Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Book:Moving Pictures/Annotations

2013-04-29T14:35:18Z

Allan Lear: /* Annotations */

== Annotations ==

'''Since this is a book about motion pictures, all Wikipedia links below are to the film or TV version of a given work of art (where possible), even if another version (book, song, etc) came first or is more popular.'''

* "This is space. It's sometimes called the final frontier." - reference to the opening lines of {{wp|Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series|Star Trek}}

* "But you're made a meat, an' what do you eat?" - possibly a reference to {{wp|They're Made Out of Meat|They're Made Out of Meat}}, a Nebula Award winning short story

* "the dreaded Balgrog" - reference to Tolkien's {{wp|balrog|balrog}}

* "Must be off 'is nut [...], [s]inging in the rain like that." - reference to the film {{wp|Singin'_in_the_Rain_(film)|Singin' In the Rain}}

* "the Chroncal of the Keeprs of the ParaMountain" - reference to {{wp|Paramount_Motion_Pictures_Group|Paramount}}

* "and make it a palace" - reference to the {{wp|movie_palace|movie palaces}} of the 1910s to 1960s

* "'What's up, Duck?' said the rabbit" - reference to {{wp|Bugs Bunny|Bugs Bunny}}'s famous phrase "what's up, doc?" (though Bugs has also said "what's up, duck" in a few cartoons)

* '"Mighty Paws" or - or "Speedy Hunter"' - possible references to {{wp|Mighty Mouse|Mighty Mouse}} and {{wp|Speedy Gonzales|Speedy Gonzales}}, even though Victor applies them to the cat, not the mouse.

* The mouse hitting the cat with a frying pan is reminiscent of {{wp|Tom and Jerry|Tom and Jerry}}, though there are probably many other similar cartoons (and Tom and Jerry rarely spoke). The cat's lisp is reminiscent of {{wp|Sylvester the Cat|Sylvester the Cat}}

* "The duck quacked. There were words in there somewhere, but so mangled by the incompatibility of beak and larynx that Victor couldn't understand a word." - possible reference to {{wp|Donald Duck|Donald Duck}}, who also speaks with a difficult-to-understand duck-like accent

* "'Thief of ...' Rock hesitated. 'Dad's Bag, I think you said.' 'Bagged Dad,' said Morry, rubbing his arm." - reference to {{wp|The_Thief_of_Bagdad_%281924_film%29|The Thief of Bagdad}}

* "Fly with me now to the Casbah" - reference to {{wp|Casablanca_(film)|Casablanca}}, or possibly the lesser known {{wp|Algiers_%28film%29|Algiers}}, which inspired it, as well as {{wp|Pépé_le_Moko|Pépé le Moko}}, which inspired Algiers, and frequently suggested to a blushing kitty by {{wp|Chuck_Jones|Chuck Jones's}} romantic skunk {{wp|Pepé_Le_Pew|Pepé Le Pew}}.

* "a thousand elephants" - reference to {{wp|Hannibal|Hannibal}} leading elephants over mountains in the {{wp|Second Punic War|Second Punic War}}. Several movies have been made about this, but reference here is probably [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0003740/ Cabiria], given how early it is (and that it's a silent film)

* "we're doing one about going to see a wizard. Something about following a yellow sick toad" - reference to {{wp|The_Wizard_of_Oz_%281939_film%29|The Wizard of Oz}}, where the characters (including a cowardly lion) follow a yellow brick road. A possible reference (as in {{M}}) to the [http://www.jokes.net/dirtytoad.htm yellow sick toad joke]

* "Colour was just a matter of breeding demons who could paint fast enough. It was sound that meant something new." - On Roundworld, most people (perhaps even TP) believe that sound preceded color. Actually, {{wp|Cupid Angling|Cupid Angling}}, released in 1918, was the first feature length color film, while {{wp|The_Jazz_Singer_(1927_film)|The Jazz Singer}}, released in 1927, was the first feature length film with synchronized sound. [http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/87223 Some sources] note that short color movies have been around since the 1890's. Most people incorrectly believe that {{wp|The_Wizard_of_Oz_%281939_film%29|The Wizard of Oz}} and {{wp|Gone_with_the_Wind_%28film%29|Gone With the Wind}}, both released in 1939, were the first color movies. Short sound films have existed since the {{wp|Dickson_Experimental_Sound_Film|Dickson Experimental Sound Film}} of 1894 or 1895.

* '"I want to be a lawn"' - reference to {{wp|Greta Garbo|Greta Garbo}}'s famous by-line "I want to be alone" in her strong accent

* '"It's fifteen hundred miles to Ankh-Morpork," he said. "we've got three hundred and sixty-three 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 ..." "let's go."' - a reference to the line in the {{wp|Blues Brothers|Blues Brothers}} , "It's one hundred and six miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses." "Hit it."

* "And the People said to one another, Funny, he lookes just like my uncle Osbert..." A reference to the origin of Oscar, the nickname of the Academy Award. According to Wikipedia one early story says that the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and said the statuette reminded her of her "Uncle Oscar."

* "a wounded Royalist soldier's last words are "What I wouldn't give right now for a $1 EatTillItHurts special at ... Harga's ... House ... of ... Ribs ... Mother!" - reference to {{wp|product placement|product placement}} - Pratchett himself has said in interviews that he yanked the translation rights from a German publisher when he discovered exactly this sort of gross example being shoved in the middle of his dialogue. Offhand I don't know if this happened before or after this book, but in the interview he makes reference to a soup company.

* "Ready when you are, Mr. Dibbler!" There's a story about epic film director [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001124/bio Cecil B. DeMille]: he was doing a one-chance-to-film-it battle scene, similar to the Burning of Ankh-Morpork. He had several cameras stationed around the area, but just to be on the safe side, sent old Charlie up to the top of a nearby hill with a camera, to get an overall view. "Action!" was called, and sure enough, as the battle progressed, one camera broke down, another was crushed by over-enthusiastic actors, a third ran out of film, etc. But DeMille wasn't worried, because he knew old Charlie was getting everything from the top of the hill. When the battle was over, he jumped in a car and drove up to the top of the hill to retrieve Charlie's camera. When he got there, old Charlie got up out of his chair, threw away the cigar he was smoking and said "Ready when you are, C.B.!"

* "One of the apprentices had stuck in just one picture from The Golde Rush and we all went around all morning thinking about gold and not knowing why. It was as if it'd gone straight into our heads without our eyes seeing it." - reference to {{wp|Subliminal_advertising|subliminal advertising}}

* "I'm too old for this sort of stuff." Reference to a catch phrase of Roger Murtaugh, Danny Glover's character in the Lethal Weapon series, "I'm too old for this shit!"

* "It'd be funnier than A Night at the Arena." -- reference to the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera."

* "me and old "Numbers" Riktor and "Tudgy" Spold climbed up on the Temple of Small Gods" - in other words, Riktor "scaled" a building, a pun on the {{wp|Richter Scale|Richter Scale}}

* "This Thing is bigger than both of us!" - parodies Rick Blaine's line to Ilsa in another reference to Casablanca

* "[this] was undoubtedly the 57th strangest." - one of the frequent [[57]] references in TP's work

* "The most graphic way of describing the Librarian's swing across the buildings of Unseen University is to simply transcribe the noises made during the flight. First: 'AaaAAAaaaAAAaaa.' This is selfexplanatory, and refers to the early part of the swing, when everything looked as if it was going well... Then: 'Aaarghhhh.' [...] a very quiet 'oook'" - reference to {{wp|George of the Jungle|George of the Jungle}}'s opening montage, and of course the famous {{wp|Tarzan_yell|Tarzan yell}} from the {{wp|Johnny_Weissmuller|Johnny Weissmuller}} films starting in 1932.

* "I don't know how you go about blowing up a fifty foot woman" - reference to {{wp|Attack_of_the_fifty_foot_woman|Attack of the 50 Foot Woman}}

* "'A giant woman carrying a screaming ape up a tall building'" - parody of the ending of {{wp|King_Kong_%281933_film%29|King Kong}}, where the exact opposite happens. The Dean's later comment "'Twas beauty killed the beast'" is a direct quote from King Kong.

* "YOU BELONG DEAD" - parodies the last lines of {{wp|Bride_of_Frankenstein|Bride of Frankenstein}}, "You stay. We belong dead."

* "That is not dead which can eternal lie" - quote from H. P. Lovecraft's fictional {{wp|Necronomicon#Appearance_and_contents|Necronomicon}}, which continues, "And with strange aeons even death may die." It is thus a reference to the {{wp|Necronomicon_%28film%29|film with the same name}}

* "A fine mess you got me into" - references {{wp|Laurel_and_Hardy|Laurel and Hardy}}'s famous catch phrase "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" and later movie {{wp|Another_Fine_Mess_%281930_film%29|Another Fine Mess}}

* "'Dere may being trouble ahead' [...] 'But while dere moonlight, an' music'" - references the Irving Berlin song {{wp|Let%27s_Face_the_Music_and_Dance|Let's Face the Music and Dance}}

* "'s silvery [...] And it's heavier than lead" - Silverfish has discovered {{wp|uranium|uranium}}

* "[6] SUB-TITLE: 'Vunce again I am fallink in luf [...] Vy iss it I now am a blue colour? [...] Vot is the action I should take at this time?'" - references the song {{wp|Falling_in_Love_Again_%28Can%27t_Help_It%29|Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)}} (Wikipedia version does not include the "so blue" lyrics)

* "[18] It was about a young ape who is abandoned in the big city and grows up being able to speak the language of humans" - parody of {{wp|Tarzan_of_the_Apes_%28film%29|Tarzan of the Apes}}, where the exact opposite happens.

* When the last of the [[Book:Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]] magic ebbs out of the world, just for a few moments [[Detritus]] and [[Ruby]] are transformed into Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in a song-and-dance routine. Heralding the big dance number in [[Harga's House of Ribs]], Detritus briefly channels Humphrey Bogart, saying ''Play it again, Sham!'' - referencing "Play it again, Sam," the often misquoted line from ''Casablanca''. The actual line, spoken by {{wp|Ingrid_Bergman|Ingrid Bergman}}, not {{wp|Humphrey_Bogart|Humphrey Bogart}}, was ""Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'." The closest Bogart got to the line was, "You played it for her, you can play it for me. ... If she can stand to listen to it, I can. Play it."

* Roundworld Film ''The Last Movie Show'', about the closure of the last cinema in a small mid-Western town, is referenced virtually on the last page of [[Book:Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]], where a broken picture throwing box spills its film in the sighing wind, with tiny figures dancing, just for a moment, in its dead glass eye...

== [[Roundworld]] References ==

Direct references to Roundworld:

* {{wp|Royal Shakespeare Company|Royal Shakespeare Company}}

* {{wp|Oscar Wilde|Oscar Wilde}}

[[Category:Annotations]]

Book:Men at Arms/Annotations

2013-04-29T13:36:08Z

Allan Lear: /* {{MAA}} Annotations */

== {{MAA}} Annotations ==

The recruitment song (p313/238) seems familiar.
:To what, pray? --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 20:45, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
[[Category:Annotations]]

I think it has an echo of the traditional Irish song "The Recruiting Sergeant", which dates (at least in the form used by the Pogues) from 1916.
The original song starts something like

''As I was walking down the road

''A feelin' fine and dandy-oh,

''A recruiting sergeant came up to me

''And said "You'll look fine in khaki-oh"...

and ends

''Come rain or hail or wind or snow,

''I'm not going out to Flanders-oh,

''There's fighting in Dublin to be done,

''Let your sergeants and your commanders go!

''Let English men fight English wars,

''Cos near every time you start them all,

''And wishing the sergeant a very good night,

''There and then we parted right!''

The Ankh-Morpork version lacks the republican sentiment, the principled refusal to enlist, and indeed the scan and rhyme and rhythm of the original, and reduces the arguments to "enlist or you get your goohulog heads kicked in". According to my old English Lit teacher, this is a fine example of "bathetis"....--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 22:11, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

:According to the APF v9.0[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/men-at-arms.html], it is based off a song called ''Ratcliffe Highway''.--[[User:AutisticMajor|AutisticMajor]] 03:47, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

p.182 (Harper Fiction mass market paperback): ''Superconductivity!'' Dunno if this should be an annotation (maybe it's mentioned in one of the Science of Discworld books), but Roundworld superconductivity does not work that way. Superconductivity is a method by which the electrical resistance for some substance is reduced to approximately zero. Silicon is a semiconductor, and while many good superconductors are also semiconductors, silicon is not a superconductor. It requires high levels of impurity to get silicon to become a superconductor at a fraction of a degree from absolute zero, and the warmest superconductor is still a mercury barium ceramic at -138 Celsius. It's also not the sort of thing that gets better as you get colder. It's either full-on superconductor or normal conductivity. The mechanism isn't clear, but the last theory I remember, phonons, requires perfect coherence, and any non-coherent electrons will ruin the effect.[[User:Superluser|superluser]][[User_talk:Superluser|t]][[Special:Contributions/Superluser|c]] 2010 November 13, 11:21 (UTC)

Cuddy's tuition of Detritus in basic mathematics is very reminiscent of musical comedian Tom Lehrer's exposition of the New Math in base eight...[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wHDn8LDks8] Detritus is being taught to count in Base eight form, using twos, fours and eights. - I've heard it said that Detritus, having a silicon brain, is better at this form of maths not because it's base eight, but because it's binary.

User talk:AgProv

2013-04-25T16:04:10Z

Allan Lear: /* Hi AgProv */ new section

It's not hard to export pages and import them into here. But I'd hold off, Sanity is supposed to be giving me a copy of the existing site this weekend. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 19:30, 2 October 2012 (PDT)

Back again! Check the "Delete" option in the drop-down from "Create" in the vandal's User page. It's quick and easy and removes the pest from the User list at the same time. It only lacks a knob on the end! --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 15:13, 16 November 2012 (PST)

There's a little drop down arrow with extra options on the page. Delete, Move, Protect, & Watch. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 16:56, 8 December 2012 (PST)

Thanks guys! See what you miss if you don't stay alert? [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 06:28, 9 December 2012 (PST)

==Strange templates==
There. I think I fixed the Annotations section of the Book Data template so that it works instead of creating a new page with a stutter. Now if someone could make the Amazon cover look-up work...--[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 21:59, 3 February 2013 (GMT)

== Hi AgProv ==

Hello AgProv!

Thank you for your kind words. I take your point about potential spammistry so I've thrown a random thought up onto my user page.

Thanks again for the warm welcome!

User talk:AgProv

2013-04-25T16:02:06Z

Allan Lear: /* Hi AgProv */

User:Allan Lear

2013-04-25T16:00:07Z

Allan Lear: Created page with "Hi, my name's Allan, I've been a fan of Pterry for nearly twenty years now. I would like to gloat over the fact that my brother and I had ringfenced Charlie Dance for the P..."

Hi, my name's Allan, I've been a fan of Pterry for nearly twenty years now.

I would like to gloat over the fact that my brother and I had ringfenced Charlie Dance for the Patrician two decades ago, and in Going Postal we were proved absolutely bloody right.

Apart from that I'm here to learn!

Book:Carpe Jugulum/Annotations

2013-04-25T12:05:21Z

Allan Lear:

Corgi PB (British) p. 90: [[Agnes Nitt]] and [[Nanny Ogg]] are attempting to sabotage the vampires by handing out [[Chicken Vol-Au-Vent|vol-au-vents]] contaminated with excessive amounts of garlic. [[Vlad de Magpyr]] quite happily eats one, then announces ''"Any more of those garlic things? They're rather piquant!"''

This echoes the opening of Anne Rice's gothic novel '''''Interview with the Vampire''''', where the callow student interviewer attempts to test the truth of folk legends by offering the vampire Louis Lestadt a clove of garlic. Louis takes a bite, then expresses approval of the piquancy of the flavour. The interviewer then goes on to test religious symbols on Louis, who thoughtfully examines a crucifix, turning it over in his hands and remarking on the kitsch nature of the art involved - just as the de Magpyrs have been desensitised to religious symbols by repeated deliberate exposure. In fact, on page 239, the Count de Magpyr, confronted with the holy symbol of [[Om]]nianism, takes the pendant in his hands and remarks ''"And this is the holy turtle of Om, which I believe should make me cringe back in fear. My, my, not even a very good replica. Cheaply made"''.

Compare also the scene in The Lost Boys, where a suspected vampire is repulsed by a meal containing ounces of garlic on the not-unreasonable grounds that it tastes of nothing BUT garlic.

Corgi PB (British) p226: Vlad's disgust at the "holy water" having spoilt his dandy silk waistcoat. Given other scenes in the book - the dandy clothes of the younger vampires, their take on role-playing games where, for instance, Lacci assumes the persona of a dowdy human shop assistant called Pam, and the way their parents look anxiously at all this. This is an echo of Mr Charles Pooter, in "Diary of a Nobody", who frets at his son Lupin Pooter joining the rebellious Victorian youth who expressed their disenchantment with their elders by wearing unfeasibly over-gaudy cravats and paisley-patterned waistcoats. (The feather of a peacock is a Mandelbrot set in its own right: Vlad is described as wearing a peacock-feather styled waistcoat.). This was held to be so shocking that employers threatened to sack any junior who dared turn up for work dressed like that - ''without a reference'' - and Victorian society in the 1880's collectively fretted at the outrageous dress sense of its young people. (Much as they did in the 1920's, 1950's, 1960's and practically every decade since...) At the time, Punch and Times editorials deplored the trend, and George MacDonald Fraser also describes the phenomenon in one of the Flashman books.

Corgi PB (British) p227: ''"Everyone knows that cutting off a vampire's head is internationally acceptable"''. Vlad asserts that decapitating a vampire is, on its own, a surefire way of slaying a vampire regardless of its geographical or ethnic origin. This certainly suffices for the Count de Magpyr at the end of the book. Yet, in {{TT}}, 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?

Corgi PB (British) pp270 - 273; 280-285

In fact, that discussion between the Vampyres and the witches, in which the Magpyr famiy set out their new and exciting plans for Lancre now they are in charge - well, if that wasn't an ''Interview with the Vampyr'', (The Vampyr being Count de Magpyr), then....

Also, a vol-au-vent is classic buffet food. Stuffing one with garlic in the hope that it will dispatch a bloodsucking undead entity... what else is this but an example of ''Buffet, the Vampire Slayer''?

Expanding slightly on this theme, during the fighting in the town of Escrow, Agnes Nitt is thrust into doing all the physical stuff that Buffy habitually does, in her predestined task as Vampire-Slayer and She Who Seals The Hellmouth. The physical contrast between the lean and toned cheerleader-cum-vampire's nemesis Buffy, and Agnes Nitt, who... isn't... (but who still manages to punch the lights out of Lacrimosa in a fight straight out of a typical episode of ''Buffy'') adds a certain humour to the proceedings. Perdita's gymnastic exertions, cartwheels and handstands on the wobbly bridge over a possible gorge in the gnarly ground are also a Buffy trademark.

Again the themes of Anne Rice's '''''Vampire''''' series of novels are given a Discworld slant.

Vlad de Magpyr assures [[Agnes Nitt]] that
''We don't usually go as far as that any more. (...) And when we do...well, we make sure we only kill people who deserve to die'' (p271)

This echoes the theme of later Rice novels, in which her vampires decide that they represent a more evolved and therefore morally enlightened version of the human race, and have a responsibility, of sorts, towards ordinary humans. Rather than kill at random, many of the "ethical vampires" adopt the point of view that they should select criminals, child molesters, rapists, wife-beaters, thugs, et c, in order to minimise the fall-out caused when the vampire has to feed. After all, who's going to grieve for a paedophile or a violent street mugger who meets with sudden death? , Selecting victims from the criminal element might even improve the general stock of the human race (from which, of course, new vampires arise from time to time). But Agnes puts her finger on the flaw in the reasoning straight away:-

''oh, that's all right then, isn't it? I'm sure I'd trust a vampire's judgement!''

Lilith de Tempscire uses a similar justification for capital punishment in {{WA}}. Again, the flaw in the reasoning is that Lilith alone is the judge and jury of what merits a death sentence.

Incidentally, with overtones of the [[Überwald]] League of Temperance leaking into the Anne Rice vampire continuum, some vampires actually attempt to find a way of living that ''doesn't'' involve killing humans for food (as her vampires quite like people and have many human friends). Some ingenious ways are devised to get blood without cruelty, but to find out more, see Rice...

The idea of vampires as a higher stage in the evolution of humanity is also explored by Whitley Streiber in his Vampire novels; here, a "vampires' parliament" gets together at ten year intervals to discuss and set territories which are to be "farmed" to individual vampires or collectives, who are to selectively breed their "livestock" for the good (and enhanced diet) of all vampires. As with the de Magpyrs, there is no feeling or regard for the humans involved - they are just livestock.

It is also worth noting that the whole extended sequence between Vlad and Agnes, as he seeks to convince her to embrace vampirism (and him) of her own free will, has uncanny echoes with the [[Blue Öyster Cult]] song ''I love The Night''. (in which a vampire falls in love with a human and seeks to persuade him to join her in living the nocturnal lifestyle).

Corgi PB (British) p. 230: ''"clustersuck"''... The practice of more than one vampyre feeding from a prey species at the same time. An, er, indelicate reference. Change a consonant and it's a slang term for all-in group sex. Used in its original context by Shea and Wilson in ''"Illuminatus"''. Described "an unholy sacrament" in Oats' seminar notes, indicative of the Church's generally negative view of sexuality? Also a nod at Victorian repression, where the sexual aspects of Stoker's "Dracula" had to be sublimated into lovingly intense descriptions of the blood-taking practice... it was OK in the late 1800's (as any English Lit undergrad will excitedly tell you, when they do the Gothic Literature term, and think they're the first ones to discover this) to write about gory and messy death at the hands of an Undead in as much detail as you liked, but just let the sex get explicit... Cluster''suck'', yes: any other form of clustering from nearer the top of the alphabet, most definitely not.

Corgi PB (British) p. 279: [[Magrat Garlick]] and [[Nanny Ogg]] are escaping into [[Überwald]] with Princess Esmerelda. Magrat is being gloomy about their prospects for survival, as they are entering ever more deeply into [[Vampires|vampire]] country. The dialogue, in the hijacked vampires' coach, runs:

''And it could be worse'' said Nanny.

''How?''

''Well...there could be snakes in here with us''

Not the film ''Snakes on a Plane'', for which Terry would have needed a time-machine were he to be referencing it (it came out eight years after the book)
''(See Discussion)''

But rather to the urban legend dating to way before 1988, which in its turn inspired Terry Pratchett ''and'' the makers of the film SOAP.

After extensive research - why should Nanny have explicitly referred to snakes? - the answer was found to lie in the urban legend about a snake, or snakes, somehow stowing away on board a car, or lorry, or truck, or even a ''train'', which then starts biting and inflicting escalating damage and terror. One website dealing with urban legends says the potency of this one lies in its combining several fears at once: being trapped, being in the presence of deadly snakes, and being in a car crash. Indeed, the way a routine or sometimes a long-awaited journey is subverted by visceral horror (being trapped in a car with a snake) gives this urban myth most of its force and power. ([[Narrative Causality]] again...)

Sybil Ramkin invokes the same "rural myth" on page 376 of {{T5E}}.

Corgi PB (British) p253:- King [[Verence II]] is being rescued by the [[Pictsies|Nac Mac Feegle]] of the [[Long Lake Clan]]. After they have dispatched the two mercenary guards in his room, the Feegle in charge of the raiding party stands on Verence's chin and demands to know if he's the person they're here to rescue. Verence, made soporific by the Vampires, replies, without fear: "Well done. How long have you been a hallucination? Jolly good." This scene calls to mind the classic Henry Fuseli picture '''''The Nightmare[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare]''''', in which a dreadful goblin-like creature squats on the chest of a paralysed sleeper, who is nevertheless awake enough to register every awful detail. This also echoes the traditional view of British royal "meet and greets" in which the Royal personage will supposedly ask someone "So what do you do?" and will then follow the answer with "Jolly Good! And how long have you been a goatherd/cheese-maker/brothel-keeper/whatever....". This is beautifully sent up in Time Bandits in which John Cleese's Robin Hood performs much the same dialogue with the Bandits themselves.

Corgi PB (British) p282:- the Count praises Agnes Nitt's sarcastic suggestion that the villagers of Escrow who over time give most blood to the vampyrs should receive some sort of medal. He acclaims this as a very good idea and worth pursuing. The British Blood Donor Service used to give medals to the regulars who over time donated gallons and gallons of blood for perfectly good medical reasons... it looks as though the blood donors of Escrow were to be similarly rewarded.

Corgi PB (British) p341:-
During the fighting in Escrow, a vampire called Fenrir, ''or perhaps Maladicta'', makes his (or her) appearance. Hmm...

Corgi PB (British) p362:-

''You'd only have got tired of her in the end and we'd have ended up with her always getting in the way, just like all the others'' (Lacrimosa to Vlad about Agnes).

This evokes the film '''''The Hunger''''', in which immortal vampire Catherine Deneuve may create vampires in her own right and keep a particularly special lover close to her, unchanged and ever-young, for two hundred or so years. But while her bite confers immortality, after two hundred years the bitee degenerates into eternal old age, decrepitude and senility - but does not die! Her newest love, Susan Sarandon, discovers this awful truth on opening the attic door where she locks her undead previous amours away (including a withered and senile David Bowie) lest they get in the way...

Possibly also a reference to ''Dracula'', in which the Count had accumulated three female companions in his castle. While he objects to their accusation that he never loves, arguing that they know otherwise from personal experience, he nevertheless leaves them behind in Transylvania to go chase girls in England. Likewise, the Count doesn't lift a finger to prevent Lucy's staking, suggesting that he'd lost interest in her company in record time.

Corgi PB (British) p. 442: the resident [[Igor]] at [[Don'tgonearthe Castle]] is hauling on the chain to raise the lightning conductor that will provide the power to revive his (temporarily} dead dog, [[Scraps]].

This evokes the 1960's novelty song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kicker Five (also covered in the UK by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band), '''''Monster Mash'''''.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0thH3qnHTbI]

''The brain surgeons were all digging the sound/Of Igor, on chains, backed by his baying hound...''

General comment: Vampires are traditionally from Transylvania. This country no longer exists, but part of it is in modern-day Hungary. The Hungarian language is Magyar, and by extension Hungarians are known as Magyars. Not Magpyrs, but close.

Book:Carpe Jugulum/Annotations

2013-04-25T12:02:37Z

Allan Lear:

Book:Carpe Jugulum/Annotations

2013-04-25T11:45:42Z

Allan Lear:

Book:The Fifth Elephant/Annotations

2013-04-25T10:58:03Z

Allan Lear:

'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 3 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 14)'''''

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''].

'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 13 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 26)'''''

"...the deep fat mines at Shmaltzberg..." Shmaltz is Yiddish for chicken fat.
As well as polish for just fat

'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 29'''''

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.

'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 29 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 46)'''''

"Send a [[clacks]] to our agent..."

"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.

'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 58 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 81)'''''

[[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...."

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.

'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 99'''''

"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''."

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''.

'''''Corgi (GB) paperback, p.223'''''

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)

'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 161 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 207)'''''

"It's colder up here, Vimes thought. He's quicker on the uptake." [Referring to [[Detritus]].]

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.

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.

'''''Harper Collins (US) paperback, p. 222 (Corgi (GB) paperback, p. 281)'''''

"...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''.

'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, pp 238 - 239'''''

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".

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?"

'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, p370'''''

Vimes gives an order to Detritus to fire the [[Piecemaker]]:-

"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.

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:-

'''''"You were only meant to blow the bloody doors off!"'''''
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 were only meant to..."'' part of the line....

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)

'''''Corgi (UK) paperback, p376'''''
"Well, things couldn't get any worse" he said.
"Oh, they could if there were snakes on here with us" said Lady Sybil.

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.

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.

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...

Book:The Last Hero/Annotations

2013-04-25T09:44:26Z

Allan Lear:

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p8'''''
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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p20'''''
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''.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p21'''''

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...

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p31'''''

''I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the...''
Lord Vetinari is perhaps picking up a reflection, from across the Multiverse, of the fabulous tales of {{wp|Baron_Munchausen|Baron Munchausen}}, one of Roundworld's greatest tale-spinners. The illustration on pp32-33 is a distorted vision of Munchausen's flight to the moon, only with Leonard of Quirm and swamp-dragons taking the place of Munchausen and swans.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p38'''''
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)

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p40'''''
Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series '''Xena, Warrior Princess'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xena:_Warrior_Princess]. Now doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} (p40) just remind you of a sixty-year old Lucy Lawless?[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Lawless]. This character may also be a reference to the film Red Sonya.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p51'''''

Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character 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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p67'''''

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 can take us in hand?] See also Lords and Ladies, 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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p93'''''

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 Catch-22.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p95'''''
[[Book:The Last Hero|The Last hero]] annotation: 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 Marriott Edgar.

'''''"The Great Bird"''''' - illustration p95, and all the "eagle" references immediately after.

This has at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the Apollo-11 mission, provoking the line ''"The Eagle has landed!"'' to describe its successful mission to the Moon.

In science-fiction, especially in the Star-Trek continuum, the Klingon Empire's ubiquitous spacecraft which can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work are called ''Birds of Prey''. It might also refer to the "Eagles" spaceships from the British series "COSMOS 1999".

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p104-105'''''

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.

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.

And on page 103, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem". (ref. mission and film {{wp|Apollo_13|Apollo-13}})

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p111'''''

*''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit. "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''{{wp|The_Fast_Show|The Fast Show}}''.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p116'''''

'"It's your own fault" he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones". Rincewind is misquoting {{wp|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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p121'''''

Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation (on p.133 of the Gollancz 2002 soft-cover), Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', perhaps describing the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, although in context it seems to be a property of the lunar foliage. Or, it could be a misprint.

'''''Discussion re "Prince Hagram's Tiller"''''':-

On board the [[Kite]], this is an enigmatically-titled lever that, 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 - ie, 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 Haram'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...

Prince Haram's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.

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.
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.

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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p139'''''
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.
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!"''

This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.

And 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'').

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.

Book:The Last Hero/Annotations

2013-04-25T09:42:30Z

Allan Lear:

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p8'''''
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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p20'''''
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''.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p21'''''

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...

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p31'''''

''I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and was pulled all the way to the...''
Lord Vetinari is perhaps picking up a reflection, from across the Multiverse, of the fabulous tales of {{wp|Baron_Munchausen|Baron Munchausen}}, one of Roundworld's greatest tale-spinners. The illustration on pp32-33 is a distorted vision of Munchausen's flight to the moon, only with Leonard of Quirm and swamp-dragons taking the place of Munchausen and swans.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p38'''''
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)

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p40'''''
Vena, the Raven-Haired:- Refer to the TV adventure series '''Xena, Warrior Princess'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xena:_Warrior_Princess]. Now doesn't the artwork in {{TLH}} (p40) just remind you of a sixty-year old Lucy Lawless?[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Lawless]. This character may also be a reference to the film Red Sonya.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p51'''''

Evil Harry Dread's name resonates with the film character 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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p67'''''

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 Lords and Ladies, 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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p93'''''

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 Catch-22.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p95'''''
[[Book:The Last Hero|The Last hero]] annotation: 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 Marriott Edgar.

'''''"The Great Bird"''''' - illustration p95, and all the "eagle" references immediately after.

This has at least two levels of reference. "The Eagle" was the name of the lunar module of the Apollo-11 mission, provoking the line ''"The Eagle has landed!"'' to describe its successful mission to the Moon.

In science-fiction, especially in the Star-Trek continuum, the Klingon Empire's ubiquitous spacecraft which can radically alter wing-configuration to suit atmospheric and deep space work are called ''Birds of Prey''. It might also refer to the "Eagles" spaceships from the British series "COSMOS 1999".

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p104-105'''''

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.

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.

And on page 103, Leonard contacts base with '"Ankh-Morpork, we have an orang-utan"', which somehow manages to evoke "Houston, we have a problem". (ref. mission and film {{wp|Apollo_13|Apollo-13}})

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p111'''''

*''Adorno maximus, magister!'' - Leonard of Quirm's declaration on designing Rincewind's spacesuit. "Suits you, sir!" - the catchphrase of the very camp tailors in BBC long-running comedy series, ''{{wp|The_Fast_Show|The Fast Show}}''.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p116'''''

'"It's your own fault" he said. "I '''''told''''' you. Small steps. Not giant ones". Rincewind is misquoting {{wp|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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p121'''''

Describing the dragons eating too much lunar vegetation (on p.133 of the Gollancz 2002 soft-cover), Mr Pratchett coins the word "dialectric". This appears to be an amalgam of ''dielectric'' and ''dialectic'', perhaps describing the psychological barrier across an argument which prevents each side from understanding the other, although in context it seems to be a property of the lunar foliage. Or, it could be a misprint.

'''''Discussion re "Prince Hagram's Tiller"''''':-

On board the [[Kite]], this is an enigmatically-titled lever that, 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 - ie, 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 Haram'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...

Prince Haram's tiller is therefore what we might describe as the '''''autopilot'''''.

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.
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.

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.

'''''Gollancz fully illustrated hardback edition, London, 2001, p139'''''
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.
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!"''

This time, the Lady's reward is an angry and contemptuous tirade from Cohen.

And 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'').

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.

Book:I Shall Wear Midnight/Annotations

2013-04-24T15:19:33Z

Allan Lear: /* */

== ==

'''''(Doubleday hardback pp11-13)'''''
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...

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 103)''''' ''Still, it could have been worse,'' she told herself. ''There could have been snakes on the broomstick.''
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). This one could very definitely also be an allusion to the film ''Snakes on a Plane''...

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 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?

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 118)'''''

''Because you're worthless'' - a play on the commercial slogan for cosmetic company Loreal. ("Because you're worth it")

- for the hag in a hurry.

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 137)'''''

''"I told you to find him; I didn't tell you you were supposed to pull the doors off!"

Tiffany's rebuke to the Feegle echoes the famous line in the movie, '''''the Italian Job'''''. See also annotation to {{TFE}}, Corgi paperback edition p307.

'''''(Doubleday hardback pp 149)''''' Long-term solitary confinement prisoners, often dangerous killers, keping caged birds for company in their cells - think ''The Birdman of Alcatraz'', now a prison cliche. There is an annotation for another Discworld book that covers similar ground? This also resonates with "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird," the only thing called a sin in the Harper Lee novel of the same name.

Depressingly, the real-life "Birdman of Alcatraz" never kept caged birds in his life, and certainly not during his incarceration. Robert 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. This led to a romantic and wildly inaccurate book being written about him which was later filmed by Hollywood with Burt Lancaster in the title role, which established the fiction firmly in the public eye. (Source: '''''Perfect Victims''''' by Bill James, Simon and Schuster, 2011)

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 164)'''''
Wee Mad Arthur gloomily intones "It will be certain death to go in there. Certain death! you'll all be doomed!" This was the catch-phrase of Scottish comic actor John Laurie, who played the gloomy undertaker and over-age soldier Private Frazer in ''"Dad's Army"'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHfJJgGP7ss Share the doom here] (page ref needed).

'''''(Doubleday hardback pp 176-177)'''''

Since last being heard of in {{ER}}, Simon is described (via third-party accounts) as having let his illnesses and allergies multiply to the point where he has become Unseen University's analogue of Stephen Hawking - speaking to peers through a machine (HEX?) and unable to move, talk, or do very much for himself. Some of this is related via [[Esk]], who can be described as a reliable witness.

''..."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, although 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." '' ({{ISWM}}. pp176-177)

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.

Interestingly enough, on '''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 on the Discussion page of the [[Eskarina Smith]] entry ([[Talk:Eskarina Smith|here]]).

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 175)'''''

When Mrs Proust performs magic on the statue of Lord Albert Rust to turn it into a temporary Golem under her will -
think of the song ''"The Equestrian Statue"'' by prankster musicians the Bonzo-Dog Doodah Band, in which 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!"''). Listen ''here'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKtfFmYiI40|here] .

'''''(Doubleday hardback pp 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 in the writings 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 protect and serve the people.

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.

(*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''. There may well be a Discworld Ireland which is yet to be revealed?

'''''(Doubleday hardback p 316)'''''

''...by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.''

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."

[Somebody please add a Doubleday page number]
The strength of the witch is the coven and the strength of the coven is the witch" seems equivalent to Kipling's "Jungle Law" "The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf"

Book:Unseen Academicals/Annotations

2013-04-24T15:15:19Z

Allan Lear: /* Unseen Academicals Annotations */

== [[Book:Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]] Annotations ==

General:-

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.

[[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]

The name ''Dimwell'' seems close to ''Millwall'', area and football club in London noted for the belligerence of their supporters. House chant:
''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]

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.

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".

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.

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.

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?)

'''(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."'''''

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.

'''(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".

'''(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.)

'''(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''')

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.

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.

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]].

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.

('''''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.)

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). It would seem logical then, that TP is aware of her writing and has perhaps referenced it in the Discworld.

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p45)''' '''''Ridcully swayed backwards, like a man subjected to an attack by a hitherto comatose sheep'''''

In the UK House of Commons in June 1978 the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer was Denis Healey.
He described being attacked in June 1978 by mild mannered Conservative shadow Chancellor Geoffrey Howe as ''"like being savaged by a dead sheep".''

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.

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p46)''' '''''-How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless Dean'''''

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

''If she must teem,''

''Create her child of spleen; that it may live,''

''And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!''

''Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;''

''With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;''

''Turn all her mother's pains and benefits''

''To laughter and contempt; that she may feel''

'''''How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is'''''

'''''To have a thankless child!''''' ''Away, away!''

from '''''King Lear''''' [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/188900.html]

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...'').
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.

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...

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.

'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.49)''' '''''"Just speak with a little more class, eh? You don't have to sound like--"'''''

'''''"My fare, lady?"'''''

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.

'''(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...

'''Football team colours''' - from Wikipedia:-

*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.
*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.
* Palermo, a soccer team based in Palermo, Italy, traditionally wears pink home jerseys.

Palermo is also the heart of Mafia and Machismo country, in Sicily: presumably they have transcended the whole pink thing as immaterial.

The Hungarian international strip appears to be red and green with pink trim.

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.

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. [http://www.footballheaven.net/acatalog/Pink_Green_White_Scarf.html]

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...

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p52)''' '''''Miss Healstether sounded bitter. "Stand by then, because he's discovered the [[Bonk School]]."'''''
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 relflection and lack of football going on around him.

'''(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--"
"That is a fallacy!"'''''

Sigmund Freud, when asked if his cigar was a phallic symbol, is supposed to have said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

A similar phallus/fallacy joke has appeared in a previous Discworld book in reference to witches' broomsticks.

'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p67)''' '''''"They're two teams alike in villainy."'''''

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...

'''(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, has a song called ''I'm the Face''.

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p73)''' ''''' 'Gentlemen' Ridcully began ...'or should I say, fellow workers by hand and brain' '''''

'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.

''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''

Clause IV was revised (not abolished) in 1995.

'''(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?

'''(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''.

'''(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."'''''

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!"

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p113)''' '''''"Oh, Mr Trevor Likely" said Glenda, folding her arms. "Just one question: who ate all the pies?"'''''

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.

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...

'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p.122)''' '''''Robert Scandal's famous poem, "Oi! To his Deaf Mistress".'''''

Refers to Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress".

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.'''''

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

''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).

'''(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.'''''

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.

This being the Discworld, this book of rules apparently is ancient ''and'' has just been composed.

'''(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.'''''

Is this a magical powerpoint demonstration?

'''(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.

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?

'''(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."'''''
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."

'''(Harper Collins hardback, US, p198)''' '''''"Owlspring-Tips diagram"'''''

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.

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p201)''' '''''"That's right, of course" said the former Dean. "Your father was a butcher, as I recall".'''''
Later on, there is explicit mention of the large, strong, hands Ridcully inherited from his butcher father.
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.

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.

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.

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p200)''' '''''"You are after the Hat" said Ridcully, flatly.'''''

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.

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.

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.

'''(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."'''''

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."

'''(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..."'''''

As described at the end of ''"Sourcery."''

'''(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."'''''

"Avec" is the French (and probably restaurant Quirmian) word for "with."

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p251)''' '''''"What is your favourite spoon?"'''''

Pepe has just informed Glenda that a lot of people want to ask Juliet some very important questions, including this one.

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.

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".

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p272-273)'''
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....

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p282)''' '''''"Is this going to be like the Moving Pictures?"'''''

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).

'''(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.

"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...
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.

'''(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.

"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...

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).

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p321, 327, 361)''' - Mrs Atkinson - ''..one of the most feared Faces who had ever wielded a sharpened umbrella with malice aforethought.''

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.

* *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.

'''(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).

'''(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; 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.

'''(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).

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.

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.

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...)

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.

'''(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."

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.

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p385)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p389)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p397)''' '''''"You think it's all over?"'''''

'''(Doubleday hardback, UK, p400)''' '''''"It is now!"'''''

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.

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.

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].

'''kitchen maid literature'''

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.

'''Juliet the WAG'''

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).

[[Category:Annotations]]

Book:Making Money/Annotations

2013-04-24T14:52:10Z

Allan Lear: /* By page number */

==By page number==
Page numbers refer to the UK edition. Those in italics refer to the US edition.

[pg. 23]- 'If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-' Moist began.'
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!"'.

'''''(UK Doubleday hardback pp42-43):-''''' 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 '''''ther 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.

(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.''

And of course a form of "dope", considered superior by cannabis connoisseurs, is known as Acapulco '''''Gold'''''...

(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}}.

(155/''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.

(190-200/''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.)

(214/''236'') The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer John Dee. (Himself a Discworld character in {{SOD2}}, where he hosts visiting Wizards from Discworld In Elizabethan London, Dee lived at [[Mort Lake|Mortlake]], which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork)). 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."
Of course, we meet Doctor John Dee in {{SOD2}}.

(221/''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.

(262/''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".

(268/''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".

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.

==Need linking to page==
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.
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.

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.

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."

==A motif recurring throughout the book==
All the sly references to the Roundworld game of 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]]''.

[[Category:Annotations]]

Book:Making Money/Annotations

2013-04-24T14:51:01Z

Allan Lear: /* By page number */

==By page number==
Page numbers refer to the UK edition. Those in italics refer to the US edition.

[pg. 23]- 'If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-' Moist began.'
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!"'.

'''''(UK Doubleday hardback pp42-43):-''''' 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 '''''ther 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.

(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.''

And of course a form of "dope", considered superior by cannabis connoisseurs, is known as Acapulco '''''Gold'''''...

(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}}.

(155/''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.

(190-200/''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.)

(214/''236'') The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer John Dee. (Himself a Discworld character in {{SOD2}}, where he hosts visiting Wizards from Discworld In Elizabethan London, Dee loved at [[Mort Lake|Mortlake]], which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork)). 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."
Of course, we meet Doctor John Dee in {{SOD2}}.

(221/''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.

(262/''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".

(268/''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".

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.

==Need linking to page==
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.
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.

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.

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."

==A motif recurring throughout the book==
All the sly references to the Roundworld game of 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]]''.

[[Category:Annotations]]

Book:Thud!/Annotations

2013-04-24T14:26:06Z

Allan Lear: /* Thud! Annotations */

== [[Book:Thud!|''Thud!'']] Annotations ==

'''Default page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition, unless stated otherwise.'''

Note: The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar.

[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_cave Allegory of the cave] completely on its head.
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.

14 – “Fizz” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as {{wp|Phiz|Phiz}}, the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens.

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.

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_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.
Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a teetotaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.

* Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' color a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!

'''''Sally von Humpeding:-''''' The character's first name is Sally. She is trying to put a suffocating social system that offers little scope for amusement (Vampire society) behind her. She enjoys a drink and a laugh. There is a hint of a cheerful sexual promiscuity, possibly even bisexuality. She is described as boyishly-built with short bobbed black hair.

Is there more than passing reference here to the character and personality of Berlin club singer and performer ''Sally Bowles'', made immortal by Liza Minelli in the film of Christopher Isherwood's Berlin memoir ''I am a Camera'', (filmed as '''''Cabaret''''')? Taking the thought a stage further, this likens Ankh-Morpork to 1930's Berlin, a city riven at the time by marches and street fighting between the far-right Nazis and the far-left Communists. The Dwarfs are certainly confronted with a populist right-wing politician with a finger firmly pointed at a scapegoat group (Trolls), who advocates their extermination and isn't above murdering fellow Dwarfs to advance his aims...

- [p. 29] "Fred had looked retirement in the face, and didn't want any (as described near the end of ''Feet of Clay''.) Vimes had got around the problem by giving him the post of custody officer, to the amusement of all (As in 'Ol' Fred thought he said ''custard'' officer and Volunteered!' Since this is an example of office humour it doesn't have to be funny), and an office in the Watch Training School."

There is a similarity between the above and a scene in the film ''Aliens'', where Hudson comments about Vasquez (one of his fellow Marines): "Yeah, someone said alien, she thought they said illegal alien and signed up". The Vasquez character is supposed to be of Latin American descent, and the Marines are the United States Colonial Marine Corps so Hudson is taking a dig at her origins. I doubt either Colon or Vasquez found the jokes very amusing.

30 – Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”
Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”
- 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.

- [p. 31] "...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."

Foreshadowing.

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.

- [p. 34/US p. 25] "That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"

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.

- [p. 37] "And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."

So what we have here is an Interview With A Vampire.

42 – Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds.

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").

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]

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)

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.

- [p. 48/Corgi p. 57] "The title was The Koom Valley Codex."

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 seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the '''''Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''''' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980's 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 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail]

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 deepdowners, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.

- [p. 57/Corgi p. 68] "War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. 
"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" 
"Absol- Well, okay." 

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. 
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. 
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.

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)

- [p. 62] "I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry™"..."

The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.

- [p. 63] "Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose™ Integrated Messenger Service?"

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.

- [p. 63] "How about a game of Splong!™, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."

Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.

- [p. 63] "My iHUM™ function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time—"

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. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE™ technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 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' h2g2 singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune).

- [p. 69] "[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."

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).

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.”
- [p. 83] "There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."

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".

110 – The Breccia - a rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay) (Merriam –Webster) and also Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia.

112 – Chrysoprase “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (quod erat demonstrandum) meaning “Thus it is proven.”

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.”
- This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine.
- No wonder ferric chloride has a nasty effect on trolls' silicon brains. It's used to cut circuit boards.

151 – “the clacks company” – 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)

— "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
And food for--"
"...for worms, brave Percy..."

— “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.

- [p. 157/Corgi p. 189] "They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."

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.

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."

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.

178 - Sally: “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.”

181 – Nobby: “‘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.’” Possibly a reference to Betty Crocker cake mixes, but also a reference to a famous (at the time) stripper Betty Howard. There is also Forties/Fifties burlesque perfomer Betty Page[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A|Betty_Page], a woman still rated as an icon today (her dark beauty inspires Goths) and who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese.

192 - “Brick thought. . . the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut. . .” A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.

193 - Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.

- [p. 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."

Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.

214 – the game Thud - The game 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)

- [p. 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."

This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.

- [p. 238] "'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."

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. Worth noting too that many European countries have eight days in a week, the current day and then the next seven to get back to the same day. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.

- [p. 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)

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''...

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.

- [p. 249/US paperback p. 258] "Turd races in the gutter... ...with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".

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.

- [p. 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]]."

Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].

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’s, name is a mystical or sacred syllable in the Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.

290 - Detritus’ crossbow, “The Piecemaker” - A reference to the Convair B-36 (nicknamed Peacemaker), a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated solely by the United States Air Force (USAF). Or maybe to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army Colt.45 Single Action Army]...

- [p. 290/Corgi p. 352] "Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."

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.

- [p. 294/UK paperback p. 356] "He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."

Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.

- [p. 298] "The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes. 'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."

Another possible reference to Back To The Future, in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".

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.

- [p. 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."

This is a reference to the blue- and redshift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move towards an object, the observed wave propagation speed of the light emitted by that object is reduced by your own velocity. A lower propagation speed, while retaining the frequency, results in a smaller wavelength. Therefore, given the right speed, something green in front of you is observed as blue (-> blueshift). The speed of approximately one hundred miles per hour, at which the coach drives, is far too low for the effect to be observed, but the allusion is a clear one. This may also be justified by the fact (mentioned in several earlier books) that Discworld light travels a lot slower than Roundworld light.

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?” or other similar translations. Made famous in the Graphic novel the Watchmen by Alan Moore. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the Watchmen are vigilantes that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. For example Rorschach kills most of the bad guys he comes across, as did the Comedian. Sent to prison, and recognised by criminals he allowed to live so as to do time, Rorschach neatly turns the tables on their revenge attack on him, and slaughters the lot in a manner most courts would consider crosses the border from legitimate self-defence into cold calculated murder. (One attacker, a criminal of dwarf stature, is used to block a toilet - head-first - so as to flood a cell wing. Rorschach then uses the combination of ankle-deep water and lots of bare metal fittings to electrocute a dozen more.) (Wikipedia)

344 - '"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'

This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.

- [p. 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...'"

It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').

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...

[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]

[[Category:Annotations]]

Book:Thud!/Annotations

2013-04-24T14:22:23Z

Allan Lear: /* Thud! Annotations */

== [[Book:Thud!|''Thud!'']] Annotations ==

'''Default page numbers refer to the UK Doubleday hardback edition, unless stated otherwise.'''

Note: The 'long dance' of the trolls is likely a reference to the unexpectedly accurate and culturally complex 'long count' of the Mayan calendar.

[[Tak]]'s cave, and Dwarven beliefs about the dark in general, very nicely stand Plato's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_cave Allegory of the cave] completely on its head.
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.

14 – “Fizz” - the editorial cartoonist in the Times is a reference to Hablot Knight Browne, 19th Century English artist, famous as {{wp|Phiz|Phiz}}, the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens.

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.

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_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.
Nineteenth century slang for someone involved in a temperance movement - or more generally a teetotaler - was a 'Blue Ribboner'.

* Although, naturally, red is the ''last'' color a group of reformed B-word addicts would choose for their ribbons!

'''''Sally von Humpeding:-''''' The character's first name is Sally. She is trying to put a suffocating social system that offers little scope for amusement (Vampire society) behind her. She enjoys a drink and a laugh. There is a hint of a cheerful sexual promiscuity, possibly even bisexuality. She is described as boyishly-built with short bobbed black hair.

Is there more than passing reference here to the character and personality of Berlin club singer and performer ''Sally Bowles'', made immortal by Liza Minelli in the film of Christopher Isherwood's Berlin memoir ''I am a Camera'', (filmed as '''''Cabaret''''')? Taking the thought a stage further, this likens Ankh-Morpork to 1930's Berlin, a city riven at the time by marches and street fighting between the far-right Nazis and the far-left Communists. The Dwarfs are certainly confronted with a populist right-wing politician with a finger firmly pointed at a scapegoat group (Trolls), who advocates their extermination and isn't above murdering fellow Dwarfs to advance his aims...

- [p. 29] "Fred had looked retirement in the face, and didn't want any (as described near the end of ''Feet of Clay''.) Vimes had got around the problem by giving him the post of custody officer, to the amusement of all (As in 'Ol' Fred thought he said ''custard'' officer and Volunteered!' Since this is an example of office humour it doesn't have to be funny), and an office in the Watch Training School."

There is a similarity between the above and a scene in the film ''Aliens'', where Hudson comments about Vasquez (one of his fellow Marines): "Yeah, someone said alien, she thought they said illegal alien and signed up". The Vasquez character is supposed to be of Latin American descent, and the Marines are the United States Colonial Marine Corps so Hudson is taking a dig at her origins. I doubt either Colon or Vasquez found the jokes very amusing.

30 – Colon: “Have you heard of Mr Shine?”
Vimes: “Do you clean stubborn surfaces with it?”
- 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.

- [p. 31] "...[[Koom Valley]]. Gods damn the wretched place..."

Foreshadowing.

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.

- [p. 34/US p. 25] "That pea-brained idiot at the [[Post Office]] has only gone and issued a Koom Valley stamp!"

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.

- [p. 37] "And just when the day couldn't get any worse, I've got to interview a damned [[Vampires|vampire]]."

So what we have here is an Interview With A Vampire.

42 – Sir Reynold Stitched, curator of the Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum, is a reference to 18th century British painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds.

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").

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]

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)

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.

- [p. 48/Corgi p. 57] "The title was The Koom Valley Codex."

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 seems to be a nonfiction book. However, the reader's attention is drawn to the '''''Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''''' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, which in the 1980's 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 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail]

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 deepdowners, milking Williams' ex-girlfriend for hints by the hare's "finders"), but their fraud was exposed and the treasure retrieved/protected from them.

- [p. 57/Corgi p. 68] "War, [[Nobby]]. What is it good for?" he said. 
"Dunno, sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" 
"Absol- Well, okay." 

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. 
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. 
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.

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)

- [p. 62] "I am the [[Dis-Organiser]] Mark Five, "The Gooseberry™"..."

The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device. A "gooseberry" is an unwelcome intruder on a romantic assignation; a fifth wheel.

- [p. 63] "Then would you like to engage the handy-to-use Bluenose™ Integrated Messenger Service?"

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.

- [p. 63] "How about a game of Splong!™, specially devised for the Mark Five?" pleaded the imp. "I have the bats right here."

Probably a reference to Pong, possibly the very first graphical video game, which was similar to ping-pong/table tennis.

- [p. 63] "My iHUM™ function enables me to remember up to one thousand five hundred of your all time—"

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. There's also a reference to LucasArt's iMUSE™ technology, which changed the music throughout some of its most popular third-person adventures, like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 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' h2g2 singing ''Share and Enjoy'' a flattened semi-fifth out of tune).

- [p. 69] "[...] he noticed the symbol chalked on the wall over the door: a circle, with a horizontal line through it."

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).

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.”
- [p. 83] "There were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike."

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".

110 – The Breccia - a rock composed of sharp fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix (as sand or clay) (Merriam –Webster) and also Ankh-Morpork`s version of the Mafia.

112 – Chrysoprase “Kew Eee Dee” - a phonetic version of QED (quod erat demonstrandum) meaning “Thus it is proven.”

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.”
- This could be a reference to the introduction of crack cocaine.

151 – “the clacks company” – 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)

— "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
And food for--"
"...for worms, brave Percy..."

— “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.

- [p. 157/Corgi p. 189] "They're [[Agatean Empire|Agatean]] ''[[Numknuts|numknuts]]'', sir."

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.

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."

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.

178 - Sally: “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.”

181 – Nobby: “‘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.’” Possibly a reference to Betty Crocker cake mixes, but also a reference to a famous (at the time) stripper Betty Howard. There is also Forties/Fifties burlesque perfomer Betty Page[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A|Betty_Page], a woman still rated as an icon today (her dark beauty inspires Goths) and who has inspired the acts of modern burlesque strippers such as Dita von Teese.

192 - “Brick thought. . . the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut. . .” A reference to the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”.

193 - Pseudopolis Yard – a reference to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England.

- [p. 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."

Gabbro is a kind of igneous rock.

214 – the game Thud - The game 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)

- [p. 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."

This entire exchange with Vimes is a nice bit of foreshadowing.

- [p. 238] "'But it's pretty much a 24/8 job for us,' said Angua."

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. Worth noting too that many European countries have eight days in a week, the current day and then the next seven to get back to the same day. The Welsh word for week is "wythnos" meaning eight nights.

- [p. 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)

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''...

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.

- [p. 249/US paperback p. 258] "Turd races in the gutter... ...with the name [[Poohsticks|Poosticks]]".

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.

- [p. 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]]."

Close, Fred. It's ''Binge'' Drinking. "Minge" is also (UK?) slang for [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge female pubic hair].

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’s, name is a mystical or sacred syllable in the Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.

290 - Detritus’ crossbow, “The Piecemaker” - A reference to the Convair B-36 (nicknamed Peacemaker), a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated solely by the United States Air Force (USAF). Or maybe to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army Colt.45 Single Action Army]...

- [p. 290/Corgi p. 352] "Something happens at thirteen miles an hour. I don't know what."

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.

- [p. 294/UK paperback p. 356] "He pulled out a battered volume entitled ''Walking in the Koom Valley'', by [[Eric Wheelbrace]]..."

Punning on the walker, author, and illustrator Alfred Wainwright.

- [p. 298] "The roads up there are pretty bad, you know,' said Vimes. 'So I believe, sir. However, that will not, in fact, matter."

Another possible reference to Back To The Future, in particular Doc Brown's line: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".

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.

- [p. 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."

This is a reference to the blue- and redshift, a physical phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect. When you move towards an object, the observed wave propagation speed of the light emitted by that object is reduced by your own velocity. A lower propagation speed, while retaining the frequency, results in a smaller wavelength. Therefore, given the right speed, something green in front of you is observed as blue (-> blueshift). The speed of approximately one hundred miles per hour, at which the coach drives, is far too low for the effect to be observed, but the allusion is a clear one. This may also be justified by the fact (mentioned in several earlier books) that Discworld light travels a lot slower than Roundworld light.

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?” or other similar translations. Made famous in the Graphic novel the Watchmen by Alan Moore. The slogan is seen and heard throughout the novel, on the basis that the Watchmen are vigilantes that operate outside of the law where protective checks and balances exist, so there is no oversight to what they might do. For example Rorschach kills most of the bad guys he comes across, as did the Comedian. Sent to prison, and recognised by criminals he allowed to live so as to do time, Rorschach neatly turns the tables on their revenge attack on him, and slaughters the lot in a manner most courts would consider crosses the border from legitimate self-defence into cold calculated murder. (One attacker, a criminal of dwarf stature, is used to block a toilet - head-first - so as to flood a cell wing. Rorschach then uses the combination of ankle-deep water and lots of bare metal fittings to electrocute a dozen more.) (Wikipedia)

344 - '"This is just the story of the Things Tak Wrote", Cheery whispered to Vimes'

This must have been a loud whisper, as a couple of pages previously, Vimes had sent Cheery back to the town.

- [p. 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...'"

It seems [[Bashfull Bashfullsson|Bashfullsson]] has been practising something similar to [[Roundworld|Roundworld's]] ''Karate'' (which is Japanese for 'Empty Hand').

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...

[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/thud.html''Thud!'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]

[[Category:Annotations]]

Book:Going Postal/Annotations

2013-04-24T10:36:19Z

Allan Lear: /* By page number */

[[Annotations]] for the book {{GP}}
==By page number==
Page numbers refer to the U.S. edition

Cover - The cover design was inspired by the original ''Star Wars'' film poster, because there are other Star Wars references in the book.

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.

Character Annotation on Tolliver Groat:-

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 Ghormenghast'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 - ie, the character who shakes the system up and reinvigorates it. (Hmmm, Moist as Steerpike in a Ghormenghast-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...

(p8) US hardcover- – reference to “the clacks”
– 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)

(p11) US hardcover - "They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully”
– 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."

(p11) " 'Er... it's not as bad a thing I do now...er'"
– Perhaps this is a spoof of the famous speech Sidney Carton says before he is executed in Dickens' ''Tale of Two Cities''. 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.

(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."
– 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.

(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.”
– 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.’”

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.

(p20) "They'd clamped it. They'd bloody clamped it...."
– The bright yellow tire lock (wheel boots) is sometimes used by law enforcement in our world for the same purpose.

(p22) "'Mr. [[Pump]] does not sleep. Mr. Pump does not eat. And Mr. Pump, Postmaster General, does not stop.'"
* 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!"
* 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."

(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!'"
– 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.

(p26) "'"NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLO M OF NI T CAN STAY THESE MES ENGERS ABO T THEIR DUTY."'"
– 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." This was also referenced in {{MAA}}.

(p26) "'Who's [[Mrs. Cake]]?... They seem pretty frightened of her."
– [[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.

(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)

(p47) "'[Wings] on his hat and his ankles,' said Stanley. "So he could fly the messages at the speed of ... messages.'"
– 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!

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!"

(p56) "'Be with you in jus't one moment, s'ir, I'm ju'st—'"
– 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.

(p63) "'The free golems work 24-8...."
– 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.

(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.'"
– 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.

(p74) "'This, my lord'," said Gilt, gesturing to the little side table..."'Is this not an original [[hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl]] slab?'"
–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.

Of course we learn much more about this game in {{T!}}

(p83)US hardcover: Stanley: “See a pin pick it up and all day long you’ll have a pin.”
– 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.

(p83) "'They were hand-drawn and had his trademark silver head with a microscopic engraving of a cockerel.'"
– Perhaps this is a reference to the fancy microscopic engravings computer chip designers use when endorsing their work.

(p96) "'Do you understand anything I'm saying?' shouted Moist. 'You can't just go around killing people!' 'Why Not?'"
– 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?"

(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....

(p104(''Corgi edition'')) "It overwhelms the soul, very much like the state he elsewhere describes as ''Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit''. " – 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 (neutrum) the (neutrum)" 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}}

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).
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])

(p105) "The Marthter ith having one of hith little thoireeth, thur"
– 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..."

(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."
– 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].

''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''.''



(p106) "Twelve and a half percent! Twelve and a half percent!"
– 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.

(p129) "les buggeures risible"
– Pig French for "Silly Buggers", a common English slang term for deliberately obstructive activity. ("Someone's playing silly buggers, here...")

(p131) "This was going to be...ironic. They'd actually got hold of Lipwigzers!"
– 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. (And there is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottweil Rottweil])

(p131) US hardcover: Worshipful Master: “Yes, well, you know what we used to say: you do have to be mad to work here!”
– a spin on the Roundworld saying: “You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps”
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!'''''

(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?)

(p137) "'Look, I'm not the One you're looking for!'"
– 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."

(p137) "Deliver Us!"
– A pun on the Israelites' cry from the Biblical book of Exodus.

(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.'"
– There's an old mathematical limerick about this very
:It's a favorite hobby of mine
:A new value for pi to assign.
:I would set it to three
:'Cause it's simpler, you see,
:Than three point one four one five nine.

It also reminds me of the story of the legislature of an US state setting a definitive value for Pi.

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]].

The urban legend spoofing the creationism struggle here [[http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp]]

(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.

(p156) "'Coo, you're a good draw-er, Mr. Lipwig. That looks just like Lord [[Vetinari]]!' 'That's the penny stamp,' said Moist.'"
– 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.

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]]

(p156)US hardcover: When Moist shows her his stamp designs, Adora says “What’s this? You carry your etchings with you to save time?”
– 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.

(p167) "Gently, the paper tore down the line of holes."
– Perforated stamp sheets didn't appear until 1857 in the U.S., seventeen years after the penny stamp was introduced.

(p175) "'I won't be long. I'm off to see the wizard.'"
– The author has probably been waiting years to use this line from Frank L. Baum's ''The Wizard of Oz''.

(p176) "Just below the dome, staring down from their niches, were statues of the Virtues: Patience, Chastity, Silence, Charity, Hope, [[Tubso]], [[Bissonomy]], and Fortitude."
– 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.

(p176) "These [books] are not on the public shelves lest untrained handling cause the collapse of everything that is possible to imagine.* (footnote: Again.)
– 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."

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).

(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."
– 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...

(p181) "'Where do they go [when they die]?' 'No one's sure, exactly, but you can hear the sounds of cutlery,' said Pelc...."
– 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.

(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..." – 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.

(p200) "'Er... Joe Camels, sir,' he said nervously. 'I'm the mayor here...'"
– 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.

(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."
– Think of old German beer waitresses, not Princess Leia from ''Star Wars''.

(p224) "'Tell me,' said Moist, 'have you ever heard of something called the Smoking Gnu?'"
– 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'' → ''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.

(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....'"
– 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?"

(p235) "But now it was time to put away childish pins."
– "When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." – 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV) (the King James version has "but when I became a man, I put away childish things")

(p249) "'There's the Lady Sybil Free Hospital,' said Miss Dearheart. 'Is it any good?' 'Some people don't die.' 'That good, eh?'"
– [[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.''

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.

(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.

(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'". 
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].

(p263) "The nave of the temple was deserted, except for a little old man in a grubby robe, dreamily sweeping the floor."
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.

(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''.

(p279) US hardcover: Moist says "your big words tell them it’s going to be jam tomorrow and they hope."
– 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."

(p287) US hardcover:‘Tump Tower’ refers to the Trump Tower, built by Donald Trump in New York City

(p293) "Deliver them, of course. You've got to. You are the messenger of the gods."
– Another reference to Mercury.

(p300) US Hardcover: The ‘crackers’ who disrupt the Clacks line are remarkably like Roundworld computer hackers

(p304) "'There's cabbage soup, cabbage beer, cabbage fudge, cabbage cake, cream of cabbage—'"
– Stanley's stream of cabbage recipes parallels Bubba's list of shrimp dishes in the movie Forrest Gump, and Monty Python's Spam sketch.
* 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.

(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?'"
– 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.

(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."

(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."
– 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.

(p326) "'I call it baize-space,' said [[Ponder Stibbons]] proudly."
– '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".

(p339) "'But it's a book!' said Mr. Pony. 'It'll take all night to code! And there's diagrams!'"
– 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.

(p352) "'It's still not working, Mr. Stibbons!' he bellowed. "Here's that damn enormous fiery eye again!'"
– 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]].

(p360) "'Gilt can kiss my—' Grandad began, then remembered the present company and finished: '–donkey.'"
– A reference to American use of ''ass'', an old word for donkey, in place of ''arse''.

(p361) "'... I'm close to translating the mating call of the giant clam...'"
– 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.

(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:

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.

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.

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.

==Odds and ends==
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)

'''Moist von Lipwig'''
: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)

- '''[p. 17-18 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "'Er... would you mind signing the rope beforehand, sir? ... Worth more signed, of course.'" - Daniel "One Drop" Trooper
: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)

- '''[p. 47 (UK Corgi PB)]''' "A large black and white cat had walked into the room"
:Does the colour remind anyone else of Postman Pat's cat, Jess?

- '''[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.'"
: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)

- '''[p. 352(UK Corgi PB)p.330 (Doubleday hardcover)]'''

"I'm sure we have the right-" Ponder began.

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.

"I had the right, but barely" he explained to Gandalf.

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.
--[[User:Neilxt|Neilxt]] 05:03, 21 August 2007 (CEST)

(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...

(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)

(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).

(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].

(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."

[[Category:Annotations]]