' singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune.)<br />
<br />
;Page 69]:"[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."<br />
:The "Long Dark" rune, the symbol for a mine, is the same shape as the sign for the London Underground. This may be foreshadowing to the Patricians plans for the Devices, such as mining carts loaded with people (wink wink).<br />
<br />
;Pages 74, 93:The “Following Dark” symbol which Helmclever makes with his spilled coffee (explained by Carrot later) is a circle with two diagonal lines through it. This is similar to British roadsigns meaning “No Parking.”<br />
<br />
;Page 83:"There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."<br />
:Referring to the text-based computer game ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', which contains the memorable line "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.98:"In, Out, and Shake It All About" Vimes' trays appear to be named after actions from folk dance the Hokey Pokey, & may imply that items cycle between In & Out until someone decides to Shake It All About.<br />
<br />
;Page 110:The [[Breccia]] - Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia - is named after a type of rock, specifically "rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay)" (thanks Merriam-Webster).<br />
<br />
;Page 112:Chrysoprase says “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (''quod erat demonstrandum''), Latin meaning “Thus it is proven.”<br />
<br />
;Page 114:Chrysoprase – “And dey cuts Slab wi ‘ bad sulphides an’ cooks it up wi’ ferric chloride and crap like dat. You thought that Slab was bad? You wait till you see Slide.”<br />
:This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine. It's also no wonder ferric chloride has a nasty effect on trolls' silicon brains - it's used to cut circuit boards.<br />
<br />
[[File:The Kansas Saloon Smashers.png|240px|thumb|A warning of the awful consequences of intemperance.]]<br />
;Page 132: Angua comments on the Black Ribboners: 'Lips that touch Ichor shall never touch Mine'<br />
This quotation comes from the song, The Kiss of Prohibition by Harriet Ann Glazebrook, popular with the Temperance movement, having the refrain 'The lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_A._Glazebrook Wikipedia])<br />
<br />
;Page 151: “the clacks company” – The Clacks is the Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine, and is based on the optical telegraphs popular in the late 18th - early 19th century, especially in France. They were introduced in {{TFE}}, but feature most significantly in {{GP}}; see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the latter book]] for more.<br />
<br />
— "That’s a feast for vurms." — ''A Feast for Wormes'' was a 1620 book of poems by English poet Francis Quarles. The titular poem related to human mortality, and the title itself has entered the language as a sort of ''memento mori'' akin to "ashes to ashes". Quarles' title is most probably a reference itself to Henry IV, Part One where the line started by Hotspur and finished by Hal is -"no, Percy, thou art dust<br />
And food for--" <br />
"...for worms, brave Percy..."<br />
<br />
— “And, incidentally, tomato ketchup is not a vegetable,” Sybil added. — In 1981, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration attempted to reclassify tomato ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables rather than condiments for school lunch programs. The goal was to relax nutritional requirements and cut costs. The measure met with resounding disapproval and was eventually rejected. <br />
<br />
;Page 157 (Corgi page 189):"They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."<br />
:Though the book describes [[Andy Hancock|Special Constable Hancock]]'s "new Truncheon" as something very similar to Japanese Nunchukus (usually pronounced "Nunchucks"), the word "numb-nuts" is an insult as well.<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.160:"Even the river catches fire in a hot summer": A few Roundworld rivers have caught fire, but it is most commonly associated with the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. It should not be surprising that the river Ankh can manage the same feat.<br />
<br />
;Pages 169-170 (Harper Torch paperback edition):The footnote describing Empirical Crescent, built by [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]]: "On the outside it was a normal terraced crescent of the period, built of honey-colored stone with the occasional pillar or cherub nailed on. Inside, the front door of No. 1 opened into the back bedroom of No. 15, the ground-floor front window of No. 3 showed the view appropriate to the second floor of No. 9, and smoke from the dining-room fireplace of No. 2 cane out of the chimney of No. 19."<br />
:Reminiscent of the tesseract house in Robert Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House" where the stairs that should lead to the roof deliver you to the ground floor, going out the front door puts you on the second floor and various windows show views of other rooms in the house, a view straight down the side of the Empire State Building (even though the house is in California),an upside down seascape, absolute nothingness and a strange desert landscape. <br />
<br />
;Page 178:Sally says “Well here’s another fine mess.” - a variation of the catch phrase from Laurel and Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”<br />
<br />
;Page 181:''“‘Tawnee’s actually only her pole name,’ Nobby said. ‘She says no one would be interested in an exotic dancer with a name like Betty. She says it sounds like she’d be better with a bowl of cake mixture.’”''<br />
:A reference to both Betty Crocker, a fictional character invented for a brand of cake mixes, and also famous 1940s and '50s burlesque perfomer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A Betty Page], a woman still rated as an icon today who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese. Less likely, but still possible, is Betty Howard, another stripper famous in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
;Page 192:''“Brick thought [...] the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut...”''<br />
:A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.<br />
<br />
;Page 193:Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.<br />
<br />
;Page 199:Vimes is reflecting on the military axiom "couldn't tell if it were arseholes or breakfast time". Vimes considers that however confused he got through lack of sleep, he'd still be able to tell the difference, as "only one involves coffee". Vimes has so far not heard of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_enema coffee enema], then. Maybe his ignorance should be cherished. <br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Gabbro is so good at playing from the [[Dwarfs|dwarf]] viewpoint that his [[Trolls|troll]] game is suffering, and he wants to go to Copperhead to learn from some of the dwarf thudmeisters there."<br />
:Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.<br />
<br />
;Page 214:the game [[Thud]] was developed by Trevor Truran, Bernard the stout, Cunning Artificer to the Gentry, and Terry Pratchett. The game is based on games of the Tafl family, which are distinguished by the unequal size of the opposing forces. The objective is usually for the force of fewer numbers to take all the members of the larger forces whose aim is generally to stop them doing so. A fragment of a gaming board of 18 x 18 squares, found in Wimose, Fyn, Denmark dated prior to AD400 is the first evidence of a game called Tafl, which also regularly appears in the early Icelandic sagas. (from http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Tafl.html)<br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Water dripping on a stone, dissolving and removing. Changing the shape of the world, one drop at a time. Water dripping on a stone, Commander."<br />
:This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.<br />
:"Who knows what old evil exists in the deep darkness under the mountains?"<br />
:There is a hint of ''Lord of the Rings'' here: "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." And: "They delved [...] too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled: Durins Bane."<br />
<br />
;Page 238:"'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."<br />
:24/7 is the usual phrase (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), but it can be easy to forget that the [[Discworld calendar|Discworld week]] contains 8 days. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.<br />
<br />
;Page 243:In the immediate aftermath of the attempt to kill not just Vimes but also Sybil and Young Sam, a nervous deputation of dwarfish civil dignitaries visits Pseudopolis Yard at least partially to assure Vimes they had no part in it. Vimes, under the influence of the vengeful and vindictive Summoning Dark, is in no mood to be diplomatic and his first instinct is to humiliate these dwarfs. His inner dialogue at this point is a stream of hateful invective: "You scum, you rat-sucking little worm eaters!" (etc., for half a page of internalised diatribe)<br />
:It is interesting that American TV cop Sledge Hammer not only ''thinks'' like this, he ''speaks'' and ''acts'' like this - ''all the time''. In fact, one of Sledge's favourite pieces of invective to a suspect is a variation on a theme of "scum-sucker".(Or even ''yoghurt-eater.'') Sledge Hammer is a parody on Dirty Harry, with all the knobs turned up to way past eleven... but this cop-with-issues, played for laughs admittedly, must have at some point contracted the Summoning Dark! Now I'm still looking for any instance of Vimes saying ''Trust me, I know what I'm doing''...<br />
:Sledge is generally prevented (by restraint or persuasion) from causing extreme mayhem, by his totally-opposite-to-the-point-of-cliché partner. Sergeant Dori Doreau is a thoughtful, gentle, liberally inclined policewoman who acts as the brains of the outfit, while Sledge provides the muscle. Later in the book, Angua and Cheery assume the Doreau role to Vimes' Sledge, and bring him back to rational normality from a beserker-like frenzy.<br />
<br />
;Page 249/US paperback page 258:"Turd races in the gutter [...] with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".<br />
:A reference to the game of Pooh-sticks from the Winnie the Pooh stories, where the characters have races with sticks floating under a bridge. Also mentioned at this point is 'Tiddley-rats', the Ankh-Morpork gutter version of Tiddlywinks.<br />
<br />
;Page 253:"There's throwin' up and yellin' and unladylike behavior and takin' their vests off and I don't know what. 'S called...' he scratched his head '... [[Roistering|minge drinking]]."<br />
:Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].<br />
<br />
;Page 274:Constable [[Visit-the-Ungodly-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets]], with his door-to-door evangelical zeal, is a reference to Roundworld Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute their religious pamphlets in a similar manner. His god, [[Om]], is named for the mystical or sacred syllable in many Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.<br />
<br />
;Page 290:Detritus’ crossbow, “The [[Piecemaker]]” - a pun on the famous handgun, the [[wikipedia:Colt_Single_Action_Army|Colt "Peacemaker" .45 revolver]], as supposedly used by Wyatt Earp.<br />
<br />
;Page 290/Corgi page 352:"Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."<br />
:The speed limit and flaming cabbages is probably a nod to the ''Back to the Future'' films, where the DeLorean traveled through time when it reached 88 mph, leaving flaming trails behind it. Pratchett was known to be a fan of the films; as recounted in {{ALWF}} he once almost bought a DeLorean.<br />
<br />
;Page 294/UK paperback page 356:"He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."<br />
:Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.<br />
<br />
;Page 298:"The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes.<br />'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."<br />
:Another possible reference to ''Back to the Future'', in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".<br />
<br />
;Audible part 2, 2:55:18:"... Brick, who had not picked a good day to go cold turkey, it was turning out to be frozen Roc."<br />
:Aside from the rock (stone) / roc (giant mythical bird) pun in the punchline, the setup is also funny as a reference to the "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines/sniffing glue!" running gag by the air-traffic control tower supervisor in 1980 comedy film ''[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Airplane!#Steve_McCroskey Airplane!]'' (known as ''Flying High!'' in some countries). This may not have been intended, but the scene does involve a rough landing of a flying vehicle (into cabbages).<br />
<br />
;Page 301:Sybil’s friends from the Quirm College for Young Ladies “all seemed to have names like Bunny or Bubbles” – a reference to stereotypical British public-school girls' nicknames. <br />
<br />
;Page 305/Corgi p. 368:"The other thing he noticed was that the landscape ahead was strangely bluish, while behind them it had a relatively red tint."<br />
:This is a reference to the blue and red shift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move toward a source of waves, the wave frequency gets higher; when you move away from the wave source, you observe a lower frequency. Blue has a higher frequency than red, so things you're moving toward look bluer, and things you're moving away from look redder. This effect is only noticeable when you're moving at a significant fraction of light speed - like, for galaxies moving away from the Milky Way. But on Discworld, the speed of light is only a few hundred miles per hour (rather than nearly a billion miles per hour in our world). So the coach at 60 mph or so according to Willikins' calculation is going fast enough to see blue and red shift. This is also the only time vehicles carrying officers of the Watch have red and blue lights, just as police cars do in many places on Roundworld.<br />
<br />
;Page 328:“''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes''” - a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which literally translates to “Who will guard the guards themselves?”, and is variously translated in colloquial English as “Who watches the watchmen?”, “Who watches the watchers?”, “Who will guard the guards?”, “Who shall watch the watchers?”, “Who polices the police?” etc. Made famous in the graphic novel ''[[wikipedia:Watchmen|Watchmen]]'' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the ''Watchmen'' are vigilantes (i.e. costumed superheroes) that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. This is taken to extremes: several of the "heroes" kill criminals they encounter.<br />
<br />
;Page 329:''... until they reached a stalagmite. It was about eight feet high. It was a troll. It wasn't a rock shaped like a troll, it was a troll.'''<br />
:Although items left in limestone caves can become coated (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Shipton%27s_Cave Mother Shipton's cave]), I can find no known example of an actual human being petrified in this way. However in Rider Haggard's story, King Solomons Mines (1885, p160), the Kukuana people preserve their deceased monarchs in this way.<br />
<br />
:... presently we observed that from the roof of the chamber the water fell steadily, drip! drop! drip! on to the neck of the corpse, whence it ran down over the entire surface, and finally escaped into the rock through a tiny hole in the table. Then I guessed what the film was — Twala's body was being transformed into a stalactite.<br />
<br />
;Page 344:''"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'''<br />
:This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.<br />
<br />
;Page 348:''"Bashfullsson rose, looking shocked and massaging his hand. 'It is like using an axe,' he said, to no one in particular, 'but without the axe...'"''<br />
:It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thud!]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thud!/Annotations&diff=34697Book:Thud!/Annotations2023-06-02T20:35:57Z<p>Superluser: Going Postal & the Hokey Pokey</p>
<hr />
<div>Annotations for {{T!}}. Unless otherwise specified, page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition.<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
* The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar. See also the "long chant" of [[Trolls (The Long Earth)|the other trolls]] in [[The Long Earth]] and sequels.<br />
* Right at the end of the book, Colon and Nobbs are on guard duty in the Cave of the Kings. After discussing the state of play between Nobby and his pole-dancer girlfriend Tawneee, Colon, perhaps by association of ideas, reins in an over-enthusiastic Dwarf with the rebuke "No touching, sir, or I'm afraid I shall have to cut your fingers orf". Almost as if he were acting as bouncer in a pole-dancing club, where there is usually a strict rule about touching...<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
;Unnumbered pages:[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's {{wp|Allegory of the cave|Allegory of the cave}} completely on its head.<br />
:A curious coincidence is that Tak, the name of the creator in dwarfish mythology, is also the name of an ancient evil spirit featured in two of Stephen King's novels, ''Desperation'' and ''The Regulators'' (written as Richard Bachman). Like the Summoning Dark, King's Tak comes out of a deep mine and inhabits a human host - in ''Desperation'' it is a police officer who becomes a sort of berserker. The similarities go no nearer than that, but it is slightly unsettling.<br />
;Page 14:“[[Fizz]]” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as [[wikipedia:Phiz|Phiz]], the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens, and sometime cartoonist for ''Punch'' magazine.<br />
;Harper paperback, p.14:"but they end 'von Humpeding.'" Very reminiscent of the Monty Python sketch "It's the Arts" where they discuss "Johann Gambolputty de von [trimmed for brevity] von Hautkopft of Ulm"<br />
;Page 17:[[Otto Chriek]] – “Little, fussy Otto, in his red-lined black opera cloak...his carefully cut widow’s peak and, not least, his ridiculous accent.... He looked funny, a joke, a music-hall vampire.” Otto resembles the campy vampire, made famous by Bela Lugosi.<br />
;Page 19:the “Ankh-Morpork Mission of the Uberwald League of Temperance" and black ribbons - A reference to the various temperance organizations in active in the 19th Century in Britain and other countries, such as the [[wikipedia:Woman's Christian Temperance Union|Woman's Christian Temperance Movement]] (which used a white ribbon.) These organizations required members to take a pledge of abstinence from all forms of alcohol. The black ribbons are reminiscent of the scarlet sash worn by members of the Junior Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s 1984. Similar red ribbons were worn by the {{wp|Komsomol|Komsomolyet}} (Коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи) movement - the Soviet Communist Party's youth wing. <br />
:Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a tee-totaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.<br />
:Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' colour a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!<br />
;Page 30:''Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”<br />
:Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”''<br />
:A reference to Mr. Clean cleanser, a product made by Proctor and Gamble. Or possibly, given that Pterry is British, to Mr Sheen brand of cleaners and polishes made by Reckitt Benckiser.<br />
<br />
;Page 31:''"...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."''<br />
:Foreshadowing.<br />
<br />
;Page 32:“Koom Valley Day” - Koom Valley Day and the ongoing theme of the dwarves and trolls reliving an ancient battle again and again is reminiscent of the parades held in Northern Ireland by Unionist and Republican groups. The largest of these are usually held by Protestant organizations on the twelfth of July in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. The Republican parades celebrating the Easter Rising can be large, but are not nearly so provocative, as they are not deliberately routed through Loyalist areas. <br />
<br />
;Page 34 (US page 25):"That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"<br />
:A slightly obscure cross-book joke: in {{GP}}, [[Moist von Lipwig]] handed over handling of the issuing of new stamps to [[Stanley]], who is said on (US p. 33) of said book to have been "raised '''by''' peas", a "[v]ery unusual case. A good lad [...], but he tends to twist toward the sun, sir, if you get my meaning." Thus, "pea-brained" is here not so much an insult as a descriptor.<br />
<br />
;Page 37:"And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."<br />
:So what we have here is an {{wp|Interview With A Vampire|Interview With A Vampire}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 42:Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. <br />
:It has also been suggested that there is a strong resemblance, in voice and manner and aesthetic, to Roundworld art critic Brian Sewell (of the London Evening Standard, of the hernia-inducing Sunday heavy papers, and a frequently used pundit on those late night TV arts shows like "Newsnight Review" and "The South Bank Show"). Read his surname as "Sew-Well" in the (non)-seamstress [[Sandra Battye]] sense, and it can be seen how he mutates into "Reynold Stitched".<br />
:For a sample of the real-life Reynold Stitched in action as art critic, try this: [http://iiiiiiandy.vodpod.com/video/37749-last-of-the-medici-brian-sewell]<br />
<br />
;Page 42:The Battle of Koom Valley painting – a cyclorama is a panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to provide a viewer standing in the middle of the cylinder with a 360° view of the painting. The intended effect is to make a viewer, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of a historic event or famous place. Panoramas were invented by Irishman Robert Barker, who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama in Edinburgh in 1787. Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century. (from Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
;Page 48:painting of "The Goddess [[Anoia]] Arising from the Cutlery" - A reference to The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Unfortunately for Nobby, it does not have an urn or plinth in it, but there are two cherubs.<br />
<br />
;Page 48 (Corgi page 57):"The title was ''The [[Koom Valley Codex]]''."<br />
:The whole craze about people buying this book claiming secret messages in a painting is an obvious reference to ''The DaVinci Code'', which claims that there are secrets hidden in the Mona Lisa. ''The DaVinci Code'' is a work of fiction, though, whereas ''The Koom Valley Codex''</I> seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the ''{{wp|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail}}'' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980s enjoyed a certain vogue and later on served to inspire ''The DaVinci Code''. (Dan Brown's character Leigh Teabing is a direct homage to HBHG's authors.) In these books, the authors link together a set of historical puzzles and anomalies, including the claim that occult secrets are encoded in a series of well-known paintings, to support the hypothesis that Jesus Christ did not actually die on the cross. (In fact, he was resuscitated from near-death, and smuggled to the South of France by Joseph of Arimathea to live out a quiet life in retirement. He married Mary Magdalene, and their bloodline not only became that of the Kings of France, it persists today in exceptionally able or gifted people around the world.) If true, this claim would have the effect of wholly discrediting Christianity, and they claim that the truth has thus been suppressed by generations of Popes. It's worth noting that one of the authors has since acknowledged that the content of the book was a hoax.<br />
:More obscurely, the obsessives who searched Rascal's painting for clues are reminiscent of the real-life searchers (Masqueraders) who'd tromped all over England looking for a jeweled-hare pendant from 1979 to 1982, guided by clues they'd found (or imagined finding) in Kit Williams' picture book ''Masquerade''. As in ''Thud!'', the hare was initially found by searchers who'd resorted to unscrupulous methods (murder by the deep-downers, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.<br />
<br />
;Page 57 (Corgi page 68):"War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. <br />
:"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" <br />
:"Absol- Well, okay."<br />
:A reference to the popular song by Edwin Starr, whose refrain goes, "War: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing." It has been covered by countless bands since then.<br />
:Nobby's suggestions that war might be good for freeing slaves or for defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor appear to refer to the American Civil War and World War II, often considered just or worthwhile wars for those reasons.<br />
:Also - to my mind at least - a clear reference to the famous scene in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'', when Reg (the leader of one of the innumerable rebellious groups that infest Judea) asks "What have the Romans ever done for us?" and is then more than exasperated when his (equally anti-Roman) collaborators proceed to enumerate about fifteen immensely impressive achievements of the Romans that have made life far better for the peoples they have subjugated.<br />
<br />
;Page 59:“Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go spare?” - “Spare - adj. British. Out of control, furious. The word usually in the form ‘go spare’ has been in use since before World War II. It derives from the notion of excess.” From “The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang” by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990). (from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/572.html)<br />
;Harper paperback, p.60:"Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go postal?” - This is what was in my US version of the quote for the above annotation. For further details, please see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the Discworld book Going Postal]].<br />
<br />
;Page 62:"I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry&trade;"..."<br />
:The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose&trade; Integrated Messenger Service?"<br />
:Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks. A "bluenose" is a Whitehousian crusader against pornographic ("blue") material, particularly one that is suspiciously good at locating said material in order to be offended by it. These two jokes are evidently Pterry having a little dig at the irony that "social" media devices are often (mainly?) used for the twin purposes of ruining human interaction and solo sex. <br />
<br />
;Page 63:"How about a game of Splong!&trade;, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."<br />
:Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"My iHUM&trade; function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time&mdash;"<br />
:{{wp|iTunes|iTunes}} is a digital media player application developed by Apple Computers, for playing and organizing digital music and video files, and for transferring them to its iPod portable MP3 players (and, later, iPhones). iPhones now access music etc independently, and on macOS iTunes has been replaced by seperate apps for Music, Podcasts, Books and TV, but its still available for Windows. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE&trade; technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like <i>Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis</i> and predated the iPod by a significant amount. Also note that the word itself is "iHUM"; we can assume that the imp simply hums the tune in question rather than replicating it exactly. It also suggests, if one is prepared to mentally squint, the polite euphemism used to describe their trade by Assassins: they ''inhume'' rather than ''murder''. Does this suggest that the imp is perfectly capable of ''murdering'' a tune, rather like those ever-so-subtly not-quite-right MIDI files which digitize otherwise quite nice tunes and turn them into a sort of lift muzak? (Shades of the robotic Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Company Choir in Douglas Adams' ''Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy'' singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune.)<br />
<br />
;Page 69]:"[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."<br />
:The "Long Dark" rune, the symbol for a mine, is the same shape as the sign for the London Underground. This may be foreshadowing to the Patricians plans for the Devices, such as mining carts loaded with people (wink wink).<br />
<br />
;Pages 74, 93:The “Following Dark” symbol which Helmclever makes with his spilled coffee (explained by Carrot later) is a circle with two diagonal lines through it. This is similar to British roadsigns meaning “No Parking.”<br />
<br />
;Page 83:"There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."<br />
:Referring to the text-based computer game ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', which contains the memorable line "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".<br />
<br />
;Harper paperback, p.98:"In, Out, and Shake It All About" Vimes' trays appear to be named after actions from folk dance the Hokey Pokey, & may imply that items cycle between In & Out until someone decides to Shake It All About.<br />
<br />
;Page 110:The [[Breccia]] - Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia - is named after a type of rock, specifically "rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay)" (thanks Merriam-Webster).<br />
<br />
;Page 112:Chrysoprase says “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (''quod erat demonstrandum''), Latin meaning “Thus it is proven.”<br />
<br />
;Page 114:Chrysoprase – “And dey cuts Slab wi ‘ bad sulphides an’ cooks it up wi’ ferric chloride and crap like dat. You thought that Slab was bad? You wait till you see Slide.”<br />
:This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine. It's also no wonder ferric chloride has a nasty effect on trolls' silicon brains - it's used to cut circuit boards.<br />
<br />
[[File:The Kansas Saloon Smashers.png|240px|thumb|A warning of the awful consequences of intemperance.]]<br />
;Page 132: Angua comments on the Black Ribboners: 'Lips that touch Ichor shall never touch Mine'<br />
This quotation comes from the song, The Kiss of Prohibition by Harriet Ann Glazebrook, popular with the Temperance movement, having the refrain 'The lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_A._Glazebrook Wikipedia])<br />
<br />
;Page 151: “the clacks company” – The Clacks is the Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine, and is based on the optical telegraphs popular in the late 18th - early 19th century, especially in France. They were introduced in {{TFE}}, but feature most significantly in {{GP}}; see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the latter book]] for more.<br />
<br />
— "That’s a feast for vurms." — ''A Feast for Wormes'' was a 1620 book of poems by English poet Francis Quarles. The titular poem related to human mortality, and the title itself has entered the language as a sort of ''memento mori'' akin to "ashes to ashes". Quarles' title is most probably a reference itself to Henry IV, Part One where the line started by Hotspur and finished by Hal is -"no, Percy, thou art dust<br />
And food for--" <br />
"...for worms, brave Percy..."<br />
<br />
— “And, incidentally, tomato ketchup is not a vegetable,” Sybil added. — In 1981, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration attempted to reclassify tomato ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables rather than condiments for school lunch programs. The goal was to relax nutritional requirements and cut costs. The measure met with resounding disapproval and was eventually rejected. <br />
<br />
;Page 157 (Corgi page 189):"They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."<br />
:Though the book describes [[Andy Hancock|Special Constable Hancock]]'s "new Truncheon" as something very similar to Japanese Nunchukus (usually pronounced "Nunchucks"), the word "numb-nuts" is an insult as well.<br />
<br />
;Pages 169-170 (Harper Torch paperback edition):The footnote describing Empirical Crescent, built by [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]]: "On the outside it was a normal terraced crescent of the period, built of honey-colored stone with the occasional pillar or cherub nailed on. Inside, the front door of No. 1 opened into the back bedroom of No. 15, the ground-floor front window of No. 3 showed the view appropriate to the second floor of No. 9, and smoke from the dining-room fireplace of No. 2 cane out of the chimney of No. 19."<br />
:Reminiscent of the tesseract house in Robert Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House" where the stairs that should lead to the roof deliver you to the ground floor, going out the front door puts you on the second floor and various windows show views of other rooms in the house, a view straight down the side of the Empire State Building (even though the house is in California),an upside down seascape, absolute nothingness and a strange desert landscape. <br />
<br />
;Page 178:Sally says “Well here’s another fine mess.” - a variation of the catch phrase from Laurel and Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”<br />
<br />
;Page 181:''“‘Tawnee’s actually only her pole name,’ Nobby said. ‘She says no one would be interested in an exotic dancer with a name like Betty. She says it sounds like she’d be better with a bowl of cake mixture.’”''<br />
:A reference to both Betty Crocker, a fictional character invented for a brand of cake mixes, and also famous 1940s and '50s burlesque perfomer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A Betty Page], a woman still rated as an icon today who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese. Less likely, but still possible, is Betty Howard, another stripper famous in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
;Page 192:''“Brick thought [...] the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut...”''<br />
:A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.<br />
<br />
;Page 193:Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.<br />
<br />
;Page 199:Vimes is reflecting on the military axiom "couldn't tell if it were arseholes or breakfast time". Vimes considers that however confused he got through lack of sleep, he'd still be able to tell the difference, as "only one involves coffee". Vimes has so far not heard of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_enema coffee enema], then. Maybe his ignorance should be cherished. <br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Gabbro is so good at playing from the [[Dwarfs|dwarf]] viewpoint that his [[Trolls|troll]] game is suffering, and he wants to go to Copperhead to learn from some of the dwarf thudmeisters there."<br />
:Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.<br />
<br />
;Page 214:the game [[Thud]] was developed by Trevor Truran, Bernard the stout, Cunning Artificer to the Gentry, and Terry Pratchett. The game is based on games of the Tafl family, which are distinguished by the unequal size of the opposing forces. The objective is usually for the force of fewer numbers to take all the members of the larger forces whose aim is generally to stop them doing so. A fragment of a gaming board of 18 x 18 squares, found in Wimose, Fyn, Denmark dated prior to AD400 is the first evidence of a game called Tafl, which also regularly appears in the early Icelandic sagas. (from http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Tafl.html)<br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Water dripping on a stone, dissolving and removing. Changing the shape of the world, one drop at a time. Water dripping on a stone, Commander."<br />
:This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.<br />
:"Who knows what old evil exists in the deep darkness under the mountains?"<br />
:There is a hint of ''Lord of the Rings'' here: "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." And: "They delved [...] too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled: Durins Bane."<br />
<br />
;Page 238:"'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."<br />
:24/7 is the usual phrase (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), but it can be easy to forget that the [[Discworld calendar|Discworld week]] contains 8 days. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.<br />
<br />
;Page 243:In the immediate aftermath of the attempt to kill not just Vimes but also Sybil and Young Sam, a nervous deputation of dwarfish civil dignitaries visits Pseudopolis Yard at least partially to assure Vimes they had no part in it. Vimes, under the influence of the vengeful and vindictive Summoning Dark, is in no mood to be diplomatic and his first instinct is to humiliate these dwarfs. His inner dialogue at this point is a stream of hateful invective: "You scum, you rat-sucking little worm eaters!" (etc., for half a page of internalised diatribe)<br />
:It is interesting that American TV cop Sledge Hammer not only ''thinks'' like this, he ''speaks'' and ''acts'' like this - ''all the time''. In fact, one of Sledge's favourite pieces of invective to a suspect is a variation on a theme of "scum-sucker".(Or even ''yoghurt-eater.'') Sledge Hammer is a parody on Dirty Harry, with all the knobs turned up to way past eleven... but this cop-with-issues, played for laughs admittedly, must have at some point contracted the Summoning Dark! Now I'm still looking for any instance of Vimes saying ''Trust me, I know what I'm doing''...<br />
:Sledge is generally prevented (by restraint or persuasion) from causing extreme mayhem, by his totally-opposite-to-the-point-of-cliché partner. Sergeant Dori Doreau is a thoughtful, gentle, liberally inclined policewoman who acts as the brains of the outfit, while Sledge provides the muscle. Later in the book, Angua and Cheery assume the Doreau role to Vimes' Sledge, and bring him back to rational normality from a beserker-like frenzy.<br />
<br />
;Page 249/US paperback page 258:"Turd races in the gutter [...] with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".<br />
:A reference to the game of Pooh-sticks from the Winnie the Pooh stories, where the characters have races with sticks floating under a bridge. Also mentioned at this point is 'Tiddley-rats', the Ankh-Morpork gutter version of Tiddlywinks.<br />
<br />
;Page 253:"There's throwin' up and yellin' and unladylike behavior and takin' their vests off and I don't know what. 'S called...' he scratched his head '... [[Roistering|minge drinking]]."<br />
:Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].<br />
<br />
;Page 274:Constable [[Visit-the-Ungodly-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets]], with his door-to-door evangelical zeal, is a reference to Roundworld Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute their religious pamphlets in a similar manner. His god, [[Om]], is named for the mystical or sacred syllable in many Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.<br />
<br />
;Page 290:Detritus’ crossbow, “The [[Piecemaker]]” - a pun on the famous handgun, the [[wikipedia:Colt_Single_Action_Army|Colt "Peacemaker" .45 revolver]], as supposedly used by Wyatt Earp.<br />
<br />
;Page 290/Corgi page 352:"Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."<br />
:The speed limit and flaming cabbages is probably a nod to the ''Back to the Future'' films, where the DeLorean traveled through time when it reached 88 mph, leaving flaming trails behind it. Pratchett was known to be a fan of the films; as recounted in {{ALWF}} he once almost bought a DeLorean.<br />
<br />
;Page 294/UK paperback page 356:"He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."<br />
:Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.<br />
<br />
;Page 298:"The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes.<br />'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."<br />
:Another possible reference to ''Back to the Future'', in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".<br />
<br />
;Audible part 2, 2:55:18:"... Brick, who had not picked a good day to go cold turkey, it was turning out to be frozen Roc."<br />
:Aside from the rock (stone) / roc (giant mythical bird) pun in the punchline, the setup is also funny as a reference to the "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines/sniffing glue!" running gag by the air-traffic control tower supervisor in 1980 comedy film ''[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Airplane!#Steve_McCroskey Airplane!]'' (known as ''Flying High!'' in some countries). This may not have been intended, but the scene does involve a rough landing of a flying vehicle (into cabbages).<br />
<br />
;Page 301:Sybil’s friends from the Quirm College for Young Ladies “all seemed to have names like Bunny or Bubbles” – a reference to stereotypical British public-school girls' nicknames. <br />
<br />
;Page 305/Corgi p. 368:"The other thing he noticed was that the landscape ahead was strangely bluish, while behind them it had a relatively red tint."<br />
:This is a reference to the blue and red shift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move toward a source of waves, the wave frequency gets higher; when you move away from the wave source, you observe a lower frequency. Blue has a higher frequency than red, so things you're moving toward look bluer, and things you're moving away from look redder. This effect is only noticeable when you're moving at a significant fraction of light speed - like, for galaxies moving away from the Milky Way. But on Discworld, the speed of light is only a few hundred miles per hour (rather than nearly a billion miles per hour in our world). So the coach at 60 mph or so according to Willikins' calculation is going fast enough to see blue and red shift. This is also the only time vehicles carrying officers of the Watch have red and blue lights, just as police cars do in many places on Roundworld.<br />
<br />
;Page 328:“''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes''” - a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which literally translates to “Who will guard the guards themselves?”, and is variously translated in colloquial English as “Who watches the watchmen?”, “Who watches the watchers?”, “Who will guard the guards?”, “Who shall watch the watchers?”, “Who polices the police?” etc. Made famous in the graphic novel ''[[wikipedia:Watchmen|Watchmen]]'' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the ''Watchmen'' are vigilantes (i.e. costumed superheroes) that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. This is taken to extremes: several of the "heroes" kill criminals they encounter.<br />
<br />
;Page 329:''... until they reached a stalagmite. It was about eight feet high. It was a troll. It wasn't a rock shaped like a troll, it was a troll.'''<br />
:Although items left in limestone caves can become coated (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Shipton%27s_Cave Mother Shipton's cave]), I can find no known example of an actual human being petrified in this way. However in Rider Haggard's story, King Solomons Mines (1885, p160), the Kukuana people preserve their deceased monarchs in this way.<br />
<br />
:... presently we observed that from the roof of the chamber the water fell steadily, drip! drop! drip! on to the neck of the corpse, whence it ran down over the entire surface, and finally escaped into the rock through a tiny hole in the table. Then I guessed what the film was — Twala's body was being transformed into a stalactite.<br />
<br />
;Page 344:''"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'''<br />
:This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.<br />
<br />
;Page 348:''"Bashfullsson rose, looking shocked and massaging his hand. 'It is like using an axe,' he said, to no one in particular, 'but without the axe...'"''<br />
:It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thud!]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thud!/Annotations&diff=34696Book:Thud!/Annotations2023-06-02T19:05:50Z<p>Superluser: Johann Gambolputty... of Ulm</p>
<hr />
<div>Annotations for {{T!}}. Unless otherwise specified, page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition.<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
* The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar. See also the "long chant" of [[Trolls (The Long Earth)|the other trolls]] in [[The Long Earth]] and sequels.<br />
* Right at the end of the book, Colon and Nobbs are on guard duty in the Cave of the Kings. After discussing the state of play between Nobby and his pole-dancer girlfriend Tawneee, Colon, perhaps by association of ideas, reins in an over-enthusiastic Dwarf with the rebuke "No touching, sir, or I'm afraid I shall have to cut your fingers orf". Almost as if he were acting as bouncer in a pole-dancing club, where there is usually a strict rule about touching...<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
;Unnumbered pages:[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's {{wp|Allegory of the cave|Allegory of the cave}} completely on its head.<br />
:A curious coincidence is that Tak, the name of the creator in dwarfish mythology, is also the name of an ancient evil spirit featured in two of Stephen King's novels, ''Desperation'' and ''The Regulators'' (written as Richard Bachman). Like the Summoning Dark, King's Tak comes out of a deep mine and inhabits a human host - in ''Desperation'' it is a police officer who becomes a sort of berserker. The similarities go no nearer than that, but it is slightly unsettling.<br />
;Page 14:“[[Fizz]]” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as [[wikipedia:Phiz|Phiz]], the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens, and sometime cartoonist for ''Punch'' magazine.<br />
(Harper paperback, p.14) "but they end 'von Humpeding.'" Very reminiscent of the Monty Python sketch "It's the Arts" where they discuss "Johann Gambolputty de von [trimmed for brevity] von Hautkopft of Ulm"<br />
;Page 17:[[Otto Chriek]] – “Little, fussy Otto, in his red-lined black opera cloak...his carefully cut widow’s peak and, not least, his ridiculous accent.... He looked funny, a joke, a music-hall vampire.” Otto resembles the campy vampire, made famous by Bela Lugosi.<br />
;Page 19:the “Ankh-Morpork Mission of the Uberwald League of Temperance" and black ribbons - A reference to the various temperance organizations in active in the 19th Century in Britain and other countries, such as the [[wikipedia:Woman's Christian Temperance Union|Woman's Christian Temperance Movement]] (which used a white ribbon.) These organizations required members to take a pledge of abstinence from all forms of alcohol. The black ribbons are reminiscent of the scarlet sash worn by members of the Junior Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s 1984. Similar red ribbons were worn by the {{wp|Komsomol|Komsomolyet}} (Коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи) movement - the Soviet Communist Party's youth wing. <br />
:Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a tee-totaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.<br />
:Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' colour a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!<br />
;Page 30:''Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”<br />
:Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”''<br />
:A reference to Mr. Clean cleanser, a product made by Proctor and Gamble. Or possibly, given that Pterry is British, to Mr Sheen brand of cleaners and polishes made by Reckitt Benckiser.<br />
<br />
;Page 31:''"...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."''<br />
:Foreshadowing.<br />
<br />
;Page 32:“Koom Valley Day” - Koom Valley Day and the ongoing theme of the dwarves and trolls reliving an ancient battle again and again is reminiscent of the parades held in Northern Ireland by Unionist and Republican groups. The largest of these are usually held by Protestant organizations on the twelfth of July in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. The Republican parades celebrating the Easter Rising can be large, but are not nearly so provocative, as they are not deliberately routed through Loyalist areas. <br />
<br />
;Page 34 (US page 25):"That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"<br />
:A slightly obscure cross-book joke: in {{GP}}, [[Moist von Lipwig]] handed over handling of the issuing of new stamps to [[Stanley]], who is said on (US p. 33) of said book to have been "raised '''by''' peas", a "[v]ery unusual case. A good lad [...], but he tends to twist toward the sun, sir, if you get my meaning." Thus, "pea-brained" is here not so much an insult as a descriptor.<br />
<br />
;Page 37:"And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."<br />
:So what we have here is an {{wp|Interview With A Vampire|Interview With A Vampire}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 42:Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. <br />
:It has also been suggested that there is a strong resemblance, in voice and manner and aesthetic, to Roundworld art critic Brian Sewell (of the London Evening Standard, of the hernia-inducing Sunday heavy papers, and a frequently used pundit on those late night TV arts shows like "Newsnight Review" and "The South Bank Show"). Read his surname as "Sew-Well" in the (non)-seamstress [[Sandra Battye]] sense, and it can be seen how he mutates into "Reynold Stitched".<br />
:For a sample of the real-life Reynold Stitched in action as art critic, try this: [http://iiiiiiandy.vodpod.com/video/37749-last-of-the-medici-brian-sewell]<br />
<br />
;Page 42:The Battle of Koom Valley painting – a cyclorama is a panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to provide a viewer standing in the middle of the cylinder with a 360° view of the painting. The intended effect is to make a viewer, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of a historic event or famous place. Panoramas were invented by Irishman Robert Barker, who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama in Edinburgh in 1787. Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century. (from Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
;Page 48:painting of "The Goddess [[Anoia]] Arising from the Cutlery" - A reference to The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Unfortunately for Nobby, it does not have an urn or plinth in it, but there are two cherubs.<br />
<br />
;Page 48 (Corgi page 57):"The title was ''The [[Koom Valley Codex]]''."<br />
:The whole craze about people buying this book claiming secret messages in a painting is an obvious reference to ''The DaVinci Code'', which claims that there are secrets hidden in the Mona Lisa. ''The DaVinci Code'' is a work of fiction, though, whereas ''The Koom Valley Codex''</I> seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the ''{{wp|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail}}'' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980s enjoyed a certain vogue and later on served to inspire ''The DaVinci Code''. (Dan Brown's character Leigh Teabing is a direct homage to HBHG's authors.) In these books, the authors link together a set of historical puzzles and anomalies, including the claim that occult secrets are encoded in a series of well-known paintings, to support the hypothesis that Jesus Christ did not actually die on the cross. (In fact, he was resuscitated from near-death, and smuggled to the South of France by Joseph of Arimathea to live out a quiet life in retirement. He married Mary Magdalene, and their bloodline not only became that of the Kings of France, it persists today in exceptionally able or gifted people around the world.) If true, this claim would have the effect of wholly discrediting Christianity, and they claim that the truth has thus been suppressed by generations of Popes. It's worth noting that one of the authors has since acknowledged that the content of the book was a hoax.<br />
:More obscurely, the obsessives who searched Rascal's painting for clues are reminiscent of the real-life searchers (Masqueraders) who'd tromped all over England looking for a jeweled-hare pendant from 1979 to 1982, guided by clues they'd found (or imagined finding) in Kit Williams' picture book ''Masquerade''. As in ''Thud!'', the hare was initially found by searchers who'd resorted to unscrupulous methods (murder by the deep-downers, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.<br />
<br />
;Page 57 (Corgi page 68):"War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. <br />
:"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" <br />
:"Absol- Well, okay."<br />
:A reference to the popular song by Edwin Starr, whose refrain goes, "War: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing." It has been covered by countless bands since then.<br />
:Nobby's suggestions that war might be good for freeing slaves or for defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor appear to refer to the American Civil War and World War II, often considered just or worthwhile wars for those reasons.<br />
:Also - to my mind at least - a clear reference to the famous scene in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'', when Reg (the leader of one of the innumerable rebellious groups that infest Judea) asks "What have the Romans ever done for us?" and is then more than exasperated when his (equally anti-Roman) collaborators proceed to enumerate about fifteen immensely impressive achievements of the Romans that have made life far better for the peoples they have subjugated.<br />
<br />
;Page 59:“Do not . . . what do they call it. . . go spare?” - “Spare - adj. British. Out of control, furious. The word usually in the form ‘go spare’ has been in use since before World War II. It derives from the notion of excess.” From “The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang” by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990). (from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/572.html)<br />
<br />
;Page 62:"I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry&trade;"..."<br />
:The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose&trade; Integrated Messenger Service?"<br />
:Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks. A "bluenose" is a Whitehousian crusader against pornographic ("blue") material, particularly one that is suspiciously good at locating said material in order to be offended by it. These two jokes are evidently Pterry having a little dig at the irony that "social" media devices are often (mainly?) used for the twin purposes of ruining human interaction and solo sex. <br />
<br />
;Page 63:"How about a game of Splong!&trade;, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."<br />
:Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.<br />
<br />
;Page 63:"My iHUM&trade; function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time&mdash;"<br />
:{{wp|iTunes|iTunes}} is a digital media player application developed by Apple Computers, for playing and organizing digital music and video files, and for transferring them to its iPod portable MP3 players (and, later, iPhones). iPhones now access music etc independently, and on macOS iTunes has been replaced by seperate apps for Music, Podcasts, Books and TV, but its still available for Windows. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE&trade; technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like <i>Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis</i> and predated the iPod by a significant amount. Also note that the word itself is "iHUM"; we can assume that the imp simply hums the tune in question rather than replicating it exactly. It also suggests, if one is prepared to mentally squint, the polite euphemism used to describe their trade by Assassins: they ''inhume'' rather than ''murder''. Does this suggest that the imp is perfectly capable of ''murdering'' a tune, rather like those ever-so-subtly not-quite-right MIDI files which digitize otherwise quite nice tunes and turn them into a sort of lift muzak? (Shades of the robotic Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Company Choir in Douglas Adams' ''Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy'' singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune.)<br />
<br />
;Page 69]:"[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."<br />
:The "Long Dark" rune, the symbol for a mine, is the same shape as the sign for the London Underground. This may be foreshadowing to the Patricians plans for the Devices, such as mining carts loaded with people (wink wink).<br />
<br />
;Pages 74, 93:The “Following Dark” symbol which Helmclever makes with his spilled coffee (explained by Carrot later) is a circle with two diagonal lines through it. This is similar to British roadsigns meaning “No Parking.”<br />
<br />
;Page 83:"There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."<br />
:Referring to the text-based computer game ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', which contains the memorable line "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".<br />
<br />
;Page 110:The [[Breccia]] - Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia - is named after a type of rock, specifically "rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay)" (thanks Merriam-Webster).<br />
<br />
;Page 112:Chrysoprase says “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (''quod erat demonstrandum''), Latin meaning “Thus it is proven.”<br />
<br />
;Page 114:Chrysoprase – “And dey cuts Slab wi ‘ bad sulphides an’ cooks it up wi’ ferric chloride and crap like dat. You thought that Slab was bad? You wait till you see Slide.”<br />
:This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine. It's also no wonder ferric chloride has a nasty effect on trolls' silicon brains - it's used to cut circuit boards.<br />
<br />
[[File:The Kansas Saloon Smashers.png|240px|thumb|A warning of the awful consequences of intemperance.]]<br />
;Page 132: Angua comments on the Black Ribboners: 'Lips that touch Ichor shall never touch Mine'<br />
This quotation comes from the song, The Kiss of Prohibition by Harriet Ann Glazebrook, popular with the Temperance movement, having the refrain 'The lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_A._Glazebrook Wikipedia])<br />
<br />
;Page 151: “the clacks company” – The Clacks is the Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine, and is based on the optical telegraphs popular in the late 18th - early 19th century, especially in France. They were introduced in {{TFE}}, but feature most significantly in {{GP}}; see [[Book:Going Postal/Annotations|the annotations for the latter book]] for more.<br />
<br />
— "That’s a feast for vurms." — ''A Feast for Wormes'' was a 1620 book of poems by English poet Francis Quarles. The titular poem related to human mortality, and the title itself has entered the language as a sort of ''memento mori'' akin to "ashes to ashes". Quarles' title is most probably a reference itself to Henry IV, Part One where the line started by Hotspur and finished by Hal is -"no, Percy, thou art dust<br />
And food for--" <br />
"...for worms, brave Percy..."<br />
<br />
— “And, incidentally, tomato ketchup is not a vegetable,” Sybil added. — In 1981, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration attempted to reclassify tomato ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables rather than condiments for school lunch programs. The goal was to relax nutritional requirements and cut costs. The measure met with resounding disapproval and was eventually rejected. <br />
<br />
;Page 157 (Corgi page 189):"They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."<br />
:Though the book describes [[Andy Hancock|Special Constable Hancock]]'s "new Truncheon" as something very similar to Japanese Nunchukus (usually pronounced "Nunchucks"), the word "numb-nuts" is an insult as well.<br />
<br />
;Pages 169-170 (Harper Torch paperback edition):The footnote describing Empirical Crescent, built by [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]]: "On the outside it was a normal terraced crescent of the period, built of honey-colored stone with the occasional pillar or cherub nailed on. Inside, the front door of No. 1 opened into the back bedroom of No. 15, the ground-floor front window of No. 3 showed the view appropriate to the second floor of No. 9, and smoke from the dining-room fireplace of No. 2 cane out of the chimney of No. 19."<br />
:Reminiscent of the tesseract house in Robert Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House" where the stairs that should lead to the roof deliver you to the ground floor, going out the front door puts you on the second floor and various windows show views of other rooms in the house, a view straight down the side of the Empire State Building (even though the house is in California),an upside down seascape, absolute nothingness and a strange desert landscape. <br />
<br />
;Page 178:Sally says “Well here’s another fine mess.” - a variation of the catch phrase from Laurel and Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”<br />
<br />
;Page 181:''“‘Tawnee’s actually only her pole name,’ Nobby said. ‘She says no one would be interested in an exotic dancer with a name like Betty. She says it sounds like she’d be better with a bowl of cake mixture.’”''<br />
:A reference to both Betty Crocker, a fictional character invented for a brand of cake mixes, and also famous 1940s and '50s burlesque perfomer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A Betty Page], a woman still rated as an icon today who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese. Less likely, but still possible, is Betty Howard, another stripper famous in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
;Page 192:''“Brick thought [...] the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut...”''<br />
:A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.<br />
<br />
;Page 193:Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.<br />
<br />
;Page 199:Vimes is reflecting on the military axiom "couldn't tell if it were arseholes or breakfast time". Vimes considers that however confused he got through lack of sleep, he'd still be able to tell the difference, as "only one involves coffee". Vimes has so far not heard of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_enema coffee enema], then. Maybe his ignorance should be cherished. <br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Gabbro is so good at playing from the [[Dwarfs|dwarf]] viewpoint that his [[Trolls|troll]] game is suffering, and he wants to go to Copperhead to learn from some of the dwarf thudmeisters there."<br />
:Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.<br />
<br />
;Page 214:the game [[Thud]] was developed by Trevor Truran, Bernard the stout, Cunning Artificer to the Gentry, and Terry Pratchett. The game is based on games of the Tafl family, which are distinguished by the unequal size of the opposing forces. The objective is usually for the force of fewer numbers to take all the members of the larger forces whose aim is generally to stop them doing so. A fragment of a gaming board of 18 x 18 squares, found in Wimose, Fyn, Denmark dated prior to AD400 is the first evidence of a game called Tafl, which also regularly appears in the early Icelandic sagas. (from http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Tafl.html)<br />
<br />
;Page 215:"Water dripping on a stone, dissolving and removing. Changing the shape of the world, one drop at a time. Water dripping on a stone, Commander."<br />
:This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.<br />
:"Who knows what old evil exists in the deep darkness under the mountains?"<br />
:There is a hint of ''Lord of the Rings'' here: "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." And: "They delved [...] too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled: Durins Bane."<br />
<br />
;Page 238:"'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."<br />
:24/7 is the usual phrase (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), but it can be easy to forget that the [[Discworld calendar|Discworld week]] contains 8 days. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.<br />
<br />
;Page 243:In the immediate aftermath of the attempt to kill not just Vimes but also Sybil and Young Sam, a nervous deputation of dwarfish civil dignitaries visits Pseudopolis Yard at least partially to assure Vimes they had no part in it. Vimes, under the influence of the vengeful and vindictive Summoning Dark, is in no mood to be diplomatic and his first instinct is to humiliate these dwarfs. His inner dialogue at this point is a stream of hateful invective: "You scum, you rat-sucking little worm eaters!" (etc., for half a page of internalised diatribe)<br />
:It is interesting that American TV cop Sledge Hammer not only ''thinks'' like this, he ''speaks'' and ''acts'' like this - ''all the time''. In fact, one of Sledge's favourite pieces of invective to a suspect is a variation on a theme of "scum-sucker".(Or even ''yoghurt-eater.'') Sledge Hammer is a parody on Dirty Harry, with all the knobs turned up to way past eleven... but this cop-with-issues, played for laughs admittedly, must have at some point contracted the Summoning Dark! Now I'm still looking for any instance of Vimes saying ''Trust me, I know what I'm doing''...<br />
:Sledge is generally prevented (by restraint or persuasion) from causing extreme mayhem, by his totally-opposite-to-the-point-of-cliché partner. Sergeant Dori Doreau is a thoughtful, gentle, liberally inclined policewoman who acts as the brains of the outfit, while Sledge provides the muscle. Later in the book, Angua and Cheery assume the Doreau role to Vimes' Sledge, and bring him back to rational normality from a beserker-like frenzy.<br />
<br />
;Page 249/US paperback page 258:"Turd races in the gutter [...] with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".<br />
:A reference to the game of Pooh-sticks from the Winnie the Pooh stories, where the characters have races with sticks floating under a bridge. Also mentioned at this point is 'Tiddley-rats', the Ankh-Morpork gutter version of Tiddlywinks.<br />
<br />
;Page 253:"There's throwin' up and yellin' and unladylike behavior and takin' their vests off and I don't know what. 'S called...' he scratched his head '... [[Roistering|minge drinking]]."<br />
:Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].<br />
<br />
;Page 274:Constable [[Visit-the-Ungodly-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets]], with his door-to-door evangelical zeal, is a reference to Roundworld Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute their religious pamphlets in a similar manner. His god, [[Om]], is named for the mystical or sacred syllable in many Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.<br />
<br />
;Page 290:Detritus’ crossbow, “The [[Piecemaker]]” - a pun on the famous handgun, the [[wikipedia:Colt_Single_Action_Army|Colt "Peacemaker" .45 revolver]], as supposedly used by Wyatt Earp.<br />
<br />
;Page 290/Corgi page 352:"Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."<br />
:The speed limit and flaming cabbages is probably a nod to the ''Back to the Future'' films, where the DeLorean traveled through time when it reached 88 mph, leaving flaming trails behind it. Pratchett was known to be a fan of the films; as recounted in {{ALWF}} he once almost bought a DeLorean.<br />
<br />
;Page 294/UK paperback page 356:"He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."<br />
:Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.<br />
<br />
;Page 298:"The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes.<br />'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."<br />
:Another possible reference to ''Back to the Future'', in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".<br />
<br />
;Audible part 2, 2:55:18:"... Brick, who had not picked a good day to go cold turkey, it was turning out to be frozen Roc."<br />
:Aside from the rock (stone) / roc (giant mythical bird) pun in the punchline, the setup is also funny as a reference to the "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines/sniffing glue!" running gag by the air-traffic control tower supervisor in 1980 comedy film ''[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Airplane!#Steve_McCroskey Airplane!]'' (known as ''Flying High!'' in some countries). This may not have been intended, but the scene does involve a rough landing of a flying vehicle (into cabbages).<br />
<br />
;Page 301:Sybil’s friends from the Quirm College for Young Ladies “all seemed to have names like Bunny or Bubbles” – a reference to stereotypical British public-school girls' nicknames. <br />
<br />
;Page 305/Corgi p. 368:"The other thing he noticed was that the landscape ahead was strangely bluish, while behind them it had a relatively red tint."<br />
:This is a reference to the blue and red shift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move toward a source of waves, the wave frequency gets higher; when you move away from the wave source, you observe a lower frequency. Blue has a higher frequency than red, so things you're moving toward look bluer, and things you're moving away from look redder. This effect is only noticeable when you're moving at a significant fraction of light speed - like, for galaxies moving away from the Milky Way. But on Discworld, the speed of light is only a few hundred miles per hour (rather than nearly a billion miles per hour in our world). So the coach at 60 mph or so according to Willikins' calculation is going fast enough to see blue and red shift. This is also the only time vehicles carrying officers of the Watch have red and blue lights, just as police cars do in many places on Roundworld.<br />
<br />
;Page 328:“''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes''” - a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which literally translates to “Who will guard the guards themselves?”, and is variously translated in colloquial English as “Who watches the watchmen?”, “Who watches the watchers?”, “Who will guard the guards?”, “Who shall watch the watchers?”, “Who polices the police?” etc. Made famous in the graphic novel ''[[wikipedia:Watchmen|Watchmen]]'' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the ''Watchmen'' are vigilantes (i.e. costumed superheroes) that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. This is taken to extremes: several of the "heroes" kill criminals they encounter.<br />
<br />
;Page 329:''... until they reached a stalagmite. It was about eight feet high. It was a troll. It wasn't a rock shaped like a troll, it was a troll.'''<br />
:Although items left in limestone caves can become coated (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Shipton%27s_Cave Mother Shipton's cave]), I can find no known example of an actual human being petrified in this way. However in Rider Haggard's story, King Solomons Mines (1885, p160), the Kukuana people preserve their deceased monarchs in this way.<br />
<br />
:... presently we observed that from the roof of the chamber the water fell steadily, drip! drop! drip! on to the neck of the corpse, whence it ran down over the entire surface, and finally escaped into the rock through a tiny hole in the table. Then I guessed what the film was — Twala's body was being transformed into a stalactite.<br />
<br />
;Page 344:''"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'''<br />
:This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.<br />
<br />
;Page 348:''"Bashfullsson rose, looking shocked and massaging his hand. 'It is like using an axe,' he said, to no one in particular, 'but without the axe...'"''<br />
:It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thud!]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Going_Postal/Annotations&diff=34682Book:Going Postal/Annotations2023-05-28T01:07:30Z<p>Superluser: fracas v rumpus</p>
<hr />
<div>[[Annotations]] for the book {{GP}}<br />
==By page number==<br />
Page numbers refer to the U.S. edition<br />
<br />
Cover - The cover design was inspired by the original ''Star Wars'' film poster, because there are other Star Wars references in the book.<br />
<br />
Title- Around 1986 several mentally stressed U.S. Postal Service employees went on a shooting rampage at post offices, killing employees and bystanders. This resulted in the U.S. Postal Service (and many other organizations) re-evaluating employee work conditions and decreasing stress in the work place. The term has remained in U.S. slang for when an employee or ex-employee goes on a murder rampage at his workplace, though it is more used to predict that someone is getting upset with job conditions enough to go postal. In the book this emotional condition is perfectly represented by Stanley. <br />
<br />
Character Annotation on Tolliver Groat:-<br />
<br />
The name, the character description, and the Gormenghast-like Post office building, are straight out of Mervyn Peake: Tolliver Groat's personal take on the grotesque means that he could walk in to Peake's fantasy virtually as is. Indeed, Groat's dogged adherence to rule and ritual, his having practically memorised the Post Office rulebook long after the system has effectively collapsed and his insistence the rules still be followed because, well, they are the Rules, is reminiscent of Gormenghast's Master of Ceremonies, the ageing, repellent, and soap-innocent Barquentine. Moist von Lipwig has arrived in the Post Office system in time to be a less malevolent Steerpike - i.e., the character who shakes the system up and reinvigorates it. (Hmmm, Moist as Steerpike in a Gormenghast-like system - the manipulative outsider who causes a stir and gets things done.) Steerpike also, metaphorically and literally, climbs from the lowest Hell-like depths of the kitchens where is otherwise imprisoned for life as a lowly scullion, to the higher floors of the castle - via the ''outside'' of the building - where nobody questions his right to be there and he can re-integrate himself at a higher social level with a series of plausible cover stories. Compare this to Moist's resurrection from the dead and rebirth into a higher social position. The climbing metaphor becomes more explicit in {{MM}}, where, as with Steerpike's desperation climb, Moist is found edificeering on the exterior of his own building and just about to be exposed as a thief and a crook - for all the wrong reasons...<br />
<br />
Prologue - <br />
"The flotillas of the dead sailed around the world on underwater rivers."<br />
Although this idea may seem fanciful, it has a basis in reality. The ocean does have layers of different density (based on temperature and salt concentration). A submarine can adjust its buoyancy so that "it stops sinking and ends up floating on an underwater surface, beyond the reach of the storms but far above the ocean floor." (Sir Terry makes a minor error that the effect is due to density, not viscosity).<br />
<br />
A quotation from a former submarine sonar Chief Petty Officer ([https://www.quora.com/Can-submarines-stay-still-underwater-without-moving-at-a-given-depth]):<br />
<br />
"If the SVP (Sound Velocity Profile) shows a strong thermocline change, we would have negative buoyancy above the layer, and positive buoyancy below the layer. Slow down, using the planes to dive towards layer depth, and just sit on the layer! It’s just as stable as sitting on the bottom, and you can sit there, motionless, forever!"<br />
<br />
(p.4) Harper paperback — "It could send messages up to 4 times faster than the old towers, thanks to the new shutter system and the colored lights" — This appears to be a reference to fiber optic data transmission. The use of multimodal (multiple color) fiber optic transmitters & optical fiber has increased the bandwidth to 40Gbps (though the same bandwidth can be achieved using single mode fiber these days)<br />
<br />
(p8) US hardcover- – reference to “the clacks”<br />
&ndash; this is a Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine and is based on “A semaphore telegraph, optical telegraph, shutter telegraph chain, Chappe telegraph, or Napoleonic semaphore is a system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the mechanical elements; it is read when the shutter is in a fixed position. These systems were popular in the late 18th - early 19th century.”(Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
(p11) US hardcover - "They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully” <br />
&ndash; This is a paraphrase of a quote by Samuel Johnson: "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."<br />
<br />
(p11) " 'Er... it's not as bad a thing I do now...er'"<br />
&ndash; Perhaps this is a spoof of the famous speech Sidney Carton says before he is executed in Dickens' ''Tale of Two Cities''. ("It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."[http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/a-tale-of-two-cities/summary-and-analysis/book-3-chapter-15]) There is some ironic similarity here. Carton stepped in nobly to die for another man whom he physically resembled. Here, Moist is being executed under the alias of Albert Spangler. In both cases, Carton and von Lipwig are dying under someone else's name.<br />
<br />
(p12) "What you had to do in this life was get past the pineapple, Moist told himself. It was big and sharp and knobbly, but there might be peaches underneath. It was a myth to live by and so, right now, totally useless."<br />
&ndash; This philosophy is mentioned many times in the book and sounds like a somewhat ironic send-up of Forrest Gump's philosophy about life and a box of chocolates.<br />
<br />
(p13)US hardcover: Mr. Wilkinson “I told him, sir, that fruit baskets is like life: until you’ve got the pineapple off’t the top you never know what’s underneath.” <br />
&ndash; Reminiscent of the Forrest Gump quote: “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.’”<br />
<br />
A dialogue in {{TLC}} presages the whole ''getting past the pineapple'' bit. Corgi PB pp64-67, where amongst other things the Senior Wrangler discloses his aunt was a victim of one, a woman who literally could not get past the pineapple. <br />
<br />
(p20) "They'd clamped it. They'd bloody clamped it...."<br />
&ndash; The bright yellow tire lock (wheel boots) is sometimes used by law enforcement in our world for the same purpose.<br />
<br />
(p22) "'Mr. [[Pump]] does not sleep. Mr. Pump does not eat. And Mr. Pump, Postmaster General, does not stop.'"<br />
* Possibly a paraphrase from the 1984 film ''The Terminator'': "That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"<br />
* It's close to a quote from the 1999 film ''The Mummy'': "He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."<br />
<br />
(p23) "'Wait! Wait! There's a rule! A [[golems|golem]] mustn't harm a human being or allow a human being to come to harm!'"<br />
&ndash; This is the first of Isaac Asimov's {{wp|Three_Laws_of_Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics}} (Golems are the [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]] equivalent of robots). Asimov, of course, didn't add the conditional "unless ordered to do so by duly constituted authority" that Vetinari did.<br />
<br />
(p26) "'"NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLO M OF NI T CAN STAY THESE MES ENGERS ABO T THEIR DUTY."'"<br />
&ndash; The inscription on the General Post Office in New York City reads: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service_creed] This was also referenced in {{MAA}}.<br />
<br />
(p26) "'Who's [[Mrs. Cake]]?... They seem pretty frightened of her."<br />
&ndash; [[Mrs. Cake]], first introduced in ''[[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', is a psychic medium who, more importantly, runs a boarding house for the undead of Ankh-Morpork.<br />
<br />
(p33)US hardcover(footnote) “Dimwell Arrhythmic Rhyming Slang” is a variation on Cockney rhyming slang. The example, “Apples and Pears” is from Cockney slang. Rhyming Slang phrases are derived from taking an expression which rhymes with a word and then using that expression instead of the word. For example the word "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook". In many cases the rhyming word is omitted - so you won't find too many Londoners having a "butcher's hook" at this site, but you might find a few having a "butcher's". The rhyming word is not always omitted so Cockney expressions can vary in their construction, and it is simply a matter of convention which version is used. (from http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk)<br />
<br />
(p47) "'[Wings] on his hat and his ankles,' said Stanley. "So he could fly the messages at the speed of ... messages.'"<br />
&ndash; Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) was the messenger to the gods in general and Jupiter (Zeus) in particular. He's commonly depicted with a winged cap and ankles. As well as making a neat stand-alone joke, the concept of the modesty-saving fig-leaf also having wings neatly pokes fun at the reason ''why'' fig-leaves went on public statuary in the first place. These were a Victorian invention devised to spare unmarried ladies under thirty from the sight even of sculpted male genitalia, carved by their ''unthinking'' forebears in earlier centuries. statues up to and including Michelangelo's ''David'', which for several hundred years had flaunted all, were issued the standard fig-leaf. (The fig was chosen ostensibly because the Bible identifies it as the leaf used by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, when ''they saw they were naked, and they were ashamed''.) This contributor has been to the National Museum in Berlin, where a rotunda houses old statues on which, without exception, the penises of the males on display have been excised and drilled through, so as to house the mounting for the fig-leaf... ouch... Of course, a ''second'' referent for fig leaves with wings comes from wall frescoes discovered intact at the Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. On these imaginatively bawdy paintings, you may see that which the Victorians thought necessary to cover with a fig leaf, but flying round independently of any attached body, propelled by their very own sets of wings. In one mural, young women are trying to catch them as they buzz around in a flotilla... indeed, a popular lucky charm/religious amulet worn by Romans, frequently discovered in archaeological digs, was a pendant of an erect penis and testicles, with wings. This apparently symbolised fertility and good health as well as assuring a healthy sex life. It was worn around the neck in the same way other religions might wear a cross, or indeed a turtle. (Why do you get the feeling the wrong religion won in ancient Rome?) I also can't help thinking of the Special Air Service's winged dagger cap badge in a new and Freudian light here... Conflating these two concepts - Victorian prudery and healthy bawdiness - in the form of a confused-looking fig leaf with wings on, would suggest Ankh-Morpork is a place confused about what its attitude to sexuality should be... just like modern Britain, in fact! <br />
<br />
Also note Om-as-Tortoise's desperate curse on Brother Nhumrod in {{SG}} (Corgi pb p 40) - ''"Your sexual organs to sprout wings and fly away!"<br />
<br />
(p56) "'Be with you in jus't one moment, s'ir, I'm ju'st&mdash;'"<br />
&ndash; Greengrocers throughout the English-speaking world (but in England in particular) are known for their persistent abuse of the apostrophe-ess combination on their handwritten signs.<br />
<br />
(p63) "'The free golems work 24-8...."<br />
&ndash; It's rarely mentioned anymore that the number [[7a|eight]] is magically significant on the Disc and tends to occur wherever our world would use a seven. In particular, the Discworld week is 8 days long. But at this point, go to your copy of {{GP}}, which is the first Discworld book to be separated into formal chapters. (Each has a heading where the chapter contents are summarised at the start, in the manner of a Victorian morality fable). Now look at the chapter heading for the one that comes in between Chapter Seven and Chapter Nine. Look ''closely'' at it. <br />
<br />
(p.65) Harper paperback — acuphilia appears to be a neologism by Terry, the love of pins, or perhaps love of accupunture<br />
<br />
(p72) "'However, I note that since you acquired the [[Grand Trunk Semaphore Company|Grand Trunk]] at a fraction of its value, breakdowns are increasing, the speed of messages has slowed down, and the cost to customers has risen.'"<br />
&ndash; While there are some parallels to the Grand Trunk and America's now-broken AT&T telecommunications monopoly, there are far more parallels to the UK's British Telecom, which is still a monopoly there and has very few friends among its consumers. Interestingly, the history of BT is that it was originally part of the British Post Office and was still known as "Post Office Telecommunications" until 1980, shortly before it became privatized.<br />
<br />
In telecommunications, "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunking trunking]" is the process of taking several smaller data streams (originally, phone lines, but later applied to data) & aggregating them onto a higher bandwidth circuit which takes them all.<br />
<br />
(p74) "'This, my lord'," said Gilt, gesturing to the little side table..."'Is this not an original [[hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl]] slab?'"<br />
&ndash;The Vikings were known to have played a game called hnefatafl (king's board). It consisted of a marked board and peg-like pieces and seems to have some similarities to backgammon. "Hnefatafl" seems to be the origin of the word used for the Discworld game.<br />
<br />
Of course we learn much more about this game in {{T!}}<br />
<br />
(p83)US hardcover: Stanley: “See a pin pick it up and all day long you’ll have a pin.”<br />
&ndash; A variation on the Roundworld rhyme “See a pin pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.” Often 'penny' is substituted for pin.<br />
<br />
(p83) "'They were hand-drawn and had his trademark silver head with a microscopic engraving of a cockerel.'"<br />
&ndash; Perhaps this is a reference to the fancy microscopic engravings computer chip designers use when endorsing their work.<br />
<br />
(p.86) Harper paperback — "Agatean Wall" — the Roundworld term for this business practice is "Chinese Wall"<br />
<br />
(p96) "'Do you understand anything I'm saying?' shouted Moist. 'You can't just go around killing people!' 'Why Not?'"<br />
&ndash; Paraphrasing from ''Terminator 2'' this time. John Connor: "You can't just go around killing people!" Terminator: "Why?" "What do you mean, why? Because you can't!" "Why?"<br />
<br />
(p99(''British edition'')). Grandad's speech on "We keep that name moving in the Overhead", referring to the mysterious death of [[John Dearheart]] and the great unhappiness this has provoked among long-time Linesmen. The following text quotes almost verbatim from Glen Campbell's country and western hit ''Wichita Lineman'', about the life and death of an electrical lineman in the heart of the USA....<br />
<br />
(p.100) Harper paperback — "gone bursar" — long time Discworld readers are likely well aware that the Bursar of Unseen University is well-known for being mad, but since this isn't in the Rincewind series of books, & is the starting book in the Moist von Lipwig series, new readers may not yet be aware.<br />
<br />
(p104(''Corgi edition'')) "It overwhelms the soul, very much like the state he elsewhere describes as ''Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit''. " &ndash; This German is a bit mangled. With proper spaces it is "Von Alles Vol'''l'''kommen unverständlich das das -keit" which translates as "from everything completely non-understandable (=incomprehensible) the<sub>neuter</sub> the<sub>neuter</sub>" and a suffix changing a word into a noun (this might refer to "unverständlich": Unverständlichkeit would be incomprehensibility). This also appears to foreshadow the extensive employment of cod-German philosophy which defines Mr Nutt's character in {{UA}}<br />
<br />
Freidegger is a clever pun on the famous German philosopher Heidegger[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidegger]] who wrote about time. (And he is difficult to understand either in his native German or in a translation). <br />
The German word "Frei" means "free", therefore suited to the recurring topic of freedom in the book. In German and posssibly also in Überwaldean, ''Freitag'' is a day of the week: ''Friday'', when most people are ''freed'' of the burden of having to work for a living and get the weekend to themselves. An advertising campaign for chocolate cleverly used the slogan ''That Friday Feeling'', and we have the acronym TGIF, for ''Thank God It's Friday!"'' to denote that expansive Friday-night feeling at the start of the weekend. (Although I should point out, in the name of accuracy, that the current name "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday#Etymology Freitag]" is not derived from "Free - day" but from the old Norse Goddess [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja Freya])<br />
<br />
(p105) "The Marthter ith having one of hith little thoireeth, thur"<br />
&ndash; In the Rocky Horror (Picture) Show, the hunchbacked servant tells the innocents "You've come on a rather special night. The Master is having one of his affairs..."<br />
<br />
(p106) "[[Reacher Gilt]] certainly looked like a pirate, with his long, curly black hair, pointed beard, and eyepatch. He was even said to have a parrot."<br />
&ndash; The name "Reacher Gilt" is itself a pun on "Long John Silver", the pirate captain from Treasure Island. Gilt's name, appearance and libertarian-capitalist ideology has stronger resonances with Ayn Rand's charismatic capitalist hero John Galt and pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_shrugged Atlas Shrugged]. There may also be suggestions of English billionaire playboy-investor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_branson Richard Branson].<br />
<br />
''There may also be links and distant echoes to the plot and characters of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' trilogy, also in this context a work of satire which parodies Ayn Rand's right-wing libertarian and extreme free-market philosophy. In this book, a "book within a book" is a parody of Ayn Rand's polemic, called ''Telemachus Sneezed''.''<br />
<br />
<!-- Shea and Wilson's ''Illuminatus!'' trilogy also parodies Ayn Rand with its creation of charismatic anarchist hero [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagbard_celine Hagbard Celine], a direct parody of Ragnar Danneskjold. Although Hagbard is temperamentally and politically on the side of those who throw grit into the machine belonging to the Gilts, Galts and Danneskjolds, such as Moist von Lipwig... --><br />
<br />
(p106) "Twelve and a half percent! Twelve and a half percent!"<br />
&ndash; As Moist almost explains later in the book, this is a financial joke. Long John Silver's parrot always repeated "Pieces of eight!" Pieces of eight were one-eighth pieces of a gold dollar coin. A dollar is one hundred cents, and one hundred percent make a whole. Twelve and a half percent, then, is exactly one-eighth of a dollar--a piece of eight.<br />
<!-- While the above may correct according to what everyone knows; a piece of eight is actually a Spanish silver dollar worth 8 reales also called royals(the Spanish base currency at the time), meaning that a piece of eight is actually 800% of the Spanish base currency. <br />
The common misconception seems to come from the interpretation of pieces of eight, with most people reading it as one piece worth an eighth(1/8) rather than one piece worth eight reales. --><br />
<br />
(p129) "les buggeures risible"<br />
&ndash; Pig French for "Silly Buggers", a common English slang term for deliberately obstructive activity. ("Someone's playing silly buggers, here...")<br />
<br />
(p131) "This was going to be...ironic. They'd actually got hold of Lipwigzers!"<br />
&ndash; The author possibly seems to be punning on Weimaraners ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimaraner]), which are a German breed of dog that take their name from the Grand Duke of Weimar, Karl August. The cover of the UK edition depicts two dogs similar in appearance to Rottweilers. Rottweilers are a kind of black dog with orange eyebrows, as mentioned on the same list that mentions [[Mrs. Cake]]. (And there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottweil Rottweil])<br />
<br />
(p131) US hardcover: Worshipful Master: “Yes, well, you know what we used to say: you do have to be mad to work here!”<br />
&ndash; a spin on the Roundworld saying: “You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps”<br />
This is reinforced on (page 165) when Moist looks at the unfortunate selection of mugs Stanley has used for preparing tea for him and Sacharissa Cripslock. The cup Moist receives has a jokey message which has faded from ''You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps'' to '''''Be mad - it helps!''''' <br />
<br />
(As in American slang "mad" tends to mean "angry" rather than "crazy", I wonder if this is also an echo of Susan's maxim from Hogfather - don't get scared, get angry?)<br />
:(The American expression uses "crazy": “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps”. "Mad" in colloquial usage is almost always "angry" this (West) side the Water.)<br />
<br />
(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'"<br />
&ndash; Possibly, but not clearly, a reference to Neo's role as the One in the ''Matrix'' films. Or, more likely, a reference to Graham Chapman's increasingly perplexed and angry Brian in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian''. This is also the title of a song by American goth-rockers the [[Blue Öyster Cult]], about having to settle not for what you ''want'', but for the best deal you can actually ''get''. Another possible reference is to the film ''{{wp|Star Wars_Episode_IV:_A New Hope|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope}}'' in which Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the force to deceive soldiers saying: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."<br />
<br />
(p137) "Deliver Us!"<br />
&ndash; A pun on the Israelites' cry from the Biblical book of Exodus.<br />
<br />
(p146) "'Three and a bit, that's the ticket. Only [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]] said that was untidy, so he designed a wheel where the pie was exactly three.'"<br />
&ndash; There's an old mathematical limerick about this very <br />
:It's a favorite hobby of mine<br />
:A new value for pi to assign.<br />
:I would set it to three<br />
:'Cause it's simpler, you see,<br />
:Than three point one four one five nine.<br />
<br />
It also reminds me of the story of the legislature of an US state setting a definitive value for Pi. <br />
<br />
Quote: ''It happened in Indiana. Although the attempt to legislate pi was ultimately unsuccessful, it did come pretty close. In 1897 Representative T.I. Record of Posen county introduced House Bill #246 in the Indiana House of Representatives. The bill, based on the work of a physician and amateur mathematician named Edward J. Goodwin (Edwin in some accounts), suggests not one but three numbers for pi, among them 3.2, as we shall see. The punishment for unbelievers I have not been able to learn, but I place no credence in the rumor that you had to spend the rest of your natural life in Indiana.'' Full story here [[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_341.html]]. <br />
<br />
The urban legend spoofing the creationism struggle here [[http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp]]<br />
<br />
(p153) "My gods, it's you! I thought for a second sun had appeared in the sky!" (Spike reacts from seeing Lipwig in his golden suit for the first time.) On first reading, it may appear that something is wrong with this sentence. However, if punctuated thus: "I thought, for a second, sun had appeared in the sky!", the interpretation is clearer.<br />
<br />
(p156) "'Coo, you're a good draw-er, Mr. Lipwig. That looks just like Lord [[Vetinari]]!' 'That's the penny stamp,' said Moist.'"<br />
&ndash; In our world, British Postmaster-General Sir Rowland Hill designed and introduced the first penny stamp, with a profile of Queen Victoria, in 1840 after much political debate. As on the Discworld, stamp collectors began to appear almost immediately afterward.<br />
<br />
It's interesting that Moist writes "Post Office" on his stamps. In our world, this happened once as a mistake when the stamps for Mauritius were designed. There's a nice story how the engraver forgot the correct wording (Postage Paid), took a walk to the Post Office to ask, but when he saw the sign "Post Office" turned back without asking and wrote that on the stamp. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Penny]]<br />
<br />
(p156)US hardcover: When Moist shows her his stamp designs, Adora says “What’s this? You carry your etchings with you to save time?”<br />
&ndash; Adora’s referring to the phrase "Want to come up and see my etchings," a romantic cliché in which a man entices a woman to come back to his place with an offer to look at something artistic. <br />
<br />
(p167) "Gently, the paper tore down the line of holes."<br />
&ndash; Perforated stamp sheets didn't appear until 1857 in the U.S., seventeen years after the penny stamp was introduced.<br />
<br />
(p175) "'I won't be long. I'm off to see the wizard.'"<br />
&ndash; The author has probably been waiting years to use this line from L. Frank Baum's ''The Wizard of Oz''.<br />
<br />
(p176) "Just below the dome, staring down from their niches, were statues of the Virtues: Patience, Chastity, Silence, Charity, Hope, [[Tubso]], [[Bissonomy]], and Fortitude."<br />
&ndash; The seven Virtues in our world (the Discworld has eight) are Hope, Charity, Faith, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence. Their frescoed images adorn the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.<br />
<br />
(p176) "These [books] are not on the public shelves lest untrained handling cause the collapse of everything that is possible to imagine.* (footnote: Again.)<br />
&ndash; There's a popular quote from Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'': "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory, which states that this has already happened." <br />
<br />
Less likely is that it is a reference to the alleged destruction of the universe that happened when the B.S. Johnson's Sorting Engine was shut down, as described on page 149 (US hardcover). <br />
<br />
(p.179) "... and in those caves are entombed more than a hundred thousand old books, mostly religious, each one in a white linen shroud....intelligent people have always known that some words at least should be disposed of with care and respect."<br />
&ndash; In Jerusalem old or damaged Bibles and Torahs are buried in special tombs rather than destroyed. The tradition is that words are sacred and have power. The Hebrew name for such depository is "geniza", not exactly the wizards' "gevaisa", but enough to make you wonder... <br />
<br />
(p181) "'Where do they go [when they die]?' 'No one's sure, exactly, but you can hear the sounds of cutlery,' said Pelc...."<br />
&ndash; The Viking concept of the afterlife for warriors, Valhalla, was basically an enormous and never-ending feasting hall. University wizards are likewise known for their love of a good large meal.<br />
<br />
(p197) "But, in truth, Boris- once you got past the pineapple- wasn't too bad a ride. He'd hit his rhythm, a natural, single-footed gait..." &ndash; Single-footing is a smooth, four beat "running walk" that some horse breeds (example: Icelandic, North American Single-footer, Rocky Mountain Saddle Horse) do naturally, sometimes as fast as other horses canter. At its fastest (racing single-foot), only one foot hits the ground at a time- hence the name. The single-foot gait is very smooth and easy on a rider if he uses a special saddle and sits further back on the horse. Moist is riding bareback, carrying a heavy load over his shoulder and leaning forward so he does not get the full effect. However, he seems quite amazed Boris is smoother than expected. <br />
<br />
(p200) "'Er... Joe Camels, sir,' he said nervously. 'I'm the mayor here...'"<br />
&ndash; Joe Camel was the (un)official name of the now-defunct mascot of Camel Cigarettes. The resemblance to the mayor ends with the name, however.<br />
<br />
(p204) "And her hair was plaited and coiled up on either side of her head in those discs that back home in Uberwald had been called 'snails,' but in Anhk-Morpork put people in mind of a woman with a curly iced bun clamped to each ear."<br />
&ndash; Think of old German beer waitresses, not Princess Leia from ''Star Wars''.<br />
<br />
(p.214) Harper paperback — "'Have you heard about the fracas in Weaver Street?' 'I heard it was a rumpus'" — The distinction between a fracas & a rumpus was previously a matter of discussion in The Truth, p. 98 (Harper paperback).<br />
<br />
(p224) "'Tell me,' said Moist, 'have you ever heard of something called the Smoking Gnu?'"<br />
&ndash; A pun on "The Smoking Gun", a newsletter published by the Lone Gunmen, a trio of computer hackers (or crackers) from the television series The X-Files, on whom the members of the Smoking Gnu are based. The ''gun'' &rarr; ''gnu'' joke has also been used in Mr. Pratchett's book for children, ''[[Book:Truckers|Truckers]]'', Chapter 9, in which a young [[Nomes|Nome]] named Vinto Pimmie persistently misreads "gun" as "gnu". The real meaning of the word "gnu" refers to a species of large antelope. "Gnu" also evokes the [http://www.gnu.org/ Free Software Foundation], which promotes the development and distribution of free software.<br />
<br />
(p230) "'What is sticking in your foot is a Mitzy "Pretty Lucretia" four-inch heel, the most dangerous footwear in the world. Considered as pounds per square inch, it's like being trodden by a very pointy elephant. Now, I know what you're thinking: you're thinking, "Could she press it all the way through to the floor?" And, you know, I'm not sure about that myself....'"<br />
&ndash; Adapted from Clint Eastwood's famous challenge in ''Dirty Harry'': "I know what you're thinkin', punk. You're thinkin', did he fire six shots or only five? And to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But bein' this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it'll blow your head clean off, you could ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"<br />
<br />
(p235) "But now it was time to put away childish pins."<br />
&ndash; "When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." &ndash; 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV) (the King James version has "but when I became a man, I put away childish things")<br />
<br />
(p237) British hardback: The sequence from "As Moist peered..." until Moist turns around is pretty much taken straight from Brett's experience with Jones the cat in Ridley Scott's "Alien".<br />
<br />
(p249) "'There's the Lady Sybil Free Hospital,' said Miss Dearheart. 'Is it any good?' 'Some people don't die.' 'That good, eh?'"<br />
&ndash; [[Lady Sybil Ramkin|Lady Sybil Vimes]] nee Ramkin, of course, is the wife of [[Commander Vimes]] of the Watch, the Duchess of Ankh-Morpork, and in terms of assets, the wealthiest woman in the city. Up until now she's devoted herself to caring for swamp dragons, and horse doctors in Ankh-Morpork were considered more reliable for people than people doctors. This hospital is developed and now led by Dr. Lawn, on the plot of land on Attic Bee Street, near Goose Gate, that Vimes signed over to him as payment for helping Sam Jr. into the world (an event at the end of ''[[Book:Night Watch|Night Watch]]''). ''The accuracy of this annotation is currently under discussion, mainly regarding whether Lady Sybil actually runs the hospital or only lends her name and money. See Talk page.''<br />
<br />
Another possible reason for the name is that Dr Lawn chose to name his hospital after, basically, the main person who got him the land in the first place.<br />
<br />
(p259)US hardcover: Moist’s idea of what a master criminal could buy: “seaside properties with real lava flows near a reliable source of piranhas” sounds like the hideout of typical James Bond villains.<br />
<br />
(p.260(Doubleday hardcover)) "Even Miss Extremelia Mume ... was doing good business among those prepared to back an outside chance. She'd hung a banner over the door. It read: 'It Could Be YOU'".<br /><br />
This, along with the following paragraph's musings on hope, clearly refers to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lottery_%28United_Kingdom%29 UK National Lottery] (also known as the Tax For Innumerates). The Discworld people are making small donations/prayers to the temples hoping for a monetary windfall like Moist just got. It's obvious when you remember that a 90s TV campaign for the lottery featured a giant sparkly hand coming out of the clouds to point at winners... and their slogan at the time was "It Could Be YOU" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FlHbqnU0o].<br />
<br />
(p263) "The nave of the temple was deserted, except for a little old man in a grubby robe, dreamily sweeping the floor."<br />
This detail is out of place, unless it's a reference to Lu-Tze. Possibly the History Monks have taken an interest in the Post Office, or kicking Reacher Gilt out before he can become Patrician. For the History Monks to have somebody keeping an eye on an institution where a machine (the Sorting Engine) is capable of bending time and space is only logical, as well as the evidential detail that it was installed perhaps thirty years before the "present" - ie, roughly the same time that Samuel Vimes re-enters time in {{NW}}. So if the destruction of one time-bending machine (the Glass Clock) is responsible for taking Vimes ''out'' of time, then the switching-on of a second time-bending machine (the Sorting Engine) might have been the trigger event dictating when Vimes and Carcer were ''returned'' to normal space-time? (Or ''delivered'', so to speak) Alternately, it ''could'' just be a guy sweeping up after services, as the Men In Saffron don't have a monopoly on wearing robes, particularly in a temple.<br />
<br />
(p276) Lipwig's musing about Gilt not needing "a tower with ten thousand trolls camped outside" brings to mind Saruman from ''The Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
(p279) US hardcover: Moist says "your big words tell them it’s going to be jam tomorrow and they hope." <br />
&ndash; a reference to ''Alice in Wonderland'', in which the Queen offers Alice jam every other day: "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day." <br />
<br />
(p287) US hardcover:‘Tump Tower’ refers to the Trump Tower, built by Donald Trump in New York City<br />
<br />
(p293) "Deliver them, of course. You've got to. You are the messenger of the gods."<br />
&ndash; Another reference to Mercury.<br />
<br />
(p300) US Hardcover: The ‘crackers’ who disrupt the Clacks line are remarkably like Roundworld computer hackers <br />
<br />
(p304) "'There's cabbage soup, cabbage beer, cabbage fudge, cabbage cake, cream of cabbage&mdash;'"<br />
&ndash; Stanley's stream of cabbage recipes parallels Bubba's list of shrimp dishes in the movie Forrest Gump, and Monty Python's Spam sketch.<br />
* Also used in ''The Science Of Discworld II'', when Rincewind obsessively recites all the potato recipes he can think of to prevent the elf Queen from reading his thoughts.<br />
<br />
(p308) "'Did you spot how the swage armature can be made to jump off the elliptical bearing if you hit the letter K and then send it to a tower with an address higher than yours but only if you hit the letter Q first and the drum spring is fully wound?'"<br />
&ndash; Certain early (and some current) computer systems could be made to fail in similar ways. Unlikely character strings can sometimes, in binary, be interpreted as system codes and cause security breaches or outright system failures. Likewise, early mechanical typewriters could lock up if the wrong series of letters were pressed in quick succession, a phenomenon which the QWERTY keyboard was designed to make less likely.<br />
<br />
(p326) Harper paperback: Miss Dearheart says, "You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope." A play on Lauren Bacall's famous line in the 1944 film "To Have and Have Not," "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."<br />
<br />
(p319) "'All right, but why "Smoking GNU"?' said Moist. 'That's cracker slang for a very fast message-send throughout the system,' said Sane Alex pointedly."<br />
&ndash; In our world, GNU is also a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix", and the GNU Project is an ongoing effort to develop a free operating system compatible with commercial Unix.<br />
<br />
(p326) "'I call it baize-space,' said [[Ponder Stibbons]] proudly."<br />
&ndash; 'Baize' is the name given to the felt-like cloth used to cover billiards tables. As Stibbons points out later, it's also a pun on "phase space".<br />
<br />
(p339) "'But it's a book!' said Mr. Pony. 'It'll take all night to code! And there's diagrams!'"<br />
&ndash; It was established in ''[[Book:Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'' that the clacks towers could send images slowly by transmitting codes for pixel data, exactly the way computers do.<br />
<br />
(p352) "'It's still not working, Mr. Stibbons!' he bellowed. "Here's that damn enormous fiery eye again!'"<br />
&ndash; In J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', Sauron appeared as a great fiery cat's eye in visions and metaphoric descriptions. In Peter Jackson's movie adaptations, the Eye appears (aside from a literal interpretation on top of Sauron's fortress) in the palantíri (seeing-stones), which have a very similar function to the University's [[omniscope]].<br />
<br />
(p360) "'Gilt can kiss my&mdash;' Grandad began, then remembered the present company and finished: '&ndash;donkey.'"<br />
&ndash; A reference to American use of ''ass'', an old word for donkey, in place of ''arse''.<br />
<br />
(p361) "'... I'm close to translating the mating call of the giant clam...'"<br />
&ndash; TP likes to drop hints of corny old jokes. Place your forearms in front of your face one laid on top of the other. Very slowly open them so that only your eyes are visible between them and swivel your eyes from side to side. That's the mating call of the giant clam.<br />
<br />
(p341) Right at the end of {{GP}} when the game is up and the financial corruption of the Trunk board is revealed, Stowley fakes amnesia and loss of his short-term memory as a desperate ploy to avoid prosecution. This hopefully didn't fool Vetinari for one moment, but the Roundworld referent is more depressing:<br />
<br />
Charged with a range of financial misdemeanours in the late 1980's, including false accounting, fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion, Ernest Saunders, a senior member of the Guinness brewing and finance family, provided medical testimonials that he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and had no recollection of the sequence of events that had led him to court. As genuine sufferers of Alzheimer's know, one of the first symptoms of the disease is the loss of short-term memory. The judge took his plea of being unable to face charges on medical grounds seriously, and released him with a short suspended sentence where otherwise he might have been looking at several years inside. <br />
<br />
Incredibly, he made a full and complete recovery from Alzheimer's shortly after his court appearance, perhaps the only man in medical history to ever have reversed the progress of this disease. TP of all people would have an absolute right to hold somebody faking Alzheimer's as a "get-out-of-jail-free" card up to scorn, satire and ridicule. <br />
<br />
Refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_share-trading_fraud|ref._Guinness share-trading fraud] for the full story, including Saunders' miracle recovery from Alzheimer's.<br />
<br />
==Odds and ends==<br />
Apologies if this is in the wrong place or noted elsewhere but the reference to the Matron will be to the Harridan played by (almost exclusively) Hattie Jacques in the various Carry On films concerning the UK NHS.-- SJC 2 June 2010 (BST)<br />
<br />
'''Moist von Lipwig'''<br />
:While I haven't found a good source for Germanic interpretations / history of the name, a 'lip-wig' is a slang term for a moustache. Hence 'von Lipwig' = 'of the (fake) moustache' - very fitting for a conman who relies on the addition of distinguishing features to disguise his undistinguished face. --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 17-18 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Er... would you mind signing the rope beforehand, sir? ... Worth more signed, of course.'" - Daniel "One Drop" Trooper<br />
:Gotta love the irony that Moist von Lipwig / Albert Spangler, the consummate con-man, is helping his ''executioner'' to get 'money for old rope'! --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 47 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "A large black and white cat had walked into the room"<br />
:Does the colour remind anyone else of Postman Pat's cat, Jess?<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 187 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Actually it is the Sorting Engine,' said Groat. 'It's the curse of the Post Office, sir. It had imps in it for the actual reading of the envelopes, but they all evaporated years ago.'"<br />
:While imps are of course used as the basis for a lot of Discworld technology, I doubt many people outside the Royal Mail know that the huge sorting machines in every mail centre are called '''I'''ntegrated '''M'''ail '''P'''rocessors - known as IMPs for short! --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 352(UK Corgi PB)p.330 (Doubleday hardcover)]'''<br />
<br />
"I'm sure we have the right-" Ponder began.<br />
<br />
This echoes Aragorn in ''Lord of the Rings/Two Towers'', when he wrests control of the Palantir from Sauron, and the next morning is seen looking drawn and exhausted from the mental and psychic strain of doing direct battle with the dark lord.<br />
<br />
"I had the right, but barely" he explained to Gandalf.<br />
<br />
While I agree that the the "fiery eye" is intended to be reminiscent of Sauron it is clearly not actually Sauron but merely the eye of Dr Collabone; red from allergies and enormous from peering too closely at his end of the omniscope.<br />
--[[User:Neilxt|Neilxt]] 05:03, 21 August 2007 (CEST)<br />
<br />
(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'" - For some, this resonates with Obi-Wan's use of the Jedi mind trick to escape storm troopers -- "These aren't the droids you're looking for." This is annotated elsewhere on the Wiki as – Possibly, but not clearly, a reference to Neo's role as the One in the ''Matrix films''. Or, perhaps the most likely, a reference to Graham Chapman's increasingly perplexed and angry Brian in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'' when chased by hordes of adoring wannabe disciples. Or even [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOpxt3CpZBk|this_song]this song...<br />
<br />
(p313) "'You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope.'" - obviously based on Lauren Bacall's famous line from "To Have and Have Not", to Humphrey Bogart: "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow." Bacall's character's nickname is "Slim", and this is echoed in the affectionate nicknames of Moist and Dearheart, "Slick" and "Spike". --[[User:Eitheladar|Eitheladar]] 07:47, 31 December 2007 (CET)<br />
<br />
(p??) The entire episode of a mail coach vs. the clacks system transporting the contents of a book evokes a saying that is well-known among us computer science types: "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes". It's also known in other forms, e.g. "It's faster to send a petabyte of data to Hong Kong by sailboat than over the internet". Pratchett doesn't explicitly reference this saying, but he has created an instructive example of the difference between latency and bandwidth: while it takes less time for the start of a message to arrive via the clacks towers, the mail coach has an advantage when the size of the message is large (e.g. in case of sending the contents of a book, or even a large number of letters).<br />
<br />
(p??) The crackers' blocking of the light and substitution of their own portable clacks tower is an example of what computer scientists and security researchers refer to as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack man-in-the-middle attack].<br />
<br />
(p??) "'Ha, even the damn soup there is fifteen dollars!' said Moist" - Very likely a reference to The Blues Brothers, also referenced sporadically throughout Soul Music. When the Brothers visit a former band member - now Maître d' in a posh Chicago restaurant - at his place of work, he encourages them to leave on the basis that they can't afford to eat there, remarking "Come on guys..let me buy you a cup of coffee. The soup here is f*cking ten dollars."<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Going Postal/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Going_Postal/Annotations&diff=34681Book:Going Postal/Annotations2023-05-26T19:13:54Z<p>Superluser: gone bursar</p>
<hr />
<div>[[Annotations]] for the book {{GP}}<br />
==By page number==<br />
Page numbers refer to the U.S. edition<br />
<br />
Cover - The cover design was inspired by the original ''Star Wars'' film poster, because there are other Star Wars references in the book.<br />
<br />
Title- Around 1986 several mentally stressed U.S. Postal Service employees went on a shooting rampage at post offices, killing employees and bystanders. This resulted in the U.S. Postal Service (and many other organizations) re-evaluating employee work conditions and decreasing stress in the work place. The term has remained in U.S. slang for when an employee or ex-employee goes on a murder rampage at his workplace, though it is more used to predict that someone is getting upset with job conditions enough to go postal. In the book this emotional condition is perfectly represented by Stanley. <br />
<br />
Character Annotation on Tolliver Groat:-<br />
<br />
The name, the character description, and the Gormenghast-like Post office building, are straight out of Mervyn Peake: Tolliver Groat's personal take on the grotesque means that he could walk in to Peake's fantasy virtually as is. Indeed, Groat's dogged adherence to rule and ritual, his having practically memorised the Post Office rulebook long after the system has effectively collapsed and his insistence the rules still be followed because, well, they are the Rules, is reminiscent of Gormenghast's Master of Ceremonies, the ageing, repellent, and soap-innocent Barquentine. Moist von Lipwig has arrived in the Post Office system in time to be a less malevolent Steerpike - i.e., the character who shakes the system up and reinvigorates it. (Hmmm, Moist as Steerpike in a Gormenghast-like system - the manipulative outsider who causes a stir and gets things done.) Steerpike also, metaphorically and literally, climbs from the lowest Hell-like depths of the kitchens where is otherwise imprisoned for life as a lowly scullion, to the higher floors of the castle - via the ''outside'' of the building - where nobody questions his right to be there and he can re-integrate himself at a higher social level with a series of plausible cover stories. Compare this to Moist's resurrection from the dead and rebirth into a higher social position. The climbing metaphor becomes more explicit in {{MM}}, where, as with Steerpike's desperation climb, Moist is found edificeering on the exterior of his own building and just about to be exposed as a thief and a crook - for all the wrong reasons...<br />
<br />
Prologue - <br />
"The flotillas of the dead sailed around the world on underwater rivers."<br />
Although this idea may seem fanciful, it has a basis in reality. The ocean does have layers of different density (based on temperature and salt concentration). A submarine can adjust its buoyancy so that "it stops sinking and ends up floating on an underwater surface, beyond the reach of the storms but far above the ocean floor." (Sir Terry makes a minor error that the effect is due to density, not viscosity).<br />
<br />
A quotation from a former submarine sonar Chief Petty Officer ([https://www.quora.com/Can-submarines-stay-still-underwater-without-moving-at-a-given-depth]):<br />
<br />
"If the SVP (Sound Velocity Profile) shows a strong thermocline change, we would have negative buoyancy above the layer, and positive buoyancy below the layer. Slow down, using the planes to dive towards layer depth, and just sit on the layer! It’s just as stable as sitting on the bottom, and you can sit there, motionless, forever!"<br />
<br />
(p.4) Harper paperback — "It could send messages up to 4 times faster than the old towers, thanks to the new shutter system and the colored lights" — This appears to be a reference to fiber optic data transmission. The use of multimodal (multiple color) fiber optic transmitters & optical fiber has increased the bandwidth to 40Gbps (though the same bandwidth can be achieved using single mode fiber these days)<br />
<br />
(p8) US hardcover- – reference to “the clacks”<br />
&ndash; this is a Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine and is based on “A semaphore telegraph, optical telegraph, shutter telegraph chain, Chappe telegraph, or Napoleonic semaphore is a system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the mechanical elements; it is read when the shutter is in a fixed position. These systems were popular in the late 18th - early 19th century.”(Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
(p11) US hardcover - "They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully” <br />
&ndash; This is a paraphrase of a quote by Samuel Johnson: "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."<br />
<br />
(p11) " 'Er... it's not as bad a thing I do now...er'"<br />
&ndash; Perhaps this is a spoof of the famous speech Sidney Carton says before he is executed in Dickens' ''Tale of Two Cities''. ("It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."[http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/a-tale-of-two-cities/summary-and-analysis/book-3-chapter-15]) There is some ironic similarity here. Carton stepped in nobly to die for another man whom he physically resembled. Here, Moist is being executed under the alias of Albert Spangler. In both cases, Carton and von Lipwig are dying under someone else's name.<br />
<br />
(p12) "What you had to do in this life was get past the pineapple, Moist told himself. It was big and sharp and knobbly, but there might be peaches underneath. It was a myth to live by and so, right now, totally useless."<br />
&ndash; This philosophy is mentioned many times in the book and sounds like a somewhat ironic send-up of Forrest Gump's philosophy about life and a box of chocolates.<br />
<br />
(p13)US hardcover: Mr. Wilkinson “I told him, sir, that fruit baskets is like life: until you’ve got the pineapple off’t the top you never know what’s underneath.” <br />
&ndash; Reminiscent of the Forrest Gump quote: “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.’”<br />
<br />
A dialogue in {{TLC}} presages the whole ''getting past the pineapple'' bit. Corgi PB pp64-67, where amongst other things the Senior Wrangler discloses his aunt was a victim of one, a woman who literally could not get past the pineapple. <br />
<br />
(p20) "They'd clamped it. They'd bloody clamped it...."<br />
&ndash; The bright yellow tire lock (wheel boots) is sometimes used by law enforcement in our world for the same purpose.<br />
<br />
(p22) "'Mr. [[Pump]] does not sleep. Mr. Pump does not eat. And Mr. Pump, Postmaster General, does not stop.'"<br />
* Possibly a paraphrase from the 1984 film ''The Terminator'': "That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"<br />
* It's close to a quote from the 1999 film ''The Mummy'': "He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."<br />
<br />
(p23) "'Wait! Wait! There's a rule! A [[golems|golem]] mustn't harm a human being or allow a human being to come to harm!'"<br />
&ndash; This is the first of Isaac Asimov's {{wp|Three_Laws_of_Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics}} (Golems are the [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]] equivalent of robots). Asimov, of course, didn't add the conditional "unless ordered to do so by duly constituted authority" that Vetinari did.<br />
<br />
(p26) "'"NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLO M OF NI T CAN STAY THESE MES ENGERS ABO T THEIR DUTY."'"<br />
&ndash; The inscription on the General Post Office in New York City reads: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service_creed] This was also referenced in {{MAA}}.<br />
<br />
(p26) "'Who's [[Mrs. Cake]]?... They seem pretty frightened of her."<br />
&ndash; [[Mrs. Cake]], first introduced in ''[[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', is a psychic medium who, more importantly, runs a boarding house for the undead of Ankh-Morpork.<br />
<br />
(p33)US hardcover(footnote) “Dimwell Arrhythmic Rhyming Slang” is a variation on Cockney rhyming slang. The example, “Apples and Pears” is from Cockney slang. Rhyming Slang phrases are derived from taking an expression which rhymes with a word and then using that expression instead of the word. For example the word "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook". In many cases the rhyming word is omitted - so you won't find too many Londoners having a "butcher's hook" at this site, but you might find a few having a "butcher's". The rhyming word is not always omitted so Cockney expressions can vary in their construction, and it is simply a matter of convention which version is used. (from http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk)<br />
<br />
(p47) "'[Wings] on his hat and his ankles,' said Stanley. "So he could fly the messages at the speed of ... messages.'"<br />
&ndash; Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) was the messenger to the gods in general and Jupiter (Zeus) in particular. He's commonly depicted with a winged cap and ankles. As well as making a neat stand-alone joke, the concept of the modesty-saving fig-leaf also having wings neatly pokes fun at the reason ''why'' fig-leaves went on public statuary in the first place. These were a Victorian invention devised to spare unmarried ladies under thirty from the sight even of sculpted male genitalia, carved by their ''unthinking'' forebears in earlier centuries. statues up to and including Michelangelo's ''David'', which for several hundred years had flaunted all, were issued the standard fig-leaf. (The fig was chosen ostensibly because the Bible identifies it as the leaf used by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, when ''they saw they were naked, and they were ashamed''.) This contributor has been to the National Museum in Berlin, where a rotunda houses old statues on which, without exception, the penises of the males on display have been excised and drilled through, so as to house the mounting for the fig-leaf... ouch... Of course, a ''second'' referent for fig leaves with wings comes from wall frescoes discovered intact at the Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. On these imaginatively bawdy paintings, you may see that which the Victorians thought necessary to cover with a fig leaf, but flying round independently of any attached body, propelled by their very own sets of wings. In one mural, young women are trying to catch them as they buzz around in a flotilla... indeed, a popular lucky charm/religious amulet worn by Romans, frequently discovered in archaeological digs, was a pendant of an erect penis and testicles, with wings. This apparently symbolised fertility and good health as well as assuring a healthy sex life. It was worn around the neck in the same way other religions might wear a cross, or indeed a turtle. (Why do you get the feeling the wrong religion won in ancient Rome?) I also can't help thinking of the Special Air Service's winged dagger cap badge in a new and Freudian light here... Conflating these two concepts - Victorian prudery and healthy bawdiness - in the form of a confused-looking fig leaf with wings on, would suggest Ankh-Morpork is a place confused about what its attitude to sexuality should be... just like modern Britain, in fact! <br />
<br />
Also note Om-as-Tortoise's desperate curse on Brother Nhumrod in {{SG}} (Corgi pb p 40) - ''"Your sexual organs to sprout wings and fly away!"<br />
<br />
(p56) "'Be with you in jus't one moment, s'ir, I'm ju'st&mdash;'"<br />
&ndash; Greengrocers throughout the English-speaking world (but in England in particular) are known for their persistent abuse of the apostrophe-ess combination on their handwritten signs.<br />
<br />
(p63) "'The free golems work 24-8...."<br />
&ndash; It's rarely mentioned anymore that the number [[7a|eight]] is magically significant on the Disc and tends to occur wherever our world would use a seven. In particular, the Discworld week is 8 days long. But at this point, go to your copy of {{GP}}, which is the first Discworld book to be separated into formal chapters. (Each has a heading where the chapter contents are summarised at the start, in the manner of a Victorian morality fable). Now look at the chapter heading for the one that comes in between Chapter Seven and Chapter Nine. Look ''closely'' at it. <br />
<br />
(p.65) Harper paperback — acuphilia appears to be a neologism by Terry, the love of pins, or perhaps love of accupunture<br />
<br />
(p72) "'However, I note that since you acquired the [[Grand Trunk Semaphore Company|Grand Trunk]] at a fraction of its value, breakdowns are increasing, the speed of messages has slowed down, and the cost to customers has risen.'"<br />
&ndash; While there are some parallels to the Grand Trunk and America's now-broken AT&T telecommunications monopoly, there are far more parallels to the UK's British Telecom, which is still a monopoly there and has very few friends among its consumers. Interestingly, the history of BT is that it was originally part of the British Post Office and was still known as "Post Office Telecommunications" until 1980, shortly before it became privatized.<br />
<br />
In telecommunications, "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunking trunking]" is the process of taking several smaller data streams (originally, phone lines, but later applied to data) & aggregating them onto a higher bandwidth circuit which takes them all.<br />
<br />
(p74) "'This, my lord'," said Gilt, gesturing to the little side table..."'Is this not an original [[hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl]] slab?'"<br />
&ndash;The Vikings were known to have played a game called hnefatafl (king's board). It consisted of a marked board and peg-like pieces and seems to have some similarities to backgammon. "Hnefatafl" seems to be the origin of the word used for the Discworld game.<br />
<br />
Of course we learn much more about this game in {{T!}}<br />
<br />
(p83)US hardcover: Stanley: “See a pin pick it up and all day long you’ll have a pin.”<br />
&ndash; A variation on the Roundworld rhyme “See a pin pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.” Often 'penny' is substituted for pin.<br />
<br />
(p83) "'They were hand-drawn and had his trademark silver head with a microscopic engraving of a cockerel.'"<br />
&ndash; Perhaps this is a reference to the fancy microscopic engravings computer chip designers use when endorsing their work.<br />
<br />
(p.86) Harper paperback — "Agatean Wall" — the Roundworld term for this business practice is "Chinese Wall"<br />
<br />
(p96) "'Do you understand anything I'm saying?' shouted Moist. 'You can't just go around killing people!' 'Why Not?'"<br />
&ndash; Paraphrasing from ''Terminator 2'' this time. John Connor: "You can't just go around killing people!" Terminator: "Why?" "What do you mean, why? Because you can't!" "Why?"<br />
<br />
(p99(''British edition'')). Grandad's speech on "We keep that name moving in the Overhead", referring to the mysterious death of [[John Dearheart]] and the great unhappiness this has provoked among long-time Linesmen. The following text quotes almost verbatim from Glen Campbell's country and western hit ''Wichita Lineman'', about the life and death of an electrical lineman in the heart of the USA....<br />
<br />
(p.100) Harper paperback — "gone bursar" — long time Discworld readers are likely well aware that the Bursar of Unseen University is well-known for being mad, but since this isn't in the Rincewind series of books, & is the starting book in the Moist von Lipwig series, new readers may not yet be aware.<br />
<br />
(p104(''Corgi edition'')) "It overwhelms the soul, very much like the state he elsewhere describes as ''Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit''. " &ndash; This German is a bit mangled. With proper spaces it is "Von Alles Vol'''l'''kommen unverständlich das das -keit" which translates as "from everything completely non-understandable (=incomprehensible) the<sub>neuter</sub> the<sub>neuter</sub>" and a suffix changing a word into a noun (this might refer to "unverständlich": Unverständlichkeit would be incomprehensibility). This also appears to foreshadow the extensive employment of cod-German philosophy which defines Mr Nutt's character in {{UA}}<br />
<br />
Freidegger is a clever pun on the famous German philosopher Heidegger[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidegger]] who wrote about time. (And he is difficult to understand either in his native German or in a translation). <br />
The German word "Frei" means "free", therefore suited to the recurring topic of freedom in the book. In German and posssibly also in Überwaldean, ''Freitag'' is a day of the week: ''Friday'', when most people are ''freed'' of the burden of having to work for a living and get the weekend to themselves. An advertising campaign for chocolate cleverly used the slogan ''That Friday Feeling'', and we have the acronym TGIF, for ''Thank God It's Friday!"'' to denote that expansive Friday-night feeling at the start of the weekend. (Although I should point out, in the name of accuracy, that the current name "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday#Etymology Freitag]" is not derived from "Free - day" but from the old Norse Goddess [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja Freya])<br />
<br />
(p105) "The Marthter ith having one of hith little thoireeth, thur"<br />
&ndash; In the Rocky Horror (Picture) Show, the hunchbacked servant tells the innocents "You've come on a rather special night. The Master is having one of his affairs..."<br />
<br />
(p106) "[[Reacher Gilt]] certainly looked like a pirate, with his long, curly black hair, pointed beard, and eyepatch. He was even said to have a parrot."<br />
&ndash; The name "Reacher Gilt" is itself a pun on "Long John Silver", the pirate captain from Treasure Island. Gilt's name, appearance and libertarian-capitalist ideology has stronger resonances with Ayn Rand's charismatic capitalist hero John Galt and pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_shrugged Atlas Shrugged]. There may also be suggestions of English billionaire playboy-investor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_branson Richard Branson].<br />
<br />
''There may also be links and distant echoes to the plot and characters of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' trilogy, also in this context a work of satire which parodies Ayn Rand's right-wing libertarian and extreme free-market philosophy. In this book, a "book within a book" is a parody of Ayn Rand's polemic, called ''Telemachus Sneezed''.''<br />
<br />
<!-- Shea and Wilson's ''Illuminatus!'' trilogy also parodies Ayn Rand with its creation of charismatic anarchist hero [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagbard_celine Hagbard Celine], a direct parody of Ragnar Danneskjold. Although Hagbard is temperamentally and politically on the side of those who throw grit into the machine belonging to the Gilts, Galts and Danneskjolds, such as Moist von Lipwig... --><br />
<br />
(p106) "Twelve and a half percent! Twelve and a half percent!"<br />
&ndash; As Moist almost explains later in the book, this is a financial joke. Long John Silver's parrot always repeated "Pieces of eight!" Pieces of eight were one-eighth pieces of a gold dollar coin. A dollar is one hundred cents, and one hundred percent make a whole. Twelve and a half percent, then, is exactly one-eighth of a dollar--a piece of eight.<br />
<!-- While the above may correct according to what everyone knows; a piece of eight is actually a Spanish silver dollar worth 8 reales also called royals(the Spanish base currency at the time), meaning that a piece of eight is actually 800% of the Spanish base currency. <br />
The common misconception seems to come from the interpretation of pieces of eight, with most people reading it as one piece worth an eighth(1/8) rather than one piece worth eight reales. --><br />
<br />
(p129) "les buggeures risible"<br />
&ndash; Pig French for "Silly Buggers", a common English slang term for deliberately obstructive activity. ("Someone's playing silly buggers, here...")<br />
<br />
(p131) "This was going to be...ironic. They'd actually got hold of Lipwigzers!"<br />
&ndash; The author possibly seems to be punning on Weimaraners ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimaraner]), which are a German breed of dog that take their name from the Grand Duke of Weimar, Karl August. The cover of the UK edition depicts two dogs similar in appearance to Rottweilers. Rottweilers are a kind of black dog with orange eyebrows, as mentioned on the same list that mentions [[Mrs. Cake]]. (And there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottweil Rottweil])<br />
<br />
(p131) US hardcover: Worshipful Master: “Yes, well, you know what we used to say: you do have to be mad to work here!”<br />
&ndash; a spin on the Roundworld saying: “You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps”<br />
This is reinforced on (page 165) when Moist looks at the unfortunate selection of mugs Stanley has used for preparing tea for him and Sacharissa Cripslock. The cup Moist receives has a jokey message which has faded from ''You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps'' to '''''Be mad - it helps!''''' <br />
<br />
(As in American slang "mad" tends to mean "angry" rather than "crazy", I wonder if this is also an echo of Susan's maxim from Hogfather - don't get scared, get angry?)<br />
:(The American expression uses "crazy": “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps”. "Mad" in colloquial usage is almost always "angry" this (West) side the Water.)<br />
<br />
(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'"<br />
&ndash; Possibly, but not clearly, a reference to Neo's role as the One in the ''Matrix'' films. Or, more likely, a reference to Graham Chapman's increasingly perplexed and angry Brian in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian''. This is also the title of a song by American goth-rockers the [[Blue Öyster Cult]], about having to settle not for what you ''want'', but for the best deal you can actually ''get''. Another possible reference is to the film ''{{wp|Star Wars_Episode_IV:_A New Hope|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope}}'' in which Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the force to deceive soldiers saying: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."<br />
<br />
(p137) "Deliver Us!"<br />
&ndash; A pun on the Israelites' cry from the Biblical book of Exodus.<br />
<br />
(p146) "'Three and a bit, that's the ticket. Only [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]] said that was untidy, so he designed a wheel where the pie was exactly three.'"<br />
&ndash; There's an old mathematical limerick about this very <br />
:It's a favorite hobby of mine<br />
:A new value for pi to assign.<br />
:I would set it to three<br />
:'Cause it's simpler, you see,<br />
:Than three point one four one five nine.<br />
<br />
It also reminds me of the story of the legislature of an US state setting a definitive value for Pi. <br />
<br />
Quote: ''It happened in Indiana. Although the attempt to legislate pi was ultimately unsuccessful, it did come pretty close. In 1897 Representative T.I. Record of Posen county introduced House Bill #246 in the Indiana House of Representatives. The bill, based on the work of a physician and amateur mathematician named Edward J. Goodwin (Edwin in some accounts), suggests not one but three numbers for pi, among them 3.2, as we shall see. The punishment for unbelievers I have not been able to learn, but I place no credence in the rumor that you had to spend the rest of your natural life in Indiana.'' Full story here [[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_341.html]]. <br />
<br />
The urban legend spoofing the creationism struggle here [[http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp]]<br />
<br />
(p153) "My gods, it's you! I thought for a second sun had appeared in the sky!" (Spike reacts from seeing Lipwig in his golden suit for the first time.) On first reading, it may appear that something is wrong with this sentence. However, if punctuated thus: "I thought, for a second, sun had appeared in the sky!", the interpretation is clearer.<br />
<br />
(p156) "'Coo, you're a good draw-er, Mr. Lipwig. That looks just like Lord [[Vetinari]]!' 'That's the penny stamp,' said Moist.'"<br />
&ndash; In our world, British Postmaster-General Sir Rowland Hill designed and introduced the first penny stamp, with a profile of Queen Victoria, in 1840 after much political debate. As on the Discworld, stamp collectors began to appear almost immediately afterward.<br />
<br />
It's interesting that Moist writes "Post Office" on his stamps. In our world, this happened once as a mistake when the stamps for Mauritius were designed. There's a nice story how the engraver forgot the correct wording (Postage Paid), took a walk to the Post Office to ask, but when he saw the sign "Post Office" turned back without asking and wrote that on the stamp. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Penny]]<br />
<br />
(p156)US hardcover: When Moist shows her his stamp designs, Adora says “What’s this? You carry your etchings with you to save time?”<br />
&ndash; Adora’s referring to the phrase "Want to come up and see my etchings," a romantic cliché in which a man entices a woman to come back to his place with an offer to look at something artistic. <br />
<br />
(p167) "Gently, the paper tore down the line of holes."<br />
&ndash; Perforated stamp sheets didn't appear until 1857 in the U.S., seventeen years after the penny stamp was introduced.<br />
<br />
(p175) "'I won't be long. I'm off to see the wizard.'"<br />
&ndash; The author has probably been waiting years to use this line from L. Frank Baum's ''The Wizard of Oz''.<br />
<br />
(p176) "Just below the dome, staring down from their niches, were statues of the Virtues: Patience, Chastity, Silence, Charity, Hope, [[Tubso]], [[Bissonomy]], and Fortitude."<br />
&ndash; The seven Virtues in our world (the Discworld has eight) are Hope, Charity, Faith, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence. Their frescoed images adorn the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.<br />
<br />
(p176) "These [books] are not on the public shelves lest untrained handling cause the collapse of everything that is possible to imagine.* (footnote: Again.)<br />
&ndash; There's a popular quote from Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'': "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory, which states that this has already happened." <br />
<br />
Less likely is that it is a reference to the alleged destruction of the universe that happened when the B.S. Johnson's Sorting Engine was shut down, as described on page 149 (US hardcover). <br />
<br />
(p.179) "... and in those caves are entombed more than a hundred thousand old books, mostly religious, each one in a white linen shroud....intelligent people have always known that some words at least should be disposed of with care and respect."<br />
&ndash; In Jerusalem old or damaged Bibles and Torahs are buried in special tombs rather than destroyed. The tradition is that words are sacred and have power. The Hebrew name for such depository is "geniza", not exactly the wizards' "gevaisa", but enough to make you wonder... <br />
<br />
(p181) "'Where do they go [when they die]?' 'No one's sure, exactly, but you can hear the sounds of cutlery,' said Pelc...."<br />
&ndash; The Viking concept of the afterlife for warriors, Valhalla, was basically an enormous and never-ending feasting hall. University wizards are likewise known for their love of a good large meal.<br />
<br />
(p197) "But, in truth, Boris- once you got past the pineapple- wasn't too bad a ride. He'd hit his rhythm, a natural, single-footed gait..." &ndash; Single-footing is a smooth, four beat "running walk" that some horse breeds (example: Icelandic, North American Single-footer, Rocky Mountain Saddle Horse) do naturally, sometimes as fast as other horses canter. At its fastest (racing single-foot), only one foot hits the ground at a time- hence the name. The single-foot gait is very smooth and easy on a rider if he uses a special saddle and sits further back on the horse. Moist is riding bareback, carrying a heavy load over his shoulder and leaning forward so he does not get the full effect. However, he seems quite amazed Boris is smoother than expected. <br />
<br />
(p200) "'Er... Joe Camels, sir,' he said nervously. 'I'm the mayor here...'"<br />
&ndash; Joe Camel was the (un)official name of the now-defunct mascot of Camel Cigarettes. The resemblance to the mayor ends with the name, however.<br />
<br />
(p204) "And her hair was plaited and coiled up on either side of her head in those discs that back home in Uberwald had been called 'snails,' but in Anhk-Morpork put people in mind of a woman with a curly iced bun clamped to each ear."<br />
&ndash; Think of old German beer waitresses, not Princess Leia from ''Star Wars''.<br />
<br />
(p224) "'Tell me,' said Moist, 'have you ever heard of something called the Smoking Gnu?'"<br />
&ndash; A pun on "The Smoking Gun", a newsletter published by the Lone Gunmen, a trio of computer hackers (or crackers) from the television series The X-Files, on whom the members of the Smoking Gnu are based. The ''gun'' &rarr; ''gnu'' joke has also been used in Mr. Pratchett's book for children, ''[[Book:Truckers|Truckers]]'', Chapter 9, in which a young [[Nomes|Nome]] named Vinto Pimmie persistently misreads "gun" as "gnu". The real meaning of the word "gnu" refers to a species of large antelope. "Gnu" also evokes the [http://www.gnu.org/ Free Software Foundation], which promotes the development and distribution of free software.<br />
<br />
(p230) "'What is sticking in your foot is a Mitzy "Pretty Lucretia" four-inch heel, the most dangerous footwear in the world. Considered as pounds per square inch, it's like being trodden by a very pointy elephant. Now, I know what you're thinking: you're thinking, "Could she press it all the way through to the floor?" And, you know, I'm not sure about that myself....'"<br />
&ndash; Adapted from Clint Eastwood's famous challenge in ''Dirty Harry'': "I know what you're thinkin', punk. You're thinkin', did he fire six shots or only five? And to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But bein' this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it'll blow your head clean off, you could ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"<br />
<br />
(p235) "But now it was time to put away childish pins."<br />
&ndash; "When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." &ndash; 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV) (the King James version has "but when I became a man, I put away childish things")<br />
<br />
(p237) British hardback: The sequence from "As Moist peered..." until Moist turns around is pretty much taken straight from Brett's experience with Jones the cat in Ridley Scott's "Alien".<br />
<br />
(p249) "'There's the Lady Sybil Free Hospital,' said Miss Dearheart. 'Is it any good?' 'Some people don't die.' 'That good, eh?'"<br />
&ndash; [[Lady Sybil Ramkin|Lady Sybil Vimes]] nee Ramkin, of course, is the wife of [[Commander Vimes]] of the Watch, the Duchess of Ankh-Morpork, and in terms of assets, the wealthiest woman in the city. Up until now she's devoted herself to caring for swamp dragons, and horse doctors in Ankh-Morpork were considered more reliable for people than people doctors. This hospital is developed and now led by Dr. Lawn, on the plot of land on Attic Bee Street, near Goose Gate, that Vimes signed over to him as payment for helping Sam Jr. into the world (an event at the end of ''[[Book:Night Watch|Night Watch]]''). ''The accuracy of this annotation is currently under discussion, mainly regarding whether Lady Sybil actually runs the hospital or only lends her name and money. See Talk page.''<br />
<br />
Another possible reason for the name is that Dr Lawn chose to name his hospital after, basically, the main person who got him the land in the first place.<br />
<br />
(p259)US hardcover: Moist’s idea of what a master criminal could buy: “seaside properties with real lava flows near a reliable source of piranhas” sounds like the hideout of typical James Bond villains.<br />
<br />
(p.260(Doubleday hardcover)) "Even Miss Extremelia Mume ... was doing good business among those prepared to back an outside chance. She'd hung a banner over the door. It read: 'It Could Be YOU'".<br /><br />
This, along with the following paragraph's musings on hope, clearly refers to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lottery_%28United_Kingdom%29 UK National Lottery] (also known as the Tax For Innumerates). The Discworld people are making small donations/prayers to the temples hoping for a monetary windfall like Moist just got. It's obvious when you remember that a 90s TV campaign for the lottery featured a giant sparkly hand coming out of the clouds to point at winners... and their slogan at the time was "It Could Be YOU" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FlHbqnU0o].<br />
<br />
(p263) "The nave of the temple was deserted, except for a little old man in a grubby robe, dreamily sweeping the floor."<br />
This detail is out of place, unless it's a reference to Lu-Tze. Possibly the History Monks have taken an interest in the Post Office, or kicking Reacher Gilt out before he can become Patrician. For the History Monks to have somebody keeping an eye on an institution where a machine (the Sorting Engine) is capable of bending time and space is only logical, as well as the evidential detail that it was installed perhaps thirty years before the "present" - ie, roughly the same time that Samuel Vimes re-enters time in {{NW}}. So if the destruction of one time-bending machine (the Glass Clock) is responsible for taking Vimes ''out'' of time, then the switching-on of a second time-bending machine (the Sorting Engine) might have been the trigger event dictating when Vimes and Carcer were ''returned'' to normal space-time? (Or ''delivered'', so to speak) Alternately, it ''could'' just be a guy sweeping up after services, as the Men In Saffron don't have a monopoly on wearing robes, particularly in a temple.<br />
<br />
(p276) Lipwig's musing about Gilt not needing "a tower with ten thousand trolls camped outside" brings to mind Saruman from ''The Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
(p279) US hardcover: Moist says "your big words tell them it’s going to be jam tomorrow and they hope." <br />
&ndash; a reference to ''Alice in Wonderland'', in which the Queen offers Alice jam every other day: "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day." <br />
<br />
(p287) US hardcover:‘Tump Tower’ refers to the Trump Tower, built by Donald Trump in New York City<br />
<br />
(p293) "Deliver them, of course. You've got to. You are the messenger of the gods."<br />
&ndash; Another reference to Mercury.<br />
<br />
(p300) US Hardcover: The ‘crackers’ who disrupt the Clacks line are remarkably like Roundworld computer hackers <br />
<br />
(p304) "'There's cabbage soup, cabbage beer, cabbage fudge, cabbage cake, cream of cabbage&mdash;'"<br />
&ndash; Stanley's stream of cabbage recipes parallels Bubba's list of shrimp dishes in the movie Forrest Gump, and Monty Python's Spam sketch.<br />
* Also used in ''The Science Of Discworld II'', when Rincewind obsessively recites all the potato recipes he can think of to prevent the elf Queen from reading his thoughts.<br />
<br />
(p308) "'Did you spot how the swage armature can be made to jump off the elliptical bearing if you hit the letter K and then send it to a tower with an address higher than yours but only if you hit the letter Q first and the drum spring is fully wound?'"<br />
&ndash; Certain early (and some current) computer systems could be made to fail in similar ways. Unlikely character strings can sometimes, in binary, be interpreted as system codes and cause security breaches or outright system failures. Likewise, early mechanical typewriters could lock up if the wrong series of letters were pressed in quick succession, a phenomenon which the QWERTY keyboard was designed to make less likely.<br />
<br />
(p326) Harper paperback: Miss Dearheart says, "You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope." A play on Lauren Bacall's famous line in the 1944 film "To Have and Have Not," "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."<br />
<br />
(p319) "'All right, but why "Smoking GNU"?' said Moist. 'That's cracker slang for a very fast message-send throughout the system,' said Sane Alex pointedly."<br />
&ndash; In our world, GNU is also a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix", and the GNU Project is an ongoing effort to develop a free operating system compatible with commercial Unix.<br />
<br />
(p326) "'I call it baize-space,' said [[Ponder Stibbons]] proudly."<br />
&ndash; 'Baize' is the name given to the felt-like cloth used to cover billiards tables. As Stibbons points out later, it's also a pun on "phase space".<br />
<br />
(p339) "'But it's a book!' said Mr. Pony. 'It'll take all night to code! And there's diagrams!'"<br />
&ndash; It was established in ''[[Book:Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'' that the clacks towers could send images slowly by transmitting codes for pixel data, exactly the way computers do.<br />
<br />
(p352) "'It's still not working, Mr. Stibbons!' he bellowed. "Here's that damn enormous fiery eye again!'"<br />
&ndash; In J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', Sauron appeared as a great fiery cat's eye in visions and metaphoric descriptions. In Peter Jackson's movie adaptations, the Eye appears (aside from a literal interpretation on top of Sauron's fortress) in the palantíri (seeing-stones), which have a very similar function to the University's [[omniscope]].<br />
<br />
(p360) "'Gilt can kiss my&mdash;' Grandad began, then remembered the present company and finished: '&ndash;donkey.'"<br />
&ndash; A reference to American use of ''ass'', an old word for donkey, in place of ''arse''.<br />
<br />
(p361) "'... I'm close to translating the mating call of the giant clam...'"<br />
&ndash; TP likes to drop hints of corny old jokes. Place your forearms in front of your face one laid on top of the other. Very slowly open them so that only your eyes are visible between them and swivel your eyes from side to side. That's the mating call of the giant clam.<br />
<br />
(p341) Right at the end of {{GP}} when the game is up and the financial corruption of the Trunk board is revealed, Stowley fakes amnesia and loss of his short-term memory as a desperate ploy to avoid prosecution. This hopefully didn't fool Vetinari for one moment, but the Roundworld referent is more depressing:<br />
<br />
Charged with a range of financial misdemeanours in the late 1980's, including false accounting, fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion, Ernest Saunders, a senior member of the Guinness brewing and finance family, provided medical testimonials that he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and had no recollection of the sequence of events that had led him to court. As genuine sufferers of Alzheimer's know, one of the first symptoms of the disease is the loss of short-term memory. The judge took his plea of being unable to face charges on medical grounds seriously, and released him with a short suspended sentence where otherwise he might have been looking at several years inside. <br />
<br />
Incredibly, he made a full and complete recovery from Alzheimer's shortly after his court appearance, perhaps the only man in medical history to ever have reversed the progress of this disease. TP of all people would have an absolute right to hold somebody faking Alzheimer's as a "get-out-of-jail-free" card up to scorn, satire and ridicule. <br />
<br />
Refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_share-trading_fraud|ref._Guinness share-trading fraud] for the full story, including Saunders' miracle recovery from Alzheimer's.<br />
<br />
==Odds and ends==<br />
Apologies if this is in the wrong place or noted elsewhere but the reference to the Matron will be to the Harridan played by (almost exclusively) Hattie Jacques in the various Carry On films concerning the UK NHS.-- SJC 2 June 2010 (BST)<br />
<br />
'''Moist von Lipwig'''<br />
:While I haven't found a good source for Germanic interpretations / history of the name, a 'lip-wig' is a slang term for a moustache. Hence 'von Lipwig' = 'of the (fake) moustache' - very fitting for a conman who relies on the addition of distinguishing features to disguise his undistinguished face. --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 17-18 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Er... would you mind signing the rope beforehand, sir? ... Worth more signed, of course.'" - Daniel "One Drop" Trooper<br />
:Gotta love the irony that Moist von Lipwig / Albert Spangler, the consummate con-man, is helping his ''executioner'' to get 'money for old rope'! --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 47 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "A large black and white cat had walked into the room"<br />
:Does the colour remind anyone else of Postman Pat's cat, Jess?<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 187 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Actually it is the Sorting Engine,' said Groat. 'It's the curse of the Post Office, sir. It had imps in it for the actual reading of the envelopes, but they all evaporated years ago.'"<br />
:While imps are of course used as the basis for a lot of Discworld technology, I doubt many people outside the Royal Mail know that the huge sorting machines in every mail centre are called '''I'''ntegrated '''M'''ail '''P'''rocessors - known as IMPs for short! --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 352(UK Corgi PB)p.330 (Doubleday hardcover)]'''<br />
<br />
"I'm sure we have the right-" Ponder began.<br />
<br />
This echoes Aragorn in ''Lord of the Rings/Two Towers'', when he wrests control of the Palantir from Sauron, and the next morning is seen looking drawn and exhausted from the mental and psychic strain of doing direct battle with the dark lord.<br />
<br />
"I had the right, but barely" he explained to Gandalf.<br />
<br />
While I agree that the the "fiery eye" is intended to be reminiscent of Sauron it is clearly not actually Sauron but merely the eye of Dr Collabone; red from allergies and enormous from peering too closely at his end of the omniscope.<br />
--[[User:Neilxt|Neilxt]] 05:03, 21 August 2007 (CEST)<br />
<br />
(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'" - For some, this resonates with Obi-Wan's use of the Jedi mind trick to escape storm troopers -- "These aren't the droids you're looking for." This is annotated elsewhere on the Wiki as – Possibly, but not clearly, a reference to Neo's role as the One in the ''Matrix films''. Or, perhaps the most likely, a reference to Graham Chapman's increasingly perplexed and angry Brian in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'' when chased by hordes of adoring wannabe disciples. Or even [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOpxt3CpZBk|this_song]this song...<br />
<br />
(p313) "'You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope.'" - obviously based on Lauren Bacall's famous line from "To Have and Have Not", to Humphrey Bogart: "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow." Bacall's character's nickname is "Slim", and this is echoed in the affectionate nicknames of Moist and Dearheart, "Slick" and "Spike". --[[User:Eitheladar|Eitheladar]] 07:47, 31 December 2007 (CET)<br />
<br />
(p??) The entire episode of a mail coach vs. the clacks system transporting the contents of a book evokes a saying that is well-known among us computer science types: "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes". It's also known in other forms, e.g. "It's faster to send a petabyte of data to Hong Kong by sailboat than over the internet". Pratchett doesn't explicitly reference this saying, but he has created an instructive example of the difference between latency and bandwidth: while it takes less time for the start of a message to arrive via the clacks towers, the mail coach has an advantage when the size of the message is large (e.g. in case of sending the contents of a book, or even a large number of letters).<br />
<br />
(p??) The crackers' blocking of the light and substitution of their own portable clacks tower is an example of what computer scientists and security researchers refer to as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack man-in-the-middle attack].<br />
<br />
(p??) "'Ha, even the damn soup there is fifteen dollars!' said Moist" - Very likely a reference to The Blues Brothers, also referenced sporadically throughout Soul Music. When the Brothers visit a former band member - now Maître d' in a posh Chicago restaurant - at his place of work, he encourages them to leave on the basis that they can't afford to eat there, remarking "Come on guys..let me buy you a cup of coffee. The soup here is f*cking ten dollars."<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Going Postal/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Going_Postal/Annotations&diff=34677Book:Going Postal/Annotations2023-05-23T23:06:13Z<p>Superluser: some annotations: fiber optics, accuphile, agatean wall, trunking</p>
<hr />
<div>[[Annotations]] for the book {{GP}}<br />
==By page number==<br />
Page numbers refer to the U.S. edition<br />
<br />
Cover - The cover design was inspired by the original ''Star Wars'' film poster, because there are other Star Wars references in the book.<br />
<br />
Title- Around 1986 several mentally stressed U.S. Postal Service employees went on a shooting rampage at post offices, killing employees and bystanders. This resulted in the U.S. Postal Service (and many other organizations) re-evaluating employee work conditions and decreasing stress in the work place. The term has remained in U.S. slang for when an employee or ex-employee goes on a murder rampage at his workplace, though it is more used to predict that someone is getting upset with job conditions enough to go postal. In the book this emotional condition is perfectly represented by Stanley. <br />
<br />
Character Annotation on Tolliver Groat:-<br />
<br />
The name, the character description, and the Gormenghast-like Post office building, are straight out of Mervyn Peake: Tolliver Groat's personal take on the grotesque means that he could walk in to Peake's fantasy virtually as is. Indeed, Groat's dogged adherence to rule and ritual, his having practically memorised the Post Office rulebook long after the system has effectively collapsed and his insistence the rules still be followed because, well, they are the Rules, is reminiscent of Gormenghast's Master of Ceremonies, the ageing, repellent, and soap-innocent Barquentine. Moist von Lipwig has arrived in the Post Office system in time to be a less malevolent Steerpike - i.e., the character who shakes the system up and reinvigorates it. (Hmmm, Moist as Steerpike in a Gormenghast-like system - the manipulative outsider who causes a stir and gets things done.) Steerpike also, metaphorically and literally, climbs from the lowest Hell-like depths of the kitchens where is otherwise imprisoned for life as a lowly scullion, to the higher floors of the castle - via the ''outside'' of the building - where nobody questions his right to be there and he can re-integrate himself at a higher social level with a series of plausible cover stories. Compare this to Moist's resurrection from the dead and rebirth into a higher social position. The climbing metaphor becomes more explicit in {{MM}}, where, as with Steerpike's desperation climb, Moist is found edificeering on the exterior of his own building and just about to be exposed as a thief and a crook - for all the wrong reasons...<br />
<br />
Prologue - <br />
"The flotillas of the dead sailed around the world on underwater rivers."<br />
Although this idea may seem fanciful, it has a basis in reality. The ocean does have layers of different density (based on temperature and salt concentration). A submarine can adjust its buoyancy so that "it stops sinking and ends up floating on an underwater surface, beyond the reach of the storms but far above the ocean floor." (Sir Terry makes a minor error that the effect is due to density, not viscosity).<br />
<br />
A quotation from a former submarine sonar Chief Petty Officer ([https://www.quora.com/Can-submarines-stay-still-underwater-without-moving-at-a-given-depth]):<br />
<br />
"If the SVP (Sound Velocity Profile) shows a strong thermocline change, we would have negative buoyancy above the layer, and positive buoyancy below the layer. Slow down, using the planes to dive towards layer depth, and just sit on the layer! It’s just as stable as sitting on the bottom, and you can sit there, motionless, forever!"<br />
<br />
(p.4) Harper paperback — "It could send messages up to 4 times faster than the old towers, thanks to the new shutter system and the colored lights" — This appears to be a reference to fiber optic data transmission. The use of multimodal (multiple color) fiber optic transmitters & optical fiber has increased the bandwidth to 40Gbps (though the same bandwidth can be achieved using single mode fiber these days)<br />
<br />
(p8) US hardcover- – reference to “the clacks”<br />
&ndash; this is a Discworld version of a telegraph or fax machine and is based on “A semaphore telegraph, optical telegraph, shutter telegraph chain, Chappe telegraph, or Napoleonic semaphore is a system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the mechanical elements; it is read when the shutter is in a fixed position. These systems were popular in the late 18th - early 19th century.”(Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
(p11) US hardcover - "They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully” <br />
&ndash; This is a paraphrase of a quote by Samuel Johnson: "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."<br />
<br />
(p11) " 'Er... it's not as bad a thing I do now...er'"<br />
&ndash; Perhaps this is a spoof of the famous speech Sidney Carton says before he is executed in Dickens' ''Tale of Two Cities''. ("It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."[http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/a-tale-of-two-cities/summary-and-analysis/book-3-chapter-15]) There is some ironic similarity here. Carton stepped in nobly to die for another man whom he physically resembled. Here, Moist is being executed under the alias of Albert Spangler. In both cases, Carton and von Lipwig are dying under someone else's name.<br />
<br />
(p12) "What you had to do in this life was get past the pineapple, Moist told himself. It was big and sharp and knobbly, but there might be peaches underneath. It was a myth to live by and so, right now, totally useless."<br />
&ndash; This philosophy is mentioned many times in the book and sounds like a somewhat ironic send-up of Forrest Gump's philosophy about life and a box of chocolates.<br />
<br />
(p13)US hardcover: Mr. Wilkinson “I told him, sir, that fruit baskets is like life: until you’ve got the pineapple off’t the top you never know what’s underneath.” <br />
&ndash; Reminiscent of the Forrest Gump quote: “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.’”<br />
<br />
A dialogue in {{TLC}} presages the whole ''getting past the pineapple'' bit. Corgi PB pp64-67, where amongst other things the Senior Wrangler discloses his aunt was a victim of one, a woman who literally could not get past the pineapple. <br />
<br />
(p20) "They'd clamped it. They'd bloody clamped it...."<br />
&ndash; The bright yellow tire lock (wheel boots) is sometimes used by law enforcement in our world for the same purpose.<br />
<br />
(p22) "'Mr. [[Pump]] does not sleep. Mr. Pump does not eat. And Mr. Pump, Postmaster General, does not stop.'"<br />
* Possibly a paraphrase from the 1984 film ''The Terminator'': "That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"<br />
* It's close to a quote from the 1999 film ''The Mummy'': "He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."<br />
<br />
(p23) "'Wait! Wait! There's a rule! A [[golems|golem]] mustn't harm a human being or allow a human being to come to harm!'"<br />
&ndash; This is the first of Isaac Asimov's {{wp|Three_Laws_of_Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics}} (Golems are the [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]] equivalent of robots). Asimov, of course, didn't add the conditional "unless ordered to do so by duly constituted authority" that Vetinari did.<br />
<br />
(p26) "'"NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLO M OF NI T CAN STAY THESE MES ENGERS ABO T THEIR DUTY."'"<br />
&ndash; The inscription on the General Post Office in New York City reads: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service_creed] This was also referenced in {{MAA}}.<br />
<br />
(p26) "'Who's [[Mrs. Cake]]?... They seem pretty frightened of her."<br />
&ndash; [[Mrs. Cake]], first introduced in ''[[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', is a psychic medium who, more importantly, runs a boarding house for the undead of Ankh-Morpork.<br />
<br />
(p33)US hardcover(footnote) “Dimwell Arrhythmic Rhyming Slang” is a variation on Cockney rhyming slang. The example, “Apples and Pears” is from Cockney slang. Rhyming Slang phrases are derived from taking an expression which rhymes with a word and then using that expression instead of the word. For example the word "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook". In many cases the rhyming word is omitted - so you won't find too many Londoners having a "butcher's hook" at this site, but you might find a few having a "butcher's". The rhyming word is not always omitted so Cockney expressions can vary in their construction, and it is simply a matter of convention which version is used. (from http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk)<br />
<br />
(p47) "'[Wings] on his hat and his ankles,' said Stanley. "So he could fly the messages at the speed of ... messages.'"<br />
&ndash; Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) was the messenger to the gods in general and Jupiter (Zeus) in particular. He's commonly depicted with a winged cap and ankles. As well as making a neat stand-alone joke, the concept of the modesty-saving fig-leaf also having wings neatly pokes fun at the reason ''why'' fig-leaves went on public statuary in the first place. These were a Victorian invention devised to spare unmarried ladies under thirty from the sight even of sculpted male genitalia, carved by their ''unthinking'' forebears in earlier centuries. statues up to and including Michelangelo's ''David'', which for several hundred years had flaunted all, were issued the standard fig-leaf. (The fig was chosen ostensibly because the Bible identifies it as the leaf used by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, when ''they saw they were naked, and they were ashamed''.) This contributor has been to the National Museum in Berlin, where a rotunda houses old statues on which, without exception, the penises of the males on display have been excised and drilled through, so as to house the mounting for the fig-leaf... ouch... Of course, a ''second'' referent for fig leaves with wings comes from wall frescoes discovered intact at the Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. On these imaginatively bawdy paintings, you may see that which the Victorians thought necessary to cover with a fig leaf, but flying round independently of any attached body, propelled by their very own sets of wings. In one mural, young women are trying to catch them as they buzz around in a flotilla... indeed, a popular lucky charm/religious amulet worn by Romans, frequently discovered in archaeological digs, was a pendant of an erect penis and testicles, with wings. This apparently symbolised fertility and good health as well as assuring a healthy sex life. It was worn around the neck in the same way other religions might wear a cross, or indeed a turtle. (Why do you get the feeling the wrong religion won in ancient Rome?) I also can't help thinking of the Special Air Service's winged dagger cap badge in a new and Freudian light here... Conflating these two concepts - Victorian prudery and healthy bawdiness - in the form of a confused-looking fig leaf with wings on, would suggest Ankh-Morpork is a place confused about what its attitude to sexuality should be... just like modern Britain, in fact! <br />
<br />
Also note Om-as-Tortoise's desperate curse on Brother Nhumrod in {{SG}} (Corgi pb p 40) - ''"Your sexual organs to sprout wings and fly away!"<br />
<br />
(p56) "'Be with you in jus't one moment, s'ir, I'm ju'st&mdash;'"<br />
&ndash; Greengrocers throughout the English-speaking world (but in England in particular) are known for their persistent abuse of the apostrophe-ess combination on their handwritten signs.<br />
<br />
(p63) "'The free golems work 24-8...."<br />
&ndash; It's rarely mentioned anymore that the number [[7a|eight]] is magically significant on the Disc and tends to occur wherever our world would use a seven. In particular, the Discworld week is 8 days long. But at this point, go to your copy of {{GP}}, which is the first Discworld book to be separated into formal chapters. (Each has a heading where the chapter contents are summarised at the start, in the manner of a Victorian morality fable). Now look at the chapter heading for the one that comes in between Chapter Seven and Chapter Nine. Look ''closely'' at it. <br />
<br />
(p.65) Harper paperback — acuphilia appears to be a neologism by Terry, the love of pins, or perhaps love of accupunture<br />
<br />
(p72) "'However, I note that since you acquired the [[Grand Trunk Semaphore Company|Grand Trunk]] at a fraction of its value, breakdowns are increasing, the speed of messages has slowed down, and the cost to customers has risen.'"<br />
&ndash; While there are some parallels to the Grand Trunk and America's now-broken AT&T telecommunications monopoly, there are far more parallels to the UK's British Telecom, which is still a monopoly there and has very few friends among its consumers. Interestingly, the history of BT is that it was originally part of the British Post Office and was still known as "Post Office Telecommunications" until 1980, shortly before it became privatized.<br />
<br />
In telecommunications, "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunking trunking]" is the process of taking several smaller data streams (originally, phone lines, but later applied to data) & aggregating them onto a higher bandwidth circuit which takes them all.<br />
<br />
(p74) "'This, my lord'," said Gilt, gesturing to the little side table..."'Is this not an original [[hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl]] slab?'"<br />
&ndash;The Vikings were known to have played a game called hnefatafl (king's board). It consisted of a marked board and peg-like pieces and seems to have some similarities to backgammon. "Hnefatafl" seems to be the origin of the word used for the Discworld game.<br />
<br />
Of course we learn much more about this game in {{T!}}<br />
<br />
(p83)US hardcover: Stanley: “See a pin pick it up and all day long you’ll have a pin.”<br />
&ndash; A variation on the Roundworld rhyme “See a pin pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.” Often 'penny' is substituted for pin.<br />
<br />
(p83) "'They were hand-drawn and had his trademark silver head with a microscopic engraving of a cockerel.'"<br />
&ndash; Perhaps this is a reference to the fancy microscopic engravings computer chip designers use when endorsing their work.<br />
<br />
(p.86) Harper paperback — "Agatean Wall" — the Roundworld term for this business practice is "Chinese Wall"<br />
<br />
(p96) "'Do you understand anything I'm saying?' shouted Moist. 'You can't just go around killing people!' 'Why Not?'"<br />
&ndash; Paraphrasing from ''Terminator 2'' this time. John Connor: "You can't just go around killing people!" Terminator: "Why?" "What do you mean, why? Because you can't!" "Why?"<br />
<br />
(p99(''British edition'')). Grandad's speech on "We keep that name moving in the Overhead", referring to the mysterious death of [[John Dearheart]] and the great unhappiness this has provoked among long-time Linesmen. The following text quotes almost verbatim from Glen Campbell's country and western hit ''Wichita Lineman'', about the life and death of an electrical lineman in the heart of the USA....<br />
<br />
(p104(''Corgi edition'')) "It overwhelms the soul, very much like the state he elsewhere describes as ''Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit''. " &ndash; This German is a bit mangled. With proper spaces it is "Von Alles Vol'''l'''kommen unverständlich das das -keit" which translates as "from everything completely non-understandable (=incomprehensible) the<sub>neuter</sub> the<sub>neuter</sub>" and a suffix changing a word into a noun (this might refer to "unverständlich": Unverständlichkeit would be incomprehensibility). This also appears to foreshadow the extensive employment of cod-German philosophy which defines Mr Nutt's character in {{UA}}<br />
<br />
Freidegger is a clever pun on the famous German philosopher Heidegger[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidegger]] who wrote about time. (And he is difficult to understand either in his native German or in a translation). <br />
The German word "Frei" means "free", therefore suited to the recurring topic of freedom in the book. In German and posssibly also in Überwaldean, ''Freitag'' is a day of the week: ''Friday'', when most people are ''freed'' of the burden of having to work for a living and get the weekend to themselves. An advertising campaign for chocolate cleverly used the slogan ''That Friday Feeling'', and we have the acronym TGIF, for ''Thank God It's Friday!"'' to denote that expansive Friday-night feeling at the start of the weekend. (Although I should point out, in the name of accuracy, that the current name "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday#Etymology Freitag]" is not derived from "Free - day" but from the old Norse Goddess [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja Freya])<br />
<br />
(p105) "The Marthter ith having one of hith little thoireeth, thur"<br />
&ndash; In the Rocky Horror (Picture) Show, the hunchbacked servant tells the innocents "You've come on a rather special night. The Master is having one of his affairs..."<br />
<br />
(p106) "[[Reacher Gilt]] certainly looked like a pirate, with his long, curly black hair, pointed beard, and eyepatch. He was even said to have a parrot."<br />
&ndash; The name "Reacher Gilt" is itself a pun on "Long John Silver", the pirate captain from Treasure Island. Gilt's name, appearance and libertarian-capitalist ideology has stronger resonances with Ayn Rand's charismatic capitalist hero John Galt and pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_shrugged Atlas Shrugged]. There may also be suggestions of English billionaire playboy-investor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_branson Richard Branson].<br />
<br />
''There may also be links and distant echoes to the plot and characters of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' trilogy, also in this context a work of satire which parodies Ayn Rand's right-wing libertarian and extreme free-market philosophy. In this book, a "book within a book" is a parody of Ayn Rand's polemic, called ''Telemachus Sneezed''.''<br />
<br />
<!-- Shea and Wilson's ''Illuminatus!'' trilogy also parodies Ayn Rand with its creation of charismatic anarchist hero [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagbard_celine Hagbard Celine], a direct parody of Ragnar Danneskjold. Although Hagbard is temperamentally and politically on the side of those who throw grit into the machine belonging to the Gilts, Galts and Danneskjolds, such as Moist von Lipwig... --><br />
<br />
(p106) "Twelve and a half percent! Twelve and a half percent!"<br />
&ndash; As Moist almost explains later in the book, this is a financial joke. Long John Silver's parrot always repeated "Pieces of eight!" Pieces of eight were one-eighth pieces of a gold dollar coin. A dollar is one hundred cents, and one hundred percent make a whole. Twelve and a half percent, then, is exactly one-eighth of a dollar--a piece of eight.<br />
<!-- While the above may correct according to what everyone knows; a piece of eight is actually a Spanish silver dollar worth 8 reales also called royals(the Spanish base currency at the time), meaning that a piece of eight is actually 800% of the Spanish base currency. <br />
The common misconception seems to come from the interpretation of pieces of eight, with most people reading it as one piece worth an eighth(1/8) rather than one piece worth eight reales. --><br />
<br />
(p129) "les buggeures risible"<br />
&ndash; Pig French for "Silly Buggers", a common English slang term for deliberately obstructive activity. ("Someone's playing silly buggers, here...")<br />
<br />
(p131) "This was going to be...ironic. They'd actually got hold of Lipwigzers!"<br />
&ndash; The author possibly seems to be punning on Weimaraners ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimaraner]), which are a German breed of dog that take their name from the Grand Duke of Weimar, Karl August. The cover of the UK edition depicts two dogs similar in appearance to Rottweilers. Rottweilers are a kind of black dog with orange eyebrows, as mentioned on the same list that mentions [[Mrs. Cake]]. (And there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottweil Rottweil])<br />
<br />
(p131) US hardcover: Worshipful Master: “Yes, well, you know what we used to say: you do have to be mad to work here!”<br />
&ndash; a spin on the Roundworld saying: “You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps”<br />
This is reinforced on (page 165) when Moist looks at the unfortunate selection of mugs Stanley has used for preparing tea for him and Sacharissa Cripslock. The cup Moist receives has a jokey message which has faded from ''You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps'' to '''''Be mad - it helps!''''' <br />
<br />
(As in American slang "mad" tends to mean "angry" rather than "crazy", I wonder if this is also an echo of Susan's maxim from Hogfather - don't get scared, get angry?)<br />
:(The American expression uses "crazy": “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps”. "Mad" in colloquial usage is almost always "angry" this (West) side the Water.)<br />
<br />
(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'"<br />
&ndash; Possibly, but not clearly, a reference to Neo's role as the One in the ''Matrix'' films. Or, more likely, a reference to Graham Chapman's increasingly perplexed and angry Brian in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian''. This is also the title of a song by American goth-rockers the [[Blue Öyster Cult]], about having to settle not for what you ''want'', but for the best deal you can actually ''get''. Another possible reference is to the film ''{{wp|Star Wars_Episode_IV:_A New Hope|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope}}'' in which Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the force to deceive soldiers saying: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."<br />
<br />
(p137) "Deliver Us!"<br />
&ndash; A pun on the Israelites' cry from the Biblical book of Exodus.<br />
<br />
(p146) "'Three and a bit, that's the ticket. Only [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|Bloody Stupid Johnson]] said that was untidy, so he designed a wheel where the pie was exactly three.'"<br />
&ndash; There's an old mathematical limerick about this very <br />
:It's a favorite hobby of mine<br />
:A new value for pi to assign.<br />
:I would set it to three<br />
:'Cause it's simpler, you see,<br />
:Than three point one four one five nine.<br />
<br />
It also reminds me of the story of the legislature of an US state setting a definitive value for Pi. <br />
<br />
Quote: ''It happened in Indiana. Although the attempt to legislate pi was ultimately unsuccessful, it did come pretty close. In 1897 Representative T.I. Record of Posen county introduced House Bill #246 in the Indiana House of Representatives. The bill, based on the work of a physician and amateur mathematician named Edward J. Goodwin (Edwin in some accounts), suggests not one but three numbers for pi, among them 3.2, as we shall see. The punishment for unbelievers I have not been able to learn, but I place no credence in the rumor that you had to spend the rest of your natural life in Indiana.'' Full story here [[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_341.html]]. <br />
<br />
The urban legend spoofing the creationism struggle here [[http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp]]<br />
<br />
(p153) "My gods, it's you! I thought for a second sun had appeared in the sky!" (Spike reacts from seeing Lipwig in his golden suit for the first time.) On first reading, it may appear that something is wrong with this sentence. However, if punctuated thus: "I thought, for a second, sun had appeared in the sky!", the interpretation is clearer.<br />
<br />
(p156) "'Coo, you're a good draw-er, Mr. Lipwig. That looks just like Lord [[Vetinari]]!' 'That's the penny stamp,' said Moist.'"<br />
&ndash; In our world, British Postmaster-General Sir Rowland Hill designed and introduced the first penny stamp, with a profile of Queen Victoria, in 1840 after much political debate. As on the Discworld, stamp collectors began to appear almost immediately afterward.<br />
<br />
It's interesting that Moist writes "Post Office" on his stamps. In our world, this happened once as a mistake when the stamps for Mauritius were designed. There's a nice story how the engraver forgot the correct wording (Postage Paid), took a walk to the Post Office to ask, but when he saw the sign "Post Office" turned back without asking and wrote that on the stamp. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Penny]]<br />
<br />
(p156)US hardcover: When Moist shows her his stamp designs, Adora says “What’s this? You carry your etchings with you to save time?”<br />
&ndash; Adora’s referring to the phrase "Want to come up and see my etchings," a romantic cliché in which a man entices a woman to come back to his place with an offer to look at something artistic. <br />
<br />
(p167) "Gently, the paper tore down the line of holes."<br />
&ndash; Perforated stamp sheets didn't appear until 1857 in the U.S., seventeen years after the penny stamp was introduced.<br />
<br />
(p175) "'I won't be long. I'm off to see the wizard.'"<br />
&ndash; The author has probably been waiting years to use this line from L. Frank Baum's ''The Wizard of Oz''.<br />
<br />
(p176) "Just below the dome, staring down from their niches, were statues of the Virtues: Patience, Chastity, Silence, Charity, Hope, [[Tubso]], [[Bissonomy]], and Fortitude."<br />
&ndash; The seven Virtues in our world (the Discworld has eight) are Hope, Charity, Faith, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence. Their frescoed images adorn the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.<br />
<br />
(p176) "These [books] are not on the public shelves lest untrained handling cause the collapse of everything that is possible to imagine.* (footnote: Again.)<br />
&ndash; There's a popular quote from Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'': "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory, which states that this has already happened." <br />
<br />
Less likely is that it is a reference to the alleged destruction of the universe that happened when the B.S. Johnson's Sorting Engine was shut down, as described on page 149 (US hardcover). <br />
<br />
(p.179) "... and in those caves are entombed more than a hundred thousand old books, mostly religious, each one in a white linen shroud....intelligent people have always known that some words at least should be disposed of with care and respect."<br />
&ndash; In Jerusalem old or damaged Bibles and Torahs are buried in special tombs rather than destroyed. The tradition is that words are sacred and have power. The Hebrew name for such depository is "geniza", not exactly the wizards' "gevaisa", but enough to make you wonder... <br />
<br />
(p181) "'Where do they go [when they die]?' 'No one's sure, exactly, but you can hear the sounds of cutlery,' said Pelc...."<br />
&ndash; The Viking concept of the afterlife for warriors, Valhalla, was basically an enormous and never-ending feasting hall. University wizards are likewise known for their love of a good large meal.<br />
<br />
(p197) "But, in truth, Boris- once you got past the pineapple- wasn't too bad a ride. He'd hit his rhythm, a natural, single-footed gait..." &ndash; Single-footing is a smooth, four beat "running walk" that some horse breeds (example: Icelandic, North American Single-footer, Rocky Mountain Saddle Horse) do naturally, sometimes as fast as other horses canter. At its fastest (racing single-foot), only one foot hits the ground at a time- hence the name. The single-foot gait is very smooth and easy on a rider if he uses a special saddle and sits further back on the horse. Moist is riding bareback, carrying a heavy load over his shoulder and leaning forward so he does not get the full effect. However, he seems quite amazed Boris is smoother than expected. <br />
<br />
(p200) "'Er... Joe Camels, sir,' he said nervously. 'I'm the mayor here...'"<br />
&ndash; Joe Camel was the (un)official name of the now-defunct mascot of Camel Cigarettes. The resemblance to the mayor ends with the name, however.<br />
<br />
(p204) "And her hair was plaited and coiled up on either side of her head in those discs that back home in Uberwald had been called 'snails,' but in Anhk-Morpork put people in mind of a woman with a curly iced bun clamped to each ear."<br />
&ndash; Think of old German beer waitresses, not Princess Leia from ''Star Wars''.<br />
<br />
(p224) "'Tell me,' said Moist, 'have you ever heard of something called the Smoking Gnu?'"<br />
&ndash; A pun on "The Smoking Gun", a newsletter published by the Lone Gunmen, a trio of computer hackers (or crackers) from the television series The X-Files, on whom the members of the Smoking Gnu are based. The ''gun'' &rarr; ''gnu'' joke has also been used in Mr. Pratchett's book for children, ''[[Book:Truckers|Truckers]]'', Chapter 9, in which a young [[Nomes|Nome]] named Vinto Pimmie persistently misreads "gun" as "gnu". The real meaning of the word "gnu" refers to a species of large antelope. "Gnu" also evokes the [http://www.gnu.org/ Free Software Foundation], which promotes the development and distribution of free software.<br />
<br />
(p230) "'What is sticking in your foot is a Mitzy "Pretty Lucretia" four-inch heel, the most dangerous footwear in the world. Considered as pounds per square inch, it's like being trodden by a very pointy elephant. Now, I know what you're thinking: you're thinking, "Could she press it all the way through to the floor?" And, you know, I'm not sure about that myself....'"<br />
&ndash; Adapted from Clint Eastwood's famous challenge in ''Dirty Harry'': "I know what you're thinkin', punk. You're thinkin', did he fire six shots or only five? And to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But bein' this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it'll blow your head clean off, you could ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"<br />
<br />
(p235) "But now it was time to put away childish pins."<br />
&ndash; "When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." &ndash; 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV) (the King James version has "but when I became a man, I put away childish things")<br />
<br />
(p237) British hardback: The sequence from "As Moist peered..." until Moist turns around is pretty much taken straight from Brett's experience with Jones the cat in Ridley Scott's "Alien".<br />
<br />
(p249) "'There's the Lady Sybil Free Hospital,' said Miss Dearheart. 'Is it any good?' 'Some people don't die.' 'That good, eh?'"<br />
&ndash; [[Lady Sybil Ramkin|Lady Sybil Vimes]] nee Ramkin, of course, is the wife of [[Commander Vimes]] of the Watch, the Duchess of Ankh-Morpork, and in terms of assets, the wealthiest woman in the city. Up until now she's devoted herself to caring for swamp dragons, and horse doctors in Ankh-Morpork were considered more reliable for people than people doctors. This hospital is developed and now led by Dr. Lawn, on the plot of land on Attic Bee Street, near Goose Gate, that Vimes signed over to him as payment for helping Sam Jr. into the world (an event at the end of ''[[Book:Night Watch|Night Watch]]''). ''The accuracy of this annotation is currently under discussion, mainly regarding whether Lady Sybil actually runs the hospital or only lends her name and money. See Talk page.''<br />
<br />
Another possible reason for the name is that Dr Lawn chose to name his hospital after, basically, the main person who got him the land in the first place.<br />
<br />
(p259)US hardcover: Moist’s idea of what a master criminal could buy: “seaside properties with real lava flows near a reliable source of piranhas” sounds like the hideout of typical James Bond villains.<br />
<br />
(p.260(Doubleday hardcover)) "Even Miss Extremelia Mume ... was doing good business among those prepared to back an outside chance. She'd hung a banner over the door. It read: 'It Could Be YOU'".<br /><br />
This, along with the following paragraph's musings on hope, clearly refers to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lottery_%28United_Kingdom%29 UK National Lottery] (also known as the Tax For Innumerates). The Discworld people are making small donations/prayers to the temples hoping for a monetary windfall like Moist just got. It's obvious when you remember that a 90s TV campaign for the lottery featured a giant sparkly hand coming out of the clouds to point at winners... and their slogan at the time was "It Could Be YOU" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FlHbqnU0o].<br />
<br />
(p263) "The nave of the temple was deserted, except for a little old man in a grubby robe, dreamily sweeping the floor."<br />
This detail is out of place, unless it's a reference to Lu-Tze. Possibly the History Monks have taken an interest in the Post Office, or kicking Reacher Gilt out before he can become Patrician. For the History Monks to have somebody keeping an eye on an institution where a machine (the Sorting Engine) is capable of bending time and space is only logical, as well as the evidential detail that it was installed perhaps thirty years before the "present" - ie, roughly the same time that Samuel Vimes re-enters time in {{NW}}. So if the destruction of one time-bending machine (the Glass Clock) is responsible for taking Vimes ''out'' of time, then the switching-on of a second time-bending machine (the Sorting Engine) might have been the trigger event dictating when Vimes and Carcer were ''returned'' to normal space-time? (Or ''delivered'', so to speak) Alternately, it ''could'' just be a guy sweeping up after services, as the Men In Saffron don't have a monopoly on wearing robes, particularly in a temple.<br />
<br />
(p276) Lipwig's musing about Gilt not needing "a tower with ten thousand trolls camped outside" brings to mind Saruman from ''The Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
(p279) US hardcover: Moist says "your big words tell them it’s going to be jam tomorrow and they hope." <br />
&ndash; a reference to ''Alice in Wonderland'', in which the Queen offers Alice jam every other day: "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day." <br />
<br />
(p287) US hardcover:‘Tump Tower’ refers to the Trump Tower, built by Donald Trump in New York City<br />
<br />
(p293) "Deliver them, of course. You've got to. You are the messenger of the gods."<br />
&ndash; Another reference to Mercury.<br />
<br />
(p300) US Hardcover: The ‘crackers’ who disrupt the Clacks line are remarkably like Roundworld computer hackers <br />
<br />
(p304) "'There's cabbage soup, cabbage beer, cabbage fudge, cabbage cake, cream of cabbage&mdash;'"<br />
&ndash; Stanley's stream of cabbage recipes parallels Bubba's list of shrimp dishes in the movie Forrest Gump, and Monty Python's Spam sketch.<br />
* Also used in ''The Science Of Discworld II'', when Rincewind obsessively recites all the potato recipes he can think of to prevent the elf Queen from reading his thoughts.<br />
<br />
(p308) "'Did you spot how the swage armature can be made to jump off the elliptical bearing if you hit the letter K and then send it to a tower with an address higher than yours but only if you hit the letter Q first and the drum spring is fully wound?'"<br />
&ndash; Certain early (and some current) computer systems could be made to fail in similar ways. Unlikely character strings can sometimes, in binary, be interpreted as system codes and cause security breaches or outright system failures. Likewise, early mechanical typewriters could lock up if the wrong series of letters were pressed in quick succession, a phenomenon which the QWERTY keyboard was designed to make less likely.<br />
<br />
(p326) Harper paperback: Miss Dearheart says, "You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope." A play on Lauren Bacall's famous line in the 1944 film "To Have and Have Not," "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."<br />
<br />
(p319) "'All right, but why "Smoking GNU"?' said Moist. 'That's cracker slang for a very fast message-send throughout the system,' said Sane Alex pointedly."<br />
&ndash; In our world, GNU is also a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix", and the GNU Project is an ongoing effort to develop a free operating system compatible with commercial Unix.<br />
<br />
(p326) "'I call it baize-space,' said [[Ponder Stibbons]] proudly."<br />
&ndash; 'Baize' is the name given to the felt-like cloth used to cover billiards tables. As Stibbons points out later, it's also a pun on "phase space".<br />
<br />
(p339) "'But it's a book!' said Mr. Pony. 'It'll take all night to code! And there's diagrams!'"<br />
&ndash; It was established in ''[[Book:Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'' that the clacks towers could send images slowly by transmitting codes for pixel data, exactly the way computers do.<br />
<br />
(p352) "'It's still not working, Mr. Stibbons!' he bellowed. "Here's that damn enormous fiery eye again!'"<br />
&ndash; In J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', Sauron appeared as a great fiery cat's eye in visions and metaphoric descriptions. In Peter Jackson's movie adaptations, the Eye appears (aside from a literal interpretation on top of Sauron's fortress) in the palantíri (seeing-stones), which have a very similar function to the University's [[omniscope]].<br />
<br />
(p360) "'Gilt can kiss my&mdash;' Grandad began, then remembered the present company and finished: '&ndash;donkey.'"<br />
&ndash; A reference to American use of ''ass'', an old word for donkey, in place of ''arse''.<br />
<br />
(p361) "'... I'm close to translating the mating call of the giant clam...'"<br />
&ndash; TP likes to drop hints of corny old jokes. Place your forearms in front of your face one laid on top of the other. Very slowly open them so that only your eyes are visible between them and swivel your eyes from side to side. That's the mating call of the giant clam.<br />
<br />
(p341) Right at the end of {{GP}} when the game is up and the financial corruption of the Trunk board is revealed, Stowley fakes amnesia and loss of his short-term memory as a desperate ploy to avoid prosecution. This hopefully didn't fool Vetinari for one moment, but the Roundworld referent is more depressing:<br />
<br />
Charged with a range of financial misdemeanours in the late 1980's, including false accounting, fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion, Ernest Saunders, a senior member of the Guinness brewing and finance family, provided medical testimonials that he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and had no recollection of the sequence of events that had led him to court. As genuine sufferers of Alzheimer's know, one of the first symptoms of the disease is the loss of short-term memory. The judge took his plea of being unable to face charges on medical grounds seriously, and released him with a short suspended sentence where otherwise he might have been looking at several years inside. <br />
<br />
Incredibly, he made a full and complete recovery from Alzheimer's shortly after his court appearance, perhaps the only man in medical history to ever have reversed the progress of this disease. TP of all people would have an absolute right to hold somebody faking Alzheimer's as a "get-out-of-jail-free" card up to scorn, satire and ridicule. <br />
<br />
Refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_share-trading_fraud|ref._Guinness share-trading fraud] for the full story, including Saunders' miracle recovery from Alzheimer's.<br />
<br />
==Odds and ends==<br />
Apologies if this is in the wrong place or noted elsewhere but the reference to the Matron will be to the Harridan played by (almost exclusively) Hattie Jacques in the various Carry On films concerning the UK NHS.-- SJC 2 June 2010 (BST)<br />
<br />
'''Moist von Lipwig'''<br />
:While I haven't found a good source for Germanic interpretations / history of the name, a 'lip-wig' is a slang term for a moustache. Hence 'von Lipwig' = 'of the (fake) moustache' - very fitting for a conman who relies on the addition of distinguishing features to disguise his undistinguished face. --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 17-18 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Er... would you mind signing the rope beforehand, sir? ... Worth more signed, of course.'" - Daniel "One Drop" Trooper<br />
:Gotta love the irony that Moist von Lipwig / Albert Spangler, the consummate con-man, is helping his ''executioner'' to get 'money for old rope'! --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 47 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "A large black and white cat had walked into the room"<br />
:Does the colour remind anyone else of Postman Pat's cat, Jess?<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 187 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Actually it is the Sorting Engine,' said Groat. 'It's the curse of the Post Office, sir. It had imps in it for the actual reading of the envelopes, but they all evaporated years ago.'"<br />
:While imps are of course used as the basis for a lot of Discworld technology, I doubt many people outside the Royal Mail know that the huge sorting machines in every mail centre are called '''I'''ntegrated '''M'''ail '''P'''rocessors - known as IMPs for short! --[[User:SiD|SiD]] 22:18, 13 November 2006 (CET)<br />
<br />
- '''[p. 352(UK Corgi PB)p.330 (Doubleday hardcover)]'''<br />
<br />
"I'm sure we have the right-" Ponder began.<br />
<br />
This echoes Aragorn in ''Lord of the Rings/Two Towers'', when he wrests control of the Palantir from Sauron, and the next morning is seen looking drawn and exhausted from the mental and psychic strain of doing direct battle with the dark lord.<br />
<br />
"I had the right, but barely" he explained to Gandalf.<br />
<br />
While I agree that the the "fiery eye" is intended to be reminiscent of Sauron it is clearly not actually Sauron but merely the eye of Dr Collabone; red from allergies and enormous from peering too closely at his end of the omniscope.<br />
--[[User:Neilxt|Neilxt]] 05:03, 21 August 2007 (CEST)<br />
<br />
(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'" - For some, this resonates with Obi-Wan's use of the Jedi mind trick to escape storm troopers -- "These aren't the droids you're looking for." This is annotated elsewhere on the Wiki as – Possibly, but not clearly, a reference to Neo's role as the One in the ''Matrix films''. Or, perhaps the most likely, a reference to Graham Chapman's increasingly perplexed and angry Brian in Monty Python's ''The Life of Brian'' when chased by hordes of adoring wannabe disciples. Or even [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOpxt3CpZBk|this_song]this song...<br />
<br />
(p313) "'You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope.'" - obviously based on Lauren Bacall's famous line from "To Have and Have Not", to Humphrey Bogart: "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow." Bacall's character's nickname is "Slim", and this is echoed in the affectionate nicknames of Moist and Dearheart, "Slick" and "Spike". --[[User:Eitheladar|Eitheladar]] 07:47, 31 December 2007 (CET)<br />
<br />
(p??) The entire episode of a mail coach vs. the clacks system transporting the contents of a book evokes a saying that is well-known among us computer science types: "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes". It's also known in other forms, e.g. "It's faster to send a petabyte of data to Hong Kong by sailboat than over the internet". Pratchett doesn't explicitly reference this saying, but he has created an instructive example of the difference between latency and bandwidth: while it takes less time for the start of a message to arrive via the clacks towers, the mail coach has an advantage when the size of the message is large (e.g. in case of sending the contents of a book, or even a large number of letters).<br />
<br />
(p??) The crackers' blocking of the light and substitution of their own portable clacks tower is an example of what computer scientists and security researchers refer to as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack man-in-the-middle attack].<br />
<br />
(p??) "'Ha, even the damn soup there is fifteen dollars!' said Moist" - Very likely a reference to The Blues Brothers, also referenced sporadically throughout Soul Music. When the Brothers visit a former band member - now Maître d' in a posh Chicago restaurant - at his place of work, he encourages them to leave on the basis that they can't afford to eat there, remarking "Come on guys..let me buy you a cup of coffee. The soup here is f*cking ten dollars."<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Going Postal/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:A_Hat_Full_Of_Sky/Annotations&diff=34674Book:A Hat Full Of Sky/Annotations2023-05-21T04:25:52Z<p>Superluser: some annotations & updates</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Annotation|Harper paperback, page 74|SEE THE EGRESS!!!!!}}<br />
<br />
P.T. Barnum's American Museum famously had signs advertising "This Way to the Egress" (which is, of course, the exit), as if it were another sideshow exhibit. Patrons who chose to follow the signs were deposited on the street & presumably had to buy another ticket, though as Miss Level notes, it seems to have been mostly about keeping the crowd moving.<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper paperback, page 288|"...because of the third wish." "Which you don't know what it is?"}}<br />
<br />
I'm not sure this qualifies as an annotation but here goes: This sentence is ungrammatical & due to deficiencies in English, ''there is no way to make it grammatical.'' Douglas Adams discovered the same thing while writing the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy interactive video game, which famously has "A thing your aunt gave you which you don't know what it is."<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper paperback, page 290|"the ancient tiger burned brightly in the back of her brain"}}<br />
<br />
See the annotation for p. 46 of The Last Continent<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Hat Full of Sky,A]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:A_Hat_Full_Of_Sky/Annotations&diff=34657Book:A Hat Full Of Sky/Annotations2023-05-15T22:16:55Z<p>Superluser: page creation & egress</p>
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<div>{{Annotation|Harper paperback, page 74|SEE THE EGRESS!!!!!}}<br />
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P.T. Barnum's American Museum famously had signs advertising "This Way to the Egress" (which is, of course, the exit), as if it were another sideshow exhibit. Patrons who chose to follow the signs were deposited on the street & presumably had to buy another ticket.<br />
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[[Category:Annotations|Hat Full of Sky,A]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Last_Hero/Annotations&diff=34624Book:The Last Hero/Annotations2023-04-29T22:43:13Z<p>Superluser: typo</p>
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<div>These are annotations for the book '''{{TLH}}'''. Note that since the 2002 Gollancz softcover edition, the consistent layout means that all editions (in English at least) share exactly the same page numbers. Only the original hardcover differs, as it's missing the sixteen extra pages of new illustrations added to the later ones. The first one appears on page 50 in newer editions, so before that the pages are in sync, and then drift further out. We've noted both page numbers where appropriate.<br />
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==Specific annotations==<br />
;Page 8 (all editions):This is a reworking of the Prometheus fable on Roundworld, with Fingers Mazda taking the place of Prometheus. Also, Ahura Mazda was the chief god in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, and was often symbolized by fire.<br />
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;Page 17 (all editions):The illustration of Dunmanifestin looks suspiciously like the centrepiece of the board-game "Escape From Atlantis!"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_atlantis], where the trick is to get as many Atlanteans off the doomed island as possible before it collapses under the sea. [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/224522] When the central city collapses into the sea, the game is over. And of course on page 18, Cohen himself is represented as a playing piece complete with moulded-on base... The scene also bears some resemblance to scenes from Olympus in the original ''Clash of the Titans''.<br />
:On a separate hill connected by a path to Dunmanifestin is a much smaller but still grand (when you consider the scale) building next to a large tree; [https://twitter.com/PaulKidby/status/1527940078231818245 according to Paul Kidby], this is the home of the Great God [[Om]], and was an addition to the painting requested by Pratchett himself.<br />
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;Page 21 (all editions):The infamous portrait of Ponder Stibbons which has led some observers to notice a passing resemblance, across the mists of space-time and the infinite Multiverse, to another intrepid young Wizard called H***y P****r. Although coincidence is indeed a funny thing... there is a similar portrait on page 113. (In the t-shirt carrying the legend "Actually I am a rocket wizard", in which the play of light and shadow on a frowning forehead suggests a shape... investigation shows it to be nothing like HP's "interrobang", but you do wonder for an instant.) Still, just coincidence again...<br />
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;Page 31 (all editions):"I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the..." This specifically references Bishop Francis Godwin of Hereford's 1638 "[[wikipedia:The Man in the Moone|The Man in the Moone]]", in which a Spaniard travels to the moon in a chariot drawn by swans (echoed by the illustration on pp32-33 of Leonard in a chariot pulled by swamp dragons). Godwin's book is one of the earliest published stories about space travel, and was famous enough to be parodied by the real life Cyrano de Bergerac twenty years later, as referenced in Rostand's [[wikipedia:Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|famous 1897 play about Bergerac]]. Godwin's story, or Bergerac's parody, may have influenced many other writers, including Rudolf Raspe in his tales of [[wikipedia:Baron Munchausen|Baron Munchausen]].<br />
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;Page 38 (all editions):Leonard absent-mindedly draws a perfect circle freehand, a task thought to be so impossible that only a complete lunatic or inspired genius could manage it. This feat is attributed in history to Italian 13th century painter Giotto, but elements of the tale go back to Alexander the Great's court painter Appeles (c. 320BC)<br />
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;Page 40 (all editions):Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series ''[[wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena: Warrior Princess]]''. Doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} just remind you of a sixty-year old [[wikipedia:Lucy Lawless|Lucy Lawless]]? This character may also be a reference to the film ''[[wikipedia:Red Sonya|Red Sonya]]''.<br />
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;Page 51 (2001 hardcover)/53 (subsequent editions):Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character [[wikipedia:Dirty Harry|Dirty Harry]]. His Evil Overlord status and references to the Code are also reminiscent of the now-famous [http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html Evil Overlord List], a guide for aspiring Evil Overlords which comprises rules designed to prevent the overlord from falling into clichéd movie traps - an example from the list being: ''"I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time."'' Contrastingly, Evil Harry seems to follow a Code which adheres him to these movie clichés - e.g. his very stupid henchmen.<br />
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;Page 67 (2001 hardcover)/69 (subsequent editions):Death is talking to Albert about knowing when the cat in the box is dead or not, this is a reference to [[wikipedia:Schrödinger's_cat|Schrödinger's cat]]. In Schrödinger's theoretical experiment a live cat is placed in a box containing a radiation source, a internal geiger counter and a flask of poison. If the geiger counter detects radiation it smashes the poison flask killing the cat, therefore the cat is can be ''both alive and dead'' at the same time and only the act of looking actually decides which one is real. Schrödinger's cat is purely theoretical and is meant to be a way of teaching about quantum mechanics, of course on the Discworld it is probably real. [I'm no physicist, but it's my understanding that Schrodinger actually intended this thought experiment as a satire of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. His point as I understand it was that all this "superposition waveform collapsing on observation" gibberish is fine at explaining the subatomic world, but has no real meaning for classical physics. Perhaps someone better-qualified than I can take us in hand?] See also {{LL}}, in which it is determined that an unobserved cat in a box can be in one of three states: a) alive; b) dead; c) bloody furious. <br />
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;Page 86 (2001 hardcover)/92 (subsequent editions):It's clear that the Emperor [[Carelinus]] is the Discworld equivalent of Alexander the Great, who "untied" the Gordian knot. But Terry being Terry, and given the specific phrase used by the minstrel on this page, it's also very likely a nod to the film ''[[wikipedia:Die Hard|Die Hard]]'', in which Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) claims to quote Plutarch's history of the conqueror, but uses a phrasing not found in any earlier source: "And Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer."<br />
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;Page 93 (2001 hardcover)/99 (subsequent editions):Rincewind has just made a last-ditch attempt to be deselected from the mission. He has just been told, by Vetinari, that a plea of insanity only reinforces that he is the right man for the job, as only an insane man would do something like this. And should you be sane... well, as ruler of the City I have a duty to send only the keenest, coolest, minds on a vital errand of this kind". Rincewind mumbles something about there being a catch there, and Vetinari replies "Yes. The best kind there is". Rincewind has just joined Yossarian as a victim of [[wikipedia:Catch-22|Catch-22]]. <br />
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;Page 95 (2001 hardcover)/101 (subsequent editions):On the page entitled "Considerations of The Great Bird", in the top left-hand corner, are the words "600ft of Bird's Eye Maple at 1 1/2d a foot". This is a reference to the poem "Three Ha'pence a foot" by [[wikipedia:Marriott Edgar|Marriott Edgar]].<br />
:"The Great Bird" illustration on this page, and all the "eagle" references immediately after, have at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the [[wikipedia:Apollo-11|Apollo-11]] mission, provoking the line "The ''Eagle'' has landed!" to describe its successful mission to the Moon. It may also be one of several references to science fiction: in ''Star Trek'', both the Klingon and Romulan Empires use spacecraft called ''Birds of Prey''; the Klingon ships can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work. It might also refer to the "Eagle" spaceships from the British series ''[[wikipedia:Space: 1999|Space: 1999]]'', and physically it resembles the "Golden Condor" from the 1982 French-Japanese animated series ''[[wikipedia:The Mysterious Cities of Gold|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]''.<br />
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;Page 100 (2001 hardcover)/108 (subsequent editions):"And put your helmet on!" - Carrot to Rincewind, echoing Ground Control to Major Tom in [[wikipedia:Space Oddity|a certain song]]. No previous instruction to Rincewind to "take your protein pills", though.<br />
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;Page 104-105 (2001 hardcover)/112 (subsequent editions):The three official astronauts are waking up to the possibility that a fourth, unauthorised, life-form is on board. The dialogue is suggestive of the crew of the Nostromo coming to the appalling conclusion that there is an Alien aboard. But only a fully paid-up coward like Rincewind sees all the implications, viz things erupting out of stomach cavities like a terminal case of indigestion. Carrot goes chasing it, as the hero must, whilst Leonard excitedly muses on the scientific possibilities. After the build-up, it's reassuringly disappointing that it only turns out to be the Librarian.<br />
:The presence of the Librarian also pays a sort of homage to all the {{wp|Laika|dogs}}, chimpanzees, and other ape-like creatures whose group noun begins with an "m", who were sent into space by the Americans and Russians as surrogate human astronauts in the early days. <br />
:And on page 105, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem." This is a reference to the real and film versions of the [[wikipedia:Apollo 13|Apollo-13]] mission.<br />
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;Page 107 (2001 hardcover)/115 (subsequent editions):''"Nucleus situm ex orbita, unus certis maximus"'' - dog-Latin for "nuke the site from orbit, just to make sure!" - a shout-out to ''[[wikipedia:Aliens (film)|Aliens]]''?<br />
:''Gaping Maw (to trawl debris from the void)'': This description closely resembles a [[wikipedia:Bussard Ramjet|Bussard Ramjet]], an interstellar spacecraft design which leaves for its destination without enough fuel for its fusion engines but uses enormous "scoops" to collect hydrogen from the interstellar medium along the way.<br />
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;Pages 116-117 (2002 softcover and later editions only):The illustration here of the UU faculty, Vetinari and the Luggage viewing the spell in the ship's hold is based closely on the 1766 painting ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'' by Joseph Wright of Derby. Derby also painted ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'', which Kidby used as the inspiration for the cover of {{SOD1}}.<br />
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;Page 111 (2001 hardcover)/121 (subsequent editions):''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit translates to "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''[[wikipedia:The Fast Show|The Fast Show]]''. <br />
:''Weighted boots'': There is an old urban legend that a significant number of people believe that there is no gravity on the moon but the astronauts were held down by "[https://milk.com/wall-o-shame/heavy_boots.html heavy boots]." This may or may not be an intentional reference.<br />
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;Page 117 (2001 hardcover)/129 (subsequent editions):"It's your own fault," he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones." - Rincewind is misquoting [[wikipedia:Neil Armstrong|Neil Armstrong's]] famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" (sic) as he bandages the Librarian's head. <br />
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;Page 121 (2001 hardcover)/133 (subsequent editions):Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation, Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', describing both the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, and, in context, the property of the lunar foliage making the dragons fizz with potential power. <br />
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;Page 115 (2001 hardcover)/125 (subsequent editions):A discussion about the rapidly approaching dark disc of the Moon, with Carrot being approving of the fact that if your plans for the day include ''Breathing'', then you're in luck. How could we miss this one? All it would take is the Omniscope, in the role of ship's robot, humming like Pink Floyd. Do we need to explain this? OK. Artiste: Pink Floyd. song: ''Breathe''. Album: ''Dark Side of the Moon''. ''Eclipses'' are also mentioned. As is lots and lots of ''screaming'' (''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNe-6Reqo9o| Speak to Me]'' involves protracted screaming. And then there's the more tuneful screaming of ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T13se_2A7c8| Great Gig In The Sky]''). Rincewind's generally gloomy, fear-the-worst, disposition in space? Marvin The Paranoid Android. (And the, err, breathe it softly, ''Monkeyman''? Arthur Dent, hitching a ride?)<br />
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;Page 131 (2001 hardcover)/145 (subsequent editions):"Prince Haran's Tiller" is an enigmatically-titled lever on the ''Kite'', first seen in the illustration on page 100 (94 in the first edition). In the temporarily concussed absence of [[Leonard of Quirm]], neither of the other two crewmembers has the faintest idea of the purpose of. With an imminent crisis looming - i.e. uncontrolled re-entry into the Disc's atmosphere and an awful lot of unforgiving ground coming up to meet them 'very, very' quickly - [[Ponder Stibbons]] is at a loss to advise. However, he has just, rather unwisely, denigrated the value of an arts-based education where [[Vetinari]] can hear it. Vetinari, a product of an arts-based education, suggests Ponder tells the crew to pull Prince Haran's Tiller. Ponder relays the suggestion, Rincewind pulls the lever, and the Kite levels out into free flight. Vetinari then affably tells Stibbons that there is an old myth, derived from Klatchian folklore, about a Prince Haram who devised an ingenious way for a [[Magic Carpet|magic carpet]] to safely fly itself on long journeys, while he slept. But then, one whose education has been purely technical and scientific, and deficient in areas such as languages and history, is hardly likely to be aware of that...<br />
:Prince Haran's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.<br />
:There is a readable discourse dating from the 1950's but still relevant today, called ''The Two Tribes'', which describes and deplores the way the educational process in Great Britain - almost uniquely in the developed world - forces able school pupils to make a prematurely early choice between "Arts" and "Science" streams. Even as early as age fourteen, the British pupil is then progressively locked firmly into either Arts or Science, and becomes as firmly embodied in that stream as a Hindu is in their caste, or inhabitants of the old South Africa were embodied according to their skin colour. Especially at the A-level stage, the pupil must choose to specialise in ''all'' Arts subjects or ''all'' Sciences: mixing the two is not permitted and is looked on with as much horror as, say, a Boer who seeks to marry into the Zulus.<br />
:The net result of this is a system where Britain has a great number of Arts grads who might be up to speed in English Lit or History, but who at age 21 last saw the inside of a laboratory at age 15 and who are woefully science-illiterate. Similarly, we have science grads who last read a novel at school and whose foreign language skills, viewed as belonging to Arts, have atrophied. These are the Two Tribes, whose stereotyped opinions of the other are illustrated by the interaction between Vetinari and Stibbons.<br />
:Leonard of Quirm, in contrast, embraces both Art and Science equally, as befits an expy for Leonardo da Vinci: the archetypal "Renaissance Man", who masters both.<br />
:''you've definitely got the wrong stuff'': ''[[wikipedia:The Right Stuff|The Right Stuff]]'' is a Roundworld book, later film, later miniseries about the first manned US spaceflights. The equivalent book in Discworld, I suppose, would be the one that this annotation is for.<br />
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;Page 139 (hardcover edition)/153 (subsequent editions):Cohen chops the dice in two as it tumbles, so that the two halves come down together as a one and a six, making a seven. There are referents to this feat in both Norse and Irish mythology, the trick being attributed to both Finn McCool and to King Olaf of Norway, when in a dispute with the King of Sweden over ownership of an island, they diced for it. The Swedish king rolled two sixes, knowing this was unlikely to be beaten. Olaf rolled two dice, one coming down as a six, and the second induced to come down as a winning seven due to the intervention of his sword-blade.<br />
:The whole extended sequence hearkens back to the original use of this device in {{COM}}, where the Lady outwits Fate as 'the die flipped gently onto a point, spun round, and came down a seven. Blind Io picked up the cube and counted the sides. "Come ''on'', he said, wearily. "Play fair!"'<br />
:This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.<br />
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;Page 150 (subsequent editions): ''Hurtling Whirlers of Klatch'': A reference to the ''[[wikipedia:Mevlevi Order|Mevlevi Order]]'' known (possibly offensively) as the "Whirling Dervishes"<br />
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;Page 156 (hardcover edition)/172 (subsequent editions):At the end, the formerly foppish minstel is seen transformed, wearing the animal-skins of a barbarian warrior, a sword at his side, and even the light around him taking on the heroic air of the character on the front of a typical Iron Maiden album sleeve... has he discovered '''''heavy metal? ''''' This might be typical of the origins of many of the great seventies heavy bands - Deep Purple and Status Quo both began as typical flower-power psychedelic bands in the late sixties, their earliest released work (''Book of Taliesyn, Pictures of Matchstick Men'', et c) being almost completely unrecognisable, in terms of musical content and the foppy Carnaby Street clothes they wore, from what their ''ouevre'' later mutated into. Led Zeppelin were born out of the ashes of sixties' experimental band the Yardbirds, and most amusingly, Spinal Tap started as a band called the Kingsmen who performed an anodyne first single called ''Listen To The Flowers Grow''. (A theme they later revisited as ''Working In My Sex Garden'').<br />
:In fact, Deep Purple's early album ''The Book of Taliesyn'' , while having pre-echoes of the band's later heavy style, contains tracks where the conceit is that they belong to a minstrel, serving the Dark Age Celtic kingdom to which Taliesyn was both bard and wizard.<br />
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[[Category:Annotations|Last Hero,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Monstrous_Regiment/Annotations&diff=34623Book:Monstrous Regiment/Annotations2023-04-29T22:39:18Z<p>Superluser: Genesis reference</p>
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<div>==Historical==<br />
In the British Army, the Tenth of Foot are, or were, the Lincolnshire Regiment. Originally raised in 1685 to fight the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, the regiment later fought in the American War of Independence, where Washington's army derisively nicknamed them "the yellowbellies" because of the buff-yellow cuffs, turnbacks, and lapels of their red tunics. (a regiment only wore blue turnbacks if it had been granted "Royal" status, which the Lincolns did not achieve till the late 19th century). After service in Egypt in the early 1800's, their cap-badge became a stylised sphynx and pyramid. The Regiment died almost to the last man at Gandamack in Afghanistan in 1840, with its last survivor escaping with one of the regimental colours. It fought later on the Crimea, in WW1 and WW2, and finally "died" in 1960 when amalgamated into the Northampton Regiment. Later defence cuts saw further amalgamations, and the current "ghost" of this old unit lives on as part of the Royal Anglian super-regiment. Interestingly, the Lincolns were also known as "The Poachers", partly as a reference to their rural recruiting ground, and partly because of the song "The Lincoln Poacher", which was an unofficial regimental march:<br />
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'' 'tis my delight on a shining night...''<br />
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The story of {{wp|Christian_Davies|Christian Davies}} seems to wind though the book and the author likely noticed it in his research. Born ''Christian Cavanaugh'' and using several names through her career, she served as an infantryman and later dragoon for thirteen years (1693 - 1706) until revealed as a result of her second serious wound. Even after the discovery she remained with the 4th Royal North British Dragoons (eventually the ''Scots Greys'') as a sutler and became a celebrity throughout the army, meeting Queen Anne to receive a fairly handsome pension. Parallels include coming from a pub family (Polly), looking for her husband (Jack), and being a bit of a lad (well, lass) of versatile sexuality (the Working School dropouts).<BR><br />
The phenomenon is not uniquely British. See also {{wp|Louise Antonini|Louise Antonini}} in the French army AND navy.<br />
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The "Cheesemongers" is a nickname for the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry, also known as (apparently) The Bangers, The Lumpers, The Fly-Slicers, The Picadilly Butchers, The Roast and Boiled, The Ticky Tins. (But the rest of the British army affectionately refers to the Household Division as "the Woodentops") The Cheesemongers is a derogatory nickname dating from 1788 when the regiment was being re-organised. Some commissions were refused because the officers concerned were the sons of merchants and tradesmen, even, shock horror, grocers and general provisioners, and therefore not, “gentlemen.” Issues of education, social standing, independent income, et c, still appear to matter in these upscale regiments in 2008: 230 years ago, it mattered a lot more! <br />
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There does not appear to ever have been a British Army unit nicknamed the "Ins-And-outs". However, the 96th Regiment of Foot (The Welsh Regiment) were nicknamed "the Ups-And-Downs". Again, the curse of amalgamation means that the Welsh Regiment today lives on as 2nd Battalion the Royal Welch.<br />
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==References ==<br />
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'''''The Duchess'''''. A pub where a woman called Polly Perks has a big stake. Think of long-running BBC radio soap opera '''The Archers''', where the village pub, the Bull, is run by licencee Sid Perks. And for many years, also by his wife. '''''Polly Perks'''''. <br />
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It would be utterly unsurprising if a bit of Hašek’s classic satire '''''{{wp|The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk|The Good Soldier Svejk}}''''' creeps in there as well... in fact, there are odd echoes. <br />
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The idiot-savant Svejk, a peasant who hides cunning under a stupid-seeming exterior,narrowly evades arrest by the secret policeman Corporal Bretschneider (Strappi?) and on enlistment into the 91st, is assigned as batman to the officer Lieutenant Lukaš and at one point has to shave him (cf Polly and Blouse). The company cook is a mystic who claims to receive spiritualist messages from long-dead monarchs. The regiment belongs to an Army serving a dying empire (Austro-Hungary, which fits the central European vibe of "Borogravia") and in fact crumbles into defeat in its first serious engagement. Svejk spends a long time detached from his unit and trying to find his way back to it, evading capture and the enemy on both sides (he is nearly shot for spying and/or desertion)<br />
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Another general observation: on page 342 of the paperback of {{CJ}}, when the vampires are defeated in Escrow, one of the defeated vampyres is called ''Maladicta''. Did she decide on a career change shortly after this and joined the Army to forget?<br />
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{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 24|"The official story is that she's in mourning."}}<br />
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The Duchess of Borogravia appears to have certain affinities with {{wp|Queen Victoria|Queen Victoria}}, except for her childlessness, which makes her more akin to {{wp|Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne}}.<br />
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{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 39|"Why, is this the escutcheon of her grace the duchess I see before me?" ... "Well, it won't be in front of me for long."}}<br />
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Compare and contrast the famous '''{{wp|Max_Reger|Max Reger}}''' quote:<br />
:"I am in the smallest room of the house. I have your review in front of me. Soon it will be behind me."<br />
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{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 47|"Private Bloodfnucker hnas a fnord, fnargeant," he said accusingly.}}<br />
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It is difficult to believe this is not a shout out to Shea and Wilson's ''{{wp|Illuminatus!|Illuminatus!}}''. The question that needs to be answered is: ''Have you seen the fnords?'' <br />
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{{Annotation|HB, page 85|''a banknote''}} - of course, Borogravia uses paper banknotes, ahead of Ankh-Morpork, but possibly fuelled out of desperation and ''fiat currency''. See here: [[Annagovia|a possible sample banknote]]<br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback page 85''''': ''this was very soon going to be a barefoot army....''<br />
Like the Confederates in the American Civil War, who were plagued with supply difficulties and shortages; it was estimated in 1864 that 60% of the confederacy's soldiers went into battle barefoot. In the last months of the war the Confederacy was like Borogravia, fighting on pride and a refusal to see the war was lost. What was especially poignant was that one state, South Carolina, had a footwear industry creating sufficient to shoe the whole Army and then some. But most of its output went into storage as it saw no reason to supply anyone other than its own state's troops and was unwilling to give away the surplus - its allied states had to ''buy'' the boots or go without. And the Confederate government respected individual states' rights and did not force this state to equip the whole Army gratis... <br />
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'''''Doubleday hardback page 86''''':<br />
Blouse has somehow remained a second lieutenant for eight years. In practically every Army, this is the lowest entry-grade rank for a commissioned officer and most people move on to the next grade after between six months and a year (at the outside). He has either annoyed people, or else dismally failed to impress, to have been relegated to the rear for so long. <br />
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{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 127|"We have met the enemy and he is nice":}}<br />
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'' 'Was she supposed to think ''We have met the enemy and he is nice?'' Anyway, he wasn't. He was smug....''<br />
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a parody of the famous Pogo quotation :"We have met the enemy and he is us" which, in turn, refers to a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie, stating "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." <br />
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{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 45|Several of the cadets go by nicknames:}}<br />
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''"...'Shufti' Manickle..."''<br />
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Shufti is a military term meaning a quick look or reconnoitre. It is actually derived from an arabic word that was learned and brought back to England by British troops defending the Empire in the Middle East.<br />
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''"...'Wazzer' Goom..."''<br />
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''Wazz'' (rhyming with "jazz") is a slang word meaning "to urinate", and hence "urine". Thus "Wazzer" can be a nickname for anyone who has a reputation for urinating, usually inappropriately.<br />
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Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 59:-<br />
Jackrum is warning the Detail of possible hard times ahead by reminiscing about the retreat from Khurusck, where he went three days without either food or water. The Roundworld parallel is the German retreat from Kursk in the late summer and autumn of 1943, where the remnant of the German army defeated by the Russians fought several hundred miles back to the next defensible position, the line of the river Dneiper. Many units went wholly unsupported by logistic support, marching at least without food in a blazing late summer. At least the water supply was eased when the autumn rains started... (ref. Guy Sajer, ''The Forgotten Soldier''. Sajer relates the privations of the forced march out of Kursk to the west, one step ahead of the Russians, where pondwater was a luxury and the only food discovered were green potatoes and an old stale loaf. The Russians were also expected to live off the land - their logistics service gave priority to bringing up fuel and ammunition, food rations coming a poor third. Sajer himself contracted dysentery, possibly from drinking contaminated water, and nearly died of it. Thus do Famine and Pestilence follow in War's tracks).<br />
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The incident in the village where the Last Detail have to play cat-and-mouse with a numerically superior enemy patrol who are out looking for them: Manfred von Richtofen, later to become the Red Baron of aerial combat, started WW1 as a cavalryman and relates a suspiciously similar tale of being caught out by Cossacks on the Eastern Front in WW1. Although the violence here is directed against a Russian Orthodox priest suspected of using his church bells to signal to Russian troops that the Germans were here. [http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=305|Die Rote Kampfflieger]<br />
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{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 143|"How old are you Wazz?" she said, shovelling dirt. "N-n-nineteen, Polly," said Wazzer.}}<br />
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Impossible to believe TP did not have '''{{wp|19 (song)|Paul Hardcastle's ''19''}}''' in mind here.<br />
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{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 208|We first meet the dead Borogravian generals, in a revenant zombie state in the crypt at Kneck.:}}<br />
<br />
German SS leader, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, kept a castle at Wewelsburg as a meeting-place for the inner orders of the SS movement. Underneath his fortress was a crypt with places for perhaps twelve corpses, which he intended to be the last resting place for the fighting generals who led the Waffen-SS in combat.<br />
<br />
Today, some evolutions of the wargaming hobby involve sci-fi/fantasy gaming scenarios where in 1945, the Germans stave off final defeat by learning how to reanimate their dead soldiers as zombie divisions, causing the Allies a bit of a headache. This is also yet another theme of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' - in the concluding acts, a division of German soldiers ceremonially poisoned by Himmler on April 30th 1945 and consigned to Lake Totenkopf under a bio-mystical preservation field are revived as zombies (under the command of General Hanfgeist), to wreak destruction and consternation and take unfinished business back to the Russians in East Germany, thus starting WW3.<br />
<br />
There is also, of course, a popular computer game on exactly this theme. ("You are the hero seeking to prevent revived Nazi Zombies taking over the world. You must seek and destroy them in their Bavarian castle lair.") it's caled the Wolfenstein Series, dating from the early 1980's. Terry may have played it. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Castle_Wolfenstein]<br />
<br />
The Detail encounter the zombie soldiers on pp270-273. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 311|Whilst discussing disguising himself as a woman, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a few of his previous forays into "Theatricals":}}<br />
<br />
''"I got a huge round of applause as the Widow Trembler in 'Tis Pity She's A Tree."''<br />
<br />
This may refer to the 1630s play ''{{wp|Tis_Pity_She%27s_a_Whore|Tis Pity She's a Whore}}'' (also known as "Giovanni and Annabella", or simply "Tis Pity") by John Ford. This device is also used in {{MM}}, where Professor [[John Hicks]] artlessly reveals he is a member of the [[Dolly Sisters Players]], and have you seen my Lord Fartwell in '' 'Tis Pity She's An Instructor in Unarmed Combat''? <br />
<br />
''"The world turned upside down"'' - this is a reference to Cornwallis' surrender of British armies to Washington, at the end of the War of Independence, where the bands sardonically played this tune during the surrender ceremonies. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 328|Vimes says "''Ze chzy Brogocia proztfik''":}}<br />
<br />
''"Didn't I say I was a citizen of Borogravia?"'' <br />
<br />
''"No. ''Brogocia'' is the cherry pancake, ''Borogvia'' is the country"''<br />
<br />
This is probably a reference to the famous (and possibly untrue) political moment when the president John F. Kennedy said ''Ich bin ein Berliner'' [I am a jam-filled doughnut] instead of ''Ich bin Berliner'' [I am a citizen of Berlin]. Apparently, satirists had a field day, and for several weeks the political cartoons were filled with talking doughnuts. See {{wp|Ich bin ein Berliner|Ich bin ein Berliner}}.<br />
<br />
The title {{MR}} is a reference to John Knox's ''{{wp|The_First_Blast_of_the_Trumpet_Against_the_Monstrous_Regiment_of_Women|The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women}}'', a treatise against female rulers in the 16th century. Knox had Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart and Mary of Guise in mind. It was his misfortune that the next ruler of England, Elizabeth I, although theoretically on Knox's side, took offence at his title and argument. Fiction writer Laurie R King has also made use of the phrase in connection to the {{wp|Women%27s_suffrage|suffragette}} movement in the United Kingdom. I should make it clear that Pratchett is not adopting Knox's ideas, almost the reverse in fact.<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
Annotations for [[Borogravia]] and [[Zlobenia]].<br />
<br />
<br />
== External ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html Monstrous Regiment] in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]]<br />
<br />
'''From the APF:-''' + [p. 28] "you can call me Maladict" <br />
<br />
"The name is both a play on the name 'Benedict' and on the word 'maledict', which Webster's defines as accursedness or the act of bringing a curse. "<br />
<br />
The word ''maledict'' is also the term used to describe the moment in a cartoon speech bubble where a character, provoked beyond endurance, starts to seriously swear. And as we all know that cartoons are for children, normal fonts are replaced in the speech bubble with what Terry calls "the sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard", to leave no doubt that swearing is happening, without referencing any real or actual swear words. ("The sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard" may of course be supplemented with little pictures, say skulls and lightning flashes, from the Wingdings fonts) This representation of cussing in a cartoon strip is known in the trade as '''''maledict'''''.<br />
<br />
The word "maladict" could also be a play on "mal addict", with "mal" being the French for "bad", referring to Maladict's serious coffee addiction. As for what provoked Mal to join the Ribboners - see note above regarding p342 of {{CJ}}.<br />
<br />
If I can quote the APF official annotation:<br />
<br />
+ [p. 86] "One shilling extra 'per Diem'" <br />
<br />
Using this information and UK army pay scales, one can estimate that a second lieutenant in the Borogravian army receives approximately 1807 shillings per year as payment, compared to 2012 shillings per year for a first lieutenant; and that there are approximately 11.16 Borogravian shillings to one UK pound. <br />
<br />
As my original afp source for this annotation puts it: "Working this out may be the single geekiest thing I have ever done." <br />
<br />
<br />
Er... an easier way to get to the same result ref. pay scales for junior officers is to go to Terry Pratchett's favourite author George McDonald Fraser, who in one of his autobiographical short stories reveals that the pay rate for a full Lieutenant in the British Army (in 1946) was in fact seven shillings a day. (£3,5/- per week). Like Borogravia, the British currency had been thoroughly devalued and ravaged by six years of total war. This ties in well with the calculation above and took less brainstrain...<br />
<br />
On page 217 of the Harper Collins hardback and 239 of the Harper Torch paperback, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a classmate named Wrigglesworth, who was particularly good at impersonating women. In the 1981 movie ''Zorro the Gay Blade'', Zorro's long-lost twin brother (who is rather flamboyantly gay) goes by the name of Bunny Wigglesworth.<br />
<br />
This might also be a knowing nod to that icon of the Great British Boys' Adventure Story, Squadron Leader James "Biggles" Bigglesworth.<br />
The Biggles books chart his life roughly from age nine, as a typical product of Empire and the British Raj in India, through his answering the patriotic call to the British colours in World War One (he tries the Infantry, realises it isn't to his taste, then transfers to the fledgling Royal Flying Corps where he becomes an Ace). In between the wars he and his jolly - all-male - band of chums become freelance adventurers, then when WW2 happens, he rejoins the RAF, much to the woe of the beastly Hun, the braggart Italians and the diabolical Japanese. After the war, he is signed up to Scotland Yard as Commander of the "Air Police" and occasional special agent - indeed, his last active service as an over-age James Bond is a dangerous (and deniable) incursion into the Gulag to spring his old arch-enemy Erich von Stalheim from Soviet captivity, sometime around 1965, when Biggles would have been as old as the century.... <br />
<br />
It is noticeable that ''in all that time'' Biggles is only diverted ''once'' from the manly bosom of his chums by a woman's infernal wiles, and otherwise he remains a confirmed bachelor all his life. Unkind commentators have deduced somewhat...errrm.... ''homoerotic'' overtones in the intensity of his relationship with Bertie, Algy and the boy who he takes in as protègé, Ginger Hepplethwaite, (who is described in quite loving physical detail by Captain Johns). What could be ''more'' natural than a band of bosom chums spurning the advances of women, and going off into the wilds of the world together in pursuit of healthy masculine activity,(often at the direction of a shadowy father-figure and Intelligence patriarch called Colonel Raymond, who takes close attention to the lads) and indeed doing so until they are in their late fifties and early sixties?<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 204|The words BORN TO DIE had been chalked on the side of the hat}}<br />
<br />
This would appear to be a reference to the movie {{wp|Full_Metal_Jacket|Full Metal Jacket}}, where Joker writes BORN TO KILL on his helmet.<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 230|you have I am sure heard the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword?}}<br />
<br />
The phrase was coined by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton. See also the annotation for Soul Music, p.7<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 245|whopwhopwhop}}<br />
<br />
The onomotapoeia here suggests a helicopter, but the very distinctive whopwhopwhop sound, combined with imagery from the Vietnam War strongly suggests an image of the Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" helicopter, which had an extremely identifiable sound & has becone synonymous with US involvement in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 423|Om said he'd spare the city if the bishop could find one good man}}<br />
<br />
This would be a reference to Genesis 18, where God tells Abraham he will destroy Sodom & Gomorrah, & Abraham haggles God down to not destroying it if he can find 20 righteous people living there, figuring his nephew Lot's family would have 20 righteous people living there. Instead, angels lead Lot's family out of the city & then destroy it.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Monstrous Regiment]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Monstrous_Regiment/Annotations&diff=34588Book:Monstrous Regiment/Annotations2023-04-25T00:43:41Z<p>Superluser: Wasn't sure if this one was worth it, others can decide</p>
<hr />
<div>==Historical==<br />
In the British Army, the Tenth of Foot are, or were, the Lincolnshire Regiment. Originally raised in 1685 to fight the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, the regiment later fought in the American War of Independence, where Washington's army derisively nicknamed them "the yellowbellies" because of the buff-yellow cuffs, turnbacks, and lapels of their red tunics. (a regiment only wore blue turnbacks if it had been granted "Royal" status, which the Lincolns did not achieve till the late 19th century). After service in Egypt in the early 1800's, their cap-badge became a stylised sphynx and pyramid. The Regiment died almost to the last man at Gandamack in Afghanistan in 1840, with its last survivor escaping with one of the regimental colours. It fought later on the Crimea, in WW1 and WW2, and finally "died" in 1960 when amalgamated into the Northampton Regiment. Later defence cuts saw further amalgamations, and the current "ghost" of this old unit lives on as part of the Royal Anglian super-regiment. Interestingly, the Lincolns were also known as "The Poachers", partly as a reference to their rural recruiting ground, and partly because of the song "The Lincoln Poacher", which was an unofficial regimental march:<br />
<br />
'' 'tis my delight on a shining night...''<br />
<br />
The story of {{wp|Christian_Davies|Christian Davies}} seems to wind though the book and the author likely noticed it in his research. Born ''Christian Cavanaugh'' and using several names through her career, she served as an infantryman and later dragoon for thirteen years (1693 - 1706) until revealed as a result of her second serious wound. Even after the discovery she remained with the 4th Royal North British Dragoons (eventually the ''Scots Greys'') as a sutler and became a celebrity throughout the army, meeting Queen Anne to receive a fairly handsome pension. Parallels include coming from a pub family (Polly), looking for her husband (Jack), and being a bit of a lad (well, lass) of versatile sexuality (the Working School dropouts).<BR><br />
The phenomenon is not uniquely British. See also {{wp|Louise Antonini|Louise Antonini}} in the French army AND navy.<br />
<br />
The "Cheesemongers" is a nickname for the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry, also known as (apparently) The Bangers, The Lumpers, The Fly-Slicers, The Picadilly Butchers, The Roast and Boiled, The Ticky Tins. (But the rest of the British army affectionately refers to the Household Division as "the Woodentops") The Cheesemongers is a derogatory nickname dating from 1788 when the regiment was being re-organised. Some commissions were refused because the officers concerned were the sons of merchants and tradesmen, even, shock horror, grocers and general provisioners, and therefore not, “gentlemen.” Issues of education, social standing, independent income, et c, still appear to matter in these upscale regiments in 2008: 230 years ago, it mattered a lot more! <br />
<br />
There does not appear to ever have been a British Army unit nicknamed the "Ins-And-outs". However, the 96th Regiment of Foot (The Welsh Regiment) were nicknamed "the Ups-And-Downs". Again, the curse of amalgamation means that the Welsh Regiment today lives on as 2nd Battalion the Royal Welch.<br />
<br />
==References ==<br />
<br />
'''''The Duchess'''''. A pub where a woman called Polly Perks has a big stake. Think of long-running BBC radio soap opera '''The Archers''', where the village pub, the Bull, is run by licencee Sid Perks. And for many years, also by his wife. '''''Polly Perks'''''. <br />
<br />
It would be utterly unsurprising if a bit of Hašek’s classic satire '''''{{wp|The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk|The Good Soldier Svejk}}''''' creeps in there as well... in fact, there are odd echoes. <br />
<br />
The idiot-savant Svejk, a peasant who hides cunning under a stupid-seeming exterior,narrowly evades arrest by the secret policeman Corporal Bretschneider (Strappi?) and on enlistment into the 91st, is assigned as batman to the officer Lieutenant Lukaš and at one point has to shave him (cf Polly and Blouse). The company cook is a mystic who claims to receive spiritualist messages from long-dead monarchs. The regiment belongs to an Army serving a dying empire (Austro-Hungary, which fits the central European vibe of "Borogravia") and in fact crumbles into defeat in its first serious engagement. Svejk spends a long time detached from his unit and trying to find his way back to it, evading capture and the enemy on both sides (he is nearly shot for spying and/or desertion)<br />
<br />
Another general observation: on page 342 of the paperback of {{CJ}}, when the vampires are defeated in Escrow, one of the defeated vampyres is called ''Maladicta''. Did she decide on a career change shortly after this and joined the Army to forget?<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 24|"The official story is that she's in mourning."}}<br />
<br />
The Duchess of Borogravia appears to have certain affinities with {{wp|Queen Victoria|Queen Victoria}}, except for her childlessness, which makes her more akin to {{wp|Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne}}.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 39|"Why, is this the escutcheon of her grace the duchess I see before me?" ... "Well, it won't be in front of me for long."}}<br />
<br />
Compare and contrast the famous '''{{wp|Max_Reger|Max Reger}}''' quote:<br />
:"I am in the smallest room of the house. I have your review in front of me. Soon it will be behind me."<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 47|"Private Bloodfnucker hnas a fnord, fnargeant," he said accusingly.}}<br />
<br />
It is difficult to believe this is not a shout out to Shea and Wilson's ''{{wp|Illuminatus!|Illuminatus!}}''. The question that needs to be answered is: ''Have you seen the fnords?'' <br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|HB, page 85|''a banknote''}} - of course, Borogravia uses paper banknotes, ahead of Ankh-Morpork, but possibly fuelled out of desperation and ''fiat currency''. See here: [[Annagovia|a possible sample banknote]]<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback page 85''''': ''this was very soon going to be a barefoot army....''<br />
Like the Confederates in the American Civil War, who were plagued with supply difficulties and shortages; it was estimated in 1864 that 60% of the confederacy's soldiers went into battle barefoot. In the last months of the war the Confederacy was like Borogravia, fighting on pride and a refusal to see the war was lost. What was especially poignant was that one state, South Carolina, had a footwear industry creating sufficient to shoe the whole Army and then some. But most of its output went into storage as it saw no reason to supply anyone other than its own state's troops and was unwilling to give away the surplus - its allied states had to ''buy'' the boots or go without. And the Confederate government respected individual states' rights and did not force this state to equip the whole Army gratis... <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback page 86''''':<br />
Blouse has somehow remained a second lieutenant for eight years. In practically every Army, this is the lowest entry-grade rank for a commissioned officer and most people move on to the next grade after between six months and a year (at the outside). He has either annoyed people, or else dismally failed to impress, to have been relegated to the rear for so long. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 127|"We have met the enemy and he is nice":}}<br />
<br />
'' 'Was she supposed to think ''We have met the enemy and he is nice?'' Anyway, he wasn't. He was smug....''<br />
<br />
a parody of the famous Pogo quotation :"We have met the enemy and he is us" which, in turn, refers to a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie, stating "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 45|Several of the cadets go by nicknames:}}<br />
<br />
''"...'Shufti' Manickle..."''<br />
<br />
Shufti is a military term meaning a quick look or reconnoitre. It is actually derived from an arabic word that was learned and brought back to England by British troops defending the Empire in the Middle East.<br />
<br />
<br />
''"...'Wazzer' Goom..."''<br />
<br />
''Wazz'' (rhyming with "jazz") is a slang word meaning "to urinate", and hence "urine". Thus "Wazzer" can be a nickname for anyone who has a reputation for urinating, usually inappropriately.<br />
<br />
<br />
Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 59:-<br />
Jackrum is warning the Detail of possible hard times ahead by reminiscing about the retreat from Khurusck, where he went three days without either food or water. The Roundworld parallel is the German retreat from Kursk in the late summer and autumn of 1943, where the remnant of the German army defeated by the Russians fought several hundred miles back to the next defensible position, the line of the river Dneiper. Many units went wholly unsupported by logistic support, marching at least without food in a blazing late summer. At least the water supply was eased when the autumn rains started... (ref. Guy Sajer, ''The Forgotten Soldier''. Sajer relates the privations of the forced march out of Kursk to the west, one step ahead of the Russians, where pondwater was a luxury and the only food discovered were green potatoes and an old stale loaf. The Russians were also expected to live off the land - their logistics service gave priority to bringing up fuel and ammunition, food rations coming a poor third. Sajer himself contracted dysentery, possibly from drinking contaminated water, and nearly died of it. Thus do Famine and Pestilence follow in War's tracks).<br />
<br />
The incident in the village where the Last Detail have to play cat-and-mouse with a numerically superior enemy patrol who are out looking for them: Manfred von Richtofen, later to become the Red Baron of aerial combat, started WW1 as a cavalryman and relates a suspiciously similar tale of being caught out by Cossacks on the Eastern Front in WW1. Although the violence here is directed against a Russian Orthodox priest suspected of using his church bells to signal to Russian troops that the Germans were here. [http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=305|Die Rote Kampfflieger]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 143|"How old are you Wazz?" she said, shovelling dirt. "N-n-nineteen, Polly," said Wazzer.}}<br />
<br />
Impossible to believe TP did not have '''{{wp|19 (song)|Paul Hardcastle's ''19''}}''' in mind here.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 208|We first meet the dead Borogravian generals, in a revenant zombie state in the crypt at Kneck.:}}<br />
<br />
German SS leader, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, kept a castle at Wewelsburg as a meeting-place for the inner orders of the SS movement. Underneath his fortress was a crypt with places for perhaps twelve corpses, which he intended to be the last resting place for the fighting generals who led the Waffen-SS in combat.<br />
<br />
Today, some evolutions of the wargaming hobby involve sci-fi/fantasy gaming scenarios where in 1945, the Germans stave off final defeat by learning how to reanimate their dead soldiers as zombie divisions, causing the Allies a bit of a headache. This is also yet another theme of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' - in the concluding acts, a division of German soldiers ceremonially poisoned by Himmler on April 30th 1945 and consigned to Lake Totenkopf under a bio-mystical preservation field are revived as zombies (under the command of General Hanfgeist), to wreak destruction and consternation and take unfinished business back to the Russians in East Germany, thus starting WW3.<br />
<br />
There is also, of course, a popular computer game on exactly this theme. ("You are the hero seeking to prevent revived Nazi Zombies taking over the world. You must seek and destroy them in their Bavarian castle lair.") it's caled the Wolfenstein Series, dating from the early 1980's. Terry may have played it. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Castle_Wolfenstein]<br />
<br />
The Detail encounter the zombie soldiers on pp270-273. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 311|Whilst discussing disguising himself as a woman, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a few of his previous forays into "Theatricals":}}<br />
<br />
''"I got a huge round of applause as the Widow Trembler in 'Tis Pity She's A Tree."''<br />
<br />
This may refer to the 1630s play ''{{wp|Tis_Pity_She%27s_a_Whore|Tis Pity She's a Whore}}'' (also known as "Giovanni and Annabella", or simply "Tis Pity") by John Ford. This device is also used in {{MM}}, where Professor [[John Hicks]] artlessly reveals he is a member of the [[Dolly Sisters Players]], and have you seen my Lord Fartwell in '' 'Tis Pity She's An Instructor in Unarmed Combat''? <br />
<br />
''"The world turned upside down"'' - this is a reference to Cornwallis' surrender of British armies to Washington, at the end of the War of Independence, where the bands sardonically played this tune during the surrender ceremonies. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 328|Vimes says "''Ze chzy Brogocia proztfik''":}}<br />
<br />
''"Didn't I say I was a citizen of Borogravia?"'' <br />
<br />
''"No. ''Brogocia'' is the cherry pancake, ''Borogvia'' is the country"''<br />
<br />
This is probably a reference to the famous (and possibly untrue) political moment when the president John F. Kennedy said ''Ich bin ein Berliner'' [I am a jam-filled doughnut] instead of ''Ich bin Berliner'' [I am a citizen of Berlin]. Apparently, satirists had a field day, and for several weeks the political cartoons were filled with talking doughnuts. See {{wp|Ich bin ein Berliner|Ich bin ein Berliner}}.<br />
<br />
The title {{MR}} is a reference to John Knox's ''{{wp|The_First_Blast_of_the_Trumpet_Against_the_Monstrous_Regiment_of_Women|The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women}}'', a treatise against female rulers in the 16th century. Knox had Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart and Mary of Guise in mind. It was his misfortune that the next ruler of England, Elizabeth I, although theoretically on Knox's side, took offence at his title and argument. Fiction writer Laurie R King has also made use of the phrase in connection to the {{wp|Women%27s_suffrage|suffragette}} movement in the United Kingdom. I should make it clear that Pratchett is not adopting Knox's ideas, almost the reverse in fact.<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
Annotations for [[Borogravia]] and [[Zlobenia]].<br />
<br />
<br />
== External ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html Monstrous Regiment] in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]]<br />
<br />
'''From the APF:-''' + [p. 28] "you can call me Maladict" <br />
<br />
"The name is both a play on the name 'Benedict' and on the word 'maledict', which Webster's defines as accursedness or the act of bringing a curse. "<br />
<br />
The word ''maledict'' is also the term used to describe the moment in a cartoon speech bubble where a character, provoked beyond endurance, starts to seriously swear. And as we all know that cartoons are for children, normal fonts are replaced in the speech bubble with what Terry calls "the sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard", to leave no doubt that swearing is happening, without referencing any real or actual swear words. ("The sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard" may of course be supplemented with little pictures, say skulls and lightning flashes, from the Wingdings fonts) This representation of cussing in a cartoon strip is known in the trade as '''''maledict'''''.<br />
<br />
The word "maladict" could also be a play on "mal addict", with "mal" being the French for "bad", referring to Maladict's serious coffee addiction. As for what provoked Mal to join the Ribboners - see note above regarding p342 of {{CJ}}.<br />
<br />
If I can quote the APF official annotation:<br />
<br />
+ [p. 86] "One shilling extra 'per Diem'" <br />
<br />
Using this information and UK army pay scales, one can estimate that a second lieutenant in the Borogravian army receives approximately 1807 shillings per year as payment, compared to 2012 shillings per year for a first lieutenant; and that there are approximately 11.16 Borogravian shillings to one UK pound. <br />
<br />
As my original afp source for this annotation puts it: "Working this out may be the single geekiest thing I have ever done." <br />
<br />
<br />
Er... an easier way to get to the same result ref. pay scales for junior officers is to go to Terry Pratchett's favourite author George McDonald Fraser, who in one of his autobiographical short stories reveals that the pay rate for a full Lieutenant in the British Army (in 1946) was in fact seven shillings a day. (£3,5/- per week). Like Borogravia, the British currency had been thoroughly devalued and ravaged by six years of total war. This ties in well with the calculation above and took less brainstrain...<br />
<br />
On page 217 of the Harper Collins hardback and 239 of the Harper Torch paperback, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a classmate named Wrigglesworth, who was particularly good at impersonating women. In the 1981 movie ''Zorro the Gay Blade'', Zorro's long-lost twin brother (who is rather flamboyantly gay) goes by the name of Bunny Wigglesworth.<br />
<br />
This might also be a knowing nod to that icon of the Great British Boys' Adventure Story, Squadron Leader James "Biggles" Bigglesworth.<br />
The Biggles books chart his life roughly from age nine, as a typical product of Empire and the British Raj in India, through his answering the patriotic call to the British colours in World War One (he tries the Infantry, realises it isn't to his taste, then transfers to the fledgling Royal Flying Corps where he becomes an Ace). In between the wars he and his jolly - all-male - band of chums become freelance adventurers, then when WW2 happens, he rejoins the RAF, much to the woe of the beastly Hun, the braggart Italians and the diabolical Japanese. After the war, he is signed up to Scotland Yard as Commander of the "Air Police" and occasional special agent - indeed, his last active service as an over-age James Bond is a dangerous (and deniable) incursion into the Gulag to spring his old arch-enemy Erich von Stalheim from Soviet captivity, sometime around 1965, when Biggles would have been as old as the century.... <br />
<br />
It is noticeable that ''in all that time'' Biggles is only diverted ''once'' from the manly bosom of his chums by a woman's infernal wiles, and otherwise he remains a confirmed bachelor all his life. Unkind commentators have deduced somewhat...errrm.... ''homoerotic'' overtones in the intensity of his relationship with Bertie, Algy and the boy who he takes in as protègé, Ginger Hepplethwaite, (who is described in quite loving physical detail by Captain Johns). What could be ''more'' natural than a band of bosom chums spurning the advances of women, and going off into the wilds of the world together in pursuit of healthy masculine activity,(often at the direction of a shadowy father-figure and Intelligence patriarch called Colonel Raymond, who takes close attention to the lads) and indeed doing so until they are in their late fifties and early sixties?<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 204|The words BORN TO DIE had been chalked on the side of the hat}}<br />
<br />
This would appear to be a reference to the movie {{wp|Full_Metal_Jacket|Full Metal Jacket}}, where Joker writes BORN TO KILL on his helmet.<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 230|you have I am sure heard the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword?}}<br />
<br />
The phrase was coined by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton. See also the annotation for Soul Music, p.7<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 245|whopwhopwhop}}<br />
<br />
The onomotapoeia here suggests a helicopter, but the very distinctive whopwhopwhop sound, combined with imagery from the Vietnam War strongly suggests an image of the Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" helicopter, which had an extremely identifiable sound & has becone synonymous with US involvement in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Monstrous Regiment]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Monstrous_Regiment/Annotations&diff=34587Book:Monstrous Regiment/Annotations2023-04-25T00:30:55Z<p>Superluser: Some annotations</p>
<hr />
<div>==Historical==<br />
In the British Army, the Tenth of Foot are, or were, the Lincolnshire Regiment. Originally raised in 1685 to fight the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, the regiment later fought in the American War of Independence, where Washington's army derisively nicknamed them "the yellowbellies" because of the buff-yellow cuffs, turnbacks, and lapels of their red tunics. (a regiment only wore blue turnbacks if it had been granted "Royal" status, which the Lincolns did not achieve till the late 19th century). After service in Egypt in the early 1800's, their cap-badge became a stylised sphynx and pyramid. The Regiment died almost to the last man at Gandamack in Afghanistan in 1840, with its last survivor escaping with one of the regimental colours. It fought later on the Crimea, in WW1 and WW2, and finally "died" in 1960 when amalgamated into the Northampton Regiment. Later defence cuts saw further amalgamations, and the current "ghost" of this old unit lives on as part of the Royal Anglian super-regiment. Interestingly, the Lincolns were also known as "The Poachers", partly as a reference to their rural recruiting ground, and partly because of the song "The Lincoln Poacher", which was an unofficial regimental march:<br />
<br />
'' 'tis my delight on a shining night...''<br />
<br />
The story of {{wp|Christian_Davies|Christian Davies}} seems to wind though the book and the author likely noticed it in his research. Born ''Christian Cavanaugh'' and using several names through her career, she served as an infantryman and later dragoon for thirteen years (1693 - 1706) until revealed as a result of her second serious wound. Even after the discovery she remained with the 4th Royal North British Dragoons (eventually the ''Scots Greys'') as a sutler and became a celebrity throughout the army, meeting Queen Anne to receive a fairly handsome pension. Parallels include coming from a pub family (Polly), looking for her husband (Jack), and being a bit of a lad (well, lass) of versatile sexuality (the Working School dropouts).<BR><br />
The phenomenon is not uniquely British. See also {{wp|Louise Antonini|Louise Antonini}} in the French army AND navy.<br />
<br />
The "Cheesemongers" is a nickname for the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry, also known as (apparently) The Bangers, The Lumpers, The Fly-Slicers, The Picadilly Butchers, The Roast and Boiled, The Ticky Tins. (But the rest of the British army affectionately refers to the Household Division as "the Woodentops") The Cheesemongers is a derogatory nickname dating from 1788 when the regiment was being re-organised. Some commissions were refused because the officers concerned were the sons of merchants and tradesmen, even, shock horror, grocers and general provisioners, and therefore not, “gentlemen.” Issues of education, social standing, independent income, et c, still appear to matter in these upscale regiments in 2008: 230 years ago, it mattered a lot more! <br />
<br />
There does not appear to ever have been a British Army unit nicknamed the "Ins-And-outs". However, the 96th Regiment of Foot (The Welsh Regiment) were nicknamed "the Ups-And-Downs". Again, the curse of amalgamation means that the Welsh Regiment today lives on as 2nd Battalion the Royal Welch.<br />
<br />
==References ==<br />
<br />
'''''The Duchess'''''. A pub where a woman called Polly Perks has a big stake. Think of long-running BBC radio soap opera '''The Archers''', where the village pub, the Bull, is run by licencee Sid Perks. And for many years, also by his wife. '''''Polly Perks'''''. <br />
<br />
It would be utterly unsurprising if a bit of Hašek’s classic satire '''''{{wp|The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk|The Good Soldier Svejk}}''''' creeps in there as well... in fact, there are odd echoes. <br />
<br />
The idiot-savant Svejk, a peasant who hides cunning under a stupid-seeming exterior,narrowly evades arrest by the secret policeman Corporal Bretschneider (Strappi?) and on enlistment into the 91st, is assigned as batman to the officer Lieutenant Lukaš and at one point has to shave him (cf Polly and Blouse). The company cook is a mystic who claims to receive spiritualist messages from long-dead monarchs. The regiment belongs to an Army serving a dying empire (Austro-Hungary, which fits the central European vibe of "Borogravia") and in fact crumbles into defeat in its first serious engagement. Svejk spends a long time detached from his unit and trying to find his way back to it, evading capture and the enemy on both sides (he is nearly shot for spying and/or desertion)<br />
<br />
Another general observation: on page 342 of the paperback of {{CJ}}, when the vampires are defeated in Escrow, one of the defeated vampyres is called ''Maladicta''. Did she decide on a career change shortly after this and joined the Army to forget?<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 24|"The official story is that she's in mourning."}}<br />
<br />
The Duchess of Borogravia appears to have certain affinities with {{wp|Queen Victoria|Queen Victoria}}, except for her childlessness, which makes her more akin to {{wp|Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne}}.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 39|"Why, is this the escutcheon of her grace the duchess I see before me?" ... "Well, it won't be in front of me for long."}}<br />
<br />
Compare and contrast the famous '''{{wp|Max_Reger|Max Reger}}''' quote:<br />
:"I am in the smallest room of the house. I have your review in front of me. Soon it will be behind me."<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 47|"Private Bloodfnucker hnas a fnord, fnargeant," he said accusingly.}}<br />
<br />
It is difficult to believe this is not a shout out to Shea and Wilson's ''{{wp|Illuminatus!|Illuminatus!}}''. The question that needs to be answered is: ''Have you seen the fnords?'' <br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|HB, page 85|''a banknote''}} - of course, Borogravia uses paper banknotes, ahead of Ankh-Morpork, but possibly fuelled out of desperation and ''fiat currency''. See here: [[Annagovia|a possible sample banknote]]<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback page 85''''': ''this was very soon going to be a barefoot army....''<br />
Like the Confederates in the American Civil War, who were plagued with supply difficulties and shortages; it was estimated in 1864 that 60% of the confederacy's soldiers went into battle barefoot. In the last months of the war the Confederacy was like Borogravia, fighting on pride and a refusal to see the war was lost. What was especially poignant was that one state, South Carolina, had a footwear industry creating sufficient to shoe the whole Army and then some. But most of its output went into storage as it saw no reason to supply anyone other than its own state's troops and was unwilling to give away the surplus - its allied states had to ''buy'' the boots or go without. And the Confederate government respected individual states' rights and did not force this state to equip the whole Army gratis... <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback page 86''''':<br />
Blouse has somehow remained a second lieutenant for eight years. In practically every Army, this is the lowest entry-grade rank for a commissioned officer and most people move on to the next grade after between six months and a year (at the outside). He has either annoyed people, or else dismally failed to impress, to have been relegated to the rear for so long. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 127|"We have met the enemy and he is nice":}}<br />
<br />
'' 'Was she supposed to think ''We have met the enemy and he is nice?'' Anyway, he wasn't. He was smug....''<br />
<br />
a parody of the famous Pogo quotation :"We have met the enemy and he is us" which, in turn, refers to a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie, stating "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 45|Several of the cadets go by nicknames:}}<br />
<br />
''"...'Shufti' Manickle..."''<br />
<br />
Shufti is a military term meaning a quick look or reconnoitre. It is actually derived from an arabic word that was learned and brought back to England by British troops defending the Empire in the Middle East.<br />
<br />
<br />
''"...'Wazzer' Goom..."''<br />
<br />
''Wazz'' (rhyming with "jazz") is a slang word meaning "to urinate", and hence "urine". Thus "Wazzer" can be a nickname for anyone who has a reputation for urinating, usually inappropriately.<br />
<br />
<br />
Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 59:-<br />
Jackrum is warning the Detail of possible hard times ahead by reminiscing about the retreat from Khurusck, where he went three days without either food or water. The Roundworld parallel is the German retreat from Kursk in the late summer and autumn of 1943, where the remnant of the German army defeated by the Russians fought several hundred miles back to the next defensible position, the line of the river Dneiper. Many units went wholly unsupported by logistic support, marching at least without food in a blazing late summer. At least the water supply was eased when the autumn rains started... (ref. Guy Sajer, ''The Forgotten Soldier''. Sajer relates the privations of the forced march out of Kursk to the west, one step ahead of the Russians, where pondwater was a luxury and the only food discovered were green potatoes and an old stale loaf. The Russians were also expected to live off the land - their logistics service gave priority to bringing up fuel and ammunition, food rations coming a poor third. Sajer himself contracted dysentery, possibly from drinking contaminated water, and nearly died of it. Thus do Famine and Pestilence follow in War's tracks).<br />
<br />
The incident in the village where the Last Detail have to play cat-and-mouse with a numerically superior enemy patrol who are out looking for them: Manfred von Richtofen, later to become the Red Baron of aerial combat, started WW1 as a cavalryman and relates a suspiciously similar tale of being caught out by Cossacks on the Eastern Front in WW1. Although the violence here is directed against a Russian Orthodox priest suspected of using his church bells to signal to Russian troops that the Germans were here. [http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=305|Die Rote Kampfflieger]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 143|"How old are you Wazz?" she said, shovelling dirt. "N-n-nineteen, Polly," said Wazzer.}}<br />
<br />
Impossible to believe TP did not have '''{{wp|19 (song)|Paul Hardcastle's ''19''}}''' in mind here.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 208|We first meet the dead Borogravian generals, in a revenant zombie state in the crypt at Kneck.:}}<br />
<br />
German SS leader, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, kept a castle at Wewelsburg as a meeting-place for the inner orders of the SS movement. Underneath his fortress was a crypt with places for perhaps twelve corpses, which he intended to be the last resting place for the fighting generals who led the Waffen-SS in combat.<br />
<br />
Today, some evolutions of the wargaming hobby involve sci-fi/fantasy gaming scenarios where in 1945, the Germans stave off final defeat by learning how to reanimate their dead soldiers as zombie divisions, causing the Allies a bit of a headache. This is also yet another theme of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' - in the concluding acts, a division of German soldiers ceremonially poisoned by Himmler on April 30th 1945 and consigned to Lake Totenkopf under a bio-mystical preservation field are revived as zombies (under the command of General Hanfgeist), to wreak destruction and consternation and take unfinished business back to the Russians in East Germany, thus starting WW3.<br />
<br />
There is also, of course, a popular computer game on exactly this theme. ("You are the hero seeking to prevent revived Nazi Zombies taking over the world. You must seek and destroy them in their Bavarian castle lair.") it's caled the Wolfenstein Series, dating from the early 1980's. Terry may have played it. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Castle_Wolfenstein]<br />
<br />
The Detail encounter the zombie soldiers on pp270-273. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 311|Whilst discussing disguising himself as a woman, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a few of his previous forays into "Theatricals":}}<br />
<br />
''"I got a huge round of applause as the Widow Trembler in 'Tis Pity She's A Tree."''<br />
<br />
This may refer to the 1630s play ''{{wp|Tis_Pity_She%27s_a_Whore|Tis Pity She's a Whore}}'' (also known as "Giovanni and Annabella", or simply "Tis Pity") by John Ford. This device is also used in {{MM}}, where Professor [[John Hicks]] artlessly reveals he is a member of the [[Dolly Sisters Players]], and have you seen my Lord Fartwell in '' 'Tis Pity She's An Instructor in Unarmed Combat''? <br />
<br />
''"The world turned upside down"'' - this is a reference to Cornwallis' surrender of British armies to Washington, at the end of the War of Independence, where the bands sardonically played this tune during the surrender ceremonies. <br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 328|Vimes says "''Ze chzy Brogocia proztfik''":}}<br />
<br />
''"Didn't I say I was a citizen of Borogravia?"'' <br />
<br />
''"No. ''Brogocia'' is the cherry pancake, ''Borogvia'' is the country"''<br />
<br />
This is probably a reference to the famous (and possibly untrue) political moment when the president John F. Kennedy said ''Ich bin ein Berliner'' [I am a jam-filled doughnut] instead of ''Ich bin Berliner'' [I am a citizen of Berlin]. Apparently, satirists had a field day, and for several weeks the political cartoons were filled with talking doughnuts. See {{wp|Ich bin ein Berliner|Ich bin ein Berliner}}.<br />
<br />
The title {{MR}} is a reference to John Knox's ''{{wp|The_First_Blast_of_the_Trumpet_Against_the_Monstrous_Regiment_of_Women|The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women}}'', a treatise against female rulers in the 16th century. Knox had Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart and Mary of Guise in mind. It was his misfortune that the next ruler of England, Elizabeth I, although theoretically on Knox's side, took offence at his title and argument. Fiction writer Laurie R King has also made use of the phrase in connection to the {{wp|Women%27s_suffrage|suffragette}} movement in the United Kingdom. I should make it clear that Pratchett is not adopting Knox's ideas, almost the reverse in fact.<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
Annotations for [[Borogravia]] and [[Zlobenia]].<br />
<br />
<br />
== External ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html Monstrous Regiment] in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]]<br />
<br />
'''From the APF:-''' + [p. 28] "you can call me Maladict" <br />
<br />
"The name is both a play on the name 'Benedict' and on the word 'maledict', which Webster's defines as accursedness or the act of bringing a curse. "<br />
<br />
The word ''maledict'' is also the term used to describe the moment in a cartoon speech bubble where a character, provoked beyond endurance, starts to seriously swear. And as we all know that cartoons are for children, normal fonts are replaced in the speech bubble with what Terry calls "the sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard", to leave no doubt that swearing is happening, without referencing any real or actual swear words. ("The sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard" may of course be supplemented with little pictures, say skulls and lightning flashes, from the Wingdings fonts) This representation of cussing in a cartoon strip is known in the trade as '''''maledict'''''.<br />
<br />
The word "maladict" could also be a play on "mal addict", with "mal" being the French for "bad", referring to Maladict's serious coffee addiction. As for what provoked Mal to join the Ribboners - see note above regarding p342 of {{CJ}}.<br />
<br />
If I can quote the APF official annotation:<br />
<br />
+ [p. 86] "One shilling extra 'per Diem'" <br />
<br />
Using this information and UK army pay scales, one can estimate that a second lieutenant in the Borogravian army receives approximately 1807 shillings per year as payment, compared to 2012 shillings per year for a first lieutenant; and that there are approximately 11.16 Borogravian shillings to one UK pound. <br />
<br />
As my original afp source for this annotation puts it: "Working this out may be the single geekiest thing I have ever done." <br />
<br />
<br />
Er... an easier way to get to the same result ref. pay scales for junior officers is to go to Terry Pratchett's favourite author George McDonald Fraser, who in one of his autobiographical short stories reveals that the pay rate for a full Lieutenant in the British Army (in 1946) was in fact seven shillings a day. (£3,5/- per week). Like Borogravia, the British currency had been thoroughly devalued and ravaged by six years of total war. This ties in well with the calculation above and took less brainstrain...<br />
<br />
On page 217 of the Harper Collins hardback and 239 of the Harper Torch paperback, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a classmate named Wrigglesworth, who was particularly good at impersonating women. In the 1981 movie ''Zorro the Gay Blade'', Zorro's long-lost twin brother (who is rather flamboyantly gay) goes by the name of Bunny Wigglesworth.<br />
<br />
This might also be a knowing nod to that icon of the Great British Boys' Adventure Story, Squadron Leader James "Biggles" Bigglesworth.<br />
The Biggles books chart his life roughly from age nine, as a typical product of Empire and the British Raj in India, through his answering the patriotic call to the British colours in World War One (he tries the Infantry, realises it isn't to his taste, then transfers to the fledgling Royal Flying Corps where he becomes an Ace). In between the wars he and his jolly - all-male - band of chums become freelance adventurers, then when WW2 happens, he rejoins the RAF, much to the woe of the beastly Hun, the braggart Italians and the diabolical Japanese. After the war, he is signed up to Scotland Yard as Commander of the "Air Police" and occasional special agent - indeed, his last active service as an over-age James Bond is a dangerous (and deniable) incursion into the Gulag to spring his old arch-enemy Erich von Stalheim from Soviet captivity, sometime around 1965, when Biggles would have been as old as the century.... <br />
<br />
It is noticeable that ''in all that time'' Biggles is only diverted ''once'' from the manly bosom of his chums by a woman's infernal wiles, and otherwise he remains a confirmed bachelor all his life. Unkind commentators have deduced somewhat...errrm.... ''homoerotic'' overtones in the intensity of his relationship with Bertie, Algy and the boy who he takes in as protègé, Ginger Hepplethwaite, (who is described in quite loving physical detail by Captain Johns). What could be ''more'' natural than a band of bosom chums spurning the advances of women, and going off into the wilds of the world together in pursuit of healthy masculine activity,(often at the direction of a shadowy father-figure and Intelligence patriarch called Colonel Raymond, who takes close attention to the lads) and indeed doing so until they are in their late fifties and early sixties?<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 204|The words BORN TO DIE had been chalked on the side of the hat}}<br />
<br />
This would appear to be a reference to the movie {{wp|Full Metal Jacket}}, where Joker writes BORN TO KILL on his helmet.<br />
<br />
{{Annotation|Harper-Collins paperback, page 230|you have I am sure heard the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword?}}<br />
<br />
The phrase was coined by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton. See also the annotation for Soul Music, p.7<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Monstrous Regiment]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Wee_Free_Men/Annotations&diff=34586Book:The Wee Free Men/Annotations2023-04-24T00:31:41Z<p>Superluser: Render distance</p>
<hr />
<div>in the APF, Breebart and Kew write:-<br />
<br />
+ [p. 153] "'We'll dance the FiveHundredAndTwelvesome Reel to the tune o' "The Devil Among The Lawyers"'" <br />
<br />
There are Foursome, Eightsome and Twelvesome Reels, which involve exchanges of partners between two, four or six couples. 512 is eight cubed, so presumably it's more complicated, but basically the same. "The Devil Among The Lawyers" is possibly a reference to Burns' "The Deil's Awa' Wi' The Exciseman", or to 'The Devil Among The Tailors', (or, as it's sometimes known, 'The Deil Amang the Tailors') a well-known folk-dance tune (which is in fact, I'm told, the original tune for an Eightsome Reel). <br />
<br />
==Discussing the reference:-==<br />
<br />
*George McDonald Fraser wrote three books of semi-autobiographical short stories about his time as a subaltern in the Gordon Highlanders just after the end of WW2. He spent a little under two years as a junior officer in one of Scotland's most famous (some might say notorious) Army regiments. What becomes clear from his books is that the Gordons have many similarities to the Feegle. His Scottish soldiers essentially ARE the Feegle, only cleaner, neater, and subject to military discipline - they are even known by nicknames such as Daft Bob, Wee Wullie, et c.<br />
<br />
In fact, in WW2, the 51st (Highland)Infantry Division, whose insignia was a stylised "HD", were known to the rest of the British Army as "The Hydraulics", because "those bloody Scotsmen would lift anything". <br />
<br />
Scottish regiments certainly saw grand theft as a challenge: elsewhere in his writings, McDonald Fraser recounts being busted down to private from lance-corporal, because a raiding party of Cameron Highlanders stole the tent from over his and his comrades' heads while they slept.<br />
<br />
Pterry notes that the Feegles who adopt Tiffany as Kelda are virtually all alike, accent-wise, save for those who accompanied the new Kelda from her birthplace in the Long Lake clan. <br />
Ref Breebart and Kew:- <br />
<br />
+ [p. 152] "He spoke differently too, [...]" <br />
<br />
While the other Nac Mac Feegle sound like people doing Rab C Nesbitt impressions (Nesbitt is a well-known Scots character (of the dirty, foul-mouthed, sexist drunkard kind) from a BBC comedy series), William has the sort of exaggerated Ayrshire burr you might hear folk put on when reciting Robert Burns (the famous Scots poet, who wrote 'Auld Lang Syne'). <br />
<br />
* McDonald Fraser describes his Gordon Highlanders similarly, as being 80% drawn from Glasgow (ie, Rab C. Nesbitts and Billy Connollys) but with the remaining 20% drawn from the real Scottish Highlands and Islands. (apart from a draft from the Liverpool Scottish with thick Scouse accents and names like McDonald, McLeod, et c)<br />
<br />
In the first book of short stories, ''The General Danced At Dawn'', it may interest students of Feegledom to note that a 128-some reel was actually danced, (in Libya in 1946), at the end of an otherwise disastrous General's inspection. This 'record' stood until 24th April 1988, when inspired by Fraser's story and according to the 1989 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, "The most complex Scottish country dance ever held was a 256-some reel, choreographed by Ian Price, which took place ... in Vancouver, Canada." As far as is known, this remains the most intricate single-set Scottish reel danced anywhere by anybody, although larger groups have since taken the field (no 'floor' being big enough) in Toronto (512) and Aberdeenshire (1254) as aggregations of smaller sets. <br />
<br />
The Scottish general gets progressively drunker over dinner, and prevails on the wee pipe-sergeant (the Regiment's principal piper and to all intents and purposes, its Gonnagal and guardian of its tradition) to expand the dancing. From the conventional foursome and eightsome reels, to the rarely danced and far longer sixteensome.<br />
<br />
To correct Breebaart and Kew who say: ''512 is eight cubed, so presumably it's more complicated, but basically the same''.<br />
<br />
Not quite, gentlemen: the thing about Scottish dancing is that the length of the dance increases almost exponentially as you proceed upwards through powers of two. A twosome is simple; a foursome takes longer as each dancer has to interact with three others before it can end. In an eightsome, each dancer has to physically dance a measure with each of ''seven'' other dancers. In a sixteensome, that's fifteen other people, and it takes proportionately longer. Now imagine....<br />
<br />
The General then calls for a thirty-twosome reel. Then he gets delusions of grandeur and calls for a sixty-foursome: one of the longest and most complex Scottish reels ever performed anywhere. <br />
<br />
By now, it's one in the morning, the Military Police are out, curious Arabs are wondering what the noise is (it's a full Highland pipe band), the English regiment who share the barracks are awake, and German prisoners of war housed nearby are considering a protest under the Geneva Convention. (In fact, in a Vimes/Night Watch sort of way, the Military Police are unsure as to whether or not they have the authority to arrest a General, even a Scottish one, for drunken disorderly behaviour and related offences...)<br />
<br />
But the General carries on... <br />
<br />
"I say, pipey, is there any reason why we couldn't..."<br />
<br />
And a one hundred and twenty-eightsome happens, which takes one hour and twenty eight minutes to dance to a conclusion... by Highlanders, whooping Arabs, Northumberland Fusiliers, and German prisoners of war roped in to make up the numbers.<br />
<br />
The 512-some reel is the next logical step up, would take between six and seven hours to dance to a finish, and only Feegles would be daft enough to dance it.<br />
<br />
It could also be noted that the most Feegle-like of the Highlanders, the habitually filthy, illiterate, shambling wreck who is Private McAuslan, (nicknamed "Private Piltdown" by the defending officer at his court-martial) is reduced to an embarrassed red-faced mumbling Rob Anybody (in the presence of Tiffany) by a beautiful girl with whom he disastrously falls in love... this is MacAuslan, a man who, when short of money, raided the platoon armoury, and then was caught by the Military Police trying to sell the Arabs a three-inch mortar and shells. <br />
<br />
more here: [[Daft Wullie]]<br />
<br />
Over on the APF, I find a certain confirmation for this annotation! Terry Pratchett is quoted as saying:-<br />
<br />
''"These are modern authors whose books I will automatically buy knowing that life is going to get that little bit richer: <br />
<br />
Pratchett lists five authors, but at the top of the list is....<br />
<br />
'''''George McDonald Fraser''''' (The Flashman books)'' <br />
<br />
Discovering TP is a GMcD-F fan kind of seals the Feegles-Gordon Highlanders asociation, methinks? <br />
<br />
Incidentally, any reader of the Flashman books will notice immediately that McDonald Fraser, like TP, is also a great exponent of explanatory footnotes (although these are grouped in a separate section at the end - more "endnotes", really)<br />
<br />
--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:17, 21 May 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
More here [[Talk:Pictsies]] concerning Feegle-speak.<br />
<br />
There's a link, on the Reading Suggestions page, to Irish children's author Pat O'Shea. Re-reading the early chapters of {{WFM}}, it has just struck me how the scene between Tiffany and Miss Tick, when they meet for the first time, is in all aspects pure pastiche of O'Shea. The setting reflects one of the bizarre, slightly dream-like, "country fairs" of her Irish faeryscape - right down to the in-line text drawings. There is O'Shea's obligatory talking animal - not Cù Rùa the wise fox, but the "yellow, sick, toad" There is the superficially whimsical dialogue between Tiffany and Miss Tick, but which hides deeper realities. It has the same, slightly eerie, almost-making-sense, quality of a conversation in a dream, that O'Shea excels at. <br />
<br />
Check out '''''The Hounds of the Morrigan''''', particularly the Swapping Fair scenes, to see what I mean here...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:26, 23 July 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
''No King, no Lords, no Gentry, no Taxes!'' - this was the slogan of angry workers in Scotland in the 1820's, first forced off the land into the city slums during the Highland Clearances, and then discovering that during the industrial recession and near-famine of the 1820's, not even ill-paid factory work was available to them. Scottish soldiers who had served faithfully in the Napoleonic Wars were also being demobbed (no Army pensions and invalidity pay in those days)to discover that what they were returning to was something a lot less than a land fit for heroes. 60,000 workers went on mass strike, and even artillery was mobilised to the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh as a threat and deterrent. ''Nae Quin! Nae Lairds....''<br />
<br />
<br />
Tiffany and the Feegle fight the Grimhounds. The wee Gonnagal fights them off with the Notes of Pain - the excruciatingly supersonic sound of the mousepipes. <br />
<br />
This is reminiscent of the scene in Michael Moorcock's ''Corum'' cycle, where Corum and the Companion to Heroes are trapped inside a stone circle in the snowy frozen waste by the fell hounds of the FhoiMhoir. The psychotic Gaynor, Prince of the Damned, leaves them there to starve or be torn to pieces if they try to escape. (Yes, I'd be psychotic too if my parents had called their son Gaynor). They are rescued by the wizard Calatin, who uses a horn to subdue the dogs - one blast causes them to mill in confusion, a second is fiercely painful, the third kills. <br />
<br />
As Moorcock was drawing extensively from Irish mythology, this could be another case of "[[Fishing from the same stream|fishing in the same stream]]".<br />
<br />
'''HarperCollins, Paperback. Page 11'''<BR><br />
"She didn't call the downland [[the Chalk]], she called it 'the wold.' Up on the wold the wind blows cold, Tiffany had thought, and the words had stuck that way."<BR><br />
This is a reference to the English folk rhyme: <BR><br />
''At Brill on the hill<BR><br />
The wind blows shrill<BR><br />
''The cook no meat can dress<BR><br />
''At [[wikipedia:Stow-in-the-Wold|Stow-in-the-Wold]]<BR><br />
''The wind blows cold''<BR><br />
''I know no more than this<BR>''<br />
<br />
;HarperCollins, Paperback. Page 66:"...believe that shoe size is a good way of choosing a wife." This "Cinderella" critique gels with the commentary in {{WA}} and other Pratchett works.<br />
<br />
;HarperCollins, Paperback. Page 210: "The trees here, though, were different. She had a strong feeling that they ''were'' blobs..." The description of the scenery filling in when you get close enough to see it is very reminiscent of the "cheats" some games make to limit processor usage, particularly Playstation games a few years prior to this book's publication.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Wee Free Men,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Wee_Free_Men/Annotations&diff=34536Book:The Wee Free Men/Annotations2023-04-09T20:12:47Z<p>Superluser: Cinderella reference</p>
<hr />
<div>in the APF, Breebart and Kew write:-<br />
<br />
+ [p. 153] "'We'll dance the FiveHundredAndTwelvesome Reel to the tune o' "The Devil Among The Lawyers"'" <br />
<br />
There are Foursome, Eightsome and Twelvesome Reels, which involve exchanges of partners between two, four or six couples. 512 is eight cubed, so presumably it's more complicated, but basically the same. "The Devil Among The Lawyers" is possibly a reference to Burns' "The Deil's Awa' Wi' The Exciseman", or to 'The Devil Among The Tailors', (or, as it's sometimes known, 'The Deil Amang the Tailors') a well-known folk-dance tune (which is in fact, I'm told, the original tune for an Eightsome Reel). <br />
<br />
==Discussing the reference:-==<br />
<br />
*George McDonald Fraser wrote three books of semi-autobiographical short stories about his time as a subaltern in the Gordon Highlanders just after the end of WW2. He spent a little under two years as a junior officer in one of Scotland's most famous (some might say notorious) Army regiments. What becomes clear from his books is that the Gordons have many similarities to the Feegle. His Scottish soldiers essentially ARE the Feegle, only cleaner, neater, and subject to military discipline - they are even known by nicknames such as Daft Bob, Wee Wullie, et c.<br />
<br />
In fact, in WW2, the 51st (Highland)Infantry Division, whose insignia was a stylised "HD", were known to the rest of the British Army as "The Hydraulics", because "those bloody Scotsmen would lift anything". <br />
<br />
Scottish regiments certainly saw grand theft as a challenge: elsewhere in his writings, McDonald Fraser recounts being busted down to private from lance-corporal, because a raiding party of Cameron Highlanders stole the tent from over his and his comrades' heads while they slept.<br />
<br />
Pterry notes that the Feegles who adopt Tiffany as Kelda are virtually all alike, accent-wise, save for those who accompanied the new Kelda from her birthplace in the Long Lake clan. <br />
Ref Breebart and Kew:- <br />
<br />
+ [p. 152] "He spoke differently too, [...]" <br />
<br />
While the other Nac Mac Feegle sound like people doing Rab C Nesbitt impressions (Nesbitt is a well-known Scots character (of the dirty, foul-mouthed, sexist drunkard kind) from a BBC comedy series), William has the sort of exaggerated Ayrshire burr you might hear folk put on when reciting Robert Burns (the famous Scots poet, who wrote 'Auld Lang Syne'). <br />
<br />
* McDonald Fraser describes his Gordon Highlanders similarly, as being 80% drawn from Glasgow (ie, Rab C. Nesbitts and Billy Connollys) but with the remaining 20% drawn from the real Scottish Highlands and Islands. (apart from a draft from the Liverpool Scottish with thick Scouse accents and names like McDonald, McLeod, et c)<br />
<br />
In the first book of short stories, ''The General Danced At Dawn'', it may interest students of Feegledom to note that a 128-some reel was actually danced, (in Libya in 1946), at the end of an otherwise disastrous General's inspection. This 'record' stood until 24th April 1988, when inspired by Fraser's story and according to the 1989 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, "The most complex Scottish country dance ever held was a 256-some reel, choreographed by Ian Price, which took place ... in Vancouver, Canada." As far as is known, this remains the most intricate single-set Scottish reel danced anywhere by anybody, although larger groups have since taken the field (no 'floor' being big enough) in Toronto (512) and Aberdeenshire (1254) as aggregations of smaller sets. <br />
<br />
The Scottish general gets progressively drunker over dinner, and prevails on the wee pipe-sergeant (the Regiment's principal piper and to all intents and purposes, its Gonnagal and guardian of its tradition) to expand the dancing. From the conventional foursome and eightsome reels, to the rarely danced and far longer sixteensome.<br />
<br />
To correct Breebaart and Kew who say: ''512 is eight cubed, so presumably it's more complicated, but basically the same''.<br />
<br />
Not quite, gentlemen: the thing about Scottish dancing is that the length of the dance increases almost exponentially as you proceed upwards through powers of two. A twosome is simple; a foursome takes longer as each dancer has to interact with three others before it can end. In an eightsome, each dancer has to physically dance a measure with each of ''seven'' other dancers. In a sixteensome, that's fifteen other people, and it takes proportionately longer. Now imagine....<br />
<br />
The General then calls for a thirty-twosome reel. Then he gets delusions of grandeur and calls for a sixty-foursome: one of the longest and most complex Scottish reels ever performed anywhere. <br />
<br />
By now, it's one in the morning, the Military Police are out, curious Arabs are wondering what the noise is (it's a full Highland pipe band), the English regiment who share the barracks are awake, and German prisoners of war housed nearby are considering a protest under the Geneva Convention. (In fact, in a Vimes/Night Watch sort of way, the Military Police are unsure as to whether or not they have the authority to arrest a General, even a Scottish one, for drunken disorderly behaviour and related offences...)<br />
<br />
But the General carries on... <br />
<br />
"I say, pipey, is there any reason why we couldn't..."<br />
<br />
And a one hundred and twenty-eightsome happens, which takes one hour and twenty eight minutes to dance to a conclusion... by Highlanders, whooping Arabs, Northumberland Fusiliers, and German prisoners of war roped in to make up the numbers.<br />
<br />
The 512-some reel is the next logical step up, would take between six and seven hours to dance to a finish, and only Feegles would be daft enough to dance it.<br />
<br />
It could also be noted that the most Feegle-like of the Highlanders, the habitually filthy, illiterate, shambling wreck who is Private McAuslan, (nicknamed "Private Piltdown" by the defending officer at his court-martial) is reduced to an embarrassed red-faced mumbling Rob Anybody (in the presence of Tiffany) by a beautiful girl with whom he disastrously falls in love... this is MacAuslan, a man who, when short of money, raided the platoon armoury, and then was caught by the Military Police trying to sell the Arabs a three-inch mortar and shells. <br />
<br />
more here: [[Daft Wullie]]<br />
<br />
Over on the APF, I find a certain confirmation for this annotation! Terry Pratchett is quoted as saying:-<br />
<br />
''"These are modern authors whose books I will automatically buy knowing that life is going to get that little bit richer: <br />
<br />
Pratchett lists five authors, but at the top of the list is....<br />
<br />
'''''George McDonald Fraser''''' (The Flashman books)'' <br />
<br />
Discovering TP is a GMcD-F fan kind of seals the Feegles-Gordon Highlanders asociation, methinks? <br />
<br />
Incidentally, any reader of the Flashman books will notice immediately that McDonald Fraser, like TP, is also a great exponent of explanatory footnotes (although these are grouped in a separate section at the end - more "endnotes", really)<br />
<br />
--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:17, 21 May 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
More here [[Talk:Pictsies]] concerning Feegle-speak.<br />
<br />
There's a link, on the Reading Suggestions page, to Irish children's author Pat O'Shea. Re-reading the early chapters of {{WFM}}, it has just struck me how the scene between Tiffany and Miss Tick, when they meet for the first time, is in all aspects pure pastiche of O'Shea. The setting reflects one of the bizarre, slightly dream-like, "country fairs" of her Irish faeryscape - right down to the in-line text drawings. There is O'Shea's obligatory talking animal - not Cù Rùa the wise fox, but the "yellow, sick, toad" There is the superficially whimsical dialogue between Tiffany and Miss Tick, but which hides deeper realities. It has the same, slightly eerie, almost-making-sense, quality of a conversation in a dream, that O'Shea excels at. <br />
<br />
Check out '''''The Hounds of the Morrigan''''', particularly the Swapping Fair scenes, to see what I mean here...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:26, 23 July 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
''No King, no Lords, no Gentry, no Taxes!'' - this was the slogan of angry workers in Scotland in the 1820's, first forced off the land into the city slums during the Highland Clearances, and then discovering that during the industrial recession and near-famine of the 1820's, not even ill-paid factory work was available to them. Scottish soldiers who had served faithfully in the Napoleonic Wars were also being demobbed (no Army pensions and invalidity pay in those days)to discover that what they were returning to was something a lot less than a land fit for heroes. 60,000 workers went on mass strike, and even artillery was mobilised to the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh as a threat and deterrent. ''Nae Quin! Nae Lairds....''<br />
<br />
<br />
Tiffany and the Feegle fight the Grimhounds. The wee Gonnagal fights them off with the Notes of Pain - the excruciatingly supersonic sound of the mousepipes. <br />
<br />
This is reminiscent of the scene in Michael Moorcock's ''Corum'' cycle, where Corum and the Companion to Heroes are trapped inside a stone circle in the snowy frozen waste by the fell hounds of the FhoiMhoir. The psychotic Gaynor, Prince of the Damned, leaves them there to starve or be torn to pieces if they try to escape. (Yes, I'd be psychotic too if my parents had called their son Gaynor). They are rescued by the wizard Calatin, who uses a horn to subdue the dogs - one blast causes them to mill in confusion, a second is fiercely painful, the third kills. <br />
<br />
As Moorcock was drawing extensively from Irish mythology, this could be another case of "[[Fishing from the same stream|fishing in the same stream]]".<br />
<br />
'''HarperCollins, Paperback. Page 11'''<BR><br />
"She didn't call the downland [[the Chalk]], she called it 'the wold.' Up on the wold the wind blows cold, Tiffany had thought, and the words had stuck that way."<BR><br />
This is a reference to the English folk rhyme: <BR><br />
''At Brill on the hill<BR><br />
The wind blows shrill<BR><br />
''The cook no meat can dress<BR><br />
''At [[wikipedia:Stow-in-the-Wold|Stow-in-the-Wold]]<BR><br />
''The wind blows cold''<BR><br />
''I know no more than this<BR>''<br />
<br />
'''HarperCollins, Paperback. Page 66'''<br />
<br />
"...believe that shoe size is a good way of choosing a wife."<br />
<br />
An obvious reference to Cinderella, where the prince seeks out his mysterious dancing partner by the shoe she accidentally left behind. Fairly obvious but that's what annotations are for<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Wee Free Men,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Night_Watch/Annotations&diff=34532Book:Night Watch/Annotations2023-04-06T16:51:52Z<p>Superluser: Braveheart</p>
<hr />
<div>{{NW}} annotation: When Vimes fights Findthee Swing in the Cable Street torture cell, Swing says, "History needs its butchers as well as its shepherds, Sergeant." (HarperCollins edition, hardback, pp. 238); this echoes a statement Vimes thinks of in {{TFE}}, after Vimes interrogates [[Inigo Skimmer]], "Didn't some philosophical bastard once say that a government needed butchers as well as shepherds?" (Doubleday edition, hardback, pp. 121). And Vimes' younger self has followed him into the torture chambers, perhaps over-hearing this discourse between Swing and "John Keel". <br />
<br />
:The "philosophical bastard" was Voltaire. It was a favorite quote of Robespierre.[[User:Solicitr|Solicitr]] 22:10, 6 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There are superficial similarities between Swing and Skimmer; both have quirks of speech, both are clerkish in appearance but lethal Assassins, and both are given rather broad ''laissez faire'' by their Patrician to conduct their duties (for wildly different reasons, of course).<br />
<br />
The name of the [[Cable Street Particulars]], who appear in both [[Book:Night Watch|Night Watch]] and [[Book:Maskerade|Maskerade]], is a reference to the {{wp|Baker_Street_Irregulars|Baker Street Irregulars}} from the Sherlock Holmes stories. However they may also be a reference to 'The Untouchables' from the film of the same name, as they also get referred to as The Unmentionables.<br />
The "Unmentionables", in genteel British English, is a euphemism for the male genitalia. So what were people ''really'' calling Swing and his Particulars? <br />
<br />
[[Cable Street Particulars|More Here]] about Cable Street and its significance on Roundworld.<br />
<br />
[[Carcer]] (the name) may be related to Carter in the movie 'Get Carter'- a lovable rogue, who goes to a far less sophisticated city (Newcastle) from a bustling metropolis (London), although he is there to get revenge. It is possible therefore, that Nightwatch could be subtitled 'Get Carcer' (although see the [[Carcer]] page for other possibilities).<br />
<br />
[[John Lawn|Dr. J. "Mossy" Lawn]] is probably a reference to {{wp|Bartholomew_Mosse|Bartholomew Mosse}} founder of Britain's first purpose-built maternity hospital.<br />
<br />
{{NW}} The title is a clear reference to Rembrandt's ''{{wp|Night_Watch_%28painting%29|Night Watch}}'', and the art work on the cover illustrates this connection, parodying the famous painting.<br />
<br />
''"The Revolution will not be civilised"'' - Vimes is quoting the famous (and equally darkly cynical) song of almost the same name, ''"The Revolution will not be televised"''.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback p267:-''''' <br />
<br />
Ref. the conversation between Captain [[Tom Wrangle]] and Major [[Clive Mountjoy-Standish]] concerning how the situation in the city is gradually slipping away from the ability of the Army to do anything about it. Clive opines that well-trained heavily armed soldiers should be able to fight their way out of anything: Tom, who is more realistic, believes that all the expensive military kit, at the end of those narrow, winding, twisty-turny Ankh-Morpork alleys, is nothing more than rather expensive loot.<br />
<br />
''"But I thought the City Watch took care of the gangs-"''<br />
<br />
''Tom looked over the top of his paperwork.'' <br />
<br />
''"Are you suggesting that we ask for police protection?"''<br />
<br />
This parallels the way the British Army, called into Northern Ireland in 1969 to "provide Military Aid to the Civil Power" , was for a regrettably long time vulnerable to being lured into dark alleys, twisty-turny back streets, etc., for ambush purposes, organised by an enemy who intimately knew the local area, in a way the British Army didn't.<br />
<br />
It took a surprisingly long time for military and civil authority to grasp the point that the Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (police force) should work together - co-ordinating actions to play to each other's strengths, so that the RUC's local knowledge and the British Army's greater firepower should work together best. Effectively, this was the British Army asking for police protection... so everything became somewhat recursive. The Army had been called into Northern Ireland to "support the civil power" - ie, as the last resort when normal law and order were crumbling, in order to support the police force. Then the Army discovered it needed the police force to support it...as an aside, in the years following 1969, and ''especially'' after Bloody Sunday in 1972, recruitment in Ireland fell to an all-time low. There were also a significant number of desertions from men recruited from Northern Ireland prior to 1969, who couldn't face fighting a war on their own hometown streets. <br />
<br />
It has also been suggested that when the Miners' Strike was at its bitterest in the middle 1980's, and causing a great amount of strife and division, a big consideration for the government in deciding whether or not to use the Army to support the police was the willingness of soldiers to obey orders to go in and beat up British civilians. A question mark was placed against the willingness of soldiers recruited in mining and steelworking areas to obey such orders, were they ever given. Especially in the case of Welsh and Scottish troops, the risk of refusal to obey orders, even mutiny, was held to be unacceptably high. This was held to be exponentially so in the case of Territorials (part-time reservists) whose day jobs were actually ''in'' coal, steel, and heavy industry. <br />
<br />
Even further back in time, Winston Churchill sent armed militia in to shoot at striking miners in Tonypandy, South Wales, in 1912. (He very carefully chose to use an upscale cavalry militia containing Ronnie Rusts, with no love for the Bolshevist trade unionists). In 1942, ships' companies of the Royal Navy, drawn from South Wales, refused to go on parade for the wartime prime minister, despite all sanctions applied by their officers, citing "Tonypandy" as the reason. Churchill was either heckled off the parade stand by a barrage of jeers, or faced the sight of hundreds of sailors symbolically turning their backs to him. "Tonypandy" was still a rallying cry in the strike of 1984-5. Welsh people have very long memories, and just putting somebody in uniform does not mean they become an automaton who is incapable of questioning bad orders, nor remembering deeper loyalties from outside the Army. <br />
<br />
The original Captain Swing was the fictional leader of the Swing Riots, a period of rural unrest that occurred in southern England in 1830, they lead to the events surrounding the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the formation of the TUC. Although Findthee Swing is on the opposing side, being part of the establishment rather than the revolutionaries, the fact that many of the riots occurred near Salisbury and the Swing rioters were tried at Salisbury Assizes, gives a pretty big clue as to where Pterry found the name.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback p299:-'''''<br />
''Every day, forty thousand eggs were laid for the city''. Even though Vimes states that the city thirty years before the present had perhaps half the human population, forty thousand eggs still seems like too small a number for half a million people. Hmm. Where might Terry have plucked this idea from? Songwriter Donald Roeser said he wanted a metaphor for the ongoing process of life and death to use in a certain song, and said he plucked the figure of forty thousand out of the air to illustrate his point, whilst accepting it was far too small;<br />
<br />
''40,000 men and women every day;''<br />
''(Like Romeo and Juliet)''<br />
''40,000 men and women go every day;''<br />
''(Redefine happiness)''<br />
''Another 40,000 coming in every day;''<br />
''(We can be like they are'')<br />
<br />
Sam Vimes/John Keel redefines ''his'' happiness as a hard-boiled egg with a slightly runny yolk. And hell's bells, the text a few lines down even ''mentions'' [[Blue Öyster Cult| oysters]]... and every egg laid is potentially a new life but becomes a little Death, once consumed.<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback p312 -315:-'''''<br />
<br />
Given the original trigger point for the Glorious Revolution (as in the French Revolution) was the price of bread, it is amusing that as with Marie Antoinette, Winder's downfall is cake-related. As Death points out, "let them eat cake" is not applicable, as no time remains in which cake may be consumed. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback p322:-'''''<br />
<br />
"Are we to be hostage to every whim of a mere sergeant?"<br />
<br />
''Coups d'Etat'' in the old days used to be carried out by generals. (Franco in Spain, Pinochet in Chile). Then a sort of inflationary effect set in: Greece was taken over by a military regime composed of colonels. <br />
In Sierra Leone, a mere air force Flight Lieutenant took over. This effect reached its apogee in Liberia, where a ''sergeant'' managed it. It is also worth bearing in mind that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin had been a sergeant when in the Army, although he was long since demobbed when he went on to a unique career in politics. And Adolf Hitler rose no higher than Corporal, although this probably doesn't count as he was long out of uniform in 1933 and in any case was legitimately elected. Military juntas ain't what they used to be...<br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback p323:-''''' <br />
<br />
*''Avé! Duci novo, similis duci seneci!''<br />
<br />
*''Avé! Bossa nova! Similis bossa seneca!'' - both are variants on a theme of ''Meet the new boss! Same as the old boss!'' cited by Mr. [[Slant]] in {{NW}}, as the awful realisation slips in that they've only changed the Patrician - not the underlying corrupt, cynical and paranoic mind-set that goes with the office. Of course, on Roundworld, the ''bossa nova'' is also a vigorous Latin American dance style (ie, from a continent where despotic rulers and corrupt dictators are often forcibly changed and nothing seems to get better)... so Slant might also be saying that while the dancers have changed, the orchestra is still playing the same theme as before... Roundworld rock group ''The Who''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who] wrote a very cynical hit song called ''We Won't Get Fooled Again''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSu_8ifaurM]]which explores these themes[http://www.lyricsdomain.com/20/the_who/wont_get_fooled_again.html]. It tends to get played a lot during British general elections. <br />
<br />
'''''Doubleday hardback p324:-'''''<br />
<br />
Snapcase is trying out the office chair and asks if it swivels. His secretary assures him a skilled swiveller can be here within the hour. <br />
<br />
This echoes the first meeting between British civil service Machiavelli Sir Humphrey Appleby and newly-minted government minister James Hacker. Hacker asks for a chair that swivels, and Appleby assures him, with perfect and misleading honesty, that the minister has absolute control over his office furniture and we, the Civil Service, will be ''happy'' to ensure his every comfort... (see TV satire ''Yes Minister'')<br />
<br />
And in some parts of the world, ''sit on it and swivel!'' is a lethal insult. (Even though generally, the "it" refers to the insulter's extended middle finger, upon which the insultee is incited to sit and swivel)<br />
<br />
''[[Reverse Annotations|See here]]'' for other associations.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins paperback p420:-'''''<br />
<br />
"You can take our lives but you'll never take our freedom!"<br />
<br />
According to the popular movie Braveheart, & included in all the movie trailers for it, this is a thing said by William Wallace. I spent more time than I should have trying to confirm whether he said it or not. I strongly suspect he did not but I don't care enough to verify.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Night Watch/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Last_Hero/Annotations&diff=34487Book:The Last Hero/Annotations2023-03-17T16:15:44Z<p>Superluser: Mevlevi Order</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for the book '''{{TLH}}'''. Note that since the 2002 Gollancz softcover edition, the consistent layout means that all editions (in English at least) share exactly the same page numbers. Only the original hardcover differs, as it's missing the sixteen extra pages of new illustrations added to the later ones. The first one appears on page 50 in newer editions, so before that the pages are in sync, and then drift further out. We've noted both page numbers where appropriate.<br />
<br />
==Specific annotations==<br />
;Page 8 (all editions):This is a reworking of the Prometheus fable on Roundworld, with Fingers Mazda taking the place of Prometheus. Also, Ahura Mazda was the chief god in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, and was often symbolized by fire.<br />
<br />
;Page 17 (all editions):The illustration of Dunmanifestin looks suspiciously like the centrepiece of the board-game "Escape From Atlantis!"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_atlantis], where the trick is to get as many Atlanteans off the doomed island as possible before it collapses under the sea. [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/224522] When the central city collapses into the sea, the game is over. And of course on page 18, Cohen himself is represented as a playing piece complete with moulded-on base... The scene also bears some resemblance to scenes from Olympus in the original ''Clash of the Titans''.<br />
:On a separate hill connected by a path to Dunmanifestin is a much smaller but still grand (when you consider the scale) building next to a large tree; [https://twitter.com/PaulKidby/status/1527940078231818245 according to Paul Kidby], this is the home of the Great God [[Om]], and was an addition to the painting requested by Pratchett himself.<br />
<br />
;Page 21 (all editions):The infamous portrait of Ponder Stibbons which has led some observers to notice a passing resemblance, across the mists of space-time and the infinite Multiverse, to another intrepid young Wizard called H***y P****r. Although coincidence is indeed a funny thing... there is a similar portrait on page 113. (In the t-shirt carrying the legend "Actually I am a rocket wizard", in which the play of light and shadow on a frowning forehead suggests a shape... investigation shows it to be nothing like HP's "interrobang", but you do wonder for an instant.) Still, just coincidence again...<br />
<br />
;Page 31 (all editions):"I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the..." This specifically references Bishop Francis Godwin of Hereford's 1638 "[[wikipedia:The Man in the Moone|The Man in the Moone]]", in which a Spaniard travels to the moon in a chariot drawn by swans (echoed by the illustration on pp32-33 of Leonard in a chariot pulled by swamp dragons). Godwin's book is one of the earliest published stories about space travel, and was famous enough to be parodied by the real life Cyrano de Bergerac twenty years later, as referenced in Rostand's [[wikipedia:Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|famous 1897 play about Bergerac]]. Godwin's story, or Bergerac's parody, may have influenced many other writers, including Rudolf Raspe in his tales of [[wikipedia:Baron Munchausen|Baron Munchausen]].<br />
<br />
;Page 38 (all editions):Leonard absent-mindedly draws a perfect circle freehand, a task thought to be so impossible that only a complete lunatic or inspired genius could manage it. This feat is attributed in history to Italian 13th century painter Giotto, but elements of the tale go back to Alexander the Great's court painter Appeles (c. 320BC)<br />
<br />
;Page 40 (all editions):Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series ''[[wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena: Warrior Princess]]''. Doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} just remind you of a sixty-year old [[wikipedia:Lucy Lawless|Lucy Lawless]]? This character may also be a reference to the film ''[[wikipedia:Red Sonya|Red Sonya]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 51 (2001 hardcover)/53 (subsequent editions):Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character [[wikipedia:Dirty Harry|Dirty Harry]]. His Evil Overlord status and references to the Code are also reminiscent of the now-famous [http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html Evil Overlord List], a guide for aspiring Evil Overlords which comprises rules designed to prevent the overlord from falling into clichéd movie traps - an example from the list being: ''"I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time."'' Contrastingly, Evil Harry seems to follow a Code which adheres him to these movie clichés - e.g. his very stupid henchmen.<br />
<br />
;Page 67 (2001 hardcover)/69 (subsequent editions):Death is talking to Albert about knowing when the cat in the box is dead or not, this is a reference to [[wikipedia:Schrödinger's_cat|Schrödinger's cat]]. In Schrödinger's theoretical experiment a live cat is placed in a box containing a radiation source, a internal geiger counter and a flask of poison. If the geiger counter detects radiation it smashes the poison flask killing the cat, therefore the cat is can be ''both alive and dead'' at the same time and only the act of looking actually decides which one is real. Schrödinger's cat is purely theoretical and is meant to be a way of teaching about quantum mechanics, of course on the Discworld it is probably real. [I'm no physicist, but it's my understanding that Schrodinger actually intended this thought experiment as a satire of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. His point as I understand it was that all this "superposition waveform collapsing on observation" gibberish is fine at explaining the subatomic world, but has no real meaning for classical physics. Perhaps someone better-qualified than I can take us in hand?] See also {{LL}}, in which it is determined that an unobserved cat in a box can be in one of three states: a) alive; b) dead; c) bloody furious. <br />
<br />
;Page 86 (2001 hardcover)/92 (subsequent editions):It's clear that the Emperor [[Carelinus]] is the Discworld equivalent of Alexander the Great, who "untied" the Gordian knot. But Terry being Terry, and given the specific phrase used by the minstrel on this page, it's also very likely a nod to the film ''[[wikipedia:Die Hard|Die Hard]]'', in which Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) claims to quote Plutarch's history of the conqueror, but uses a phrasing not found in any earlier source: "And Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer."<br />
<br />
;Page 93 (2001 hardcover)/99 (subsequent editions):Rincewind has just made a last-ditch attempt to be deselected from the mission. He has just been told, by Vetinari, that a plea of insanity only reinforces that he is the right man for the job, as only an insane man would do something like this. And should you be sane... well, as ruler of the City I have a duty to send only the keenest, coolest, minds on a vital errand of this kind". Rincewind mumbles something about there being a catch there, and Vetinari replies "Yes. The best kind there is". Rincewind has just joined Yossarian as a victim of [[wikipedia:Catch-22|Catch-22]]. <br />
<br />
;Page 95 (2001 hardcover)/101 (subsequent editions):On the page entitled "Considerations of The Great Bird", in the top left-hand corner, are the words "600ft of Bird's Eye Maple at 1 1/2d a foot". This is a reference to the poem "Three Ha'pence a foot" by [[wikipedia:Marriott Edgar|Marriott Edgar]].<br />
:"The Great Bird" illustration on this page, and all the "eagle" references immediately after, have at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the [[wikipedia:Apollo-11|Apollo-11]] mission, provoking the line "The ''Eagle'' has landed!" to describe its successful mission to the Moon. It may also be one of several references to science fiction: in ''Star Trek'', both the Klingon and Romulan Empires use spacecraft called ''Birds of Prey''; the Klingon ships can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work. It might also refer to the "Eagle" spaceships from the British series ''[[wikipedia:Space: 1999|Space: 1999]]'', and physically it resembles the "Golden Condor" from the 1982 French-Japanese animated series ''[[wikipedia:The Mysterious Cities of Gold|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 100 (2001 hardcover)/108 (subsequent editions):"And put your helmet on!" - Carrot to Rincewind, echoing Ground Control to Major Tom in [[wikipedia:Space Oddity|a certain song]]. No previous instruction to Rincewind to "take your protein pills", though.<br />
<br />
;Page 104-105 (2001 hardcover)/112 (subsequent editions):The three official astronauts are waking up to the possibility that a fourth, unauthorised, life-form is on board. The dialogue is suggestive of the crew of the Nostromo coming to the appalling conclusion that there is an Alien aboard. But only a fully paid-up coward like Rincewind sees all the implications, viz things erupting out of stomach cavities like a terminal case of indigestion. Carrot goes chasing it, as the hero must, whilst Leonard excitedly muses on the scientific possibilities. After the build-up, it's reassuringly disappointing that it only turns out to be the Librarian.<br />
:The presence of the Librarian also pays a sort of homage to all the {{wp|Laika|dogs}}, chimpanzees, and other ape-like creatures whose group noun begins with an "m", who were sent into space by the Americans and Russians as surrogate human astronauts in the early days. <br />
:And on page 105, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem." This is a reference to the real and film versions of the [[wikipedia:Apollo 13|Apollo-13]] mission.<br />
<br />
;Page 107 (2001 hardcover)/115 (subsequent editions):''"Nucleus situm ex orbita, unus certis maximus"'' - dog-Latin for "nuke the site from orbit, just to make sure!" - a shout-out to ''[[wikipedia:Aliens (film)|Aliens]]''?<br />
:''Gaping Maw (to trawl debris from the void)'': This description closely resembles a [[wikipedia:Bussard Ramjet|Bussard Ramjet]], an interstellar spacecraft design which leaves for its destination without enough fuel for its fusion engines but uses enormous "scoops" to collect hydrogen from the interstellar medium along the way.<br />
<br />
;Pages 116-117 (2002 softcover and later editions only):The illustration here of the UU faculty, Vetinari and the Luggage viewing the spell in the ship's hold is based closely on the 1766 painting ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'' by Joseph Wright of Derby. Derby also painted ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'', which Kidby used as the inspiration for the cover of {{SOD1}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 111 (2001 hardcover)/121 (subsequent editions):''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit translates to "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''[[wikipedia:The Fast Show|The Fast Show]]''. <br />
:''Weighted boots'': There is an old urban legend that a significant number of people believe that there is no gravity on the moon but the astronauts were held down by "[https://milk.com/wall-o-shame/heavy_boots.htm heavy boots]." This may or may not be an intentional reference.<br />
<br />
;Page 117 (2001 hardcover)/129 (subsequent editions):"It's your own fault," he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones." - Rincewind is misquoting [[wikipedia:Neil Armstrong|Neil Armstrong's]] famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" (sic) as he bandages the Librarian's head. <br />
<br />
;Page 121 (2001 hardcover)/133 (subsequent editions):Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation, Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', describing both the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, and, in context, the property of the lunar foliage making the dragons fizz with potential power. <br />
<br />
;Page 115 (2001 hardcover)/125 (subsequent editions):A discussion about the rapidly approaching dark disc of the Moon, with Carrot being approving of the fact that if your plans for the day include ''Breathing'', then you're in luck. How could we miss this one? All it would take is the Omniscope, in the role of ship's robot, humming like Pink Floyd. Do we need to explain this? OK. Artiste: Pink Floyd. song: ''Breathe''. Album: ''Dark Side of the Moon''. ''Eclipses'' are also mentioned. As is lots and lots of ''screaming'' (''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNe-6Reqo9o| Speak to Me]'' involves protracted screaming. And then there's the more tuneful screaming of ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T13se_2A7c8| Great Gig In The Sky]''). Rincewind's generally gloomy, fear-the-worst, disposition in space? Marvin The Paranoid Android. (And the, err, breathe it softly, ''Monkeyman''? Arthur Dent, hitching a ride?)<br />
<br />
;Page 131 (2001 hardcover)/145 (subsequent editions):"Prince Haran's Tiller" is an enigmatically-titled lever on the ''Kite'', first seen in the illustration on page 100 (94 in the first edition). In the temporarily concussed absence of [[Leonard of Quirm]], neither of the other two crewmembers has the faintest idea of the purpose of. With an imminent crisis looming - i.e. uncontrolled re-entry into the Disc's atmosphere and an awful lot of unforgiving ground coming up to meet them 'very, very' quickly - [[Ponder Stibbons]] is at a loss to advise. However, he has just, rather unwisely, denigrated the value of an arts-based education where [[Vetinari]] can hear it. Vetinari, a product of an arts-based education, suggests Ponder tells the crew to pull Prince Haran's Tiller. Ponder relays the suggestion, Rincewind pulls the lever, and the Kite levels out into free flight. Vetinari then affably tells Stibbons that there is an old myth, derived from Klatchian folklore, about a Prince Haram who devised an ingenious way for a [[Magic Carpet|magic carpet]] to safely fly itself on long journeys, while he slept. But then, one whose education has been purely technical and scientific, and deficient in areas such as languages and history, is hardly likely to be aware of that...<br />
:Prince Haran's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.<br />
:There is a readable discourse dating from the 1950's but still relevant today, called ''The Two Tribes'', which describes and deplores the way the educational process in Great Britain - almost uniquely in the developed world - forces able school pupils to make a prematurely early choice between "Arts" and "Science" streams. Even as early as age fourteen, the British pupil is then progressively locked firmly into either Arts or Science, and becomes as firmly embodied in that stream as a Hindu is in their caste, or inhabitants of the old South Africa were embodied according to their skin colour. Especially at the A-level stage, the pupil must choose to specialise in ''all'' Arts subjects or ''all'' Sciences: mixing the two is not permitted and is looked on with as much horror as, say, a Boer who seeks to marry into the Zulus.<br />
:The net result of this is a system where Britain has a great number of Arts grads who might be up to speed in English Lit or History, but who at age 21 last saw the inside of a laboratory at age 15 and who are woefully science-illiterate. Similarly, we have science grads who last read a novel at school and whose foreign language skills, viewed as belonging to Arts, have atrophied. These are the Two Tribes, whose stereotyped opinions of the other are illustrated by the interaction between Vetinari and Stibbons.<br />
:Leonard of Quirm, in contrast, embraces both Art and Science equally, as befits an expy for Leonardo da Vinci: the archetypal "Renaissance Man", who masters both.<br />
:''you've definitely got the wrong stuff'': ''[[wikipedia:The Right Stuff|The Right Stuff]]'' is a Roundworld book, later film, later miniseries about the first manned US spaceflights. The equivalent book in Discworld, I suppose, would be the one that this annotation is for.<br />
<br />
;Page 139 (hardcover edition)/153 (subsequent editions):Cohen chops the dice in two as it tumbles, so that the two halves come down together as a one and a six, making a seven. There are referents to this feat in both Norse and Irish mythology, the trick being attributed to both Finn McCool and to King Olaf of Norway, when in a dispute with the King of Sweden over ownership of an island, they diced for it. The Swedish king rolled two sixes, knowing this was unlikely to be beaten. Olaf rolled two dice, one coming down as a six, and the second induced to come down as a winning seven due to the intervention of his sword-blade.<br />
:The whole extended sequence hearkens back to the original use of this device in {{COM}}, where the Lady outwits Fate as 'the die flipped gently onto a point, spun round, and came down a seven. Blind Io picked up the cube and counted the sides. "Come ''on'', he said, wearily. "Play fair!"'<br />
:This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.<br />
<br />
;Page 150 (subsequent editions): ''Hurtling Whirlers of Klatch'': A reference to the ''[[wikipedia:Mevlevi Order|Mevlevi Order]]'' known (possibly offensively) as the "Whirling Dervishes"<br />
<br />
;Page 156 (hardcover edition)/172 (subsequent editions):At the end, the formerly foppish minstel is seen transformed, wearing the animal-skins of a barbarian warrior, a sword at his side, and even the light around him taking on the heroic air of the character on the front of a typical Iron Maiden album sleeve... has he discovered '''''heavy metal? ''''' This might be typical of the origins of many of the great seventies heavy bands - Deep Purple and Status Quo both began as typical flower-power psychedelic bands in the late sixties, their earliest released work (''Book of Taliesyn, Pictures of Matchstick Men'', et c) being almost completely unrecognisable, in terms of musical content and the foppy Carnaby Street clothes they wore, from what their ''ouevre'' later mutated into. Led Zeppelin were born out of the ashes of sixties' experimental band the Yardbirds, and most amusingly, Spinal Tap started as a band called the Kingsmen who performed an anodyne first single called ''Listen To The Flowers Grow''. (A theme they later revisited as ''Working In My Sex Garden'').<br />
:In fact, Deep Purple's early album ''The Book of Taliesyn'' , while having pre-echoes of the band's later heavy style, contains tracks where the conceit is that they belong to a minstrel, serving the Dark Age Celtic kingdom to which Taliesyn was both bard and wizard.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Last Hero,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Last_Hero/Annotations&diff=34486Book:The Last Hero/Annotations2023-03-17T15:53:15Z<p>Superluser: The Right Stuff</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for the book '''{{TLH}}'''. Note that since the 2002 Gollancz softcover edition, the consistent layout means that all editions (in English at least) share exactly the same page numbers. Only the original hardcover differs, as it's missing the sixteen extra pages of new illustrations added to the later ones. The first one appears on page 50 in newer editions, so before that the pages are in sync, and then drift further out. We've noted both page numbers where appropriate.<br />
<br />
==Specific annotations==<br />
;Page 8 (all editions):This is a reworking of the Prometheus fable on Roundworld, with Fingers Mazda taking the place of Prometheus. Also, Ahura Mazda was the chief god in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, and was often symbolized by fire.<br />
<br />
;Page 17 (all editions):The illustration of Dunmanifestin looks suspiciously like the centrepiece of the board-game "Escape From Atlantis!"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_atlantis], where the trick is to get as many Atlanteans off the doomed island as possible before it collapses under the sea. [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/224522] When the central city collapses into the sea, the game is over. And of course on page 18, Cohen himself is represented as a playing piece complete with moulded-on base... The scene also bears some resemblance to scenes from Olympus in the original ''Clash of the Titans''.<br />
:On a separate hill connected by a path to Dunmanifestin is a much smaller but still grand (when you consider the scale) building next to a large tree; [https://twitter.com/PaulKidby/status/1527940078231818245 according to Paul Kidby], this is the home of the Great God [[Om]], and was an addition to the painting requested by Pratchett himself.<br />
<br />
;Page 21 (all editions):The infamous portrait of Ponder Stibbons which has led some observers to notice a passing resemblance, across the mists of space-time and the infinite Multiverse, to another intrepid young Wizard called H***y P****r. Although coincidence is indeed a funny thing... there is a similar portrait on page 113. (In the t-shirt carrying the legend "Actually I am a rocket wizard", in which the play of light and shadow on a frowning forehead suggests a shape... investigation shows it to be nothing like HP's "interrobang", but you do wonder for an instant.) Still, just coincidence again...<br />
<br />
;Page 31 (all editions):"I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the..." This specifically references Bishop Francis Godwin of Hereford's 1638 "[[wikipedia:The Man in the Moone|The Man in the Moone]]", in which a Spaniard travels to the moon in a chariot drawn by swans (echoed by the illustration on pp32-33 of Leonard in a chariot pulled by swamp dragons). Godwin's book is one of the earliest published stories about space travel, and was famous enough to be parodied by the real life Cyrano de Bergerac twenty years later, as referenced in Rostand's [[wikipedia:Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|famous 1897 play about Bergerac]]. Godwin's story, or Bergerac's parody, may have influenced many other writers, including Rudolf Raspe in his tales of [[wikipedia:Baron Munchausen|Baron Munchausen]].<br />
<br />
;Page 38 (all editions):Leonard absent-mindedly draws a perfect circle freehand, a task thought to be so impossible that only a complete lunatic or inspired genius could manage it. This feat is attributed in history to Italian 13th century painter Giotto, but elements of the tale go back to Alexander the Great's court painter Appeles (c. 320BC)<br />
<br />
;Page 40 (all editions):Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series ''[[wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena: Warrior Princess]]''. Doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} just remind you of a sixty-year old [[wikipedia:Lucy Lawless|Lucy Lawless]]? This character may also be a reference to the film ''[[wikipedia:Red Sonya|Red Sonya]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 51 (2001 hardcover)/53 (subsequent editions):Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character [[wikipedia:Dirty Harry|Dirty Harry]]. His Evil Overlord status and references to the Code are also reminiscent of the now-famous [http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html Evil Overlord List], a guide for aspiring Evil Overlords which comprises rules designed to prevent the overlord from falling into clichéd movie traps - an example from the list being: ''"I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time."'' Contrastingly, Evil Harry seems to follow a Code which adheres him to these movie clichés - e.g. his very stupid henchmen.<br />
<br />
;Page 67 (2001 hardcover)/69 (subsequent editions):Death is talking to Albert about knowing when the cat in the box is dead or not, this is a reference to [[wikipedia:Schrödinger's_cat|Schrödinger's cat]]. In Schrödinger's theoretical experiment a live cat is placed in a box containing a radiation source, a internal geiger counter and a flask of poison. If the geiger counter detects radiation it smashes the poison flask killing the cat, therefore the cat is can be ''both alive and dead'' at the same time and only the act of looking actually decides which one is real. Schrödinger's cat is purely theoretical and is meant to be a way of teaching about quantum mechanics, of course on the Discworld it is probably real. [I'm no physicist, but it's my understanding that Schrodinger actually intended this thought experiment as a satire of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. His point as I understand it was that all this "superposition waveform collapsing on observation" gibberish is fine at explaining the subatomic world, but has no real meaning for classical physics. Perhaps someone better-qualified than I can take us in hand?] See also {{LL}}, in which it is determined that an unobserved cat in a box can be in one of three states: a) alive; b) dead; c) bloody furious. <br />
<br />
;Page 86 (2001 hardcover)/92 (subsequent editions):It's clear that the Emperor [[Carelinus]] is the Discworld equivalent of Alexander the Great, who "untied" the Gordian knot. But Terry being Terry, and given the specific phrase used by the minstrel on this page, it's also very likely a nod to the film ''[[wikipedia:Die Hard|Die Hard]]'', in which Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) claims to quote Plutarch's history of the conqueror, but uses a phrasing not found in any earlier source: "And Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer."<br />
<br />
;Page 93 (2001 hardcover)/99 (subsequent editions):Rincewind has just made a last-ditch attempt to be deselected from the mission. He has just been told, by Vetinari, that a plea of insanity only reinforces that he is the right man for the job, as only an insane man would do something like this. And should you be sane... well, as ruler of the City I have a duty to send only the keenest, coolest, minds on a vital errand of this kind". Rincewind mumbles something about there being a catch there, and Vetinari replies "Yes. The best kind there is". Rincewind has just joined Yossarian as a victim of [[wikipedia:Catch-22|Catch-22]]. <br />
<br />
;Page 95 (2001 hardcover)/101 (subsequent editions):On the page entitled "Considerations of The Great Bird", in the top left-hand corner, are the words "600ft of Bird's Eye Maple at 1 1/2d a foot". This is a reference to the poem "Three Ha'pence a foot" by [[wikipedia:Marriott Edgar|Marriott Edgar]].<br />
:"The Great Bird" illustration on this page, and all the "eagle" references immediately after, have at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the [[wikipedia:Apollo-11|Apollo-11]] mission, provoking the line "The ''Eagle'' has landed!" to describe its successful mission to the Moon. It may also be one of several references to science fiction: in ''Star Trek'', both the Klingon and Romulan Empires use spacecraft called ''Birds of Prey''; the Klingon ships can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work. It might also refer to the "Eagle" spaceships from the British series ''[[wikipedia:Space: 1999|Space: 1999]]'', and physically it resembles the "Golden Condor" from the 1982 French-Japanese animated series ''[[wikipedia:The Mysterious Cities of Gold|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 100 (2001 hardcover)/108 (subsequent editions):"And put your helmet on!" - Carrot to Rincewind, echoing Ground Control to Major Tom in [[wikipedia:Space Oddity|a certain song]]. No previous instruction to Rincewind to "take your protein pills", though.<br />
<br />
;Page 104-105 (2001 hardcover)/112 (subsequent editions):The three official astronauts are waking up to the possibility that a fourth, unauthorised, life-form is on board. The dialogue is suggestive of the crew of the Nostromo coming to the appalling conclusion that there is an Alien aboard. But only a fully paid-up coward like Rincewind sees all the implications, viz things erupting out of stomach cavities like a terminal case of indigestion. Carrot goes chasing it, as the hero must, whilst Leonard excitedly muses on the scientific possibilities. After the build-up, it's reassuringly disappointing that it only turns out to be the Librarian.<br />
:The presence of the Librarian also pays a sort of homage to all the {{wp|Laika|dogs}}, chimpanzees, and other ape-like creatures whose group noun begins with an "m", who were sent into space by the Americans and Russians as surrogate human astronauts in the early days. <br />
:And on page 105, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem." This is a reference to the real and film versions of the [[wikipedia:Apollo 13|Apollo-13]] mission.<br />
<br />
;Page 107 (2001 hardcover)/115 (subsequent editions):''"Nucleus situm ex orbita, unus certis maximus"'' - dog-Latin for "nuke the site from orbit, just to make sure!" - a shout-out to ''[[wikipedia:Aliens (film)|Aliens]]''?<br />
:''Gaping Maw (to trawl debris from the void)'': This description closely resembles a [[wikipedia:Bussard Ramjet|Bussard Ramjet]], an interstellar spacecraft design which leaves for its destination without enough fuel for its fusion engines but uses enormous "scoops" to collect hydrogen from the interstellar medium along the way.<br />
<br />
;Pages 116-117 (2002 softcover and later editions only):The illustration here of the UU faculty, Vetinari and the Luggage viewing the spell in the ship's hold is based closely on the 1766 painting ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'' by Joseph Wright of Derby. Derby also painted ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'', which Kidby used as the inspiration for the cover of {{SOD1}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 111 (2001 hardcover)/121 (subsequent editions):''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit translates to "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''[[wikipedia:The Fast Show|The Fast Show]]''. <br />
:''Weighted boots'': There is an old urban legend that a significant number of people believe that there is no gravity on the moon but the astronauts were held down by "[https://milk.com/wall-o-shame/heavy_boots.htm heavy boots]." This may or may not be an intentional reference.<br />
<br />
;Page 117 (2001 hardcover)/129 (subsequent editions):"It's your own fault," he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones." - Rincewind is misquoting [[wikipedia:Neil Armstrong|Neil Armstrong's]] famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" (sic) as he bandages the Librarian's head. <br />
<br />
;Page 121 (2001 hardcover)/133 (subsequent editions):Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation, Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', describing both the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, and, in context, the property of the lunar foliage making the dragons fizz with potential power. <br />
<br />
;Page 115 (2001 hardcover)/125 (subsequent editions):A discussion about the rapidly approaching dark disc of the Moon, with Carrot being approving of the fact that if your plans for the day include ''Breathing'', then you're in luck. How could we miss this one? All it would take is the Omniscope, in the role of ship's robot, humming like Pink Floyd. Do we need to explain this? OK. Artiste: Pink Floyd. song: ''Breathe''. Album: ''Dark Side of the Moon''. ''Eclipses'' are also mentioned. As is lots and lots of ''screaming'' (''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNe-6Reqo9o| Speak to Me]'' involves protracted screaming. And then there's the more tuneful screaming of ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T13se_2A7c8| Great Gig In The Sky]''). Rincewind's generally gloomy, fear-the-worst, disposition in space? Marvin The Paranoid Android. (And the, err, breathe it softly, ''Monkeyman''? Arthur Dent, hitching a ride?)<br />
<br />
;Page 131 (2001 hardcover)/145 (subsequent editions):"Prince Haran's Tiller" is an enigmatically-titled lever on the ''Kite'', first seen in the illustration on page 100 (94 in the first edition). In the temporarily concussed absence of [[Leonard of Quirm]], neither of the other two crewmembers has the faintest idea of the purpose of. With an imminent crisis looming - i.e. uncontrolled re-entry into the Disc's atmosphere and an awful lot of unforgiving ground coming up to meet them 'very, very' quickly - [[Ponder Stibbons]] is at a loss to advise. However, he has just, rather unwisely, denigrated the value of an arts-based education where [[Vetinari]] can hear it. Vetinari, a product of an arts-based education, suggests Ponder tells the crew to pull Prince Haran's Tiller. Ponder relays the suggestion, Rincewind pulls the lever, and the Kite levels out into free flight. Vetinari then affably tells Stibbons that there is an old myth, derived from Klatchian folklore, about a Prince Haram who devised an ingenious way for a [[Magic Carpet|magic carpet]] to safely fly itself on long journeys, while he slept. But then, one whose education has been purely technical and scientific, and deficient in areas such as languages and history, is hardly likely to be aware of that...<br />
:Prince Haran's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.<br />
:There is a readable discourse dating from the 1950's but still relevant today, called ''The Two Tribes'', which describes and deplores the way the educational process in Great Britain - almost uniquely in the developed world - forces able school pupils to make a prematurely early choice between "Arts" and "Science" streams. Even as early as age fourteen, the British pupil is then progressively locked firmly into either Arts or Science, and becomes as firmly embodied in that stream as a Hindu is in their caste, or inhabitants of the old South Africa were embodied according to their skin colour. Especially at the A-level stage, the pupil must choose to specialise in ''all'' Arts subjects or ''all'' Sciences: mixing the two is not permitted and is looked on with as much horror as, say, a Boer who seeks to marry into the Zulus.<br />
:The net result of this is a system where Britain has a great number of Arts grads who might be up to speed in English Lit or History, but who at age 21 last saw the inside of a laboratory at age 15 and who are woefully science-illiterate. Similarly, we have science grads who last read a novel at school and whose foreign language skills, viewed as belonging to Arts, have atrophied. These are the Two Tribes, whose stereotyped opinions of the other are illustrated by the interaction between Vetinari and Stibbons.<br />
:Leonard of Quirm, in contrast, embraces both Art and Science equally, as befits an expy for Leonardo da Vinci: the archetypal "Renaissance Man", who masters both.<br />
:''you've definitely got the wrong stuff'': ''[[wikipedia:The Right Stuff|The Right Stuff]]'' is a Roundworld book, later film, later miniseries about the first manned US spaceflights. The equivalent book in Discworld, I suppose, would be the one that this annotation is for.<br />
<br />
;Page 139 (hardcover edition)/153 (subsequent editions):Cohen chops the dice in two as it tumbles, so that the two halves come down together as a one and a six, making a seven. There are referents to this feat in both Norse and Irish mythology, the trick being attributed to both Finn McCool and to King Olaf of Norway, when in a dispute with the King of Sweden over ownership of an island, they diced for it. The Swedish king rolled two sixes, knowing this was unlikely to be beaten. Olaf rolled two dice, one coming down as a six, and the second induced to come down as a winning seven due to the intervention of his sword-blade.<br />
:The whole extended sequence hearkens back to the original use of this device in {{COM}}, where the Lady outwits Fate as 'the die flipped gently onto a point, spun round, and came down a seven. Blind Io picked up the cube and counted the sides. "Come ''on'', he said, wearily. "Play fair!"'<br />
:This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.<br />
<br />
;Page 156 (hardcover edition)/172 (subsequent editions):At the end, the formerly foppish minstel is seen transformed, wearing the animal-skins of a barbarian warrior, a sword at his side, and even the light around him taking on the heroic air of the character on the front of a typical Iron Maiden album sleeve... has he discovered '''''heavy metal? ''''' This might be typical of the origins of many of the great seventies heavy bands - Deep Purple and Status Quo both began as typical flower-power psychedelic bands in the late sixties, their earliest released work (''Book of Taliesyn, Pictures of Matchstick Men'', et c) being almost completely unrecognisable, in terms of musical content and the foppy Carnaby Street clothes they wore, from what their ''ouevre'' later mutated into. Led Zeppelin were born out of the ashes of sixties' experimental band the Yardbirds, and most amusingly, Spinal Tap started as a band called the Kingsmen who performed an anodyne first single called ''Listen To The Flowers Grow''. (A theme they later revisited as ''Working In My Sex Garden'').<br />
:In fact, Deep Purple's early album ''The Book of Taliesyn'' , while having pre-echoes of the band's later heavy style, contains tracks where the conceit is that they belong to a minstrel, serving the Dark Age Celtic kingdom to which Taliesyn was both bard and wizard.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Last Hero,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Last_Hero/Annotations&diff=34485Book:The Last Hero/Annotations2023-03-17T14:57:34Z<p>Superluser: heavy boots</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for the book '''{{TLH}}'''. Note that since the 2002 Gollancz softcover edition, the consistent layout means that all editions (in English at least) share exactly the same page numbers. Only the original hardcover differs, as it's missing the sixteen extra pages of new illustrations added to the later ones. The first one appears on page 50 in newer editions, so before that the pages are in sync, and then drift further out. We've noted both page numbers where appropriate.<br />
<br />
==Specific annotations==<br />
;Page 8 (all editions):This is a reworking of the Prometheus fable on Roundworld, with Fingers Mazda taking the place of Prometheus. Also, Ahura Mazda was the chief god in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, and was often symbolized by fire.<br />
<br />
;Page 17 (all editions):The illustration of Dunmanifestin looks suspiciously like the centrepiece of the board-game "Escape From Atlantis!"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_atlantis], where the trick is to get as many Atlanteans off the doomed island as possible before it collapses under the sea. [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/224522] When the central city collapses into the sea, the game is over. And of course on page 18, Cohen himself is represented as a playing piece complete with moulded-on base... The scene also bears some resemblance to scenes from Olympus in the original ''Clash of the Titans''.<br />
:On a separate hill connected by a path to Dunmanifestin is a much smaller but still grand (when you consider the scale) building next to a large tree; [https://twitter.com/PaulKidby/status/1527940078231818245 according to Paul Kidby], this is the home of the Great God [[Om]], and was an addition to the painting requested by Pratchett himself.<br />
<br />
;Page 21 (all editions):The infamous portrait of Ponder Stibbons which has led some observers to notice a passing resemblance, across the mists of space-time and the infinite Multiverse, to another intrepid young Wizard called H***y P****r. Although coincidence is indeed a funny thing... there is a similar portrait on page 113. (In the t-shirt carrying the legend "Actually I am a rocket wizard", in which the play of light and shadow on a frowning forehead suggests a shape... investigation shows it to be nothing like HP's "interrobang", but you do wonder for an instant.) Still, just coincidence again...<br />
<br />
;Page 31 (all editions):"I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the..." This specifically references Bishop Francis Godwin of Hereford's 1638 "[[wikipedia:The Man in the Moone|The Man in the Moone]]", in which a Spaniard travels to the moon in a chariot drawn by swans (echoed by the illustration on pp32-33 of Leonard in a chariot pulled by swamp dragons). Godwin's book is one of the earliest published stories about space travel, and was famous enough to be parodied by the real life Cyrano de Bergerac twenty years later, as referenced in Rostand's [[wikipedia:Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|famous 1897 play about Bergerac]]. Godwin's story, or Bergerac's parody, may have influenced many other writers, including Rudolf Raspe in his tales of [[wikipedia:Baron Munchausen|Baron Munchausen]].<br />
<br />
;Page 38 (all editions):Leonard absent-mindedly draws a perfect circle freehand, a task thought to be so impossible that only a complete lunatic or inspired genius could manage it. This feat is attributed in history to Italian 13th century painter Giotto, but elements of the tale go back to Alexander the Great's court painter Appeles (c. 320BC)<br />
<br />
;Page 40 (all editions):Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series ''[[wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena: Warrior Princess]]''. Doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} just remind you of a sixty-year old [[wikipedia:Lucy Lawless|Lucy Lawless]]? This character may also be a reference to the film ''[[wikipedia:Red Sonya|Red Sonya]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 51 (2001 hardcover)/53 (subsequent editions):Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character [[wikipedia:Dirty Harry|Dirty Harry]]. His Evil Overlord status and references to the Code are also reminiscent of the now-famous [http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html Evil Overlord List], a guide for aspiring Evil Overlords which comprises rules designed to prevent the overlord from falling into clichéd movie traps - an example from the list being: ''"I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time."'' Contrastingly, Evil Harry seems to follow a Code which adheres him to these movie clichés - e.g. his very stupid henchmen.<br />
<br />
;Page 67 (2001 hardcover)/69 (subsequent editions):Death is talking to Albert about knowing when the cat in the box is dead or not, this is a reference to [[wikipedia:Schrödinger's_cat|Schrödinger's cat]]. In Schrödinger's theoretical experiment a live cat is placed in a box containing a radiation source, a internal geiger counter and a flask of poison. If the geiger counter detects radiation it smashes the poison flask killing the cat, therefore the cat is can be ''both alive and dead'' at the same time and only the act of looking actually decides which one is real. Schrödinger's cat is purely theoretical and is meant to be a way of teaching about quantum mechanics, of course on the Discworld it is probably real. [I'm no physicist, but it's my understanding that Schrodinger actually intended this thought experiment as a satire of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. His point as I understand it was that all this "superposition waveform collapsing on observation" gibberish is fine at explaining the subatomic world, but has no real meaning for classical physics. Perhaps someone better-qualified than I can take us in hand?] See also {{LL}}, in which it is determined that an unobserved cat in a box can be in one of three states: a) alive; b) dead; c) bloody furious. <br />
<br />
;Page 86 (2001 hardcover)/92 (subsequent editions):It's clear that the Emperor [[Carelinus]] is the Discworld equivalent of Alexander the Great, who "untied" the Gordian knot. But Terry being Terry, and given the specific phrase used by the minstrel on this page, it's also very likely a nod to the film ''[[wikipedia:Die Hard|Die Hard]]'', in which Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) claims to quote Plutarch's history of the conqueror, but uses a phrasing not found in any earlier source: "And Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer."<br />
<br />
;Page 93 (2001 hardcover)/99 (subsequent editions):Rincewind has just made a last-ditch attempt to be deselected from the mission. He has just been told, by Vetinari, that a plea of insanity only reinforces that he is the right man for the job, as only an insane man would do something like this. And should you be sane... well, as ruler of the City I have a duty to send only the keenest, coolest, minds on a vital errand of this kind". Rincewind mumbles something about there being a catch there, and Vetinari replies "Yes. The best kind there is". Rincewind has just joined Yossarian as a victim of [[wikipedia:Catch-22|Catch-22]]. <br />
<br />
;Page 95 (2001 hardcover)/101 (subsequent editions):On the page entitled "Considerations of The Great Bird", in the top left-hand corner, are the words "600ft of Bird's Eye Maple at 1 1/2d a foot". This is a reference to the poem "Three Ha'pence a foot" by [[wikipedia:Marriott Edgar|Marriott Edgar]].<br />
:"The Great Bird" illustration on this page, and all the "eagle" references immediately after, have at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the [[wikipedia:Apollo-11|Apollo-11]] mission, provoking the line "The ''Eagle'' has landed!" to describe its successful mission to the Moon. It may also be one of several references to science fiction: in ''Star Trek'', both the Klingon and Romulan Empires use spacecraft called ''Birds of Prey''; the Klingon ships can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work. It might also refer to the "Eagle" spaceships from the British series ''[[wikipedia:Space: 1999|Space: 1999]]'', and physically it resembles the "Golden Condor" from the 1982 French-Japanese animated series ''[[wikipedia:The Mysterious Cities of Gold|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 100 (2001 hardcover)/108 (subsequent editions):"And put your helmet on!" - Carrot to Rincewind, echoing Ground Control to Major Tom in [[wikipedia:Space Oddity|a certain song]]. No previous instruction to Rincewind to "take your protein pills", though.<br />
<br />
;Page 104-105 (2001 hardcover)/112 (subsequent editions):The three official astronauts are waking up to the possibility that a fourth, unauthorised, life-form is on board. The dialogue is suggestive of the crew of the Nostromo coming to the appalling conclusion that there is an Alien aboard. But only a fully paid-up coward like Rincewind sees all the implications, viz things erupting out of stomach cavities like a terminal case of indigestion. Carrot goes chasing it, as the hero must, whilst Leonard excitedly muses on the scientific possibilities. After the build-up, it's reassuringly disappointing that it only turns out to be the Librarian.<br />
:The presence of the Librarian also pays a sort of homage to all the {{wp|Laika|dogs}}, chimpanzees, and other ape-like creatures whose group noun begins with an "m", who were sent into space by the Americans and Russians as surrogate human astronauts in the early days. <br />
:And on page 105, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem." This is a reference to the real and film versions of the [[wikipedia:Apollo 13|Apollo-13]] mission.<br />
<br />
;Page 107 (2001 hardcover)/115 (subsequent editions):''"Nucleus situm ex orbita, unus certis maximus"'' - dog-Latin for "nuke the site from orbit, just to make sure!" - a shout-out to ''[[wikipedia:Aliens (film)|Aliens]]''?<br />
:''Gaping Maw (to trawl debris from the void)'': This description closely resembles a [[wikipedia:Bussard Ramjet|Bussard Ramjet]], an interstellar spacecraft design which leaves for its destination without enough fuel for its fusion engines but uses enormous "scoops" to collect hydrogen from the interstellar medium along the way.<br />
<br />
;Pages 116-117 (2002 softcover and later editions only):The illustration here of the UU faculty, Vetinari and the Luggage viewing the spell in the ship's hold is based closely on the 1766 painting ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'' by Joseph Wright of Derby. Derby also painted ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'', which Kidby used as the inspiration for the cover of {{SOD1}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 111 (2001 hardcover)/121 (subsequent editions):''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit translates to "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''[[wikipedia:The Fast Show|The Fast Show]]''. <br />
:''Weighted boots'': There is an old urban legend that a significant number of people believe that there is no gravity on the moon but the astronauts were held down by "[https://milk.com/wall-o-shame/heavy_boots.htm heavy boots]." This may or may not be an intentional reference.<br />
<br />
;Page 117 (2001 hardcover)/129 (subsequent editions):"It's your own fault," he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones." - Rincewind is misquoting [[wikipedia:Neil Armstrong|Neil Armstrong's]] famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" (sic) as he bandages the Librarian's head. <br />
<br />
;Page 121 (2001 hardcover)/133 (subsequent editions):Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation, Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', describing both the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, and, in context, the property of the lunar foliage making the dragons fizz with potential power. <br />
<br />
;Page 115 (2001 hardcover)/125 (subsequent editions):A discussion about the rapidly approaching dark disc of the Moon, with Carrot being approving of the fact that if your plans for the day include ''Breathing'', then you're in luck. How could we miss this one? All it would take is the Omniscope, in the role of ship's robot, humming like Pink Floyd. Do we need to explain this? OK. Artiste: Pink Floyd. song: ''Breathe''. Album: ''Dark Side of the Moon''. ''Eclipses'' are also mentioned. As is lots and lots of ''screaming'' (''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNe-6Reqo9o| Speak to Me]'' involves protracted screaming. And then there's the more tuneful screaming of ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T13se_2A7c8| Great Gig In The Sky]''). Rincewind's generally gloomy, fear-the-worst, disposition in space? Marvin The Paranoid Android. (And the, err, breathe it softly, ''Monkeyman''? Arthur Dent, hitching a ride?)<br />
<br />
;Page 131 (2001 hardcover)/145 (subsequent editions):"Prince Haran's Tiller" is an enigmatically-titled lever on the ''Kite'', first seen in the illustration on page 100 (94 in the first edition). In the temporarily concussed absence of [[Leonard of Quirm]], neither of the other two crewmembers has the faintest idea of the purpose of. With an imminent crisis looming - i.e. uncontrolled re-entry into the Disc's atmosphere and an awful lot of unforgiving ground coming up to meet them 'very, very' quickly - [[Ponder Stibbons]] is at a loss to advise. However, he has just, rather unwisely, denigrated the value of an arts-based education where [[Vetinari]] can hear it. Vetinari, a product of an arts-based education, suggests Ponder tells the crew to pull Prince Haran's Tiller. Ponder relays the suggestion, Rincewind pulls the lever, and the Kite levels out into free flight. Vetinari then affably tells Stibbons that there is an old myth, derived from Klatchian folklore, about a Prince Haram who devised an ingenious way for a [[Magic Carpet|magic carpet]] to safely fly itself on long journeys, while he slept. But then, one whose education has been purely technical and scientific, and deficient in areas such as languages and history, is hardly likely to be aware of that...<br />
:Prince Haran's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.<br />
:There is a readable discourse dating from the 1950's but still relevant today, called ''The Two Tribes'', which describes and deplores the way the educational process in Great Britain - almost uniquely in the developed world - forces able school pupils to make a prematurely early choice between "Arts" and "Science" streams. Even as early as age fourteen, the British pupil is then progressively locked firmly into either Arts or Science, and becomes as firmly embodied in that stream as a Hindu is in their caste, or inhabitants of the old South Africa were embodied according to their skin colour. Especially at the A-level stage, the pupil must choose to specialise in ''all'' Arts subjects or ''all'' Sciences: mixing the two is not permitted and is looked on with as much horror as, say, a Boer who seeks to marry into the Zulus.<br />
:The net result of this is a system where Britain has a great number of Arts grads who might be up to speed in English Lit or History, but who at age 21 last saw the inside of a laboratory at age 15 and who are woefully science-illiterate. Similarly, we have science grads who last read a novel at school and whose foreign language skills, viewed as belonging to Arts, have atrophied. These are the Two Tribes, whose stereotyped opinions of the other are illustrated by the interaction between Vetinari and Stibbons.<br />
:Leonard of Quirm, in contrast, embraces both Art and Science equally, as befits an expy for Leonardo da Vinci: the archetypal "Renaissance Man", who masters both.<br />
<br />
;Page 139 (hardcover edition)/153 (subsequent editions):Cohen chops the dice in two as it tumbles, so that the two halves come down together as a one and a six, making a seven. There are referents to this feat in both Norse and Irish mythology, the trick being attributed to both Finn McCool and to King Olaf of Norway, when in a dispute with the King of Sweden over ownership of an island, they diced for it. The Swedish king rolled two sixes, knowing this was unlikely to be beaten. Olaf rolled two dice, one coming down as a six, and the second induced to come down as a winning seven due to the intervention of his sword-blade.<br />
:The whole extended sequence hearkens back to the original use of this device in {{COM}}, where the Lady outwits Fate as 'the die flipped gently onto a point, spun round, and came down a seven. Blind Io picked up the cube and counted the sides. "Come ''on'', he said, wearily. "Play fair!"'<br />
:This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.<br />
<br />
;Page 156 (hardcover edition)/172 (subsequent editions):At the end, the formerly foppish minstel is seen transformed, wearing the animal-skins of a barbarian warrior, a sword at his side, and even the light around him taking on the heroic air of the character on the front of a typical Iron Maiden album sleeve... has he discovered '''''heavy metal? ''''' This might be typical of the origins of many of the great seventies heavy bands - Deep Purple and Status Quo both began as typical flower-power psychedelic bands in the late sixties, their earliest released work (''Book of Taliesyn, Pictures of Matchstick Men'', et c) being almost completely unrecognisable, in terms of musical content and the foppy Carnaby Street clothes they wore, from what their ''ouevre'' later mutated into. Led Zeppelin were born out of the ashes of sixties' experimental band the Yardbirds, and most amusingly, Spinal Tap started as a band called the Kingsmen who performed an anodyne first single called ''Listen To The Flowers Grow''. (A theme they later revisited as ''Working In My Sex Garden'').<br />
:In fact, Deep Purple's early album ''The Book of Taliesyn'' , while having pre-echoes of the band's later heavy style, contains tracks where the conceit is that they belong to a minstrel, serving the Dark Age Celtic kingdom to which Taliesyn was both bard and wizard.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Last Hero,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Last_Hero/Annotations&diff=34484Book:The Last Hero/Annotations2023-03-17T14:31:39Z<p>Superluser: The Star voyaging dragon is very similar to a ramscoop</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for the book '''{{TLH}}'''. Note that since the 2002 Gollancz softcover edition, the consistent layout means that all editions (in English at least) share exactly the same page numbers. Only the original hardcover differs, as it's missing the sixteen extra pages of new illustrations added to the later ones. The first one appears on page 50 in newer editions, so before that the pages are in sync, and then drift further out. We've noted both page numbers where appropriate.<br />
<br />
==Specific annotations==<br />
;Page 8 (all editions):This is a reworking of the Prometheus fable on Roundworld, with Fingers Mazda taking the place of Prometheus. Also, Ahura Mazda was the chief god in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, and was often symbolized by fire.<br />
<br />
;Page 17 (all editions):The illustration of Dunmanifestin looks suspiciously like the centrepiece of the board-game "Escape From Atlantis!"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_atlantis], where the trick is to get as many Atlanteans off the doomed island as possible before it collapses under the sea. [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/224522] When the central city collapses into the sea, the game is over. And of course on page 18, Cohen himself is represented as a playing piece complete with moulded-on base... The scene also bears some resemblance to scenes from Olympus in the original ''Clash of the Titans''.<br />
:On a separate hill connected by a path to Dunmanifestin is a much smaller but still grand (when you consider the scale) building next to a large tree; [https://twitter.com/PaulKidby/status/1527940078231818245 according to Paul Kidby], this is the home of the Great God [[Om]], and was an addition to the painting requested by Pratchett himself.<br />
<br />
;Page 21 (all editions):The infamous portrait of Ponder Stibbons which has led some observers to notice a passing resemblance, across the mists of space-time and the infinite Multiverse, to another intrepid young Wizard called H***y P****r. Although coincidence is indeed a funny thing... there is a similar portrait on page 113. (In the t-shirt carrying the legend "Actually I am a rocket wizard", in which the play of light and shadow on a frowning forehead suggests a shape... investigation shows it to be nothing like HP's "interrobang", but you do wonder for an instant.) Still, just coincidence again...<br />
<br />
;Page 31 (all editions):"I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the..." This specifically references Bishop Francis Godwin of Hereford's 1638 "[[wikipedia:The Man in the Moone|The Man in the Moone]]", in which a Spaniard travels to the moon in a chariot drawn by swans (echoed by the illustration on pp32-33 of Leonard in a chariot pulled by swamp dragons). Godwin's book is one of the earliest published stories about space travel, and was famous enough to be parodied by the real life Cyrano de Bergerac twenty years later, as referenced in Rostand's [[wikipedia:Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|famous 1897 play about Bergerac]]. Godwin's story, or Bergerac's parody, may have influenced many other writers, including Rudolf Raspe in his tales of [[wikipedia:Baron Munchausen|Baron Munchausen]].<br />
<br />
;Page 38 (all editions):Leonard absent-mindedly draws a perfect circle freehand, a task thought to be so impossible that only a complete lunatic or inspired genius could manage it. This feat is attributed in history to Italian 13th century painter Giotto, but elements of the tale go back to Alexander the Great's court painter Appeles (c. 320BC)<br />
<br />
;Page 40 (all editions):Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series ''[[wikipedia:Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena: Warrior Princess]]''. Doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} just remind you of a sixty-year old [[wikipedia:Lucy Lawless|Lucy Lawless]]? This character may also be a reference to the film ''[[wikipedia:Red Sonya|Red Sonya]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 51 (2001 hardcover)/53 (subsequent editions):Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character [[wikipedia:Dirty Harry|Dirty Harry]]. His Evil Overlord status and references to the Code are also reminiscent of the now-famous [http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html Evil Overlord List], a guide for aspiring Evil Overlords which comprises rules designed to prevent the overlord from falling into clichéd movie traps - an example from the list being: ''"I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time."'' Contrastingly, Evil Harry seems to follow a Code which adheres him to these movie clichés - e.g. his very stupid henchmen.<br />
<br />
;Page 67 (2001 hardcover)/69 (subsequent editions):Death is talking to Albert about knowing when the cat in the box is dead or not, this is a reference to [[wikipedia:Schrödinger's_cat|Schrödinger's cat]]. In Schrödinger's theoretical experiment a live cat is placed in a box containing a radiation source, a internal geiger counter and a flask of poison. If the geiger counter detects radiation it smashes the poison flask killing the cat, therefore the cat is can be ''both alive and dead'' at the same time and only the act of looking actually decides which one is real. Schrödinger's cat is purely theoretical and is meant to be a way of teaching about quantum mechanics, of course on the Discworld it is probably real. [I'm no physicist, but it's my understanding that Schrodinger actually intended this thought experiment as a satire of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. His point as I understand it was that all this "superposition waveform collapsing on observation" gibberish is fine at explaining the subatomic world, but has no real meaning for classical physics. Perhaps someone better-qualified than I can take us in hand?] See also {{LL}}, in which it is determined that an unobserved cat in a box can be in one of three states: a) alive; b) dead; c) bloody furious. <br />
<br />
;Page 86 (2001 hardcover)/92 (subsequent editions):It's clear that the Emperor [[Carelinus]] is the Discworld equivalent of Alexander the Great, who "untied" the Gordian knot. But Terry being Terry, and given the specific phrase used by the minstrel on this page, it's also very likely a nod to the film ''[[wikipedia:Die Hard|Die Hard]]'', in which Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) claims to quote Plutarch's history of the conqueror, but uses a phrasing not found in any earlier source: "And Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer."<br />
<br />
;Page 93 (2001 hardcover)/99 (subsequent editions):Rincewind has just made a last-ditch attempt to be deselected from the mission. He has just been told, by Vetinari, that a plea of insanity only reinforces that he is the right man for the job, as only an insane man would do something like this. And should you be sane... well, as ruler of the City I have a duty to send only the keenest, coolest, minds on a vital errand of this kind". Rincewind mumbles something about there being a catch there, and Vetinari replies "Yes. The best kind there is". Rincewind has just joined Yossarian as a victim of [[wikipedia:Catch-22|Catch-22]]. <br />
<br />
;Page 95 (2001 hardcover)/101 (subsequent editions):On the page entitled "Considerations of The Great Bird", in the top left-hand corner, are the words "600ft of Bird's Eye Maple at 1 1/2d a foot". This is a reference to the poem "Three Ha'pence a foot" by [[wikipedia:Marriott Edgar|Marriott Edgar]].<br />
:"The Great Bird" illustration on this page, and all the "eagle" references immediately after, have at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the [[wikipedia:Apollo-11|Apollo-11]] mission, provoking the line "The ''Eagle'' has landed!" to describe its successful mission to the Moon. It may also be one of several references to science fiction: in ''Star Trek'', both the Klingon and Romulan Empires use spacecraft called ''Birds of Prey''; the Klingon ships can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work. It might also refer to the "Eagle" spaceships from the British series ''[[wikipedia:Space: 1999|Space: 1999]]'', and physically it resembles the "Golden Condor" from the 1982 French-Japanese animated series ''[[wikipedia:The Mysterious Cities of Gold|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]''.<br />
<br />
;Page 100 (2001 hardcover)/108 (subsequent editions):"And put your helmet on!" - Carrot to Rincewind, echoing Ground Control to Major Tom in [[wikipedia:Space Oddity|a certain song]]. No previous instruction to Rincewind to "take your protein pills", though.<br />
<br />
;Page 104-105 (2001 hardcover)/112 (subsequent editions):The three official astronauts are waking up to the possibility that a fourth, unauthorised, life-form is on board. The dialogue is suggestive of the crew of the Nostromo coming to the appalling conclusion that there is an Alien aboard. But only a fully paid-up coward like Rincewind sees all the implications, viz things erupting out of stomach cavities like a terminal case of indigestion. Carrot goes chasing it, as the hero must, whilst Leonard excitedly muses on the scientific possibilities. After the build-up, it's reassuringly disappointing that it only turns out to be the Librarian.<br />
:The presence of the Librarian also pays a sort of homage to all the {{wp|Laika|dogs}}, chimpanzees, and other ape-like creatures whose group noun begins with an "m", who were sent into space by the Americans and Russians as surrogate human astronauts in the early days. <br />
:And on page 105, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem." This is a reference to the real and film versions of the [[wikipedia:Apollo 13|Apollo-13]] mission.<br />
<br />
;Page 107 (2001 hardcover)/115 (subsequent editions):''"Nucleus situm ex orbita, unus certis maximus"'' - dog-Latin for "nuke the site from orbit, just to make sure!" - a shout-out to ''[[wikipedia:Aliens (film)|Aliens]]''?<br />
:''Gaping Maw (to trawl debris from the void)'': This description closely resembles a [[wikipedia:Bussard Ramjet|Bussard Ramjet]], an interstellar spacecraft design which leaves for its destination without enough fuel for its fusion engines but uses enormous "scoops" to collect hydrogen from the interstellar medium along the way.<br />
<br />
;Pages 116-117 (2002 softcover and later editions only):The illustration here of the UU faculty, Vetinari and the Luggage viewing the spell in the ship's hold is based closely on the 1766 painting ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'' by Joseph Wright of Derby. Derby also painted ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'', which Kidby used as the inspiration for the cover of {{SOD1}}.<br />
<br />
;Page 111 (2001 hardcover)/121 (subsequent editions):''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit translates to "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''[[wikipedia:The Fast Show|The Fast Show]]''. <br />
<br />
;Page 117 (2001 hardcover)/129 (subsequent editions):"It's your own fault," he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones." - Rincewind is misquoting [[wikipedia:Neil Armstrong|Neil Armstrong's]] famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" (sic) as he bandages the Librarian's head. <br />
<br />
;Page 121 (2001 hardcover)/133 (subsequent editions):Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation, Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', describing both the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, and, in context, the property of the lunar foliage making the dragons fizz with potential power. <br />
<br />
;Page 115 (2001 hardcover)/125 (subsequent editions):A discussion about the rapidly approaching dark disc of the Moon, with Carrot being approving of the fact that if your plans for the day include ''Breathing'', then you're in luck. How could we miss this one? All it would take is the Omniscope, in the role of ship's robot, humming like Pink Floyd. Do we need to explain this? OK. Artiste: Pink Floyd. song: ''Breathe''. Album: ''Dark Side of the Moon''. ''Eclipses'' are also mentioned. As is lots and lots of ''screaming'' (''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNe-6Reqo9o| Speak to Me]'' involves protracted screaming. And then there's the more tuneful screaming of ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T13se_2A7c8| Great Gig In The Sky]''). Rincewind's generally gloomy, fear-the-worst, disposition in space? Marvin The Paranoid Android. (And the, err, breathe it softly, ''Monkeyman''? Arthur Dent, hitching a ride?)<br />
<br />
;Page 131 (2001 hardcover)/145 (subsequent editions):"Prince Haran's Tiller" is an enigmatically-titled lever on the ''Kite'', first seen in the illustration on page 100 (94 in the first edition). In the temporarily concussed absence of [[Leonard of Quirm]], neither of the other two crewmembers has the faintest idea of the purpose of. With an imminent crisis looming - i.e. uncontrolled re-entry into the Disc's atmosphere and an awful lot of unforgiving ground coming up to meet them 'very, very' quickly - [[Ponder Stibbons]] is at a loss to advise. However, he has just, rather unwisely, denigrated the value of an arts-based education where [[Vetinari]] can hear it. Vetinari, a product of an arts-based education, suggests Ponder tells the crew to pull Prince Haran's Tiller. Ponder relays the suggestion, Rincewind pulls the lever, and the Kite levels out into free flight. Vetinari then affably tells Stibbons that there is an old myth, derived from Klatchian folklore, about a Prince Haram who devised an ingenious way for a [[Magic Carpet|magic carpet]] to safely fly itself on long journeys, while he slept. But then, one whose education has been purely technical and scientific, and deficient in areas such as languages and history, is hardly likely to be aware of that...<br />
:Prince Haran's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.<br />
:There is a readable discourse dating from the 1950's but still relevant today, called ''The Two Tribes'', which describes and deplores the way the educational process in Great Britain - almost uniquely in the developed world - forces able school pupils to make a prematurely early choice between "Arts" and "Science" streams. Even as early as age fourteen, the British pupil is then progressively locked firmly into either Arts or Science, and becomes as firmly embodied in that stream as a Hindu is in their caste, or inhabitants of the old South Africa were embodied according to their skin colour. Especially at the A-level stage, the pupil must choose to specialise in ''all'' Arts subjects or ''all'' Sciences: mixing the two is not permitted and is looked on with as much horror as, say, a Boer who seeks to marry into the Zulus.<br />
:The net result of this is a system where Britain has a great number of Arts grads who might be up to speed in English Lit or History, but who at age 21 last saw the inside of a laboratory at age 15 and who are woefully science-illiterate. Similarly, we have science grads who last read a novel at school and whose foreign language skills, viewed as belonging to Arts, have atrophied. These are the Two Tribes, whose stereotyped opinions of the other are illustrated by the interaction between Vetinari and Stibbons.<br />
:Leonard of Quirm, in contrast, embraces both Art and Science equally, as befits an expy for Leonardo da Vinci: the archetypal "Renaissance Man", who masters both.<br />
<br />
;Page 139 (hardcover edition)/153 (subsequent editions):Cohen chops the dice in two as it tumbles, so that the two halves come down together as a one and a six, making a seven. There are referents to this feat in both Norse and Irish mythology, the trick being attributed to both Finn McCool and to King Olaf of Norway, when in a dispute with the King of Sweden over ownership of an island, they diced for it. The Swedish king rolled two sixes, knowing this was unlikely to be beaten. Olaf rolled two dice, one coming down as a six, and the second induced to come down as a winning seven due to the intervention of his sword-blade.<br />
:The whole extended sequence hearkens back to the original use of this device in {{COM}}, where the Lady outwits Fate as 'the die flipped gently onto a point, spun round, and came down a seven. Blind Io picked up the cube and counted the sides. "Come ''on'', he said, wearily. "Play fair!"'<br />
:This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.<br />
<br />
;Page 156 (hardcover edition)/172 (subsequent editions):At the end, the formerly foppish minstel is seen transformed, wearing the animal-skins of a barbarian warrior, a sword at his side, and even the light around him taking on the heroic air of the character on the front of a typical Iron Maiden album sleeve... has he discovered '''''heavy metal? ''''' This might be typical of the origins of many of the great seventies heavy bands - Deep Purple and Status Quo both began as typical flower-power psychedelic bands in the late sixties, their earliest released work (''Book of Taliesyn, Pictures of Matchstick Men'', et c) being almost completely unrecognisable, in terms of musical content and the foppy Carnaby Street clothes they wore, from what their ''ouevre'' later mutated into. Led Zeppelin were born out of the ashes of sixties' experimental band the Yardbirds, and most amusingly, Spinal Tap started as a band called the Kingsmen who performed an anodyne first single called ''Listen To The Flowers Grow''. (A theme they later revisited as ''Working In My Sex Garden'').<br />
:In fact, Deep Purple's early album ''The Book of Taliesyn'' , while having pre-echoes of the band's later heavy style, contains tracks where the conceit is that they belong to a minstrel, serving the Dark Age Celtic kingdom to which Taliesyn was both bard and wizard.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Last Hero,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thief_of_Time/Annotations&diff=34147Book:Thief of Time/Annotations2022-12-16T21:21:20Z<p>Superluser: I *knew* I had seen it in another book</p>
<hr />
<div>These are annotations for {{TOT}}. See also the [https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thief-of-time.html Annotated Pratchett File entry for this book].<br />
<br />
== General Annotations ==<br />
Annotations about general ideas and concepts in the book, rather than specific passages.<br />
<br />
;Mr Hopkins, leader of the [[Clockmakers' Guild]]<br />
:The biggest single reason for his perpetual, and well-founded, expression of worry is the welfare of [[Jeremy Clockson]]. A very good reason why Mr Hopkins brings to mind the neurotic and hyper-punctual character of the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's ''Alice in Wonderland'' (apart from his generally inoffensive and ineffectual rodent-like demeanour), is that he very genuinely has a very important date that he cannot be late for. Note that at key moments, his first action is to flap around ineffectually, whilst consulting a large fob watch in his waistcoat pocket...<br />
:Unless he is on time, every time, without fail, to supervise Jeremy's medication, there could very well be another case of "off with ''somebody else's'' head"...<br />
:Even the name "Hopkins" has rabbit-like connotations. For one thing, rabbits hop, and for another, it brings to mind the icon and exemplar of the rats in {{TAM}}, ''Mr Bunnikins''...<br />
<br />
;On the name "Jeremy Clockson"<br />
:Another Jerry with an interesting relationship with Time is Michael Moorcock's time-travelling adventurer Jerry Cornelius[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cornelius_Quartet] - also a J.C. (Both ''Jerry'' and ''Jeremy'' are contracted versions of the name ''Jeremiah'' - a biblical character whose name is synonymous with prophecies of woe and general bad news). Jerry Cornelius stars in "'''''The Final Programme'''''" (in which he colludes in building the ultimate supercomputer that brings an end to human history), and three or four other books in the Moorcock portfolio. He is described as ''seeking sanctuary in different universes of Time in separate private mythologies'' and as possessing ''chrono-zones''. At the climax of "The Final Programme", Jerry Cornelius is absorbed as one half of a gestalt entity with the scheming Miss Brunner, his ''anima'' and female opposite . Miss Brunner has her reasons for wanting to end human history - and by extension, to consign the rest of the human race to a timeless limbo where nothing can possibly happen - compare her name (and character) to the Auditor in human form, ''Miss Brown''...<br />
:(It is also very clearly a reference to motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson, and shame on you for not noticing.)<br />
<br />
;On Invar<br />
:Mention is made of a mysterious substance called ''[[invar]]'', which is apparently of very great worth in the manufacture of clocks and delicate instrumentation. Like many readers of Pratchett, I assumed this exotic name denoted a sort of rare and expensive phlebotinum specific to the Discworld, which only an Auditor could reliably obtain (or call into being) in the quantities desired to go into a Glass clock. <br />
:Well...it exists on Earth and is an alloy of two extremely common metals. <br />
:Also known as FeNi36, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invar Invar] is an alloy of iron and nickel in the proportion 64:36. It is known as "invar" - ''invariable'' - because its thermal coefficient of linear expansion is incredibly low. That is, it hardly expands if heated, a property unique to these two metals in this exact alloy. This makes it a friend to those who are creating extremely accurate scientific instrumentation to a very, very, exacting tolerance. (Science calls this property an "anomaly" In other words, nobody's got a clue as to why this alloy behaves like this). Jeremy Clockson would be extremely excited by its properties and potential. <br />
<br />
;The Stance of the Coyote:used when a History Monk is plummeting to certain doom and used to gain time and/or a better foothold. Think "Wile. E. Coyote" in the "Roadrunner" cartoons running over a canyon edge, and the moment of stopped time before he realises he's standing on thin air...<br />
<br />
;Lobsang Ludd:Lobsang's name could be a reference to [[wikipedia:Lobby Lud|Lobby Lud]], a fictional character once used by a British newspaper which would print a description of the seaside town in which ‘Lobby’ (really a newspaper employee) would next appear, along with a pass phrase, and anyone carrying the newspaper who challenged him with the phrase would receive a cash prize. (Although it's long since the name was widely known, Terry was a newspaper reporter for many years at the start of his career and so might well have known it.)<br />
<br />
;Connection with {{SG}}:{{death|The Book of Tobrun has not been considered official church dogma for a hundred years.}}<br />
:[[Death]]'s statement to the angel seem to confirm that the events of {{SG}} occurred well before the rest of the novels. [[Susan Sto Helit|Susan's]] realisation that the philosophers of [[Ephebe]] seem to live a very long time helps to remove the last of the objections to this revised timeline.<br />
<br />
=== Rock music references ===<br />
{{TOT}} appears to be a rich mine of rock music references and allusions. Maybe after {{SM}}, Terry couldn't resist the temptation and needed to reprise the theme...<br />
<br />
* In the early scene where Jeremy Clockson has the ability to wake up just before all the alarm clocks go off, just to be sure they're all on time, evokes that moment on side one of Pink Floyd's ''Dark Side of the Moon'', where clocks are heard ticking away quietly and then, after this moment of false serenity, all the alarms suddenly go off. Another song about a man being driven crazy by the passage of time is Joe Jackson's "Got No Time (Ticking in my Head!)", which may (intentionally?) be Mondegreened as "Kick him in the head!"<br />
* Lobsang slices time further and deeper than any monk has done before. We are explicitly told that Time slows from blue to a '''''deep purple'''''. Or, indeed, a ''[[wikipedia:Deep Purple|Deep Purple]]''. Which makes Lobsang, er, a "Child In Time". (Is Susan therefore a "Strange Kind of Woman"?)<br />
* Ronnie's constant reference to being the 'Fifth Horseman' is similar to various people's claims to being the 'Fifth Beatle'.<br />
* ""Pleased to meet you," [[Lu-Tze]] said. "Let me guess your name."" This is likely a reference to the Rolling Stones' "[[wikipedia:Sympathy for the Devil (song)|Sympathy for the Devil]]".<br />
<br />
== Specific Annotations ==<br />
;U.S. hardcover page 122<br />
:''"Master and pupil go out into the world, where the pupil may pick up practical instruction by precept and example, and then the pupil finds his own Way and at the end of his Way -"''<br />
:''"-he finds himself ''bdum''", said the abbot.''<br />
:Foreshadowing that probably won't be noticed until a second reading of the book.<br />
<br />
;Doubleday hardcover page 145<br />
:The picture ''Woman Holding Ferret'' by Leonard of Quirm refers to ''Lady with an Ermine'', a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1489–1490. <br />
<br />
;Doubleday hardcover pages 239-240<br />
:See annotation for the early chapters of {{WFM}}, noting the similarities between the dream-like surrealist logic of the scene, and the writings of Irish children's author Pat O'Shea. The logic of the scene where Myriad LeJean exploits the orderly minds of fellow Auditors with deliberately nonsensical and self-contradictory signs reflects the bizarre, slightly dream-like, Irish faeryscape O'Shea creates - right down to the same sort of in-line text drawings that punctuate her text. <br />
:Check out '''''The Hounds of the Morrigan''''', particularly the Swapping Fair scenes, to see what I mean here... -- [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:26, 23 July 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Doubleday hardcover page 278:Death's speech to the other Horsemen:<br />
:{{death|''Listen!'' Do you not feel small in a big universe? That is what they are singing. It is big and you are small and around you there is nothing but the cold of space and you are so very alone.}}<br />
:Death is quoting the lyrics of the song ''Space is Deep'', written by sci-fi author Michael Moorcock (creator of chrononaut Jerry Cornelius) for the spaced-out rock band Hawkwind:<br />
:Space is dark, it is so endless;<br />
:When you're alone it's so relentless;<br />
:It is so big, and we're so small;<br />
:Why does man try to act so tall...<br />
:Is this the reason, deep in our minds?<br />
<br />
;Harper-Collins paperback p.210:"four hoofprints glowed like plasma in the air above the museum and faded away" is very evocative of the time traveling Delorean from ''Back to the Future''. See also the annotation for [https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/soul-music.html Soul Music] P. 54<br />
<br />
;Harper-Collins paperback p.285:"Gray suit, gray shirt, gray shoes, gray cravat, gray everything" - this description of the Auditors is very much like some descriptions of the Men in Black, supposed alien minders who come to hush up witnesses to supposed alien encounters & are not only dressed in black but dressed exclusively in black, to the point of wearing a black suit with a black shirt & a black tie.<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thief of Time}}<br />
[[Category:Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thief_of_Time/Annotations&diff=34119Book:Thief of Time/Annotations2022-12-12T23:07:48Z<p>Superluser: </p>
<hr />
<div>*'''On the character of Clockmakers' Guild leader Mr Hopkins'''<br />
<br />
:The biggest single reason for his perpetual, and well-founded, expression of worry is the welfare of [[Jeremy Clockson]]. A very good reason why Mr Hopkins brings to mind the neurotic and hyper-punctual character of the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's ''Alice in Wonderland'' (apart from his generally inoffensive and ineffectual rodent-like demeanour), is that he very genuinely has a very important date that he cannot be late for. Note that at key moments, his first action is to flap around ineffectually, whilst consulting a large fob watch in his waistcoat pocket...<br />
<br />
:Unless he is on time, every time, without fail, to supervise Jeremy's medication, there could very well be another case of "off with ''somebody else's'' head"...<br />
<br />
:Even the name "Hopkins" has rabbit-like connotations. For one thing, rabbits hop, and for another, it brings to mind the icon and exemplar of the rats in {{TAM}}, ''Mr Bunnikins''...<br />
<br />
*'''On the name "Jeremy Clockson"'''<br />
<br />
:Another Jerry with an interesting relationship with Time is Michael Moorcock's time-travelling adventurer Jerry Cornelius[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cornelius_Quartet] - also a J.C. (Both ''Jerry'' and ''Jeremy'' are contracted versions of the name ''Jeremiah'' - a biblical character whose name is synonymous with prophecies of woe and general bad news). Jerry Cornelius stars in "'''''The Final Programme'''''" (in which he colludes in building the ultimate supercomputer that brings an end to human history), and three or four other books in the Moorcock portfolio. He is described as ''seeking sanctuary in different universes of Time in separate private mythologies'' and as possessing ''chrono-zones''. At the climax of "The Final Programme", Jerry Cornelius is absorbed as one half of a gestalt entity with the scheming Miss Brunner, his ''anima'' and female opposite . Miss Brunner has her reasons for wanting to end human history - and by extension, to consign the rest of the human race to a timeless limbo where nothing can possibly happen - compare her name (and character) to the Auditor in human form, ''Miss Brown''...<br />
<br />
:(It is also very clearly a reference to motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson, and shame on you for not noticing.)<br />
<br />
'''''On Invar'''''<br />
<br />
Mention is made of a mysterious substance called ''[[invar]]'', which is apparently of very great worth in the manufacture of clocks and delicate instrumentation. Like many readers of Pratchett, I assumed this exotic name denoted a sort of rare and expensive phlebotinum specific to the Discworld, which only an Auditor could reliably obtain (or call into being) in the quantities desired to go into a Glass clock. <br />
<br />
well... it exists on Earth and is an alloy of two extremely common metals. <br />
<br />
Also known as FeNi36, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invar Invar] is an alloy of iron and nickel in the proportion 64:36. It is known as "invar" - ''invariable'' - because its thermal coefficient of linear expansion is incredibly low. That is, it hardly expands if heated, a property unique to these two metals in this exact alloy. This makes it a friend to those who are creating extremely accurate scientific instrumentation to a very, very, exacting tolerance. (Science calls this property an "anomaly" In other words, nobody's got a clue as to why this alloy behaves like this). Jeremy Clockson would be extremely excited by its properties and potential. <br />
<br />
<br />
*'''U.S. hardcover p 122'''<br />
<p><br />
:''"Master and pupil go out into the world, where the pupil may pick up practical instruction by precept and example, and then the pupil finds his own Way and at the end of his Way -"''<br />
</p><p><br />
:''"-he finds himself ''bdum''", said the abbot.''<br />
</p><p>'''<br />
:Foreshadowing that probably won't be noticed until a second reading of the book.<br />
</p><br />
<br />
*Ronnie's constant reference to being the 'Fifth Horseman' is similar to various people's claims to being the 'Fifth Beatle'.<br />
<br />
*"Pleased to meet you," [[Lu-Tze]] said. "Let me guess your name." --Likely a reference to the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil".<br />
<br />
*{{death|the book of tobrun has not been considered official church dogma for a hundred years.}}<br />
<br />
:[[Death]]'s statement to the angel seem to confirm that the events of {{SG}} occurred well before the rest of the novels. [[Susan Sto Helit|Susan's]] realisation that the philosophers of [[Ephebe]] seem to live a very long time helps to remove the last of the objections to this revised timeline.<br />
[[Category:Annotations]]<br />
<br />
*'''Doubleday hardcover p.145'''<br />
<br />
"the picture Woman holding ferret by Leonard of Quirm" refers to Lady with an Ermine, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1489–1490. <br />
<br />
*'''Doubleday hardcover pp239 - 40'''<br />
<br />
:See annotation for the early chapters of {{WFM}}, noting the similarities between the dream-like surrealist logic of the scene, and the writings of Irish children's author Pat O'Shea. The logic of the scene where Myriad LeJean exploits the orderly minds of fellow Auditors with deliberately nonsensical and self-contradictory signs reflects the bizarre, slightly dream-like, Irish faeryscape O'Shea creates - right down to the same sort of in-line text drawings that punctuate her text. <br />
<br />
Check out '''''The Hounds of the Morrigan''''', particularly the Swapping Fair scenes, to see what I mean here...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:26, 23 July 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
*'''Doubleday hardcover p278'''<br />
<br />
Death's speech to the other Horsemen:-<br />
{{death|''listen!'' do you not feel small in a big universe? that is what they are singing. it is big and you are small and around you there is nothing but the cold of space and you are so very alone}}.<br />
<br />
Death is quoting the lyrics of the song ''Space is Deep'', written by sci-fi author Michael Moorcock (creator of chrononaut Jerry Cornelius) for the spaced-out rock band Hawkwind:- <br />
<br />
Space is dark, it is so endless;<br><br />
When you're alone it's so relentless;<br><br />
It is so big, and we're so small;<br><br />
Why does man try to act so tall...<br><br />
Is this the reason, deep in our minds?<br><br />
<br />
'''''Unsorted by page:'''''<br />
<br />
''The Stance of the Coyote'' - used when a History Monk is plummeting to certain doom and used to gain time and/or a better foothold. think "Wile. E. Coyote" in the "Roadrunner" cartoons running over a canyon edge, and the moment of stopped time before he realises he's standing on thin air....<br />
<br />
{{TOT}} appears to be a rich mine of rock music references and allusions. Maybe after {{SM}}, Terry couldn't resist the temptation and needed to reprise the theme... the early scene where Jeremy Clockson has the ability to wake up just before all the alarm clocks go off, just to be sure they're all on time, evokes that moment on side one of Pink Floyd's ''Dark Side of the Moon'', where clocks are heard ticking away quietly and then, after this moment of false serenity, all the alarms suddenly go off... another song about a man being driven crazy by the passage of time is Joe Jackson's ''Got No Time (Ticking in my Head!)'', which may (intentionally?) be Mondegreened as ''Kick him in the head!''.<br />
<br />
Here's another: Lobsang slices time further and deeper than any monk has done before. We are explicitly told that Time slows from blue to a '''''deep purple'''''. or, indeed, a ''Deep Purple''. Which makes Lobsang, er, a ''Child In Time''. (is Susan therefore a "Strange Kind of Woman"?)<br />
<br />
* The name ''Lobsang Ludd'' may be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud Lobby Lud], a fictional character once used by a British newspaper which would print a description of the seaside town in which ‘Lobby’ (really a newspaper employee) would next appear, along with a pass phrase, and anyone carrying the newspaper who challenged him with the phrase would receive a cash prize. (Although it's long since the name was widely known, Terry was a newspaper reporter for many years at the start of his career and so might well have known it.)<br />
<br />
*'''Harper-Collins paperback p.210'''<br />
<br />
''four hoofprints glowed like plasma in the air above the museum and faded away'' is very evocative of the time traveling Delorean from ''Back to the Future''<br />
<br />
*'''Harper-Collins paperback p.285'''<br />
<br />
''Gray suit, gray shirt, gray shoes, gray cravat, gray everything'' The description of the Auditors here is very much like some descriptions of the Men in Black, supposed alien minders who come to hush up witnesses to supposed alien encounters & are not only dressed in black but dressed exclusively in black, to the point of wearing a black suit with a black shirt & a black tie.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thief of Time]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Thief_of_Time/Annotations&diff=34111Book:Thief of Time/Annotations2022-12-11T00:06:01Z<p>Superluser: </p>
<hr />
<div>*'''On the character of Clockmakers' Guild leader Mr Hopkins'''<br />
<br />
:The biggest single reason for his perpetual, and well-founded, expression of worry is the welfare of [[Jeremy Clockson]]. A very good reason why Mr Hopkins brings to mind the neurotic and hyper-punctual character of the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's ''Alice in Wonderland'' (apart from his generally inoffensive and ineffectual rodent-like demeanour), is that he very genuinely has a very important date that he cannot be late for. Note that at key moments, his first action is to flap around ineffectually, whilst consulting a large fob watch in his waistcoat pocket...<br />
<br />
:Unless he is on time, every time, without fail, to supervise Jeremy's medication, there could very well be another case of "off with ''somebody else's'' head"...<br />
<br />
:Even the name "Hopkins" has rabbit-like connotations. For one thing, rabbits hop, and for another, it brings to mind the icon and exemplar of the rats in {{TAM}}, ''Mr Bunnikins''...<br />
<br />
*'''On the name "Jeremy Clockson"'''<br />
<br />
:Another Jerry with an interesting relationship with Time is Michael Moorcock's time-travelling adventurer Jerry Cornelius[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cornelius_Quartet] - also a J.C. (Both ''Jerry'' and ''Jeremy'' are contracted versions of the name ''Jeremiah'' - a biblical character whose name is synonymous with prophecies of woe and general bad news). Jerry Cornelius stars in "'''''The Final Programme'''''" (in which he colludes in building the ultimate supercomputer that brings an end to human history), and three or four other books in the Moorcock portfolio. He is described as ''seeking sanctuary in different universes of Time in separate private mythologies'' and as possessing ''chrono-zones''. At the climax of "The Final Programme", Jerry Cornelius is absorbed as one half of a gestalt entity with the scheming Miss Brunner, his ''anima'' and female opposite . Miss Brunner has her reasons for wanting to end human history - and by extension, to consign the rest of the human race to a timeless limbo where nothing can possibly happen - compare her name (and character) to the Auditor in human form, ''Miss Brown''...<br />
<br />
:(It is also very clearly a reference to motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson, and shame on you for not noticing.)<br />
<br />
'''''On Invar'''''<br />
<br />
Mention is made of a mysterious substance called ''[[invar]]'', which is apparently of very great worth in the manufacture of clocks and delicate instrumentation. Like many readers of Pratchett, I assumed this exotic name denoted a sort of rare and expensive phlebotinum specific to the Discworld, which only an Auditor could reliably obtain (or call into being) in the quantities desired to go into a Glass clock. <br />
<br />
well... it exists on Earth and is an alloy of two extremely common metals. <br />
<br />
Also known as FeNi36, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invar Invar] is an alloy of iron and nickel in the proportion 64:36. It is known as "invar" - ''invariable'' - because its thermal coefficient of heat is incredibly low. That is, it hardly expands if heated, a property unique to these two metals in this exact alloy. This makes it a friend to those who are creating extremely accurate scientific instrumentation to a very, very, exacting tolerance. (Science calls this property an "anomaly" In other words, nobody's got a clue as to why this alloy behaves like this). Jeremy Clockson would be extremely excited by its properties and potential. <br />
<br />
<br />
*'''U.S. hardcover p 122'''<br />
<p><br />
:''"Master and pupil go out into the world, where the pupil may pick up practical instruction by precept and example, and then the pupil finds his own Way and at the end of his Way -"''<br />
</p><p><br />
:''"-he finds himself ''bdum''", said the abbot.''<br />
</p><p>'''<br />
:Foreshadowing that probably won't be noticed until a second reading of the book.<br />
</p><br />
<br />
*Ronnie's constant reference to being the 'Fifth Horseman' is similar to various people's claims to being the 'Fifth Beatle'.<br />
<br />
*"Pleased to meet you," [[Lu-Tze]] said. "Let me guess your name." --Likely a reference to the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil".<br />
<br />
*{{death|the book of tobrun has not been considered official church dogma for a hundred years.}}<br />
<br />
:[[Death]]'s statement to the angel seem to confirm that the events of {{SG}} occurred well before the rest of the novels. [[Susan Sto Helit|Susan's]] realisation that the philosophers of [[Ephebe]] seem to live a very long time helps to remove the last of the objections to this revised timeline.<br />
[[Category:Annotations]]<br />
<br />
*'''Doubleday hardcover p.145'''<br />
<br />
"the picture Woman holding ferret by Leonard of Quirm" refers to Lady with an Ermine, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1489–1490. <br />
<br />
*'''Doubleday hardcover pp239 - 40'''<br />
<br />
:See annotation for the early chapters of {{WFM}}, noting the similarities between the dream-like surrealist logic of the scene, and the writings of Irish children's author Pat O'Shea. The logic of the scene where Myriad LeJean exploits the orderly minds of fellow Auditors with deliberately nonsensical and self-contradictory signs reflects the bizarre, slightly dream-like, Irish faeryscape O'Shea creates - right down to the same sort of in-line text drawings that punctuate her text. <br />
<br />
Check out '''''The Hounds of the Morrigan''''', particularly the Swapping Fair scenes, to see what I mean here...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:26, 23 July 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
*'''Doubleday hardcover p278'''<br />
<br />
Death's speech to the other Horsemen:-<br />
{{death|''listen!'' do you not feel small in a big universe? that is what they are singing. it is big and you are small and around you there is nothing but the cold of space and you are so very alone}}.<br />
<br />
Death is quoting the lyrics of the song ''Space is Deep'', written by sci-fi author Michael Moorcock (creator of chrononaut Jerry Cornelius) for the spaced-out rock band Hawkwind:- <br />
<br />
Space is dark, it is so endless;<br><br />
When you're alone it's so relentless;<br><br />
It is so big, and we're so small;<br><br />
Why does man try to act so tall...<br><br />
Is this the reason, deep in our minds?<br><br />
<br />
'''''Unsorted by page:'''''<br />
<br />
''The Stance of the Coyote'' - used when a History Monk is plummeting to certain doom and used to gain time and/or a better foothold. think "Wile. E. Coyote" in the "Roadrunner" cartoons running over a canyon edge, and the moment of stopped time before he realises he's standing on thin air....<br />
<br />
{{TOT}} appears to be a rich mine of rock music references and allusions. Maybe after {{SM}}, Terry couldn't resist the temptation and needed to reprise the theme... the early scene where Jeremy Clockson has the ability to wake up just before all the alarm clocks go off, just to be sure they're all on time, evokes that moment on side one of Pink Floyd's ''Dark Side of the Moon'', where clocks are heard ticking away quietly and then, after this moment of false serenity, all the alarms suddenly go off... another song about a man being driven crazy by the passage of time is Joe Jackson's ''Got No Time (Ticking in my Head!)'', which may (intentionally?) be Mondegreened as ''Kick him in the head!''.<br />
<br />
Here's another: Lobsang slices time further and deeper than any monk has done before. We are explicitly told that Time slows from blue to a '''''deep purple'''''. or, indeed, a ''Deep Purple''. Which makes Lobsang, er, a ''Child In Time''. (is Susan therefore a "Strange Kind of Woman"?)<br />
<br />
* The name ''Lobsang Ludd'' may be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud Lobby Lud], a fictional character once used by a British newspaper which would print a description of the seaside town in which ‘Lobby’ (really a newspaper employee) would next appear, along with a pass phrase, and anyone carrying the newspaper who challenged him with the phrase would receive a cash prize. (Although it's long since the name was widely known, Terry was a newspaper reporter for many years at the start of his career and so might well have known it.)<br />
<br />
*'''Harper-Collins paperback p.210'''<br />
<br />
''four hoofprints glowed like plasma in the air above the museum and faded away'' is very evocative of the time traveling Delorean from ''Back to the Future''<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Thief of Time]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Truth/Annotations&diff=34001Book:The Truth/Annotations2022-11-10T22:22:30Z<p>Superluser: Elements</p>
<hr />
<div>The title of the book might be a nod towards the official Communist party news-paper named "Pravda" (In Russian -"The Truth"). There is an old Soviet-era joke about Russia's two state newspapers: ''There's never any truth in Izveztiya (The News) and you'll never find any news in Pravda (The Truth)''. This may echo the later rivalry between the staid and slightly pompous [[Ankh-Morpork Times]], and its downmarket rival the [[Ankh-Morpork Inquirer]], which emphasises rumours and trivial non-stories at the expense of strict accuracy. <br />
<br />
Miss Cripslock in The Truth: Just going through the APF shows that her father was mentioned in as an engraver in ''Maskerade'' (see annotation for p.11 there), although this may be her grandfather, on whose behalf she gives William a ringing slap, whilst her well-crafted bosom heaves at him. Which was he concentrating on, we wonder...<br />
<br />
William de Worde's career path appears to mirror that of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Carolus Johann Carolus], who made a living handwriting newsletters for his clients before purchasing a printing press and starting what is recognised ([http://archive.is/8zV3 ref]) as the world's first newspaper.<br />
<br />
Thre incident where William first encounters the Dwarfs and their printing press and gets the letter "R" branded in the middle of his forehead, albeit temporarily. in 17th - 18th century England and possibly elsewhere, a common punishment was to brand an offender with a letter denoting what their crime was. One who disseminated slander (verbally) or libel (in print), one deemed to be a habitual liar and ''rumour-monger'', could have the letter "R" burnt into their face - a humiliting punishment they would carry for life. Apparently this happened to publishers of broadsheets who printed things that annoyed influential people who could command such a sanction...<br />
<br />
'''''(Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 2)'''''<br />
''"Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and... sunnink"''<br />
<br />
Empedocles identified the four "classical" Greek elements of Earth, Water, Air, & Fire. Aristotle added the fifth element aether for the heavens. The name was later used for the unrelated concept of the luminiferous aether, a workaround for a medium through which waves of light propogated until they worked out how such waves would work without a medium.<br />
<br />
Doubleday hardback p39)<br />
:''"Why's there a bigger box for the 'e''s?''<br />
:''"'cos that's the letter we use most of."''<br />
<br />
This figures: the "mnemonic" in English usage, for letter frequency, is apparently ETAOINSHRDLU, where "e" is by far and away the most commonly occurring letter, with the rest ranked afterwards in order of frequency. Apparently the remaining 14 letters are all of such low relative frequency that it isn't worthwhile committing their order to memory: if you can crack these first 12, they occur often and frequently enough in any English discourse for the cryptographer to be able to make an intelligent stab at the structure of the rest. <br />
<br />
--AgProv 16:48, 3 April 2008 (CEST) <br />
<br />
-Etaoin Shrdlu was the name of a bookworm (larger than .303 cal.) in Walt Kelly's ''Pogo'' (the greatest comic strip in history). Wikipedia agrees with Mr. Kelly on the relative frequency of t and a. --Old Dickens 19:15, 3 April 2008 (CEST) <br />
<br />
(Doubleday hardback p43)<br />
<br />
''"...I wish to avoid any low-level difficulties at this time..." '' In the middle of a discourse about Dwarfs being a very hard-working and valuable ethnic grouping in the city, is it possible that Vetinari has just slipped in a sizeist joke, possibly to see how well Goodmountain and Bodony, faced with a business opportunity, can hold their tempers? <br />
<br />
"wishing to avoid low-level difficulties" could well mean "at a time of great potential difficulty with the Dwarfs, it will do no harm to be seen actively sponsoring a Dwarf-owned business, and giving my personal blessing to their prospering in this city." <br />
<br />
* Or possibly he was being culture-savvy, as dwarfs consider "low level" to be ''superior'' to high. This aspect of dwarf thinking is examined more deeply in ''Unseen Academicals'', and might explain why the Campaign for Equal Heights is mostly made up of humans: dwarfs who haven't absorbed human concepts of high-equals-good wouldn't realize that many sizeist jokes are intended to be insulting.<br />
<br />
at this point there was speculation that this book might be placed differently in the chronology because of Vetinari's reference to "troubles in Uberwald". (which hinted that this was prior to the resolution of said troubles in {{TFE}}. However, there are ''always'' going to be troubles of one sort or another in Uberwald, as {{T!}} and {{RS}} demonstrated. so speculation concerning chronology removed as having been proven irrelevant. <br />
<br />
If nothing else, it supports the contention that in the latter Discworld novels, events are happening faster and faster and frequently overlap between books - look at the fit of {{TOT}} and {{NW}}, for instance. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback p46)''''' Even in newsletter days, William could rely on Watchmen providing inside information in return for favours. Fred Colon's stated perk is "a drink". By comparision, when members of the Metropolitan police furnish Britain's national press with inside information or services over and beyond the call of duty, the small financial incentive that went the other way was referred to as a "drinkie". <br />
<br />
''The Truth Shall Make You Free'' (or fret)... a quote from Abraham Lincoln, which was taken up as a line in the ''Battle Hymn of the Republic''--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 23:54, 12 July 2007 (CEST) - although Abe was himself quoting - John 8:31-2: "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. "<br />
<br />
<br />
''William de Worde'' Wynkyn de Worde (originally Jan van Wynkyn) was pivotal, along with the more-widely-known Caxton, in introducing printing to Britain. All the national newspaper were (until very recently) printed at Fleet Street in London. Mr. Tuttle Scrope, put up as the replacement Patrician for Vetinari, runs a shop that sells Leatherwork, "... and rubber work... and feathers... and whips... and... little jiggly things" and was, presumably, the supplier for Sir Joshua Lavish in Making Money, who had a cabinet full of such supplies.<br />
<br />
"But news is mainly what someone somewhere doesn't want you to put in the paper--" A saying by Lord Northcliffe, a late 19th-early 20th century news magnate in the UK (who, at one point, owned the London newspaper ''The Times''): "News is what someone wants to suppress. Everything else is advertising."<br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback pp 203-205)''''':- There is a possible contradiction and continuity error across books. In {{CJ}}, Vlad de Magpyr asserts:- ''"Everyone knows that cutting off a vampire's head is internationally acceptable"''. In argument with Agnes Nitt, he states that decapitating a vampire is, on its own, a surefire way of slaying a vampire regardless of its georgraphical or ethnic origin. This certainly suffices for the Count de Magpyr at the end of the book. Yet, here we have the contradiction that Otto Chriek is decapitated by Mr Pin. Otto's head and body remain separately alive and sentient, and Otto is able to calmly issue directions to place his head where his body can reach it so that he can re-attach it. This he does, by an effort of will and his own vampiric physiognomy. He then remarks, after saying it "stings a bit*", that decapitation alone is not sufficient - it requires a stake through the heart, as well. The Count de Magpyr does not seem to know this trick. Perhaps for the de Magpyrs, decapitation alone is sufficient, and Vlad is erroneously arguing from his family back to all vampires? Otherwise, a small error in continuity arises.<br />
<br />
( * - a reference to a Monty Python sketch? Where Eric Idle plays a stiff-upper-lip British officer whose leg has just been bitten off and eaten by a tiger, asserting cheerfully that "it stings a bit, sir, but nothing to get bothered about!")<br />
<br />
** Possibly the Count was unable to heal his neck injury because of having "been Weatherwaxed". Certainly the vampires who succumbed to that effect in {{CJ}} found their ability to fly was impaired, so it may have hindered some of their other powers as well. - Sharlee<br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback p254)''''' Another of those obscure song references. Sacharissa and Rocky realise they aren't alone in the deWorde mansion. They can hear raucous singing and glass clattering. It is coming from behind a ''Green Door''. What's behind the Green Door? - a question asked, in song, by Jime lowe, Frankie Vaughan, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Goons (or at least Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan) and Shakin' Stevens. The "Green Door" is also used in slang to denote levels of access to information - if you are on the wrong side of a green door, there is a higher level to which you have not been given security clearance. <br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback p258)''''' "Spit or swallow, thought William, the eternal conundrum." Terry Pratchett has a habit of throwing in random punchlines from silly or sometimes eyebrow-raising jokes, perhaps just to see who notices. "Spit or swallow" refers to... ermmm... an ''intimate practice'' and the social etiquette that goes along with it, at least for the active partner. Those who know what it means will grin quietly to themselves and read on; for those who don't, it will go right over their heads and remain un-noticed. Therefore Terry wins whichever way. Although how a well-brought up young lad like William knows this... Sacharissa might perhaps require some explanation of the phrase, ideally with diagrams and/or an understanding member of the Seamstresses' Guild to assist. (Ah. Even as these words are written I begin to see how William, a journalist interested in words whose profession involves talking to everybody, knows the phrase. As no doubt Sacharissa will if she remains a journalist). <br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback p269)''''' Interestingly enough, in the mood of hysteria following the fire that destroyed the press , William and Sacharissa are discussing ideas to maximise revenue from the printing presses during down-time, and come up with ideas for glossy magazines. Sacharissa muses...<br />
:"Ring, yes. Now that's another thing. There are all the dwarfs in the city. We could produce a magazine for them. I mean... what's the modern dwarf wearing this season?" ({{TT}}, page 269)<br />
<br />
Is this foreshadowing either [[Bu-Bubble]] or Shatta in{{UA}}? And in {{MM}}, Gladys the feminised golem is also a devoted reader of a new ladies' magazine... here, Sacharissa also proposes a magazine tentatively called [[The Lady's Home Companion]]. Both produced by the Times? <br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback p280)''''' "Klatchian Practices" - -not so long ago, the printworkers' unions were the strongest in Britain, and if any unions justified what was otherwise a myth, and deserved to be called greedy gits who were holding the country to ransom, it was the ones who printed the papers in Fleet Street. They knew exactly how strong they were and their employers were resigned to handing out all sorts of sweeteners to ensure they just did their job and got a paper out for the next day. The consequences and lost revenue were unthinkable otherwise. Once, there was even a strike after management discovered an employee dead for three years was still on the payroll and still drawing a salary. The not unreasonable suggestion that his pay stopped now - let alone any reasonable suggestion of repaying the overpayment - was met with a wildcat strike, on the grounds that his family depended on the money, and would suffer if the pay of the deceased were to be stopped. Fleet Street and provincial printworkers also enjoyed the best sick pay in Britain - Goodmountain alludes to this when he says any man on the Inquirer's presses who goes home early with a headache gets a hundred dollars. They were finally brought to heel by stateless media mogul Rupert Murdoch (think Reacher Gilt with an Australian accent) during a protracted strike in the 1980's, aided by Thatcher's anti-union legislation and the reluctance of any other right-thinking trade unionist to go out and support a union made up, basically, of greedy selfish gits who were giving trade unionism a largely undeserved bad name. (The one set of circumstances where the printworkers' union never went on strike was if a newspaper such as the Sun or the Daily Mail was printing front-page lies about a fellow union on strike: they were implored to come out in support of the Miners' Strike but refused, and carried on print-setting anti-miner lies. So when they were in trouble, the prevalent mood of the rest of the union movement was that the printworkers could go to Hell in a handcart.) Nobody would disagree the newspapers needed reform: but today printworkers are un-unionised and powerless to resist the worst excesses of wage-cutting, arguably the state Thatcher intended for all British workers. <br />
<br />
The old excesses of Fleet Street days were known as "Spanish Practices"...<br />
<br />
'''''(Doubleday hardback p285)''''' "Privilege" just means "private law". That's ''exactly'' what it means. He just doesn't believe the ordinary laws apply to him..."<br />
<br />
Compare this to a similar dialogue on the origins and nature of privilege in Book Two of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' (see [[Reading suggestions]]).<br />
<br />
At this stage in the book, the Times' offices on Gleam Street have been effectively bombed and burned out, meaning that while the paper can still report and investigate, it has nowhere to print its findings. Compare this to one of the myriad sub-plots of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''', where the radical magazine and thorn in the flesh of the Establishment, "Confrontation", is suddenly bombed, apparently to prevent it publishing further inconvenient truths. In fact, this bombing draws in the hard-bitten cynical street coppers Goodman and Muldoon as investigators, just as in Discworld Vimes and Carrot are among the first to the wreckage of the Times printworks. Another link: ''Confrontation'''s Arab-American editor Joseph Malik kept rare Egyptian tropical fish in the office to remind him of home. These died in the bombing. The Times' Überwaldean photographer Otto Chriek kept Überwaldean land-eels, another rare fish species from Home, which were lost in the bombing... <br />
And earlier on the book, Saharissa is asked, on a scale of one to ten, exactly how much trouble she estimates they're in. William thinks eight. Sacharissa reflects and says ''two thousand, three hundred and seventeen out of ten''. 23 and 17 are the all-important continually repeating arc numbers of the '''''Illuminatus!''''' trilogy, and have a mystic significance. <br />
<br />
<br />
Also, the star of Evelyn Waugh's novel "Scoop" is a young journalist called William Boot, with strong similarities to William de Worde.<br />
<br />
<br />
"''Kings and Lords come and go and leave nothing but statues in a desert''" (HarperCollins 30).<br />
This is a reference to [[wikipedia:Percy_Bysshe_Shelley|Percy Bysshe Shelley's]] poem ''[[Wikipedia:Ozymandias|Ozymandias]]'' which tells of a statue built by 'the king of kings' yet no one remembers who this king is. It is not the kings' legacy that survive but the art they create.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Truth,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Fifth_Elephant/Annotations&diff=33972Book:The Fifth Elephant/Annotations2022-10-31T23:47:09Z<p>Superluser: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 3 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 14)'''''<br />
<br />
The character [[All Jolson]] is a play on the name of Al Jolson, a vaudeville, radio, and film entertainer of the 20th century, perhaps best known for being the star of the first sound movie, [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0018037/ ''The Jazz Singer''].<br />
<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 13 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 26)'''''<br />
<br />
"...the deep fat mines at Shmaltzberg..." Shmaltz is Yiddish for chicken fat, as well as Polish for just fat.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 29'''''<br />
<br />
Vetinari describes Überwald: ''a mystery inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma.'' This was - word for word - Winston Churchill's description of Soviet Russia in the 1940's. <br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 29 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 46)'''''<br />
<br />
"Send a [[clacks]] to our agent..."<br />
<br />
"Clacks" is obviously a play on "fax." The [[Roundworld]] counterpart of the Clacks was known as the optical telegraph or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line Semaphore Line]. Invented in the late 18th century and operated into the early 19th century before being made obsolete by electrical telegraphy, semaphore lines were used by the governments of France, Britain, and other European countries to convey vital information more rapidly than horseback riders could. Semaphore lines could only send about two words a minute, and were thus much less efficient than those of Discworld.<br />
<br />
For some interesting background reading on these real-life semaphore lines, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas Alexandre Dumas] has an incident where the protagonist deliberately interferes with the semaphore traffic in order to misdirect and corrupt messages. It is inconceivable to think that Pratchett was unaware of this scene.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 58 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 81)'''''<br />
<br />
[[Leonard of Quirm]] says of his mechanical cipher device, "I think of it as the '''E'''ngine for the '''N'''eutralizing of '''I'''nformation for the '''G'''eneration of '''M'''iasmic '''A'''lphabets...." <br />
<br />
The acronym is ENIGMA, which was the name of the mechanical cipher device used by the Germans in World War II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Enigma Machine] entry at Wikipedia.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 99'''''<br />
<br />
"There were a few rivers, their courses mostly guesswork, and the occasional town or at least the name of a town, probably put in to save the cartographer the embarrassment of filling his chart with, as they say in the trade, ''MMBU''."<br />
<br />
The Discworld version of MMFD ("Miles and Miles of F---ing Desert"). Allegedly used by RAF pilots flying in gulf regions, and popularised by ''Frederick Forsyth'''s novel ''The Fist Of God''.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p.223'''''<br />
<br />
The Dwarfish idea of the ''Jar'akh'haga''' or ''ideas taster''. Here it is Dee, later seen to be unhappily gender-confused. Interestingly, the great British comedian and nation's favourite intellectual Stephen Fry recounts being given such a job commission for upper-crust society magazine, the ''Tatler'', by its flamboyant editor Marc Boxer. In typically flowery language, Boxer explained he wanted Fry to look after the otherwise disregarded small details and see they were as right and quirky as they could be before going to print. Fry became Boxer's ''ideas-smeller'' with a roving brief to look at all aspects of the magazine as a reader would, and adjust accordingly. ('''''the fry chronicles - an autobiography''''', pp 307-310)<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 161 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 207)'''''<br />
<br />
"It's colder up here, Vimes thought. He's quicker on the uptake." [Referring to [[Detritus]].]<br />
<br />
Anachronism. In earlier books (''[[Feet of Clay]]'' and ''[[Jingo]]'') Detritus' greater intellectual ability when cold is indicated by a marked improvement in his language. For instance, in ''[[Jingo]]'' (Harper Torch US, p. 295), on a cold night in the Klatchian desert, he has lines like, "What do you want me to do with him, Mr. Vimes?" "All present and correct, sir!" and "With rather more efficiency, sir." No "deses" and "dems," etc. Yet throughout the trip to Uberwald, which is presumably colder than the desert of Klatch at night, Detritus' language never improves. <br />
<br />
But Detritus does say that he is undercover as he does not want the dwarves to know about his intelligence! NW - a neatly self-referential idea, since, as demonstrated in Maskerade, *thick* Detritus is useless at undercover work.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 222 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 281)'''''<br />
<br />
"...the Koboldean Cycle..." This epic opera of the dwarfs bears certain resemblances to Wagner's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_cycle Ring Cycle], a series of four operas, often performed over four nights, with a total running time of about 15 hours. Not quite as long as the five-week Koboldean Cycle. The eponymous Ring in Wagner's operas was forged by a dwarf named Alberich (reminiscent of [[Low King]] runner-up [[Albrecht Albrechtson]]). Kobold is a German word usually translated as "goblin." It also gives the English language the metal name ''Cobalt''. Interestingly enough, another mine-dwelling supernatural entity is called a ''nickel''.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, pp 238 - 239'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes, un-used to Igors, asks "I'm sorry? Is all your family called Igor?" to which the resident Igor serving Lady [[Margolotta]] replies "Oh yeth, thur. It avoidth confuthion".<br />
<br />
Compare this with the Monty Python "Bruces" sketch, where the newly-arrived Professor of Hobbes, Locke, Richards and Beneau is asked "That's going to cause a bit of confusion. Mind if we call you Bruce to keep it clear?"<br />
<br />
There is also a "Fish License" sketch that features the line, "Are all your pets called Eric?"<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 320, & p 410'''''<br />
<br />
"What profiteth it a kingdom if the oxen be deflated? Riddles II, v3" & "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly"<br />
<br />
An unusual number of Bible quotations in this book. Visit's sandwichboard is an adaptation of Mark 8:36, "For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?" (NRSV) & appears also as Luke 9:25 & Matthew 16:26.<br />
<br />
The saying about a dog returning to his vomit is word-for-word the King James translation of Proverbs 26:11.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, p370'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes gives an order to Detritus to fire the [[Piecemaker]]:-<br />
<br />
"Blow the bloody doors off!" Which Detritus does, not only taking out the werewolves' castle doors but also a goodly part of the frontage of the castle, which is explicitly described as being "in ruins" following a second shot of the mighty crossbow.<br />
<br />
This evokes the 1965 film, ''The Italian Job'', where bankrobbing mastermind Michael Caine upbraids his hapless gelignite man (who has just vaporised an entire security van) with the line which has passed into movie history:-<br />
<br />
'''''"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"'''''<br />
Note that Vimes, who is aware of the destructive capacity of the Piecemaker and normally forbids Detritus from using it, very deliberately omits the ''"you're only supposed to..."'' part of the line....<br />
<br />
Shortly after this, Angua greets her family for the first time in years. Two of her female relatives in the Clan, members of the ''"Freuden durch Kraft!"'' movement and faithful followers of her brother Wolfgang, are called '''Unity''' and '''Nancy'''. On Roundworld in the 1930's, there were a famous group of sisters from the English upper classes, who were notorious for effectively being groupies to assorted European dictators and despots. Unity Valkyrie Mitford was devotedly in love with Adolf Hitler and his philosophy, to the effect that she tried to blow her own brains out (such as they were) in bitter disillusionment at the onset of war. She was all prepared to live out the war as an exile in Germany, but delicate diplomatic arrangements were made to prevent something that would have been an embarrassment to all sides, (this threatened to bring the war into disrepute and make it a laughing stock, a prospect that for the one and only time brought the wartime British and German governments into full agreement) and she was returned to Great Britain via neutral intermediaries. Nancy Mitford, in common with a surprisingly large number of members of the British upper-class intelligentsia, had her own flirtation with Joseph Stalin and Soviet communism. (which must have led to some lively dinner-table conversations round at the Mitfords). Stalin was wiser and more fore-sighted than Hitler: he made sure he was out when Nancy called.(More here[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_Mitford])--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 21:52, 13 January 2008 (CET)<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, p376'''''<br />
"Well, things couldn't get any worse" he said.<br />
"Oh, they could if there were snakes on here with us" said Lady Sybil.<br />
<br />
See annotation for page 279 of [[Book:Carpe Jugulum/Annotations|Carpe Jugulum]]. Sybil has changed the setting for the "rural myth" from a coach to a sleigh.<br />
<br />
Additional comment: This is also very likely a reference to the Indiana Jones movies, where the title character throws himself into dangerous situations with aplomb, and is afraid of nothing--except snakes. But not {{wp|Snakes on a Plane|Snakes on a Plane}}, which was released some 7 years after {{TFE}}.<br />
<br />
When [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Carrot]] returns to the Watch House and passes judgement upon [[Fred Colon]]'s time as Acting-Captain, it is interesting to note in passing that the form of judgement follows the time-honoured Royal Navy ritual of "Requestmen and Defaulters". This is where the ship's captain, or in his absence the First Lieutenant, hears petitions from sailors and passes judgement on misdemeanours and disciplinary offences. The Captain's ceremonial sword is laid on the table, forming a physical barrier between judge and accused. It is there to remind the errant sailor that on board Her Majesty's Ship, all justice ultimately originates with the Monarch, who has delegated it to the Captain, via his commission, to use well and wisely. Should the case be found proven, the Captain turns the sword so that the point is directly facing the guilty party - symbolic of the Royal Justice. (We see here that both Colon and Nobbs twist and turn to "escape the accusatory point"). This piece of vivid theatre is something no sailor who has witnessed it will ever forget, and was quite possibly more salutary than the actual punishment. Carrot's eventual judgement wasn't even a reprimand, (Carrot realises that Colon was promoted way past his level of competence, which would not have happened if he, Carrot, had not put personal interests ahead of the good of the Watch, and followed the orders he was given - he was at fault too. So the whole sorry incident needed to be forgiven and forgotten as quickly as possible, and ''certainly'' before Vimes arrived home) but something Colon will in all probability take to the grave with him...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Fifth Elephant,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:The_Fifth_Elephant/Annotations&diff=33971Book:The Fifth Elephant/Annotations2022-10-31T23:46:03Z<p>Superluser: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 3 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 14)'''''<br />
<br />
The character [[All Jolson]] is a play on the name of Al Jolson, a vaudeville, radio, and film entertainer of the 20th century, perhaps best known for being the star of the first sound movie, [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0018037/ ''The Jazz Singer''].<br />
<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 13 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 26)'''''<br />
<br />
"...the deep fat mines at Shmaltzberg..." Shmaltz is Yiddish for chicken fat, as well as Polish for just fat.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 29'''''<br />
<br />
Vetinari describes Überwald: ''a mystery inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma.'' This was - word for word - Winston Churchill's description of Soviet Russia in the 1940's. <br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 29 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 46)'''''<br />
<br />
"Send a [[clacks]] to our agent..."<br />
<br />
"Clacks" is obviously a play on "fax." The [[Roundworld]] counterpart of the Clacks was known as the optical telegraph or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line Semaphore Line]. Invented in the late 18th century and operated into the early 19th century before being made obsolete by electrical telegraphy, semaphore lines were used by the governments of France, Britain, and other European countries to convey vital information more rapidly than horseback riders could. Semaphore lines could only send about two words a minute, and were thus much less efficient than those of Discworld.<br />
<br />
For some interesting background reading on these real-life semaphore lines, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas Alexandre Dumas] has an incident where the protagonist deliberately interferes with the semaphore traffic in order to misdirect and corrupt messages. It is inconceivable to think that Pratchett was unaware of this scene.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 58 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 81)'''''<br />
<br />
[[Leonard of Quirm]] says of his mechanical cipher device, "I think of it as the '''E'''ngine for the '''N'''eutralizing of '''I'''nformation for the '''G'''eneration of '''M'''iasmic '''A'''lphabets...." <br />
<br />
The acronym is ENIGMA, which was the name of the mechanical cipher device used by the Germans in World War II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Enigma Machine] entry at Wikipedia.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 99'''''<br />
<br />
"There were a few rivers, their courses mostly guesswork, and the occasional town or at least the name of a town, probably put in to save the cartographer the embarrassment of filling his chart with, as they say in the trade, ''MMBU''."<br />
<br />
The Discworld version of MMFD ("Miles and Miles of F---ing Desert"). Allegedly used by RAF pilots flying in gulf regions, and popularised by ''Frederick Forsyth'''s novel ''The Fist Of God''.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p.223'''''<br />
<br />
The Dwarfish idea of the ''Jar'akh'haga''' or ''ideas taster''. Here it is Dee, later seen to be unhappily gender-confused. Interestingly, the great British comedian and nation's favourite intellectual Stephen Fry recounts being given such a job commission for upper-crust society magazine, the ''Tatler'', by its flamboyant editor Marc Boxer. In typically flowery language, Boxer explained he wanted Fry to look after the otherwise disregarded small details and see they were as right and quirky as they could be before going to print. Fry became Boxer's ''ideas-smeller'' with a roving brief to look at all aspects of the magazine as a reader would, and adjust accordingly. ('''''the fry chronicles - an autobiography''''', pp 307-310)<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 161 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 207)'''''<br />
<br />
"It's colder up here, Vimes thought. He's quicker on the uptake." [Referring to [[Detritus]].]<br />
<br />
Anachronism. In earlier books (''[[Feet of Clay]]'' and ''[[Jingo]]'') Detritus' greater intellectual ability when cold is indicated by a marked improvement in his language. For instance, in ''[[Jingo]]'' (Harper Torch US, p. 295), on a cold night in the Klatchian desert, he has lines like, "What do you want me to do with him, Mr. Vimes?" "All present and correct, sir!" and "With rather more efficiency, sir." No "deses" and "dems," etc. Yet throughout the trip to Uberwald, which is presumably colder than the desert of Klatch at night, Detritus' language never improves. <br />
<br />
But Detritus does say that he is undercover as he does not want the dwarves to know about his intelligence! NW - a neatly self-referential idea, since, as demonstrated in Maskerade, *thick* Detritus is useless at undercover work.<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 222 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 281)'''''<br />
<br />
"...the Koboldean Cycle..." This epic opera of the dwarfs bears certain resemblances to Wagner's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_cycle Ring Cycle], a series of four operas, often performed over four nights, with a total running time of about 15 hours. Not quite as long as the five-week Koboldean Cycle. The eponymous Ring in Wagner's operas was forged by a dwarf named Alberich (reminiscent of [[Low King]] runner-up [[Albrecht Albrechtson]]). Kobold is a German word usually translated as "goblin." It also gives the English language the metal name ''Cobalt''. Interestingly enough, another mine-dwelling supernatural entity is called a ''nickel''.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, pp 238 - 239'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes, un-used to Igors, asks "I'm sorry? Is all your family called Igor?" to which the resident Igor serving Lady [[Margolotta]] replies "Oh yeth, thur. It avoidth confuthion".<br />
<br />
Compare this with the Monty Python "Bruces" sketch, where the newly-arrived Professor of Hobbes, Locke, Richards and Beneau is asked "That's going to cause a bit of confusion. Mind if we call you Bruce to keep it clear?"<br />
<br />
There is also a "Fish License" sketch that features the line, "Are all your pets called Eric?"<br />
<br />
'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 320, & p 410'''''<br />
<br />
What profiteth it a kingdom if the oxen be deflated? Riddles II, v3<br />
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly<br />
<br />
An unusual number of Bible quotations in this book. Visit's sandwichboard is an adaptation of Mark 8:36, "For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?" (NRSV) & appears also as Luke 9:25 & Matthew 16:26.<br />
<br />
The saying about a dog returning to his vomit is word-for-word the King James translation of Proverbs 26:11.<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, p370'''''<br />
<br />
Vimes gives an order to Detritus to fire the [[Piecemaker]]:-<br />
<br />
"Blow the bloody doors off!" Which Detritus does, not only taking out the werewolves' castle doors but also a goodly part of the frontage of the castle, which is explicitly described as being "in ruins" following a second shot of the mighty crossbow.<br />
<br />
This evokes the 1965 film, ''The Italian Job'', where bankrobbing mastermind Michael Caine upbraids his hapless gelignite man (who has just vaporised an entire security van) with the line which has passed into movie history:-<br />
<br />
'''''"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"'''''<br />
Note that Vimes, who is aware of the destructive capacity of the Piecemaker and normally forbids Detritus from using it, very deliberately omits the ''"you're only supposed to..."'' part of the line....<br />
<br />
Shortly after this, Angua greets her family for the first time in years. Two of her female relatives in the Clan, members of the ''"Freuden durch Kraft!"'' movement and faithful followers of her brother Wolfgang, are called '''Unity''' and '''Nancy'''. On Roundworld in the 1930's, there were a famous group of sisters from the English upper classes, who were notorious for effectively being groupies to assorted European dictators and despots. Unity Valkyrie Mitford was devotedly in love with Adolf Hitler and his philosophy, to the effect that she tried to blow her own brains out (such as they were) in bitter disillusionment at the onset of war. She was all prepared to live out the war as an exile in Germany, but delicate diplomatic arrangements were made to prevent something that would have been an embarrassment to all sides, (this threatened to bring the war into disrepute and make it a laughing stock, a prospect that for the one and only time brought the wartime British and German governments into full agreement) and she was returned to Great Britain via neutral intermediaries. Nancy Mitford, in common with a surprisingly large number of members of the British upper-class intelligentsia, had her own flirtation with Joseph Stalin and Soviet communism. (which must have led to some lively dinner-table conversations round at the Mitfords). Stalin was wiser and more fore-sighted than Hitler: he made sure he was out when Nancy called.(More here[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_Mitford])--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 21:52, 13 January 2008 (CET)<br />
<br />
'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, p376'''''<br />
"Well, things couldn't get any worse" he said.<br />
"Oh, they could if there were snakes on here with us" said Lady Sybil.<br />
<br />
See annotation for page 279 of [[Book:Carpe Jugulum/Annotations|Carpe Jugulum]]. Sybil has changed the setting for the "rural myth" from a coach to a sleigh.<br />
<br />
Additional comment: This is also very likely a reference to the Indiana Jones movies, where the title character throws himself into dangerous situations with aplomb, and is afraid of nothing--except snakes. But not {{wp|Snakes on a Plane|Snakes on a Plane}}, which was released some 7 years after {{TFE}}.<br />
<br />
When [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Carrot]] returns to the Watch House and passes judgement upon [[Fred Colon]]'s time as Acting-Captain, it is interesting to note in passing that the form of judgement follows the time-honoured Royal Navy ritual of "Requestmen and Defaulters". This is where the ship's captain, or in his absence the First Lieutenant, hears petitions from sailors and passes judgement on misdemeanours and disciplinary offences. The Captain's ceremonial sword is laid on the table, forming a physical barrier between judge and accused. It is there to remind the errant sailor that on board Her Majesty's Ship, all justice ultimately originates with the Monarch, who has delegated it to the Captain, via his commission, to use well and wisely. Should the case be found proven, the Captain turns the sword so that the point is directly facing the guilty party - symbolic of the Royal Justice. (We see here that both Colon and Nobbs twist and turn to "escape the accusatory point"). This piece of vivid theatre is something no sailor who has witnessed it will ever forget, and was quite possibly more salutary than the actual punishment. Carrot's eventual judgement wasn't even a reprimand, (Carrot realises that Colon was promoted way past his level of competence, which would not have happened if he, Carrot, had not put personal interests ahead of the good of the Watch, and followed the orders he was given - he was at fault too. So the whole sorry incident needed to be forgiven and forgotten as quickly as possible, and ''certainly'' before Vimes arrived home) but something Colon will in all probability take to the grave with him...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Fifth Elephant,The]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Talk:Wilinus_Pass&diff=33968Talk:Wilinus Pass2022-10-29T01:28:18Z<p>Superluser: /* Roundworld reference? */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div>The "W", in Überwaldean, will be pronounced like Morporkian/English "V". This makes the place sound nearly as bandit-ridden and dangerous (or villainous) as it is. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 01:38, 3 March 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Roundworld reference? ==<br />
<br />
I assume the naming takes after the capital of the Roundworld country Lithuania, Vilnius.</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Hogfather/Annotations&diff=33028Book:Hogfather/Annotations2021-11-07T22:27:29Z<p>Superluser: wistful lying</p>
<hr />
<div>== Annotations for {{H}}==<br />
<br />
* Although this is primarily a Death book, PT makes a heroic effort to get as many different characters into this "holiday special" book as possible: eg, the wizards and the Canting Crew (no witches though), as well as mentions of lands from several books (Omnia, Klatch, the Agatean Empire, etc).<br />
<br />
* "'...yes, Twyla: there is a Hogfather.'". References the 21 September 1897 New York Sun editorial, {{wp|Yes_Virginia_There_Is_A_Santa_Claus|Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus}}<br />
<br />
* The idea of a skeleton dressing in red, and giving presents during a winter holiday is also the main plot of Tim Burton's stop motion film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which the main character, Jack Skellington, the skeleton king of Halloween, becomes enthralled with Christmas, and decides to dress up as Santa Claus, or "Sandy Claws" as he is mistakenly called. Jack flies around the world, giving children his idea of Christmas presents, which being from the land of Halloween, are terrifying and dangerous.<br />
<br />
* [[Visit]]'s attitude to Hogswatch, as expressed to an uncomprehending [[Nobby Nobbs]], places the [[Omnia|Omnian]] faith very firmly in the same camp as Roundworld's Jehovah's Witnesses. The Witnesses are a Christian sect who very firmly believe that Christmas is irrelevant to Christianity and is, in fact, a pagan festival which has been slipped in by Satan to mislead and taint the Faithful and which no true believer should even ''think'' of celebrating. Similarly, the Omnians ignore Hogswatch from a similar position of supposed theological superiority. <br />
<br />
* "I spent hours with my nose pressed up against the window... until they heard me callin', and unfroze me.", possible reference to a similar scene in {{wp|A_Christmas_Story|A Christmas Story}}, where the main character gets his tongue frozen to a flagpole.<br />
<br />
* "Assault and battery included." - parodies the Roundworld phrases "assault and battery" and "batteries not included". Given the state of electrical technology on the disk, do they really have batteries? Given that the oldest ever battery thus far discovered on Roundworld is dated in the first few centuries AD (the discovery was apparently poorly documented at the time and dating has been done on the style of pottery involved, so is a little vague), it's entirely possible that crude electrochemical cells may well exist on the Discworld. Whether they'd refer to them as "batteries" is another matter. Then again, in an '''assault''' you might find a '''battery''' of crossbows.<br />
<br />
* "Come along, Mr Wizard." - possible reference to Don Herbert, popularly known as {{wp|Mr_wizard|"Mr. Wizard"}}. He was an American television personality and hosted two television shows about science aimed at children.<br />
<br />
* "+++ Why Do You Think You Are A Tickler? +++" - Hex's answers are reminiscent of {{wp|ELIZA|ELIZA}}, a 1966 computer program designed to parody a psychiatrist.<br />
<br />
* "Hex's 'Anthill Inside' sticker" - parody of {{wp|Intel_Corporation|Intel}}'s "Intel Inside" advertising campaign.<br />
<br />
* "'It's, er, beehives.' [...] It's actually amazing how much information you can store on one honeycomb." - assuming [[Granny Weatherwax]]'s theory is correct (that all bees are part of a larger [[Swarm]]), Hex may've tapped into a very large and powerful source of information.<br />
<br />
* "Mousse de la Boue dans une Panier de la Pate de Chaussures [...] It's not our fault if even Quirmians don't understand restaurant Quirmian [...] Brodequin roti Facon Ombres [...] Languette braisse [...] Sole d'une Bonne Femme [...] Servis dans un Coulis de Terre en I'Eau [...] Cafe de Terre" - Quirmian appears to be the Discworld equivalent of {{wp|French|French}}.<br />
<br />
* "Reverse thaumaturgy, yes, certainly." - a reference to {{wp|Reverse_engineering|Reverse engineering}}<br />
<br />
* "'There are magic wardrobes,' said Violet nervously. 'If you go into them, you come out in a magic land.'" - a reference to C.S. Lewis' {{wp|The_Lion%2C_The_Witch%2C_And_The_Wardrobe|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe}}<br />
<br />
* The events of this book take place between {{IT}} and {{TLC}}, meaning that [[Rincewind]] is just starting his survival course on [[XXXX]]. Oddly, the Librarian doesn't ask Death/the Hogfather for Rincewind's safe return (it's less surprising that no one else remembers Rincewind -- in {{TLC}}, Ridcully repeatedly has to be reminded that Rincewind is a person, not a type of cheese).<br />
<br />
* The square root of 27.4 is very nearly 5.2345<br />
<br />
* "EQUALS 17,857 TONS." - one of the frequent [[57]] references in TP's work<br />
<br />
* ''Non Timetus Messor'' - the family motto of the extended Death clan. On p375, (Corgi paperback edition), Susan and Jonathan Teatime have an intense discussion as to the ''good taste'' or otherwise of such a family motto.<br />
<br />
* "This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, "Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?" When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, "We're going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts..." " -- This is a send-up of {{wp|Pascal's Wager|Pascal's wager}}, named after the Quirmian, I mean French, mathematician and philosopher {{wp|Blaise Pascal|Blaise Pascal}}.<br />
<br />
* ''Wistful Lying'' seems to be a play on words. Normally wouldn't be worth noting but the usual phrase is "Wishful thinking," where "wishful" is saying something about the future, while "wist" is properly the past participle of "wit," & fits well with the theme of understanding the past to bring it into the present.<br />
<br />
== [[Roundworld]] References ==<br />
<br />
Direct references to [[Roundworld]]:<br />
<br />
* {{wp|Old_Faithful|Old Faithful}}, a geyser<br />
* The {{wp|Copacabana_%28nightclub%29|Copacabana}}, a New York nightclub, also mentioned in the Barry Manilow song of the same name<br />
* {{wp|Valium|Valium}}, brand name for diazepam, a drug used to treat anxiety<br />
* The {{wp|Anthropic_principle|anthropic principle}}<br />
* ''Non Timetus Messor'' - the family motto of the extended Death clan. This is, of course, the titler of the best-known song by Gothic rockers and thinking man's heavy rock band the [[Blue Öyster Cult]], '''''Don't Fear The Reaper'''''. An extended scene between Susan and an (unseen) Death on page 19 appears to act out the last verse of the song, albeit with a twist at the end - she is ''not'' especially inclined to run to Him, nor to take His hand and fly away...<br />
<br />
(Page references are to the Corgi paperback edition, pp14-19)<br />
<br />
''The door burst open and a wind appeared;''<br />
<br />
"The candle flame was streaming out horizontally, as though in a howling wind" (p15)<br />
<br />
''The candle blew and then disappeared;''<br />
<br />
"She looked up. The curtains billowed away from the window, which-<br />
<br />
-flung itself open with a clatter.<br />
But there was no wind. At least, no wind in this world."<br />
<br />
''The curtains flew, and then He appeared.... saying "Don't be afraid"''<br />
<br />
But Susan is bloody annoyed rather than afraid, and she certainly doesn't run to him, nor take his hand...<br />
<br />
"Oh no, not AGAIN. not after all this time, Everything had been going so well-"<br />
<br />
What deters Death from manifesting and completing the verse is the inopportune appearance of Susan's charge [[Twyla]], who wants her to get rid of a monster. It is clear from the context of the above that Death is in the vicinity and wants to see his grand-daughter. Perhaps this is a professional call to collect the soul, or nearest equivalent, from the spider-like monster which Susan then despatches with a poker, just to prove a point to Twyla... Death must then have thought better of manifesting to an angry grand-daughter with attitude and a poker. But the above is almost exactly as per the song...<br />
<br />
Susan returns to bed, bitterly thinking "So they were coming back", and tries to ignore the long thread of wax that suggested the candle had, for just a few seconds, streamed in an otherwise non-existent wind, as mandated by [[Narrative Causality]]...<br />
<br />
Tacticus is clearly Tactics+Tacitus, but I can't get rid of the idea it's also an oblique reference to the military leader Caratacus, famously called Caractacus in the Major-General's Song.<br />
<br />
p.99 The wren song sounds a lot like "[https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?songid=4719 Please to See the King]" a carol in which carolers dress a wren in finery & carry it from house to house asking for alms for the king (the wren).<br />
<br />
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/hogfather.html ''Hogfather'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Annotations|Hogfather/Annotations]]</div>Superluserhttp://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=Book:Hogfather/Annotations&diff=33015Book:Hogfather/Annotations2021-11-01T18:08:17Z<p>Superluser: the wren</p>
<hr />
<div>== Annotations for {{H}}==<br />
<br />
* Although this is primarily a Death book, PT makes a heroic effort to get as many different characters into this "holiday special" book as possible: eg, the wizards and the Canting Crew (no witches though), as well as mentions of lands from several books (Omnia, Klatch, the Agatean Empire, etc).<br />
<br />
* "'...yes, Twyla: there is a Hogfather.'". References the 21 September 1897 New York Sun editorial, {{wp|Yes_Virginia_There_Is_A_Santa_Claus|Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus}}<br />
<br />
* The idea of a skeleton dressing in red, and giving presents during a winter holiday is also the main plot of Tim Burton's stop motion film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which the main character, Jack Skellington, the skeleton king of Halloween, becomes enthralled with Christmas, and decides to dress up as Santa Claus, or "Sandy Claws" as he is mistakenly called. Jack flies around the world, giving children his idea of Christmas presents, which being from the land of Halloween, are terrifying and dangerous.<br />
<br />
* [[Visit]]'s attitude to Hogswatch, as expressed to an uncomprehending [[Nobby Nobbs]], places the [[Omnia|Omnian]] faith very firmly in the same camp as Roundworld's Jehovah's Witnesses. The Witnesses are a Christian sect who very firmly believe that Christmas is irrelevant to Christianity and is, in fact, a pagan festival which has been slipped in by Satan to mislead and taint the Faithful and which no true believer should even ''think'' of celebrating. Similarly, the Omnians ignore Hogswatch from a similar position of supposed theological superiority. <br />
<br />
* "I spent hours with my nose pressed up against the window... until they heard me callin', and unfroze me.", possible reference to a similar scene in {{wp|A_Christmas_Story|A Christmas Story}}, where the main character gets his tongue frozen to a flagpole.<br />
<br />
* "Assault and battery included." - parodies the Roundworld phrases "assault and battery" and "batteries not included". Given the state of electrical technology on the disk, do they really have batteries? Given that the oldest ever battery thus far discovered on Roundworld is dated in the first few centuries AD (the discovery was apparently poorly documented at the time and dating has been done on the style of pottery involved, so is a little vague), it's entirely possible that crude electrochemical cells may well exist on the Discworld. Whether they'd refer to them as "batteries" is another matter. Then again, in an '''assault''' you might find a '''battery''' of crossbows.<br />
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* "Come along, Mr Wizard." - possible reference to Don Herbert, popularly known as {{wp|Mr_wizard|"Mr. Wizard"}}. He was an American television personality and hosted two television shows about science aimed at children.<br />
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* "+++ Why Do You Think You Are A Tickler? +++" - Hex's answers are reminiscent of {{wp|ELIZA|ELIZA}}, a 1966 computer program designed to parody a psychiatrist.<br />
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* "Hex's 'Anthill Inside' sticker" - parody of {{wp|Intel_Corporation|Intel}}'s "Intel Inside" advertising campaign.<br />
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* "'It's, er, beehives.' [...] It's actually amazing how much information you can store on one honeycomb." - assuming [[Granny Weatherwax]]'s theory is correct (that all bees are part of a larger [[Swarm]]), Hex may've tapped into a very large and powerful source of information.<br />
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* "Mousse de la Boue dans une Panier de la Pate de Chaussures [...] It's not our fault if even Quirmians don't understand restaurant Quirmian [...] Brodequin roti Facon Ombres [...] Languette braisse [...] Sole d'une Bonne Femme [...] Servis dans un Coulis de Terre en I'Eau [...] Cafe de Terre" - Quirmian appears to be the Discworld equivalent of {{wp|French|French}}.<br />
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* "Reverse thaumaturgy, yes, certainly." - a reference to {{wp|Reverse_engineering|Reverse engineering}}<br />
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* "'There are magic wardrobes,' said Violet nervously. 'If you go into them, you come out in a magic land.'" - a reference to C.S. Lewis' {{wp|The_Lion%2C_The_Witch%2C_And_The_Wardrobe|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe}}<br />
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* The events of this book take place between {{IT}} and {{TLC}}, meaning that [[Rincewind]] is just starting his survival course on [[XXXX]]. Oddly, the Librarian doesn't ask Death/the Hogfather for Rincewind's safe return (it's less surprising that no one else remembers Rincewind -- in {{TLC}}, Ridcully repeatedly has to be reminded that Rincewind is a person, not a type of cheese).<br />
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* The square root of 27.4 is very nearly 5.2345<br />
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* "EQUALS 17,857 TONS." - one of the frequent [[57]] references in TP's work<br />
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* ''Non Timetus Messor'' - the family motto of the extended Death clan. On p375, (Corgi paperback edition), Susan and Jonathan Teatime have an intense discussion as to the ''good taste'' or otherwise of such a family motto.<br />
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* "This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, "Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?" When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, "We're going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts..." " -- This is a send-up of {{wp|Pascal's Wager|Pascal's wager}}, named after the Quirmian, I mean French, mathematician and philosopher {{wp|Blaise Pascal|Blaise Pascal}}.<br />
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== [[Roundworld]] References ==<br />
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Direct references to [[Roundworld]]:<br />
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* {{wp|Old_Faithful|Old Faithful}}, a geyser<br />
* The {{wp|Copacabana_%28nightclub%29|Copacabana}}, a New York nightclub, also mentioned in the Barry Manilow song of the same name<br />
* {{wp|Valium|Valium}}, brand name for diazepam, a drug used to treat anxiety<br />
* The {{wp|Anthropic_principle|anthropic principle}}<br />
* ''Non Timetus Messor'' - the family motto of the extended Death clan. This is, of course, the titler of the best-known song by Gothic rockers and thinking man's heavy rock band the [[Blue Öyster Cult]], '''''Don't Fear The Reaper'''''. An extended scene between Susan and an (unseen) Death on page 19 appears to act out the last verse of the song, albeit with a twist at the end - she is ''not'' especially inclined to run to Him, nor to take His hand and fly away...<br />
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(Page references are to the Corgi paperback edition, pp14-19)<br />
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''The door burst open and a wind appeared;''<br />
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"The candle flame was streaming out horizontally, as though in a howling wind" (p15)<br />
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''The candle blew and then disappeared;''<br />
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"She looked up. The curtains billowed away from the window, which-<br />
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-flung itself open with a clatter.<br />
But there was no wind. At least, no wind in this world."<br />
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''The curtains flew, and then He appeared.... saying "Don't be afraid"''<br />
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But Susan is bloody annoyed rather than afraid, and she certainly doesn't run to him, nor take his hand...<br />
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"Oh no, not AGAIN. not after all this time, Everything had been going so well-"<br />
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What deters Death from manifesting and completing the verse is the inopportune appearance of Susan's charge [[Twyla]], who wants her to get rid of a monster. It is clear from the context of the above that Death is in the vicinity and wants to see his grand-daughter. Perhaps this is a professional call to collect the soul, or nearest equivalent, from the spider-like monster which Susan then despatches with a poker, just to prove a point to Twyla... Death must then have thought better of manifesting to an angry grand-daughter with attitude and a poker. But the above is almost exactly as per the song...<br />
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Susan returns to bed, bitterly thinking "So they were coming back", and tries to ignore the long thread of wax that suggested the candle had, for just a few seconds, streamed in an otherwise non-existent wind, as mandated by [[Narrative Causality]]...<br />
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Tacticus is clearly Tactics+Tacitus, but I can't get rid of the idea it's also an oblique reference to the military leader Caratacus, famously called Caractacus in the Major-General's Song.<br />
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p.99 The wren song sounds a lot like "[https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?songid=4719 Please to See the King]" a carol in which carolers dress a wren in finery & carry it from house to house asking for alms for the king (the wren).<br />
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[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/hogfather.html ''Hogfather'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]<br />
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[[Category:Annotations|Hogfather/Annotations]]</div>Superluser