The Annotated Pratchett File, v4.0, part 1 of 2
soren--Ms. Jackson if you're nasty
PYRAMIDS
> [ Can someone give me information about when 'Gormenghast' was written? ]
The late forties and early fifties. I'm told there's a new edition out,
with some fairly substantial additions to the third book *Titus Alone*.
>ERIC
>- [p. 21] The book Eric uses to summon his demon has the title
> "Mallificarum Sumpta Diabolicite Occularis Singularum", or the Book of
> Ultimate Control. But note the initials.
While I wouldn't say that I exactly *know* Latin, I can say with a fair
degree of confidence that *Mallificarum Sumpta...* does NOT translate to
anything close to *The Book of Ultimate Control*.
MOVING PICTURES
>+ [p. 28] "'[...] what is the name of the outer-dimensional monster whose
> distinctive cry is 'Yerwhatyerwhatyerwhat'?' 'Yob Soddoth,' said Ponder
> promptly."
Also a blatant H.P. Lovecraft reference, to Yog Sotheth(?). I don't know
Lovecraft well at all, except that YS is one of his many supernatural
nasties.
--
"From your signature it is obvious that you are a homosexual"
soren f petersen : i AM NOT : --Doc
spet...@peruvian.utah.edu : THE university OF utah :
"How could I dance with another/When I saw him standing there" --Tiffany
Leo Breebaart
Last-modified: 1992/11/05 21:21:28
Version: 4.0
Maintained-by: Leo Breebaart (l...@ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
*** Welcome to the Annotated Pratchett File! ***
--- What's all this, then?
"This" is the Annotated Pratchett File (or APF for short).
Discussions in alt.fan.pratchett have made it clear that sometimes people
are not 'getting' all of the jokes and references in Terry Pratchett's
work. If you have never read Tolkien, you won't know when he's parodying
Tolkien. If you are American, you might not understand some of the
typically British references. And so on.
This file is an ongoing attempt to document and explain some of these
references, so that we might all enjoy Terry's books even more than we
already do.
Where appropriate, this file also incorporates selected passages from
articles that Terry himself has posted to alt.fan.pratchett. As an active
contributor to the group he often provides us with inside information on
many aspects of his writing, and it would be a waste to let this first-hand
knowledge just disappear into the vacuum of Usenet history. The APF tries
to preserve all the interesting bits of Terry's postings, as far as they
deal with his writing.
Instructions on how to obtain the latest version of the APF appear near the
very end of this file, by the way.
--- Great idea, this APF; how can I help?
Glad you asked. Input from a.f.pratchett and all other readers is the only
thing that is going to make the APF grow into something truly useful, and
earn it its pretentious 'annotated' claim. You can mail your explanations
to:
leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl
if you want to be sure I see them, but I scan a.f.pratchett as well, so
just mentioning something in an article on the net should also work fine.
--- So, didya notice that "Cohen the Barbarian" is a pun on "Conan the
Barbarian"?
In the first versions of the APF, I had the following answer to this
question:
"No kidding. But let's try to avoid explaining the blindingly obvious,
shall we? Now if Cohen, on page 98 of "The Light Fantastic" did something
hilariously similar to what Conan did in a 1957 issue of "Conan Comics" --
that would be something else."
In retrospect an unfortunate paragraph, which has caused more than 90 % of
the submissions I get to start out with: "This is probably too obvious,
but...".
The fact is simply that everybody has different (and sometimes *vastly*
different, believe me) ideas of what is trivial and what is obscure. So
please just keep sending me everything that might warrant inclusion, no
matter how glaringly obvious you think it is, and leave it to me to make
the decision on whether to actually include it or not -- that's what I'm
editor for.
--- Will you get on with it, already?
Ok, ok. Here are the annotations I have collected so far. Note that I am
merely editor of this stuff: most of it has been supplied by or stolen from
various Usenet correspondents. All the credits are theirs; all typos and
other mistakes are mine. Page numbers refer to whatever version of the book
in question I happen to have. Use them as a rough estimate. A '+' prefixes
all new or non-trivially expanded/changed entries; a '-' prefixes all other
entries.
Be aware that the information below by its very nature contains many
SPOILERS, so read the APF only if you're sure you don't care about that.
***************************************************************************
THE COLOUR OF MAGIC
- [p. 9] The two barbarians, Bravd and Weasel, are parodies of Fritz
Leiber's classic fantasy heroes Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. However, Ankh
Morpork is *not* derived from Leiber's similar sounding city Lankhmar
from the same series. Terry says: "Bravd and the Weasel were indeed
takeoffs of Leiber characters -- there was a lot of that sort of thing in
TCOM. But I didn't -- at least conciously, I suppose I must say --
create Ankh-Morpork as a takeoff of Lankhmar. Originally it was just
Morpork, then Ankh just sounded nice..."
Finally, the name "Ankh Morpork" also does not have anything to do with
the Australian and New Zealandian birds (a species of frogmouth and a
small brown owl, respectively) that go by the name of 'Morepork'.
+ [p. 12] "Since the Hub is never closely warmed by the weak sun the lands
there are locked in permafrost. The Rim, on the other hand, is a region
of sunny islands and balmy days."
A presumeably knowledgeable source tells me that actually, if you do the
calculations, it turns out that it would be the other way around (on
average, the sun is closer to the hub than the rim, so the hub would be
warmer).
- [p. 18] The inn called 'The Broken Drum' gets burned down in this book.
The later Discworld novels all feature an inn called 'The Mended Drum'.
The novel STRATA contains (on p. 35) an explanation of why you would
call a pub 'The Broken Drum' in the first place: "You can't beat it".
- [p. 24] Terry has this to say about the name 'Twoflower': "[...] there's
no joke in Twoflower. I just wanted a coherent way of making up 'foreign'
names and I think I pinched the Mayan construction (Nine Turning Mirrors,
Three Rabbits, etc)."
+ [p. 44] "Reflected-sound-of-underground-spirits"
Incredible as it may seem, there are quite a few people who do not
understand this cryptification of 'economics', even though Terry explains
it himself on p. 71: 'echo-gnomics'. Some of the confusion perhaps arises
because we don't associated gnomes with spirits, as in: ghosts. But I
think Terry here simply means spirits (as in: souls) living underground,
with the emphasis on the word 'underground'.
- [p. 117] "I'LL GET YOU YET, CULLY, said Death [...]"
Death is addressing Rincewind here, so the use of what looks like another
name is confusing. Terry explains: "Cully still just about hangs on in
parts of the UK as a mildy negative term meaning variously 'yer bastard',
'man', 'you there' and so only. It's quite old, but then, Death is a
history kind of guy."
- [p. 169] After Rincewind and Twoflower escape from the Wyrmberg they are
flying a dragon one moment and a modern jetliner the next.
Clearly they have been "translated to another plane" (the last few
paragraphs of that section seem to support this theory). Note also the
"powerful travelling rune TWA" appearing on the Luggage: Trans *World*
Airlines.
- [p.171] 'Zweiblumen' is the literal German translation of 'Twoflower'.
'Rjinswand', however, is merely something that was intended to *sound*
Scandinavian -- it is not a word in any language known to the readers of
alt.fan.pratchett.
THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
- [p. 7] The philosopher Ly Tin Weedle makes two other cameo appearances in
Discworld novels, once in a MORT footnote on p. 24, and once in
SOURCERY, on p.212.
+ [p. 8] Many people have commented on the last name of the 304th
Chancellor of Unseen University: Weatherwax, and asked if there is a
connection with Granny Weatherwax. In LORDS AND LADIES, Terry supplies
the following piece of dialogue (on p. 161) between Granny and
Archchancellor Ridcully as an answer:
"There was even a Weatherwax as Archchancellor, years ago," said
Ridcully.
"So I understand. Distant cousin. Never knew him," said Granny.
- [p. 37] "Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper."
From the first Arnold Schwarzenegger "Conan the Barbarian" movie: "Conan!
What is good in life?" "To crush your enemies, drive them before you,
and to hear the lamentation of the women." This quote, in turn, is lifted
more or less verbatim from an actual conversation Genghis Khan is
supposed to have had with his lieutenants.
+ [p. 153] The idea of a peculiar little shop that appears, sells the most
peculiar things, and then vanishes again first appears in short story by
by H. G. Wells, called "The Magic Shop".
EQUAL RITES
+ For an explanation of the 'Liber Paginarum Fulvarum' mentioned in the
dedication, see the not for p. 262 of GOOD OMENS. The "dumb redheads
in Fifties' sitcom" refers to Lucille Ball.
+ A central theme of this book (as well as of the other witch Discworld
novels is the contrast between on one side the (female) witches or
wiccans, who are in touch with nature, herbs, and headology, and on the
other side the (male) wizards who are very ceremonial and use elaborate,
mathematics-like tools and rituals. This conflict rather closely mirrors
a long-standing feud between occult practicioners in our real world. (And
all the infighting within each camp occurs in real life, as well.)
My source for this also mentions that Pratchett's witches, especially,
are obvious stereotypes of the kinds of people one can run into at wiccan
festivals.
+ [p. 45] "'I've seen the thundergods a few times,' said Granny, 'and
Hoki, of course.'"
The name Hoki derives from 'hokey' in combination with the Norse god
Loki. The description of Hoki is pure Pan, however.
+ [p. 80] "If broomsticks were cars, this one would be a split-window
Morris Minor."
A Morris Minor is a British car that non-Brits might be familiar with
through the TV Series "Lovejoy". In that series, Lovejoy's car 'Miriam'
is a Morris Minor. For the rest of you, here's a description:
Imagine a curvaceous jelly-mould in the shape of a crouching rabbit, like
Granny used to use. Turn it open-side-down and fit four wheels, near the
corners. On the rabbit's back build a cabin, with picture windows and a
windscreen in two parts at an angle to each other. Add turn indicators
consisting of little arms which flip out of the body at roof level, just
behind the doors. Furnish the cabin in a post-War austerity style, and
power the result with a 1935 vintage 850cc flat four engine pulling about
30bhp. In its day, in 1948, this was the height of desirability - so much
so that for its first few years it was only available for export.
Even in the Nineties, a fair number of Moggies are still going, err,
strong. You can actually pay a couple of thousand pounds for a good one
which works, because they're so easy to maintain. And the split-screen
ones are very definitely collectors' items.
+ [p. 122] "'Yes, that's it,' said Treatle. 'Alma mater, gaudy armours
eagle tour and so on.'"
Treatle refers here to an old student's (drinking) song, which goes back
at least as far as Brahms's Academic Festival Overture (it's the last
melody), and is still in use at many universities where it gets sung
during graduation ceremonies. The actual lyrics are:
"Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus.
Post iucundam iuventutem,
Post molestam senectutem,
Nos habebit humus, nos habebit humus."
Which roughly translates to:
"Let us be merry, therefore, whilst we are young men.
After the joys of youth,
After the pain of old age,
The ground will have us, the ground will have us."
+ [p. 133] The maid at the Unseen University is called Ksandra, which puns
on Troy's Cassandra; but also refers to Sandra being yet another typical
'Tracey/Sharon' sort of name in England. See also the entry for p. 117
of PYRAMIDS.
+ [p. 143] "[...] the Creator hadn't really decided what he wanted and was,
as it were, just idly messing around with the Pleistocene."
Obviously refers to the Pleistocene geologic era (a few dozen million
years or so ago), but also to Plasticine, a brand name that has become
(at least in Britain and Australia) a generic name for the modeling clay
children play with.
+ [p. 163] Some folks thought they recognized the duel between Granny
Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle from T. H. White's description of
a similar duel in his "Arthur, the Once and Future King" (also depicted
as a very funny fragment in Disney's "The Sword and the Stone", which was
an animation film based on this book. However, Terry says:
"The magical duel in Equal Rites is certainly not lifted from T H White.
Beware of secondary sources. Said duel (usually between a man and a
woman, and often with nice Freudian touches to the things they turn into)
has a much longer history; folkies out there will probably know it as the
song The Two Magicians."
MORT
[ WHAT?? Only *one* annotation for the entire MORT? People, you succeeded
so beautifully in coming up with EQUAL RITES annotations when I asked you
for those in the previous APF version. Let's try to repeat that now for
MORT. Your homework for next month is to find me some cool MORT
annotations. I will be awaiting your input anxiously. ]
+ [p. 183] "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards because a refusal often
offends, I read somewhere."
Ysabell probably read one part of this in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings"
where we find (in "The Fellowship Of The Ring", Book One, Chapter III)
that Gildor Inglorion the High Elf says: "Do not meddle in the affairs of
wizards because they are subtle and quick to anger". The other part she
got from a sign often seen in British pubs: "Do not ask for credit,
because a refusal often offends".
SOURCERY
- [p. 122] "'It looks like someone has taken twice five miles of inner city
and girded them round with walls and towers,' he hazarded."
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Xanadu": "So twice five miles of fertile
ground / With walls and towers were girded round".
+ [p. 122] 'Sherbet' is an oriental cooling drink as well as a fizzy sweet
powder children eat as a sweet, and which comes in a cardboard tube with
a liquorice 'straw' at the top. To get to the sherbet you bite off the
end of the liquorice and suck through it. [ Somewhere in "Sourcery" I
believe there is an actual reference to the liquorice straw, but I
couldn't find it. Anybody? ]
- [p. 125] "My name is Creosote, Seriph of Al Khali, [...]"
Ok, lessee: Creosote puns on the proverbially rich Croesus (king of Lidya
(which lies in what now is Turkey) in the 6th century BC), 'Serif' is a
typography term which also puns on 'caliph', and 'Al Khali' is pronounced
'alkali' (just covering all the bases here, as my original source put
it).
- [p. 126] Creosote's poetry is all based on Edward Fitzgerald's
translation of the "Rubayat" of Omar Khayyam (probably the third edition
-- each of the six or so translations Fitzgerald published is very
different, even to the point of different rhyme schemes). The poem
parodied on this page goes:
"A book of verses underneath the bough
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou"
+ [p. 126] The hashishim as the "original Assassins".
From "The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (a
19th century book, still in print today:
"Assas'sins. A band of Carmathians, collected my Hassa, subah of
Nish'apour, called the Old Man of the Mountains, because he made Mount
Leb'anon his stronghold. This band was the terror of the world for two
centuries, when it was put down by Sultan Bib'aris. The assassins
indulged in haschisch (bang), an intoxicating drink, and from this liquor
recieved their name."
For more info, see also the Hawkwind song "Hassan I Sabbah" on their
album "Quark, Strangeness and Charm".
Finally, Terry has this to say on the subject of reference books:
"I've got Brewers, of course, and if I need an instant reference it's a
handy book. He also did a 'Reader's Companion' which is even better. But
Ebenezer is only the tip of an iceberg of similar books, of which the
Victorians were very fond."
- [p. 129] "Get up! For the morning in the cup of day, / Has dropped the
spoon that scares the stars away."
The "Rubayat":
"Awake! for morning in the bowl of night / Hath flung the stone that
puts the stars to flight."
+ [p. 132] "The Seriph's palace, known to legend as the Rhoxie, [...]" No
connection to the original Croesus here, but rather to the Alhambra, the
palace of the Emirs of Granada in 15th century Spain. As Terry says:
"Incidentally, the Seriph's palace, the Rhoxie, is indeed a 'resonance'
with the Alhambra -- a famous Moorish palace which became a synonym for
an impressive building, and later became a common cinema name as in Odeon
and, yes, Roxy."
- [p. 141] "Nijel the Destroyer" may be a suitably heroic-looking name, but
'Nijel' is of course pronounced as 'Nigel', a name that is traditionally
associated with wimpy rather then heroic guys.
+ [p. 162] "He asked me to tell him a story."
This is the first, but not the last time in the book that Creosote
asks Conina for a story. This refers to 1001 Nights, and the stories
Sheharazade had to tell to *her* Caliph each night.
- [p. 167] "'I'm looking up the Index of Wandering Monsters', said Nijel."
'Wandering Monsters' is a phrase that comes from the world of fantasy
roleplaying games such as "Dungeons and Dragons", and it more or less
means just what you think it means. Nijel is of course exactly the type
of nerd who would, in our world, actually play D&D.
- [p. 215] Significant Quest --> Trivial Persuit.
+ [p. 259] "For a moment the ape reared against the darkness, the shoulder,
elbow and wrist of his right arm unfolding in a poem of applied leverage,
and in a movement as unstoppable as the dawn of intelligence brought it
down very heavily."
This is a rather subtle reference to the scene with the bone and tapir
skull in the "Dawn of Man" portion of Kubrick and Clarke's movie "2001: A
Space Oddysey".
WYRD SISTERS
- This whole novel brims with Shakespearian references, to the Scottish
Play and Hamlet in particular (the three witches, the blood that won't
come off, the king's ghost, etc.). Some of the more striking references
are documented below, but the list is far from exhaustive.
- Throughout the book, Hwel the Playwrite suffers from flashes of
inspiration that come from plays and movies in our world. Most of these
references are easy to understand (Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel
and Hardy, etc.), and need not be listed here. Three entries that seem to
me (slightly) less obvious are documented in this section.
- [p. 36] The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered At All.
Terry invented the song; he has *not* written any complete words to it;
but many fans (including a folk singer called Heather Wood) have; and
there *did* turn out to exist an old Oxford drinking song that also uses
the key phrase of the hedgehog song. See the end of this file for one
documented version of that song. Terry pleads parallel evolution, and
observes that: "There is a certain, how shall I put it, natural cadence
to the words."
- [p. 58] The play's subtitle: "Please Yourself" probably refers to
Shakespeare's "As You Like It".
- [p. 60] "It was the cats and the rollers skates that were currently
giving him trouble..."
Refers to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals "Cats" and "Starlight
Express".
+ [p. 75] "A faint glow beyond the frosted panes suggested that, against all
reason, a new day would soon dawn."
The first scene of the first act of Shakespeare's Hamlet starts at
midnight, and describes a scene lasting about fifteen minutes -- yet the
act ends at dawn. Likewise, the summoning of WxrtHltl-jwlpklz the demon
takes place at night, but ends with the quote given above.
- [p. 133] "'I have no recollection of it at this time,' he murmured."
Duke Felmet is echoing the words of Richard Nixon during the Watergate
affair. [ But I'm still looking for definite confirmation of this
annotation. Anybody? ]
- [p. 142] "Greebo's grin gradually faded, until there was nothing left but
the cat, This was nearly as spooky as the other way round."
Refers to the Cheshire cat in Lewis Caroll's "Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland", who is famous for slowly vanishing until only the grin
remains.
- [p. 158] "[...] the hero had been born in a handbag"
The protagonist in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance Of Being Earnest" was
found as a baby in a handbag.
- [p. 160] The Dysk. The famous theatre build by Shakespeare & Co. was
called "The Globe".
- [p. 193] "1ST WITCHE: He's late. (Pause)" [Etc.]
Refers to Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot".
+ [p. 213] "I'd like to know if I could compare you to a summer's day.
Because -- well, June 12th was quite nice, and ..."
One of Shakespeare's more famous sonnets (known simply as sonnet XVIII,
because he didn't name them) starts out:
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate"
PYRAMIDS
- [p. 14] The Young Men's Reformed-Cultists-of-the-Ichor-God-Bel-Shamharoth
Association puns on our world's YMCA youth hostels. YMCA stands for Young
Men's Christian Association.
- [p. 17] Djelibeybi. A pun on the sweets called Jelly Babies.
- [p. 20] On the subject of the Assasin's Guild School, Terry has this to
say: "Yes, the whole setup of the Assassins Guild school has, uh, a
certain resonance with Rugby School in "Tom Brown's Schooldays" (note to
Americans: a minor Victorian classic of school literature which no-one
reads anymore and which is probably now more famous for the first
appearance of the Flashman character subsequently popularised by George
MacDonald Fraser)."
+ [p. 50] The legend of Ankh Morpork being founded by two orphaned brothers
who had been found and suckled by a hippopotamus refers to the the legend
of Romulus and Remus who were two orphaned brothers found and suckled by
a wolf, and who later went on to found Rome.
- [p. 95] Pteppic's dream about the seven fat and seven thin cows is a
reference to the Bible's Joseph's, who had to explain a similar dream
(which did not have the bit about the trombone, though), to the Pharaoh.
"Pyramids" is of course riddled with religious references, most of which
are too obvious or too incomplete to warrant inclusion here.
+ [p. 117] Ptraci. Should be pronounced with a silent 'p'. Note also that
in England the name Tracey (Sharon, too) is often used to generically
refer to the kind of girl immortalized in the "dumb blonde" jokes.
The stereotype may have arisen because of Keith Waterhouse who has been
using the names for many years in his Daily Mail columns to represent
typical innumerate rude shop assistants. There also exists an adult
satirical comic called Viz which features two characters called 'the Fat
Slags' whose names are Sharon and Tracy. Etcetera...
- [p. 127] Notice the sound accompanying the pyramid flares. It
phonetically spells "Cheops".
+ [p. 156] "[...] distilling the testicles of a small tree-dwelling species
of bear with the vomit of a whale, [...]"
Until not so long ago, animal substances were extensively used as
fixatives in perfume. Examples include musk (from deer-testicles;
'musk' is Sanskrit for 'scrotum'), ambergris (from the intestines
of whales) and castor (from a beaver's perineal gland).
+ [p. 157] "...Phi* 1700[u/v]. Lateral e/v. Equals a tranche of seven to
twelve..."
Some confusion has arisen here, because the symbol '*' is the same
asterisk used in at least some of the editions of "Pyramids" as a
footnote marker. This has caused a few people to wonder if there's a
'missing footnote' intended for this page. Matters are not helped much by
the fact that the American paperback edition *does* contain the text of a
footnote on (their equivalent of) p. 157. This footnote is simply
misplaced and the marker for it occurs on the *previous* page (see also
previous annotation).
We'll let Terry have the last word in order to remove any remaining doubt:
"I'm pretty sure the missing footnote in Pyramids doesn't exist. If it's
what I'm thinking of, we just bunged in loads of gibberish maths and
among the symbols was, yes, '*'."
- [p. 176] The philosophers shooting arrows at tortoises are discussing
their own special version of Zeno's paradox, involving Achilles and a
Tortoise. See also Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach". Or Zeno.
+ [p. 179] Philosophers' names. Xeno refers to Zeno, of aforementioned
paradox. Copolymer ("the greatest storyteller in the history of the
world") refers to both Homer (because of the name) and Herodotus ("the
father of history"), who was known for his very chatty and discursive
style, and who basically made his living as a story-teller/dinner guest.
Pthagonal ("a very acute man with an angle") refers to Pythagoras. Iesope
("the greatest teller of fables") to Aesop. Antiphon ("the greatest
writer of comic plays") to Aristophanes. And Ibid is actually short for
ibidem, which means, when citing literature references, to mean 'same
author as before'. Hence: "Ibid you already know".
The only one left is Endos the Listener, who is perhaps meant to portray
the standard second-man-in-a-socratic-dialogue -- the man who spends the
entire dialogue saying things like "That is correct, Socrates", "I agree",
"you're right", "your reasoning appears correct", and the like.
Also, an 'antiphon' is a name for a versicle or sentence sung by one
choir in response to another (e.g. in a comic play: "No you can't /
Yes I can!" repeated many times with rising pitch.
[ Finally, my source also suspects that Copolymer's monologue may be a
take off on a particular translation of the "Histories". Anybody?]
- [p. 197] The Tsortean wars refer to the Trojan wars (read also ERIC. Or
Homer.)
+ [p. ???] "Go tell the Ephebians..."
This is a parody of "Go tell the Spartans...", which is the beginning
of the memorial for the Spartan soldiers who got massacred by the Persians
at Thermopylae as a result of Greek treachery. The full quote is
given by Simonedes (5th century BC) as:
"Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by,
That here obedient to their laws we lie"
[ Can someone find the page number for me? ]
+ It has been remarked that there are quite a few parallels between the
country of Djelibeybi and the castle of Gormenghast as described by
Mervyn Peake in his Gormenghast trilogy (which we know Terry has read
because in another Discworld novel he compares the Unseen University to
Gormenghast). The hero of Gormenghast, Titus, also has a mother with a
cat obsession, and his father died because he thought he was an owl.
Furthermore, the atmosphere of decay, ancient history and unchanging
ritual pervades both Djelibeybi and Gormenghast, with in both cases the
presence of arbiters of tradition who are almost (or more) powerful than
the actual ruler.
[ Can someone give me information about when 'Gormenghast' was written? ]
ERIC
- [p. 21] The book Eric uses to summon his demon has the title
"Mallificarum Sumpta Diabolicite Occularis Singularum", or the Book of
Ultimate Control. But note the initials.
+ [p. 41] The name of the Tezumen god, 'Quetzovercoatl', puns on
the actual Aztec god 'Quetzalcoatl'.
- [p. 51] Ponce da Quirm, looking for the Fountain of Youth is a pun on
Ponce de Leon, the 15th century Spanish nobleman who did the same.
- [p. 75] Lavaeolus is not only a dog-latin translation of 'Rincewind', but
the character is also a parody of Ulysses, tragic hero of the Trojan
wars.
GUARDS! GUARDS!
Many references to well-known detective novel and cop action movies here.
+ [p. 48] The motto of the Night Watch: "FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC" is dog-latin
for "Make my day, punk", a well-known Clint Eastwood quote. Notice also
that the translation Terry supplies ("To protect and to serve") is
actually the motto of the Los Angeles Police Force.
My source also tells me that Hollywood writers and directors,
notoriuos for the accuracy of their movies and TV shows, tend to have
*all* police cars bear this motto. In a sort of reverse formation,
this caused some individual police forces across the USA to adopt
it, so that the motto by now has become fairly wide-spread.
- [p. 94] "'Just give me the facts, m'lady,' he said impatiently."
"Just the facts, ma'am", is a famous quote from the Dragnet TV series
(later a Dan Ackroyd/Tom Hanks movie).
- [p. 104] "Pour encourjay lays ortras".
Discworld version of the well-known French phrase "pour encourager les
autres". The phrase originates with Voltaire who, after the British
executed their own admiral John Byng in 1757 for failing to relieve
Minorca, was inspired to write (in Chapter 23 of "Candide"), a sentence
that translates to: "in this country we find it pays to shoot an admiral
from time to time to encourage the others".
- [p. 104] The bit about the hero killing a monster in a lake, only to have
the monster's mum come right down the hall the next day and *complain*,
is a reference to Grendel and his mother, two famous monsters appearing
in the Beowulf saga.
- [p. 108] "Once you've ruled out the impossible then whatever is left,
however improbable, must be the truth. [...] There was also the curious
incident of the orangutan in the night-time ..."
This paraphrases a famous piece of Sherlock Holmes dialogue found in the
story "Silver Blaze" [and it perhaps also refers to Edgar Allan Poe's
"The murders in the Rue Morgue". Terry??].
- [p. 124] "This is Lord Mounjoy Quickfang Winterforth IV, the hottest
dragon in the city. It could burn your head clean off."
Vimes replays here one of the best-known scenes in Clint Eastwood's first
Dirty Harry movie.
- [p. 257] The scene where Errol's supersonic boom smashes the dragon out
of the air is possibly lifted from another Clint Eastwood movie,
"Firefox".
MOVING PICTURES
This one has uncountable references to classic Hollywood movies and
anecdotes.
- Terry actually meant for Gaspode to die at the end of the book, but his
editors/publishers/beta-readers made him reconsider.
- People have noticed that the two femme fatales of this novel are called
Ginger and Ruby, both names signifying a red color. Terry Pratchett says
that he did *not* intend this as a reference to Gone With The Wind's
Scarlett.
- Instead, Ruby got her name because like all trolls she needed a mineral
name. Ginger got her name because Terry wanted to use the Fred Astaire
quote (see two notes further) about her partner, and so Ginger was an
obvious choice for the leading lady's name.
- [p. 15] Archchancellor Ridcully's wizard name is 'Ridcully the Brown'. In
Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" there's a (relatively) minor wizard called
'Radagast the Brown', who was also very well in tune with nature, and
definitely of the "roams-the-high-forest-with-every-beast-his-brother"
type. Talked to the birds, too.
+ [p. 28] "'[...] what is the name of the outer-dimensional monster whose
distinctive cry is 'Yerwhatyerwhatyerwhat'?' 'Yob Soddoth,' said Ponder
promptly."
Yob soddoth should be pronounced: "Yob sod off". 'Sod off' is a British
form of 'piss off', and Yob is an old term now almost entirely synonymous
to the phrase "English football supporter" (apparantly Mark Twain once
said: '"hey are not firt to be called boys they should be called yobs").
[ I would appreciate some more info on the 'yerwhatyerwhatyerwhat'
phrase. Obviously, it denotes the stereotypical conversation of the
English football supporter (Terry also uses it in "Only You Can Save
Mankind"), but I fail to really understand it.
+ [p. 28] "Tshup Aklathep, Infernal Star Toad with A Million Young"
In this scene, Ponder and Victor are studying the 'Necrotelicomnicon'.
See note for p. 145 of MOVING PICTURES for the Lovecraft connection.
One of the entities in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos is Shub-Niggurath, The
Goat with a Thousand Young. ("The Black Goat of the Woods with a
Thousand Young" is the full, but less common, title).
+ [p. 29] Victor Tugelbend's university career, with his uncle's will
and all, shows suspicious parallels to a similar situation described
in Roger Zelazny's (highly recommended) novel "Doorways in the Sand".
[ I had noticed this when I first read MOVING PICTURES, but thought
the reference was too unlikely and too obscure to warrant inclusion.
Since then *two* other people have pointed it out to me... ]
- [p. 34] Movie producer Thomas Silverfish is directly modeled on movie
mogul Samuel Goldwyn, whose real name was Samuel Goldfish. Many
well-known Goldwyn quotes are repeated (in one form or another) by
Silverfish throughout the book ("you'll never work in this town again",
"include me out", etc.).
- [p. 41] "No-one would have believed, in the final years of the Century of
the Fruitbat, that Discworld affairs were being watched keenly and
impatiently by intelligences greater than Man's, or at least much
nastier; that their affairs were being scrutinised and studied as a man
with a three-day appetite might study the All-You-Can-Gobble-For-A-Dollar
menu outside Harga's House of Ribs..."
This paragraph is a word-by-word parody of H. G. Wells' "War of the
Worlds", which begins with:
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century
that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences
greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied
themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and
studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might
scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of
water.
[ The Jeff Wayne musical album "War of the Worlds" also contains a
slightly abbreviated narration of this paragraph. It is not known which
of the two Terry used as a source. ]
- [p. 47] "Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a sword a little".
Refers to the quote "Can't act. Can't sing. Can dance a little" about
Fred Astaire, reputedly said by a studio-executive after Fred's first
screen test.
- [p. 62] "[...] Victor fights the dreaded Balgrog".
In Tolkien you can find a very nasty monster called a Balrog.
- [p. 67] Ginger's real name is Theda Withel, which probably refers to
Theda Bara, famous movie star of the 1920's, a kind of Elvira, Mistress
of the Dark, avant la lettre ('Theda Bara' is an anagram of 'Arab
Death'!). Her portrayal of evil women in movies like "The Blue Flame" and
"Kiss Of A Vampire" caused the current meaning of the word 'Vamp' to be
added to the English language.
+ [p. 69] The resograph built by Riktor the Tinkerer. Terry says: "The
reality meter in Moving Pictures is loosely based on a Han dynasty (2nd
Century AD) seismograph; a pendulum inside the vase moves and causes one
of eight dragons to spit a ball in the direction of the tremor."
Also, the name 'Riktor' probably refers to our 'Richter', of the
earthquake scale.
- [p. 132] Film studio names. Untied Alchemists is United Artists. Fir Wood
Studios is Pinewood Studios. Microlithic Pictures is Paramount (tiny rock
vs. big mountain), and Century Of The Fruitbat is Twentieth Century Fox.
Terry says: "I've already gone electronically hoarse explaining that
Floating Bladder Productions was just picked out of the air [...]"
- [p. 145] We learn that on the Discworld, the "Necrotelecomnicom" (see
also the entry for p. 262 of "Good Omens") was written by Klatchian
necromancer Achmed the Mad, although he preferred to be called Achmed the
I Just Get These Headaches. In real life, horror author H. P. Lovecraft
tells us of the evil book "Necromnicon", written by the mad Arab Abdul
al-Hazred.
+ [p. 148] "'It's fifteen hundred miles to Ankh-Morpork,' he said. 'We've
got three hundred and sixty elephants, fifty carts of forage, the
monsoon's about to break and we're wearing... we're wearing... sort of
things, like glass, only dark... dark glass things on our eyes...'"
A well-known qoute from the "Blues Brothers" movie, right near the
beginning, just after Jake gets out of jail, and Elwood comes to pick him
up:
"It's a hundred and sixty miles to Chicago, we've got half a tank of gas,
a packet of cigarettes, it's the middle of the night and we're wearing
sunglasses. Lets go!" [note missing ']
"We're 106 miles from Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack
of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it!" While
we're at it, Elwood only says the part up to "...sunglasses.". It's
_Jake_ who says "Hit it!".
[ Editor's note: this is incredible. I got two quotes from two different
people who both sounded *very* sure of themselves, yet the quotes are
almost completely different. And notice how each provides a convincing
detail about that last 'Hit It/Lets Go' part... Please, somebody tell me
which is the correct quote]
- [p. 164] "'In a word -- im-possible!' 'That's two words,' said Dibbler"
Another Goldwyn quote: "I can tell you in two words: im-possible."
- [p. 235] "Twopence more and up goes the donkey!"
Terry explains: "[...] In Moving Pictures and Reaper Man a lot of use is
indeed made of, god help me, Victorian street sayings that were the
equivalent of 'sez you'. 'Tuppence more and up goes the donkey', a
favourite saying of Windle Poons, comes from the parties of strolling
acrobats who'd carry their props on a donkey. They'd make a human
pyramid and collectors would go around with the hat declaring that
'tuppence more and up goes the donkey' as well. But the donkey never got
elevated because, of course, the collectors always needed 'tuppence
more'."
- [p. 249] The climactic scene of the novel is not only a king-kong
reversal spoof. Terry says the 50 ft woman also refers to the protagonist
from the 1958 movie "Attack Of The 50 Ft. Woman".
+ [p. 255] "YOU BELONG DEATH, he said."
This is based on Boris KArloff's final words in "Bride of Frankenstein":
"We belong death".
- [p. 266] Detritus hitting the gong in the underground theatre refers to
the Rank Organization's man-with-the-gong trademark, which Rank used at
the front of each film just as Columbia used the Statue of Liberty and
MGM used the roaring lion.
+ [p. 276] "'Uselessium, more like,' murmured Silverfish."
The paragraph where this quote occurs of course describes how Silverfish
discovers the Diskworld equivalent of Uranium. In this light, it may be
interesting to recall that before he became a full-time writer Terry
Pratchett worked as press officer for nuclear powerstations.
- As far as the giant statue is concerned, and the running gag about it
reminding everyone of their uncle Oswald or Osric etc.: the nickname
"Oscar" for the Academy Awards statuette supposedly originated with one
of the secretaries involved in the organization saying that the statue
looked like her uncle Oscar. [People have also been mentioning Bette
Davis as a source. Does anybody *really* know the Straight Dope on
this?]
- I am not going to attempt listing the correspondences between the click
names in MOVING PICTURES and their movie counterparts in our world --
even I have better things to do, and most of them are not particularly
difficult to understand. If somebody else supplies me with a nice,
complete list, though...
REAPER MAN
- The 'Bill Door' sections of this novel have many parallels with classic
Westerns, e.g. "High Plains Drifter".
- [p. 9] Azrael is not a reference to Gargamel's cat in the Smurfs. Rather,
they are both references to the Islamic Angel of Death, the last creature
to die.
+ [p. 16] "The pendulum is a blade that would have made Edgar Allan Poe
give it all up and start again as a stand-up comedian [...]"
Refers to Poe's famous story "The Pit and the Pendulum".
+ [p. 35] 'Senior Wrangler' is the title of the top maths graduate at
Cambridge University. Apparantly, in maths, those who get firsts are
called Wranglers, seconds are senior optimes, and thirds are junior
optimes.
- [p. 87] "Who is he going to call! *We're* the wizards around here".
A reference to the catchphrase from the movie "Ghostbusters".
+ [p. 94] "Or sporting a Glad To Be Gray badge"
'Glad To Be Gay' was the well-known slogan from the Gay Liberation movement,
a decade or so ago (as well as the title of an excellent Tom Robinson song).
[ I know this reference, but was this slogan British, American or both?]
+ [p. 95] The names of the Fresh Start Club members.
Count Notfaroutoe refers to Count Nosferatu, but for the life of me I
can't recall who that was. Anybody? Furthermore I am pretty sure
'Lupine' is the French word for wolf. Ixolite somehow makes me think
of some kind of fuel, or am I reaching here?
+ [p. 97] "Every full moon I turn into a wolfman. The rest of the time
I'm just a ... wolf."
There is a fantasy short story by a famous author [somehow Larry Niven
comes to mind. Anybody?] that has exactly the same idea for a punchline.
+ [p. 129] "LAST YEAR SOMEONE GOT THREE STREETS AND ALL THE UTILITIES."
The game "Exclusive Posessions" refers of course to Monopoly.
- [p. 138] "especially if they *do* let the younger wizards build whatever
that blasted thing is they keep wanting to build in the squash court."
This is a reference to the fact that the first nuclear reactor, built by
Enrico Fermi, was indeed erected on a squash court.
- [p. 179] "Remember -- wild, uncontrolled bursts..."
From the movie 'Aliens': "Remember -- short, controlled bursts...". This
entire section is filled with action-movie references ("Yo!"), but
'Alien/Aliens' seems to have been a particularly fruitful target. Many
quotes and events have direct counterparts: "Yeah, but secreted from
what?", "No one touch *anything*", "It's coming from *everywhere*!", "We
are *going*", are only a few examples, and of course there is the matter
of the Queen...
+ [p. 226] "'I'm just going out,' he said. 'I may be some time.'"
A quote that Terry uses again in another, similar situation. See
the annotation for SMALL GODS, [p. 170].
+ [p. 226] The idea of a were-man and were-woman who fall in love, but
whose animal and human phases are out of sync with respect to each other
was the main plot element in the fantasy movie "Ladyhawk", starring
Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer.
+ [p. 232] "*YES*"
In the hardcover edition of REAPER MAN, this super-large word appears
on a left page, so that it takes the reader by surprise as she turns the
page. In the paperback edition this is not the case, thus spoiling the
effect a bit. Terry says: "Do you really think I'm some kind of dumbo to
miss that kind of opportunity? I wrote 400 extra words to get it on a
left-hand page in the hardcover -- then Corgi shuffled people in the
production department when it was going through and my careful
instructions disappeared into a black hole. Go on...tell me more about
comic timing..."
The American paperback edition, by the way, also gets it right.
- [p. 235] "To deliver a box of chocolates like this, dark strangers drop
from chairliffs and abseil down buildings."
A reference to a UK TV commercial for 'Milk Tray' chocolates, in which a
James Bond like figure does death-defying stunts, only to leave a box of
chocolates in some place where a woman finds them at the end of the ad.
- [p. 235] "'DARK ENCHANTMENTS', he said. I *LIKE* IT."
A reference to a brand of chocolates called Black Magic.
+ [p. 237] "'Chap with a whip got as far as the big sharp spikes last week,'
said the low priest."
Refers to the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movies, in which Indiana Jones
(with trademark whip) always steals stuff from sacred temples loaded with
spikes, big rolling balls, and nasty insects.
+ [p. 246] "'And who was that masked man?' They both looked around. There
was no one there."
Refers to the Lone Ranger.
WITCHES ABROAD
- [p. 42] The section dealing with dwarves (and in fact, almost
*everything* Pratchett writes about dwarves) is a parody of Tolkien's
dwarves. In particular, compare the witches' musings on mine entries and
invisible runes to Tolkien's scenes outside Moria. Dwarf bread is a
direct reference to Tolkien's elven bread. And as the witches leave the
dwarves, they have an encounter with a wretched creature mumbling
something about his birthday...
- [p. 75] The names the witches are considering for themselves are puns on
existing airline companies or their acronyms. Nanny Ogg starts to say
"Virgin Airlines", but is rudely interrupted by a gust of wind.
- [p. 79] "What does cojones mean?"
'Cojones' is Spanish for balls. The whole 'Thing with the Bulls' section
spoofs the annual bull running festival of Pamplona in our world. Ernest
Hemingway was very impressed with this macho activity, and used the word
'cojones' to describe the bravery displayed by the young men
participating in the event.
- [p. 122] The farmhouse landing on Nanny Ogg, and the subsequent events
involving dwarfs looking for ruby-colored boots are references to The
"Wizard of Oz" stories.
- [p. 134] "Not a Ronald in sight"
Terry says: "Yep...direct use of existing East London rhyming slang there
(Richard the Third = turd)."
+ [p. 201] Casanunda, "the world's greatest lover", refers to our world's
Casanova. Notice that Casanova is often roughly pronounced as
"Casanover" (emphasis on the 'over'), and that Casanunda is a dwarf.
Actually, Casanunda is lying, because we later find out he's only the
world's *second* greatest lover. But this should not surprise us, since
even later (in LORDS AND LADIES) we also find out that he is an
Outrageous Liar.
- [p. 218] "The maiden, the mother and the crone."
Traditionally, the wiccan (see EQUAL RITES notes) goddess is indeed
viewed as the triple entity maiden/mother/crone, and our witches indeed
echo this model. Neil Gaiman also often uses the tripple godess in the
"Sandman" series.
- [p. 252] "Nanny kicked her red boots together idly. 'Well, I suppose
there's no place like home,' she said".
Another "Wizard of Oz" reference (kicking her boots together three times
and saying that sentence invokes the spell that transports Dorothy home
from Oz).
+ [p. 252] "But they went the long way, and saw the elephant."
This bit is apparantly borrowed from Fritz Leiber's Hugo award winning
novelette "Gonna Roll The Bones" (which title inspired the Rush
album "Roll The Bones").
[ I'd like more precise info on this. We know that Terry reads Leiber,
so this is entirely possible, but I myself have never read this
particular Leiber story, so I don't know just where the similarity lies. ]
SMALL GODS
+ [p. 8] The name 'Brutha' is of course pronounced as a jive-ified
'brother'.
- [p. 9] Brother Nhumrod's name is an obvious pun on the man's sexual
problems.
- [p. 12] The Cenobiarch. This title is presumably derived from "Arch" (as
in -bishop) and "Cenobite". A cenobite is a "member of a religious order
following a communal way of life".
- [p. 23] "De Chelonian Mobile [...] The Turtle Moves"
This whole theory parodies Galileo Galilei's struggle to get his theory
of a moving earth (around the sun, that is) accepted by the Christian
church.
- [p. 85] Terry Pratchett translates the book title "Ego-Video Liber
Deorum" here as "Gods: A spotter's guide". Actually, the latin translates
more literally as "The I-Spy book of gods". I-spy books are little books
for children with lists of things to look out for. When you see one of
these things you tick a box and get some points. When you get enough
points you can send off for a badge. They have titles like "The I-Spy
book of birds" and "The I-spy book of cars".
- [p. 110] "[...] if Xeno the Ephebian said, 'All Ephebians are liars --'"
This is the famous Liar's paradox, originally involving Epimenides the
Cretan.
- [p. 112] A running gag in the book is the penguin associated with Patina,
the Goddess of Wisdom. This refers to Minerva/Pallas Athena, who was the
roman/greek goddess of wisdom, and whose symbol was an owl.
- [p. 115] The name Didactylos translates as "Two-fingers". In England a
slightly milder from of "giving someone the finger" consists of extending
two fingers downward in a reversed 'V for Victory' sign. The origin of
this rude gesture dates back to the battle of Agincourt.
+ [p. 118] "Candidates for the Tyrantship were elected by the placing of
black or white balls in various urns, thus giving rise to a well-known
comment about politics."
That comment probably being: "it's all a load of balls".
- [p. 121] "Nil Illegitimo Carborandum" is dog latin for "Don't let the
bastards grind you down".
+ [p. 122] Urn's name is a reference to the old joke:
Q: "What's a Greek urn?"
A: "About $2,50 an hour!"
Or, as the Goon Show put it:
- "What's a Greek urn?"
- "It's a vase made by Greeks for storing liquid"
- "I wasn't expecting that answer"
- "Neither were quite a few smart-alec listeners"
- [p. 128] "Worried, eh? Feeling a bit Avis Domestica? Cluck-cluck?"
Avis Domestica = latin name for chicken.
- [p. 130] "'Ah,' said Didactylos. 'Ambi-sinister?' 'What?' 'He means
incompetent with both hands,' said Om."
Ambidextrous means able to use both hands equally well. 'dextr-' is the
prefix meaning "right" as in "right hand". 'sinistr-' is the prefix
meaning "left". Hence: ambisinister == having two left hands.
+ [p. 132] "Aristocrates' 'Platitudes'"
Aritocrates = Aristotle + Socrates.
- [p. 138] Didactylos carrying a lantern and living in a barrel are
references to Diogenes, famous philosopher who is reputed to have done
the same.
+ [p. 162] "'Life in this world,' he said, 'is, as it were, a sojourn
in a cave.'"
This paragraph is a very loose parody of a famous Socratic dialogue in
Plato's "Republic", Book VII. I quote (and edit down a bit) from
"Labyrinth of Reason" by William Poundstone, p. 203:
"Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth
open toward the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been
from childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot
move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from
turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a
distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way,
like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over
which they show the puppets.
[...] and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another,
which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave? [...] And of the
objects which are being carried in like manner they would see only the
shadows? [...] And if they were able to converse with one another, would
they not suppose they were naming what was actually before them? [...] To
them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the
images."
- [p. 162] "Go on, do Deformed Rabbit ...it's my favourite."
Reference to the art of making shadow animals with your hands, as
described on p. 36 of "Moving Pictures": "'Mainly my uncle did "Deformed
Rabbit"', said Victor. 'He wasn't very good at it, you see.'"
- [p. 166] Didactylos' anecdote about the royal road to learning parodies a
similar one told about Aristotle and Alexander the Great.
- [p. 170] "'I'm just going out,' said Brutha. 'I may be some time.'"
Brutha here repeats the last words of Captain Oates, who walked out in a
blizzard on Scott's unsuccessful Antarctic expedition, in order to try and
save food for the remaining expedition members. He was never seen again.
It didn't work.
- [p. 232] "I don't know what effect it's going to have on the enemy, he
thought, but it scares the hells out of me."
Paraphrases a comment made by the Duke of Wellington immediately before
the Battle of Waterloo, about his own troops.
- [p. 241] "It was a million-to-one chance, with any luck."
Refers back to a running gag in GUARDS! GUARDS!, but one that Terry used
as early as EQUAL RITES: million-to-one chances come up one in ten times,
on the average.
- [p. 244] "When you have their full attention in your grip, their hearts
and minds will follow."
'Testiculos' does not quite translate as 'full attention'.
- [p. 255] Could the name Fasta Benj possibly be derived from "Faster, Ben
Johnson"?
+ [p. 262] The home of the Gods at the top of Cori Celesti, is referred to
as "Dunmanifestin" on several places in the Discworld novels [I am trying
to chase the earliest appearance. Anyone?] This is not only a reference
to the many British placenames that begin with 'Dun' (a Gaelic word
meaning castle or fort and hence town) but also a reference to the
supposedly traditional name for a twee retirement bungalow in the
suburbs. When people (especially the bourgeous middle classes) retire to
the suburbs, they always, according to the stereotype, give the house
some 'cute' punning name. Since the Dun/Done association is well-known,
one of the more common names (though it is a matter of discussion if
anyone has ever actually seen a house with this name) is 'Dunroamin' -
that is "Done Roaming" - i.e. the owners of the house have finished
"travelling the world" (sic) and are now settled down to a life of the
Daily Mail, golf and coffee mornings. From this, we get that a retirement
home for gods not possessing much taste, might just be named
"Dunmanifestin".
- [p. 270] "REMIND ME AGAIN, he said, HOW THE LITTLE HORSE-SHAPED ONES
MOVE".
Refers back to a joke on p. 12 of SOURCERY, where we are told that
Death dreads playing symbolic last chess games because "he could never
remember how the knight was supposed to move".
- There is a rumour going round that there was to be a crucifixion scene at
the end of this book but that the publishers made Terry take it out. To
quote Terry on this: "Crucifiction in Small Gods: this is a familiar
thing to me, a DW 'fact' that's gone through several retellings.
Nothing's been taken out of SG, or put in, and there was no pressure to
do either"
LORDS AND LADIES
+ [p. 178] "Quite a lot of trouble had once been caused in Unseen
University by a former Archchancellor's hat, [...]"
Refers back to the events in SOURCERY.
+ [p. 180] "Jane's All the World Siege Weapons"
'Jane's' is a well known series of books/catalogues for military
equipment of all sorts and types. There is a Jane's for airplanes,
for boats, etc.
+ [p. 216] "[...] the only other one ever flying around here is Mr Ixolite
the banshee, and he's very good about slipping us a note under the door
when he's going to be about."
If you haven't read REAPERMAN yet, you may not realize that the reason
why Mr Ixolite slips notes under the door is that he is the only banshee
in the world with a speech impediment.
***************************************************************************
[ Here end the first part of the APF. The second part was posted at
the same time, don't miss it. ]
--
Leo Breebaart (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
--
Leo Breebaart (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
John Francis
>THE COLOUR OF MAGIC
>
>- [p.171] 'Zweiblumen' is the literal German translation of 'Twoflower'.
> 'Rjinswand', however, is merely something that was intended to *sound*
> Scandinavian -- it is not a word in any language known to the readers of
> alt.fan.pratchett.
Could we have "intended to sound Scandinavian (or Dutch - opinions differ)"?
The last time I brought this up there seemed to be more people who felt
that 'Rjinswand' was meant to sound Dutch than felt it was meant to sound
Scandinavian. Oddly enough the most emphatically-held views were held by
Dutch and Scandinavian posters, some of who were convinced that nobody
could possibly think that 'Rjinswand' sounded in the least bit Dutch*
Has Terry pronounced on this, or is this still just an intelligent guess?
* Or Scandinavian.
--
John Francis jo...@apollo.hp.com
with 9 cats to feed, I don't have time to think up a clever .sig
Chris Waters
The section entitled, "The Lure of the Wyrm," bears more than a passing
resemblance to the world created by the popular writer, Anne McAffrey in
her _Dragon<xxx>_ books (Dragonflight, etc.). The character "Liessa" is
obviously based on McAffrey's character "Lessa", and other dragonriders
have names with exclamation points in them, e.g. "Lio!rt", while most of
McAffrey's dragonriders have names with apostrophes in them, e.g. "F'lar".
--
Chris Waters | the insane don't | "Don't you boys know NICE songs?"
xt...@netcom.COM| need disclaimers | -- Joe's mama
Paul S. Winalski
In article <1992Nov6.0...@hellgate.utah.edu>,
speterse%peruvian.c...@cs.utah.edu writes:
|>
|>MOVING PICTURES
|>
|>
|>>+ [p. 28] "'[...] what is the name of the outer-dimensional monster whose
|>> distinctive cry is 'Yerwhatyerwhatyerwhat'?' 'Yob Soddoth,' said Ponder
|>> promptly."
|>
|>Also a blatant H.P. Lovecraft reference, to Yog Sotheth(?). I don't know
|>Lovecraft well at all, except that YS is one of his many supernatural
|>nasties.
That's Yog-Sothoth. Indeed one of the chief supernatural nasties in H. P.
Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos". See especially the novel The Dunwich Horror.
--PSW
Smile! Cthulhu loathes you!
Keith Jackson
In article <anno1_7...@ph.tn.tudelft.nl>, l...@unseen.u.A-M.edu (Leo Breebaart) writes:
>Archive-name: annotated-pratchett
>Last-modified: 1992/11/05 21:21:28
>Version: 4.0
>Maintained-by: Leo Breebaart (l...@ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
>
> Count Notfaroutoe refers to Count Nosferatu, but for the life of me I
> can't recall who that was. Anybody? Furthermore I am pretty sure
> 'Lupine' is the French word for wolf. Ixolite somehow makes me think
> of some kind of fuel, or am I reaching here?
>
is shown as having very long fingers from the odd clips I've seen on the
TV.
Lupine is from the latin lupus - a wolf - and is an English adjective
meaning wolf-like. Bovine is the equivalent for cattle, porcine for pigs
etc.
**********************************************************
* Keith Jackson - kjac...@cix.compulink.co.uk *
* - 2:250/41...@fidonet.org *
* -90:104/10...@nest.ftn *
**********************************************************
* Rock testing is a smashing job. *
**********************************************************
Leo Breebaart
> >- [p.171] 'Zweiblumen' is the literal German translation of 'Twoflower'.
> > 'Rjinswand', however, is merely something that was intended to *sound*
> > Scandinavian -- it is not a word in any language known to the readers of
> > alt.fan.pratchett.
>
> Could we have "intended to sound Scandinavian (or Dutch - opinions differ)"?
>
> The last time I brought this up there seemed to be more people who felt
> that 'Rjinswand' was meant to sound Dutch than felt it was meant to sound
> Scandinavian. Oddly enough the most emphatically-held views were held by
> Dutch and Scandinavian posters, some of who were convinced that nobody
> could possibly think that 'Rjinswand' sounded in the least bit Dutch*
I base the annotation on the fact that it says *in the book itself*
that Rjinswand is Swedish. Why would Terry come up with a Swedish
character and then give him a name that was intended not to sound
Scandinavian, but Dutch? Note that I don't doubt that to some
'Rjinswand' actually does sound Dutch, but I see no reason to change
the annotation unless some more hard evidence becomes available.
Philippa Hogben
posting _and_ mail failed on Friday). I hope it works _this_ time......
- [p. 115] The name Didactylos translates as "Two-fingers". In England a
slightly milder from of "giving someone the finger" consists of extending
two fingers downward in a reversed 'V for Victory' sign. The origin of
this rude gesture dates back to the battle of Agincourt.
I kept expecting somebody else to mention something about this otherwise
I'd have spoken up sooner. In the "two finger" gesture, the fingers are
extended upwards not downwards. The "reversed 'V for Victory' sign"
description refers to the fact that inthe 'V for Victory' sign, the palm
is facing towards the audience whereas in the "offensive" gesture the palm
faces towards the gesturer.
Hope this helps, keep up the good work 8-)
[I am getting really frustrated by this mailer and news-server not sending
this reply]
[While I am at it, I think the film you are looking for in the OYCSM
annotation is "the Last Starfighter"]
Philippa
---
Philippa Hogben p...@eng.cam.ac.uk (Reverse if mailing from Janet)
Any mistakes are mine, all mnie.
I am not a .sig virus. I am a free bug.
Mats hrman
>+ [p. 95] The names of the Fresh Start Club members.
> Count Notfaroutoe refers to Count Nosferatu, but for the life of me I
> can't recall who that was. Anybody? Furthermore I am pretty sure
> 'Lupine' is the French word for wolf. Ixolite somehow makes me think
> of some kind of fuel, or am I reaching here?
Nosferatu is another well-known movie vampire from an early German
film by a famous director whose name I unfortunatly cannot remember
right now :-(. The joke is that he is more of the pure monster, not
the haughty noble. Sort of a working-class vampire...
>+ [p. 97] "Every full moon I turn into a wolfman. The rest of the time
> I'm just a ... wolf."
> There is a fantasy short story by a famous author [somehow Larry Niven
> comes to mind. Anybody?] that has exactly the same idea for a punchline.
Peter David, over at r.a.comics (and the writer of Hulk and X-factor)
has written a novel, "Howling Mad" on this subject.
--
_
Mats Ohrman E-mail: ma...@lysator.liu.se.se
Andrew KUCHLING
especially if you have the rhyming ability of a brick.
At the dance, Mrs. Flitworth partially recalls a saying "Corn be ripe,
Leaves be brown, petticoats up..." Funny enough as it is; but when, in a
lecherous mood, I recited the line to my SO, she completed it with
"...and trousers down!" She thought of it because there is a school chant in
(possibly) Blackadder IV which ends "<something>, trousers down, life is
such a scream."
Andrew Kuchling
fn...@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca
Using come-on lines out of Discworld books... maybe I _do_ need therapy...
Michael J. Hennebry
Yours truly didn't catch on. He read The Colour of Magic before reading
any of Anne McCaffrey's stuff.
--
Mike henn...@plains.NoDak.edu
"I myself have had to change banks having filled the first one up."
Terry Pratchett
John Francis
>jo...@apollo.hp.com (John Francis) writes:
>>
>> Could we have "intended to sound Scandinavian (or Dutch - opinions differ)"?
>>
>that Rjinswand is Swedish. Why would Terry come up with a Swedish
>character and then give him a name that was intended not to sound
>Scandinavian, but Dutch? Note that I don't doubt that to some
>'Rjinswand' actually does sound Dutch, but I see no reason to change
>the annotation unless some more hard evidence becomes available.
Why indeed? THe question is, did Terry really come up with a Swedish character?
If you really want to split hairs, what it says in the book is something like
"Dr. Rjinswand, a bachelor, aged 33, born in Stockholm, raised in New Jersey .."
(I don't have the books in the office, so the wording may not be exactly right).
I am well aware of this. I still contend, however, that even faced with this
sentence in isolation significant numbers of British readers will assert that
Dr. Rjinswand is Dutch, not Swedish. As there is no hard evidence that Terry
did, indeed, intend Rjinswand to sound Swedish, and as opinions are divided
on this issue, I suggested compromise wording for the annotation.
You are, of course, free to include what annotations you want.
(As you succinctly put it: "its *my* APF so there").
But I'm sure you don't believe I'm a minority of one - as you yourself pointed
out the first time this subject was raised you got multiple mail messages which
claimed Rjinswand was a Dutch name. That in itself should warrant inclusion
the four little words I suggested. Consider how it looks from our perspective.
What would you do if you came across the wording in a Dutch novel:
"Arthur Pettegrew, .. born in Lisbon, raised in Philadelphia, . . ."
Wouldn't you suspect that Arthur Pettegrew might be British?
Now how would you feel if I (being British myself), pointed out that there is
no way Arthur Pettegrew could be British because we don't spell it that way -
the correct spelling if he were British would be "Pettigrew".
Leo Breebaart
> "Dr. Rjinswand, a bachelor, aged 33, born in Stockholm, raised in
> New Jersey .." (I don't have the books in the office, so the
> wording may not be exactly right).
>
> I am well aware of this. I still contend, however, that even faced
> with this sentence in isolation significant numbers of British
> readers will assert that Dr. Rjinswand is Dutch, not Swedish.
Ok, I give up. It's the age-old discussion about author's intent vs.
reader's interpretation all over again, of course.
I still feel that you have no case for saying that Terry's *intent*
was to make the name sound Dutch. And we'll never find out unless we
ask him.
But you are right in saying that an apparantly rather common
*interpretation* is that it sounds Dutch, and that this interpretation
might as well be mentioned in the APF.
> You are, of course, free to include what annotations you want. (As
> you succinctly put it: "its *my* APF so there").
Just for the record: I had already changed the entry as per your
suggestion after your first article on the subject. It's just that I'm
always game for a little spirited discussion, especially on trivial,
unresolveable Matters of Interpretation.
Graeme Griffiths
>- [p. 115] The name Didactylos translates as "Two-fingers". In England a
> slightly milder from of "giving someone the finger" consists of extending
> two fingers downward in a reversed 'V for Victory' sign. The origin of
> this rude gesture dates back to the battle of Agincourt.
I know the APF is getting large but would it be prudent to actually
explain the origins of the trusty two-fingered salute. I expect not but
just for completeness it is this :-
The French (lovely people, nothing against them whatsoever) had this
lovely tactic during Agincourtian times to cut the index and middle
fingers off the right hands of any British archers they caught thus
rendring them fairly useless if they ever escaped and re-joined their army
(You try firing a bow without them). Anyway while this practise was common
it was customary during the sabre-rattling phase of the battle for the
archers to show that they still had posession of the digits in question by
giving the French this gesture.
Yeah, O.K. it does go on a bit I suppose, and maybe its irrelevant
but you know, I thought it was worth a comment....
Maybe not.
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|From: Graeme Griffiths | "Well your jokes ain't funny, |
|Abekas Video Systems,12 Portman Rd,| and there's nothing you say, |
|Reading,Berks,ENGLAND. | that I want to hear....." |
|(0734)585421 x2247 | Skid Row |
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