Talk:Book:Going Postal/Annotations - Revision history

Old Dickens at 02:09, 21 April 2026

2026-04-21T02:09:19Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:09, 21 April 2026
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	I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)		I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
	:Sounds like Doctor Strangelove...anyway, if you could suggest where in the story this appears I could look it up. I don't remember it. --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 01:41, 21 April 2026 (UTC)		:Sounds like Doctor Strangelove...anyway, if you could suggest where in the story this appears I could look it up. I don't remember it. --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 01:41, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
			:Gorgi PB p.285 mentions a clax message sent by a dead man's hand (a call for help, not a retribution). --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 02:09, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

Old Dickens: where?

2026-04-21T01:41:35Z

where?

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:41, 21 April 2026
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	I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)		I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
			:Sounds like Doctor Strangelove...anyway, if you could suggest where in the story this appears I could look it up. I don't remember it. --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 01:41, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

Moishe Rosenbaum: New section: Dead Man's Handle?

2026-04-21T00:25:50Z

New section: Dead Man's Handle?

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:25, 21 April 2026
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	* 'keit' - grammatical change suffix		* 'keit' - grammatical change suffix
	(unsigned comment by [[User: Snafu\| Snafu]] 12 Jan 2021)		(unsigned comment by [[User: Snafu\| Snafu]] 12 Jan 2021)

			==Dead Man's Handle==
			Just listened to a detailed history of the early Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Y'all remember "mutually assured destruction?" I do... oy. It was the idea that for the sake of defense, we have to have more and better nukes than they do, 'cause then they'll know for sure that if they attack us, we'll attack them, and so they'll be dead, too, and so they won't attack us in the first place. Both sides thought this was a good idea. (And, well, no one ever got nuked after 1945, so, maybe? I dunno.)

			Anyway, apparently the Soviets had a system which, if it detected that nuclear weapons had gone off in the CCCP with no Soviet response for a certain time, it assumed that the no one was alive to assure the mutual destruction. And thus it automatically fired nuclear weapons at the USA. It was called... Dead Man's Handle. Terry always had a real-life inspiration, didn't he.

			I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

Old Dickens: attribute

2021-01-18T00:49:56Z

attribute

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:49, 18 January 2021
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	* 'das' - on/by/the [liberties taken WRT German pronouns etc]		* 'das' - on/by/the [liberties taken WRT German pronouns etc]
	* 'keit' - grammatical change suffix		* 'keit' - grammatical change suffix
			(unsigned comment by [[User: Snafu\| Snafu]] 12 Jan 2021)

Snafu: Additional speculation on the meaning of Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit

2021-01-12T22:50:59Z

Additional speculation on the meaning of Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:50, 12 January 2021
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	Terry was being unjust. The Greengrocer's apostrophe has long been a source of ridicule, but the origin of the apostrophe in the first place was to show the "e" Johnson used in plural words like "Peares" had been missed out. Robert Barltrop's "The Muvver Tongue" is an excellent source for insight into Cockney and what has developed into Estuary English. [[User:WillE\|WillE]] ([[User talk:WillE\|talk]]) 18:49, 5 August 2019 (UTC)		Terry was being unjust. The Greengrocer's apostrophe has long been a source of ridicule, but the origin of the apostrophe in the first place was to show the "e" Johnson used in plural words like "Peares" had been missed out. Robert Barltrop's "The Muvver Tongue" is an excellent source for insight into Cockney and what has developed into Estuary English. [[User:WillE\|WillE]] ([[User talk:WillE\|talk]]) 18:49, 5 August 2019 (UTC)


			==Vonallesvolkommenunverstandlichdasdaskeit==

			(Doubleday p78)

			From comments in https://alt.fan.pratchett.narkive.com/iGHzZIHV/r-question-for-germans-and-linguists I suggest the word is meant to mean:

			"All people who come to understanding stand on the shoulders [of giants]", paraphrasing Newton's famous quote

			* 'Von' - from
			* 'alles' - all
			* 'volk' - people [lit. 'folk']
			* 'kommen' - come (to)
			* 'unverstandlich' - understanding
			* 'das' - on/by/the [liberties taken WRT German pronouns etc]
			* 'keit' - grammatical change suffix

Old Dickens: pineapplesauce

2019-08-06T03:02:30Z

pineapplesauce

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:02, 6 August 2019
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	More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the [[Hat]], The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)		More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the [[Hat]], The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)
			:I don't mess with annotations much, but AgProv seems to have it bass-ackwards here. The pineapple was (and remains, especially in Charleston) a symbol of hospitality, from the days when they were rare and expensive. I recall a suggestion that if the pineapple was not at the table any more, you shouldn't be, either, but I haven't confirmed that yet. --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 03:02, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

	== Greengrocers ==		== Greengrocers ==

WillE: /* Pineapples and getting past them... */

2019-08-05T18:49:27Z

Pineapples and getting past them...

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:49, 5 August 2019
Line 103:		Line 103:

	More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the [[Hat]], The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)		More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the [[Hat]], The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

			== Greengrocers ==

			''(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.
			''

			Terry was being unjust. The Greengrocer's apostrophe has long been a source of ridicule, but the origin of the apostrophe in the first place was to show the "e" Johnson used in plural words like "Peares" had been missed out. Robert Barltrop's "The Muvver Tongue" is an excellent source for insight into Cockney and what has developed into Estuary English. [[User:WillE\|WillE]] ([[User talk:WillE\|talk]]) 18:49, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

AgProv: /* Pineapples and getting past them... */

2014-07-31T21:41:41Z

Pineapples and getting past them...

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:41, 31 July 2014
Line 102:		Line 102:
	== Pineapples and getting past them... ==		== Pineapples and getting past them... ==

	More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the Hat, The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)		More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the [[Hat]], The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

AgProv: /* Pineapples and getting past them... */ new section

2014-07-31T21:39:41Z

Pineapples and getting past them...: new section

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:39, 31 July 2014
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	When postage stamps are first invented, Moist wonders about a method of separating them from a sheet without having to go through the long-winded process of cutting them out one at a time with scissors. He remembers how Stanley secured pins to paper - by pushing them through it - and, being Stanley, this leaves a long precise line of regularly shaped holes which may be torn. He describes this to the techs at Teemer and Spools, who then build a machine to create perforations. This has apparently never been done before, and Moist gives T&S the copyright and patent for the machine. Yet much earlier in the book, he visits Dave's Pin Exchange and explicitly asks for - and buys - a roll of ''pre-perforated backing paper to display pins on''. So the technology for making perforated paper clearly already existed on the Disc? He didn't need to re-invent it! [[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 20 June 2014 (UTC)		When postage stamps are first invented, Moist wonders about a method of separating them from a sheet without having to go through the long-winded process of cutting them out one at a time with scissors. He remembers how Stanley secured pins to paper - by pushing them through it - and, being Stanley, this leaves a long precise line of regularly shaped holes which may be torn. He describes this to the techs at Teemer and Spools, who then build a machine to create perforations. This has apparently never been done before, and Moist gives T&S the copyright and patent for the machine. Yet much earlier in the book, he visits Dave's Pin Exchange and explicitly asks for - and buys - a roll of ''pre-perforated backing paper to display pins on''. So the technology for making perforated paper clearly already existed on the Disc? He didn't need to re-invent it! [[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

			== Pineapples and getting past them... ==

			More Internet trivia: concept not yet confirmed. Apparently in the antebellum Deep South, the equivalent of giving somebody the cold shoulder was to give them a pineapple. The sacred duty of hosting guests means you can't tell them to piss off when it's got to the Hat, The Vulture-Headed-God of Unwelcome Guests stage. Mediaeval lords got around this by putting their unwelcome guests on the same cold mutton ration the peasants got. In the Deep South and other parts of the USA, they put a pineapple on the bedside table - this fruit being so common you fed the slaves on it, or something. The clear hint: it's been real nice havin' y'all, but y'all better hit the road now, you hear? So Getting Past The Pineapple might have the association of heaving a deep sigh, packing your carpet-bag and getting someone to saddle up your horse.[[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

AgProv: /* A little flaw in the book's plot */ new section

2014-06-20T21:39:36Z

A little flaw in the book's plot: new section

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:39, 20 June 2014
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	I feel that I must point out that Aragorn has the undoubted right to use the Palantír, because he was King, and that his statement to this effect is made to Gimli and Legolas, not Gandalf. He says, "Nay, my friends, I am the lawful master of the Stone, and I had both the right and the strength to use it, or so I judged. The right cannot be doubted. The strength was enough—barely." ''The Lord of the Rings'', Book Five, Chapter II (''The Return of the King'' page 53 in my edition).		I feel that I must point out that Aragorn has the undoubted right to use the Palantír, because he was King, and that his statement to this effect is made to Gimli and Legolas, not Gandalf. He says, "Nay, my friends, I am the lawful master of the Stone, and I had both the right and the strength to use it, or so I judged. The right cannot be doubted. The strength was enough—barely." ''The Lord of the Rings'', Book Five, Chapter II (''The Return of the King'' page 53 in my edition).
	--[[User:Edanite\|Edanite]] 03:56, 26 June 2007 (CEST)		--[[User:Edanite\|Edanite]] 03:56, 26 June 2007 (CEST)

			== A little flaw in the book's plot ==

			When postage stamps are first invented, Moist wonders about a method of separating them from a sheet without having to go through the long-winded process of cutting them out one at a time with scissors. He remembers how Stanley secured pins to paper - by pushing them through it - and, being Stanley, this leaves a long precise line of regularly shaped holes which may be torn. He describes this to the techs at Teemer and Spools, who then build a machine to create perforations. This has apparently never been done before, and Moist gives T&S the copyright and patent for the machine. Yet much earlier in the book, he visits Dave's Pin Exchange and explicitly asks for - and buys - a roll of ''pre-perforated backing paper to display pins on''. So the technology for making perforated paper clearly already existed on the Disc? He didn't need to re-invent it! [[User:AgProv\|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv\|talk]]) 21:39, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:09, 21 April 2026
Line 137:		Line 137:
	I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)		I'll put this in annotations if anyone has a hard copy of Going Postal and can give me page numbers. If not, I'll eventually grab the book from the library and find the reference. [[User:Moishe Rosenbaum\|Moishe Rosenbaum]] ([[User talk:Moishe Rosenbaum\|talk]]) 00:25, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
	:Sounds like Doctor Strangelove...anyway, if you could suggest where in the story this appears I could look it up. I don't remember it. --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 01:41, 21 April 2026 (UTC)		:Sounds like Doctor Strangelove...anyway, if you could suggest where in the story this appears I could look it up. I don't remember it. --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 01:41, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
			:Gorgi PB p.285 mentions a clax message sent by a dead man's hand (a call for help, not a retribution). --[[User:Old Dickens\|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens\|talk]]) 02:09, 21 April 2026 (UTC)