Talk:Ankh-Morpork City Watch

Same old problem with alphabetical listing...--Vsl 02:36, 13 February 2006 (CET)

Librarian

I wouldn't think the Librarian qualifies as a member of the Watch. He seems to be more of a member of the Specials. Though he does tend to be mentioned more times then other specials. One could say he was the first special.

Fhh98 05:53, 7 October 2006 (CEST)

I'd like to point out that if we include the librarian and ae pessimal, we should probably include mr Boggis, Willikins and Andy Hancock then. Should I add them, or delete the librarian or pessimal from the list? --CommanderJake, AMCW 19:37, 18 May 2007 (CEST)

The Librarian ('Special Ape Services') has been a fairly consistent aid to the Watch, and Pessimal was expected to become a regular Watchman as soon as he finished his report. The others are more obviously temporary.--Old Dickens 21:07, 18 May 2007 (CEST)

Maybe a special 'Specials' section would be in order - or just a heading with a link to Specials --Hapenny 13:42, 19 December 2007 (CET)

Oh, no - the Baker Street Irregulars are back. The problems with this suggestion (which I seem to remember rejecting before) are (a)The Irregulars were on the side of the angels. (b)They weren't any kind of a police force; they were street urchins, more like a juvenile Canting Crew than the Particulars. Altogether, the only similarity is in the construction of the name, so it might have been the E Street Band, too. --Old Dickens 22:21, 18 February 2008 (CET)

Roundworld Referent

I'm not sure, which is why I haven't put it on the main page, but I seem to remember that Antoine de Sartine (commander of the city police and Watch in Paris) had a coat of arms (as described by R.A. Wilson) which is not a million miles away from that which was withdrawn from the Vimes family, following that unfortunate business between Old Stoneface and King Lorenzo. Wonder if this historical figure was on TP's mind when developing the character of Vimes, as Sartine by all accounts ended up as more than just a mere policeman... he went on to become a diplomat, a spymaster, and ultimately an Admiral with responsibility for modernising the French fleet. Given what Vimes has also been tasked with, two out of three of these (diplomacy and a certain necessary overlap with espionage)ain't bad! Vimes even scores a half-mark on the third: for comandeering a ship and sailing it accross the Circle Sea during the recent outbreak of football with Klatch. Admittedly, he did it by holding a crossbow to the head of the Captain, but it could be argued that an Admiral (who always outranks a mere Captain) has every professional right to do this, and the crossbow is usually accepted as an implicit courtesy detail by most navies.

--AgProv 02:26, 8 March 2008 (CET)

Re: Annotation. Harry Callahan worked for the San Francisco P.D. (Motto: "Oro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra".) --Old Dickens 14:08, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Quotes and paraphrasings

I've been rereading the watch-cycle of books. A number of times various watchmen qoutes or paraphrases Roundorld movies, TV-series, novels etc. I'll try to match qoutes and sayings.

First teaser: From which movie is this paraphrased: Their worst nightmare. A Librarian with a badge

Iron Hippo 21:45, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs. as he bullies the redneck barkeeper; I'm your worst nightmare, a nigger with a badge

Iron Hippo 18:44, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Cheery Littlebottom bursts into the Palace kitchen, fires her crossbow into the ceiling, and shouts in what I imagine would be a very high-pitched voice Don't nobody move! Which movie? AgProv (talk) 01:01, 13 March 2013 (GMT)

Armor

A pretty unimportant note/question but is the watch armour likely to be bronze or steel? Personally I'm thinking steel, as I'm sure there's a reference in Guards! Guards! or Men at Arms to a rusty chest plate.--Megahurts 11:34, 18 November 2010 (CET)

Given that there are also referances the metal that loves metal (ie Iron) it would be unlikely they would still be using Bronze. Iron or Steel would seem more likely--BOZZ 11:45, 18 November 2010 (CET)

Thinking Nobby Nobbs here. Any metal going near to his skin will tarnish. I recall that the text notes his armour is in a shocking state and piutted with rust, which suggests iron or steel. Bronze develops a gangrenous-green patina with age and neglect but does not rust. --AgProv 00:22, 13 March 2011 (CET)

Locations of Watch-houses:-

I've just discovered that the Post Office is on a corner of Broad Way and Hill Street. Given Terry's fondness for incorporating references to fictional, film and TV cop shows, he's missing a sitter by not having a Watch sector house on Hill Street! Would the cops here be a tad depressed? --AgProv 00:25, 13 March 2011 (CET)

In fact, a possibly disused Watch House is identified as the old Day Watch house, off Broad Way. So might the Hill Street Watch House exist after all? --AgProv 00:39, 13 March 2011 (CET)

Re. location of Old Lemonade factory, I've been musing on whether it's the one suggested here (between Butt's Treat and Squeezebelly Alley) or whether it might instead be on the other side (between Knuckle Passage and Broadway). I have finally found a helpful paragraph in Fifth Elephant describing a scene just near the Brass Bridge: "Colon pulled a couple of round, white‐painted paddles from his belt, sighted on the Watch House semaphore tower peeking over the top of the old lemonade factory, waited until the watching gargoyle signalled him...". So, if the sempahore tower is sighted from the Brass Bridge with the lemonade factory visible in-between, this would seem to confirm the latter. Would others agree with this? Any conflicting evidence found? --Filipendula 14:37, 02 July 2016 (CET)

If that's all the evidence we can find (and it may be) and the clacks tower is on the Watch building (which seems likely), Knuckle Passage sounds more probable. --Old Dickens (talk) 15:39, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

TV Series

I've added a section about the TV series that looks like coming out about the watch--User:Revinkeviin

Incomplete sentence?

Just reading through the last section I noticed this:

Cable Street has police connections in our world, which see.

See what??? Is it just me or does this not make sense?

I suspect it means you should follow the link to Cable Street, but I can't edit annotations. They're not required to be true or even reasonable inferences. The preceding sentence is a silly lie that I've complained about for years, but it's all just opinion. --Old Dickens (talk) 23:37, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

It's the phrasing that confused me. The sentence about the potential Holmesian link is a lie? I can see the similarity with names and very loosely with roles. --Verity (talk) 02:30, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

On another, completely different note, is there a page documenting crimes (in Ankh-Morpork)? If there is it doesn't show up in a search and I couldn't see a section for it here or on the Ankh-Morpork page. It could be interesting to collect them all together, especially since some are mentioned in The Compleat Ankh-Morpork and I'm sure I recall others mentioned in the books (especially by Carrot). --Verity (talk) 23:12, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

Do you mean The Laws and Ordinances of the Cities Ankh and Morpork? --Old Dickens (talk) 23:37, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

Hmmm, sort of. Perhaps a redirect (I'd of thought the search term 'crime' would have got a result) or a link on the AMCW page may be of use. Also, it's lacking a lot of the info included in The Compleat Ankh-Morpork about crime (e.g. Miming, Illegal substances, Street crime, murder, begging, Malicious Morris Dancing, etc) since that page is about the contents of a specific book, rather than the general concept of crime and punishment. --Verity (talk) 02:30, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

The assertion that the Baker Street Irregulars were a police force is absurd, yes. A study of crime in Ankh-Morpork would be complicated, what with theft and assassination being legal, if performed in accordance with the rules. Feel free to write the article if you have the strength. --Old Dickens (talk) 03:09, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Holmes does refer to the Baker Street Irregulars as 'the unofficial force', but the Holmesian potential inspiration does seem rather distanced from the impression I get of the Cable Street Particulars by the age of those involved and the positive/negative activities/connotations. As for making a page for crime, I might well do. I haven't been keen on creating pages in the past - trying to follow the 'work on stubs first' rule and I hardly want to go ruining all the hard work that's gone into this brilliant wiki by making pages that aren't up to the same standard as the other content on here. I think the hardest part would be not quoting - at present my main source would be the The Compleat Ankh-Morpork and the mentions linked to The Laws and Ordinances of the Cities Ankh and Morpork. As for guild roles/links I expect the key thing is self-regulation and demarcation under the current rulership and the traditional activities/practices. As you say, it's linked to when the rules surrounding what would normally be considered crimes are obeyed - therefore a big part would be defining those rules, what's acceptable and what isn't. I'll probably sandbox something in Word when I next get a chance. Really should be studying though - Time is flying up to essay hand-ins and exams and today (or rather yesterday since it now 4.58AM) I've spent more time on Discworld stuff then my Uni course - not good. --Verity (talk) 04:03, 20 April 2014 (UTC)