?_bÿÿÿÿgc RIlæ^;,The Annotated Pratchett File Version 7a.5.3/&;)z4ÿÿ¯ÿÿÿÿ|CONTEXT8K |CTXOMAPþB |FONTâA |SYSTEM|TOPIC‘|TTLBTREE C C:\TEMP\~hc6 †=C:\TEMP\~hc7 C:\TEMP\~hc7€º C:\TEMP\~hc7Q= H= ÿÿÿÿ 9ÿÿÿÿE1GÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿESContentsQ* –' €T€€€‚‚ÿThe Annotated Pratchett File, v7a.5.3˜SE.E Z€¦€€€‚‚ãd¸‰‚ã,‹YG‰‚ã\š=‰‚‚€€‚‚ÿContentsHeaderPreface to v7a.5IntroductionDiscworld Annotations:T–GÅ X©€ºãŽ€‰‚ãΉ‚ãBn‰‚ãO׉‚ãÓ¤K‰‚ã°‰‚ã%ãô‰‚ãv‰‚ãÿ‰‚ãÓ‰‚㞉‚ãø‰‚ãЉ‚ãaÔ‰‚ãþ‰‚ãW‰‚ãl¯#‰‚ã.¤‰‚㤲‰‚ã D ‰‚ãˉ‚ãK‰‚ÿThe Colour of MagicThe Light FantasticEqual RitesMortSourceryWyrd SistersPyramidsGuards! Guards!EricMoving PicturesReaper ManWitches AbroadSmall GodsLords and LadiesMen at ArmsSoul MusicInteresting TimesMaskeradeFeet of ClayHogfatherJingoThe Last ContinentCarpe Jugulum³4.ú Ì€i€ºãË€‰‚ã0‰‚ã] ‰‚ãЉ‚ãü‰‚ãA¥‰‚ãs‰‚ãÀ®,‰‚ãBZ‰‚ãÞʼn‚ãð®#‰‚ãóX,‰‚ãp‰‚ÿThe Fifth ElephantThe TruthThief of TimeThe Last HeroThe Amazing Maurice and his Educated RodentsFuture BooksThe Discworld CompanionThe Science of DiscworldThe Science of Discworld 2The Streets of Ankh-MorporkThe Discworld MappA Tourists Guide to LancreDeath's DomainDG>+ &€2€€‚€€‚‚ÿOther Annotations:5Äúsq °€‰€ºãü€‰‚ãp{N‰‚ãx–‰‚ãóN€‰‚ã¾”‰‚ã 0‰‚ã^‰‚ã× ‰‚ãÕ ‰‚ãU‰‚ãN ‰‚ÿGood OmensStrataThe Dark Side of the SunTruckersDiggersWingsOnly You Can Save MankindJohnny and the DeadJohnny and the BombThe Carpet PeopleThe Unadulterated CatF>¹+ &€6€€‚€€‚‚ÿThoughts and Themes:£]s\F \€º€ºã- €‰‚ã쉂㑕‰‚ã?ù‰‚ãÕ‰‚ÿThe Turtle Moves!Song......and DanceReverse AnnotationsWords from the MasterE¹¡+ &€4€€‚€€‚‚ÿEditorial Comments:²l\SF \€Ø€ºã}+€‰‚ãš}‰‚ã‰}‰‚㉂ãþ‰‚ÿStatisticsTo Annotate or Not To AnnotateThe APF in Other FormatsCreditsDistributing the APF7¡Š1¨ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿŠû HeaderO)SÙ& €R€€€‚ÿThe Annotated Pratchett File, v7a.5.3(Š $ €€€‚‚ÿ"ÑÙ# Q p€£€€€‚€€‚€€‚€€‚€€‚€€‚€€‚ÿBEING: THEE moft LEARNED and EDDYFYING COMPENDIUM intended for theAMUSEMENT of the NOBLE and the INSTRUCTION of the VULGAR, poftedon occafion upon THEE NETTE and CONSISTING of an OSTENTATIOUSNESSof COMMENTARIES and EXPLICATIONS by which shall be shewn the TRUEMEANING of the LEGION and MANY JESTS, SAWS and WITTICISMS to beFOUND in the MULTITUDINOUS WORKS of MISTER TERENCE PRATCHETT,OBE, scribe of thysse parifh. FEATURING a CAST of THOUSANDS½ 2 R r€{€€€€€‚€€‚‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€ €‚€ €‚ÿconfifting in PART of WIZARDS, WARRIORS, MONKAPES, DIURSEALARUMS and ONE THOUSAND ELEPHANTS.BEWARE! Here be SPOILERS!Organisation: Unseen UniversityNewsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchettFollowup To: alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchettReply-To: apf@lspace.orgArchive-name: apf-7a.5.3Last-modified: xx June 2001Version: 7a.5.3Editor: Leo Breebaart (apf@lspace.org)Assistant-Editor: Mike Kew (apf@lspace.org)Éš# û / ,€5€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚ÿURL: This Windows help file formatted by Trevor Curry, D.AcfD(Invisus) - sometime poster to afp. 24 July 2001.M2 H1Î ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿHÕKPreface to the 7a-th Edition°}û B3 4€û€€‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿPREFACE TO v7A.5This is not the new release of the Annotated Pratchett File.This is a development version, a work in progress, an unfinished business.Since 1996 I have kept everybody waiting for a new release of the APF (version 9.0, internal codename: the Pointless Albatross release). Real life kept interfering, and year after year passed without anything happening. I did dHBû o large amounts of work behind the scenes, but there was never enough time to take things all the way, to fully research and edit the raw material, to wrap everything up into something releasable. Worse, it didn't look as if this situation was going to change. The time had come for me to face reality, and either give up entirely, or else make some radical changes to the way I had been approaching the job of editing and releasing the APF. I decided to change, and you are now looking at the results.BHFD1 0€#€€‚€€€€‚ÿThe first major change is that I have abandoned the concept of releasing only complete updates to the Annotated Pratchett File, in which all of the annotation sections for all of the books are fully updated. From now on, the APF will be updated incrementally: book by book, section by section, sometimes even annotation by annotation. There will, eventually, be a version 9.0, a proper "stable release", but until that happens the intermediate stages on the 7a.5 "development branch" will be available for public viewing.íBdF1 0€Û€€‚€ €€ €‚ÿThe second major change is that I have abandoned the concept of doing the entire core researching/editing job by myself without outside help. From now on, I will share that job with Mike Kew, a.k.a. Miq -- a name that should be familiar and welcome to all alt.books.pratchett and alt.fan.pratchett readers. Mike and I will be able to work in parallel on different stages of the editing process, and as a result progress can be made even if one of us is occupied with other commitments.ò¿FDVI3 4€€€‚ã.¤‰ã¤²‰‚‚‚ÿWhat has changed in version 7a.5? The single most important change is that we have added 204 new annotations (well over 1500 lines of text), finally bringing Feet of Clay and Hogfather into the domain of annotated books.The rest of the Annotated Pratchett File has stayed mostly the same, except for the occasional rewritten section (such as this Preface). This also implies that some of the unchanged bits have now become outdated, because they still refer to the situation of the previous 7a.0 release. That is one of the disadvantages of going public with a development version: perfectionism has to take a back seat to pragmatism, and loose ends will dangle visibly until they get tied up.1 dF‡K' €€€‚‚‚‚ÿIn the same vein, the new annotations have not been proof-read (yet) by my usual team of APF proof-readers, they only cover a period of e-mail submissions and a.f.p. logs from July 1996 until December 1998, and v7a.5 will only be available as ASCII text and on the L-Space Web, not in any of the other formats (PostScript, MS Word) that v7a.0 was released in. I can only hope that finally being able to read new APF annotations for the first time in four years will be enough make up for such occasional rough edges.N(VIÕK& €P€€‚‚‚‚ÿLeo BreebaartDelft, Hogswatch 2000= ‡KL1y ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿLZˆIntroduction ÛÕKN1 0€·€€‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿINTRODUCTION[Note: This section was written for APF v7a.0, and has not yet been updated for APF v7a.5.]You are now about to read the 7a-th edition (the 8th, really, but since this is the Discworld I'm not taking any chances...) of the Annotated Pratchett File, or APF for short.One of the most popular pastimes on the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett has always been discussing the many jokes, parodies and references that Terry Pratchett puts into his novels.ѤLû- (€I€€‚€€‚‚‚ÿSince, as Terry once put it, "alt.fan.pratchett as an entity has the attention span of a butterfly on cocaine" it quickly became apparent that it would be a good idea to distill some of these discussions into something with a little more persistence and staying power than individual Usenet articles. So the Annotated Pratchett File was born, and (because I was brave/foolish enough to volunteer) I became its editor.The structure NûÕKof the file is straightforward, with the books divided into two large groups: the Discworld related books, and all the other ones. Per book, the annotations are sorted in ascending page order. For each annotation I supply two page numbers: the first number is that of the paperback (usually the UK Corgi edition), the second number that of the hardcover (usually the UK Gollancz edition). Use these numbers as a rough guide for finding an annotation in your own particular edition of the book.§€N¢„' €€€‚‚‚‚ÿEach annotation is also prefixed by either a '+', denoting an annotation that is new or has been significantly updated in this version of the APF, or a '-', denoting an unchanged older annotation. This is handy for long-time readers who quickly want to scan for the new stuff.The APF incorporates, in this edition even more than before, passages from articles that Terry himself has posted to alt.fan.pratchett. As an active contributor to the group, he often provides us with inside information on many aspects of his writing, and it would be a waste to let this first-hand knowledge just disappear into the vacuum of Usenet history.c<û‡' €y€€‚‚‚‚ÿThe file ends with an editorial section, where various nuts & bolts of the APF editing process are discussed, and information is given to help you obtain the most recent version of the APF in whatever format you prefer.One particular piece of information is so important I am putting it here rather than at the end, and that is the address to write to if you have any suggestions, questions, corrections, or new annotations -- without the enthusiastic reactions and input from its readers, the APF would never have survived. So please mail all your feedback to me atU(¢„Zˆ- (€Q€€‚‚‚€ €‚ÿ apf@lspace.organd look for your contribution in the next edition. I will now leave you to the annotations, and end this introduction with a thought that is a bit of a cliché but nonetheless true: I hope you will enjoy reading the APF as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.C‡ˆ1#ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿˆ‰ÆEditorial CommentsÎZˆ¢Š7 <€€€‚€ €‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿEditorial Comments for v7a.5PAGE NUMBERS Up to APF v7a.0, each annotation was identified (apart from the relevant quote) by two page numbers: one for the Gollancz hardcover, one for the Corgi paperback. Unfortunately, this system has a number of drawbacks.One minor problem is that I have never liked the look of those double page numbers. The "247/391" strings look ugly, bloat the text, and make the annotations just that tiny bit harder to read. Þˆ­- (€½€€‚‚‚€ €‚ÿA more serious problem is that having two page numbers is a maintenance headache. Double the numbers means double the chance of mistakes. And since I don't own Terry's books in both hardcover and paperback editions myself, I have to rely on volunteers to supply fully half of the data I need: all the page numbers for the editions of the books I don't have.Thankfully, so far I have had the help of volunteers who do a stellar job on this, but it does still mean that I can never just add an annotation without having to go bother someone else for the second page number. This makes annotating a two-step process, which is especially tiresome now that APF updates happen incrementally and in a more on-the-fly kind of fashion.e;¢ŠÀ* "€w€€€ €‚ÿThe most serious drawback, however, and the one that has made me reconsider the whole setup, is fairly recent, and caused by the fact that there are now so many different editions of Terry's books available that the percentage of readers to whom either of the page numbers I supply means anything useful, is shrinking, and will only get smaller over time. Not only do we now have American editions in widespread use, but we also have reissues of the older Corgi paperbacks and Gollancz hardcovers, both with page counts that are different from the pr­ÀZˆevious editions.î­7Ã+ $€Ý€€‚ã%ÿFinally, I think the most useful aspects of the page numbers is that they provide a ordering of the list of annotations for a given book. I strongly suspect that the actual numbers are used more often by me as editor than by the vast majority of APF readers. Had Terry written in chapters, I probably would never have used page numbers at all, but merely listed the annotations on a per-chapter basis. I don't think that there are that many readers of the APF who habitually use the page numbers as a link back from individual annotations to the source text. Rather, it will be the other way around, and on a much more global level: "I have just read Pyramids, now I'll go browse through the annotations for that book and see what I've missed".‹LÀÂÅ? L€™€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€ €‚‚€ €‚ÿWith all that in mind I have decided that as of v7a.5.4 of the APF I will be returning to uni-numbered annotations, based on the editions of the books I happen to have in my possession.OTHER ANNOTATIONS Over the years, a number of other sites collecting Discworld annotations have appeared.Detritus () collects annotations that have appeared on alt.fan.pratchett.Bugarup University () specifically collects annotations for _The Last Continent_).Ç¡7ÉÆ& €C€€‚‚‚ÿSockii's Annotate-o-matic () is an interactive annotation page, where you can enter your own annotations directly.DÂÅÍÆ1›ƒÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÍÆÙÀThe Colour Of Magic щÆ×È9 @€£€€ €‚‚‚‚ãΉãΉ‚‚‚ÿTHE COLOUR OF MAGIC- [p. 7/7] "[...] He stares fixedly at the Destination."This line is interesting not only because it foreshadows The Light Fantastic (as in fact the entire prologue does), but also because it is about the only time the narrator really commits himself to A'Tuin's gender without hedging his bets (as e.g. on the first page of The Light Fantastic).Note the capital 'H', which Death also rates in this book and loses in the later ones. sÍÆwË- (€ç€€‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 8/8] "For example, what was A'Tuin's actual sex?"I have had e-mail from a herpetologist who has studied under one of the world's experts on turtles, and he assures me that in real life determining the sex of turtles is no easy task. Unlike mammals, reptiles don't have their naughty bits hanging out where they can be easily seen, and the only way to really tell a turtle's gender is by comparison: male turtles are often smaller than females and have thicker tails. Since there are no other Chelys Galactica to compare A'Tuin to, the attempts of the Discworld's Astrozoologists are probably futile to begin with.Ç–×È>Î1 0€-€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 8/8] "[...] the theory that A'Tuin had come from nowhere and would continue at a uniform crawl, or steady gait, [...]"Puns on the 'steady state' theory of explaining the size, origin and future of the universe. The best-known other theory is, of course, the Big Bang theory, referred to in the preceding sentence.- [p. 9/9] "Fire roared through the bifurcated city of Ankh-Morpork."Terry has said that the name 'Ankh-Morpork' was inspired neither by the ankh (the Egyptian cross with the closed loop on top), nor by the Australian or New Zealand species of bird (frogmouths and small brown owls, respectively) that go by the name of 'Morepork'.µ|wËÿ9 @€ù€€‚ãÞʼnãs‰€ €‚‚‚ÿSince I first wrote down the above annotation, there have been new developments, however. In The Streets Of Ankh-morpork and The Discworld Companion we are shown an illustration of the Ankh-Morpork coat of arms, which does feature a Morepork/owl holding an ankh. But from Terry's remarks (see next annotation) I feel it's safe to say that neither bird nor cross were explicitly on his >Îÿ‰Æmind when he first came up with the name Ankh-Morpork.Finally, many readers have mentioned the resonance that Ankh-Morpork has with our world's Budapest: also a large city made up of two smaller cities (Buda and Pest) separated by a river.{4>ÎzG \€i€€‚‚‚€€€€‚‚€€㎉ãΉ‚ÿ- [p. 9/9] "[...] two figures were watching with considerable interest."The two barbarians, Bravd and Weasel, are parodies of Fritz Leiber's fantasy heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The Swords series of books in which they star are absolute classics, and have probably had about as much influence on the genre as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.The Swords stories date back as far as 1939, but nearly sixty years later they have lost none of their appeal. Both The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic are, in large part, affectionate parodies of the Leiberian universe, although I hasten to add that, in sharp contrast to many later writers in the field, Leiber himself already had a great sense of humour. Fafhrd and the Mouser are not to be taken altogether serious in his original version, either.8ÿ²3 4€ €€‚€€‚‚㎉‚ÿGiven all this, I can perhaps be forgiven for thinking that Terry intended Ankh-Morpork to be a direct parody of the great city of Lankhmar in which many of the Swords adventures take place. However, Terry explicitly denied this when I suggested it on alt.fan.pratchett:"Bravd and the Weasel were indeed takeoffs of Leiber characters -- there was a lot of that sort of thing in The Colour Of Magic. But I didn't -- at least consciously, I suppose I must say -- create Ankh-Morpork as a takeoff of Lankhmar."Ñz¸5 8€£€€‚‚‚ãÞʼn‚‚ãx–‰‚ÿ- [p. 11/11] "[...] two lesser directions, which are Turnwise and Widdershins."'Widdershins' is in fact an existing word meaning 'counter-sunwise', i.e. counter-clockwise in the Northern hemisphere, clockwise down South. A synonym for 'turnwise' is deosil, which helps explain Ankh-Morpork's Deosil Gate as found on the The Streets Of Ankh-morpork Mappe.Widdershins is also the name of the planet where Dom, the hero from The Dark Side of the Sun lives.‰Z²A / ,€µ€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 12/12] "'Why, it's Rincewind the wizard, isn't it?' [...]"The story behind Rincewind's name goes back to 1924, when J. B. Morton took over authorship of the column 'By The Way' in the Daily Express, a London newspaper.He inherited the pseudonym 'Beachcomber' from his predecessors on the job (the column had existed since 1917), but he was to make that name forever his own by virtue of his astonishing output and success: Morton wrote the column for over 50 years, six times a week, until 1965 when the column became a weekly feature, and continued to the last column in November 1975.™t¸Ú % €é€€‚‚ÿBeachcomber/Morton used an eccentric cast of regular characters in his sketches, which frequently caricatured self-important and high-brow public figures. One continual theme was the silliness of the law courts, featuring amongst others Mr Justice Cocklecarrot and the twelve Red-Bearded Dwarves. In one sketch, the names of those dwarfs were given as Sophus Barkayo-Tong, Amaninter Axling, Farjole Merrybody, Guttergorm Guttergormpton, Badly Oronparser, Cleveland Zackhouse, Molonay Tubilderborst, Edeledel Edel, Scorpion de Rooftrouser, Listenis Youghaupt, Frums Gillygottle, and, wait for it: Churm Rincewind. Terry says:èA  @- (€Ñ€€‚€ €‚‚‚ÿ"I read of lot of Beachcomber in second-hand collections when I was around 13. Dave Langford pointed out the origin of Rincewind a few years ago, and I went back through all the books and found the name and thought, oh, blast, that's where it came from. And then I thought, what the hell, anyway."- [p. 12/12] "Since the Hub is never closely warmed by the weak sun the lands there are locked in permafrost. The Rim, on the other hand, is a region of sunny islands and balmy days."Ú  @‰ÆÄ—Ú ÐB- (€/€€‚‚‚ã- ‰‚ÿA presumably knowledgeable correspondent tells me that actually, if you do the calculations, it turns out that it would be the other way around (on average, the sun is closer to the hub than the rim, so the hub would be warmer).Do not feel obliged to take his word for it, though. 'Discworld Mechanics' is one of alt.fan.pratchett's favourite Perennial Discussion Topics, and I don't think that any two given participants in such a thread have ever managed to agree on anything definite about the way in which the Discworld might 'work'. See also the The Turtle Moves! section in Chapter 5 for more information about the physical aspects of the Discworld.ر @¨E' €c€€‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 16/16] "[...] found himself looking up into a face with four eyes in it."On the covers of the first two Discworld books, Josh Kirby actually drew Twoflower with four physical eyes. Consensus on alt.fan.pratchett has it that Terry was trying to get across the fact that Twoflower was wearing glasses ('four-eyes' being a common insult thrown at bespectacled folks), but that Josh Kirby simply triggered on the literal text and went off in a direction of his own. Whether this action essentially shows Kirby's interpretative genius (the KirbyFan explanation) or his inability to get the joke / read very carefully (the NonKirbyFan explanation) is a matter still under discussion.DÐBìI- (€/€€‚ãp{N‰‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 18/17] The inn called 'The Broken Drum' gets burned down in this book. The later Discworld novels all feature an inn called 'The Mended Drum'. The novel Strata contains (on p. 35/42) an explanation of why you would call a pub 'The Broken Drum' in the first place: "You can't beat it".This is probably as good a place as any to mention some intriguing information that I received from one of my correspondents: if you have ever wondered what it would be like to experience the atmosphere of an establishment like the Mended Drum, then the closest you can possibly come in our world is by paying a visit to Alexandria, where there exists a bar called the 'Spitfire', populated mostly by soldiers and sailors, and apparently a dead ringer for the Mended Drum. The story goes that when the owner of the bar passed away a few years ago, his body was kept in a freezer next to the toilets where, for all we know, it may still be today. If any of you ever happen to be in Alexandria, be sure to visit the 'Spitfire' and check it out for us.:¨E&M+ $€€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 22/20] "Some might have taken him for a mere apprentice enchanter [...]"One of the few clues to Rincewind's age being younger rather than older, despite the tendency of every cover artist to depict him as at least sixtyish. No one ever draws him as looking like a weasel, either.- [p. 22/20] "[...] an alumnus of Unseen University, [...]"The name of the Discworld's premier scientific institution resonates with that of the Invisible College, formed by the secret organisation of the Rosicrucians, whose members were called the Invisibles because they never dared to reveal themselves in public. The Invisible College was a conclave of scientists, philosophers and other progressive thinkers which, in later times and under Stuart patronage, became the Royal Society.ÎìI-O9 @€€€‚€€€€€ €‚‚‚ÿIn the Brief Lives arc of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic, Dream visits the Invisible College, where a scientist is happily dissecting a dead orangutan. I don't think that scene was entirely coincidental...- [p. 24/22] Terry has this to say about the name 'Twoflower': "[...] there's no joke in Twoflower. I just wanted a coherent way of making up 'foreign' names and I think I pinched the Mayan construction (Nine Turning Mirrors, Three Rabbits, etc.)."ܳ&M‚) €g€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 26/24] "'If you mean: is this coin the same as, say, a fifty-dollar piece, then the answer is no.'"An American reader was puzzled by the fact that in Ankh-Morpo-O‚‰Ærk the unit of currency is the dollar, instead of, for instance, something more British, like the pound. Terry explained:"The dollar is quite an elderly unit of currency, from the German 'thaler', I believe, and the use of the term for the unit of currency isn't restricted to the US. I just needed a nice easy monetary unit and didn't want to opt for the 'gold pieces' cliché. Sure, I live in the UK, but I haven't a clue what the appropriate unit of currency is for a city in a world on the back of a turtle :-)..."i2-O~„7 <€e€€‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ãW‰‚ÿ- [p. 28/25] "'Barely two thousand rhinu.'"A very old British slang word for ready money is 'rhino', which Brewer thinks may be related to the phrase 'to pay through the nose', since 'rhinos' means 'nose' in Greek.+ [p. 30/27] "The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork smiled, but with his mouth only."An interesting consideration is just when Lord Vetinari became Patrician. Clearly this isn't him (Vetinari eating crystallised jellyfish? -- I don't think so. Besides, Interesting Times makes it quite clear that Vetinari does not know who Rincewind is).’i‚‡) €Ó€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿHowever, Terry has always denied this interpretation:"I'm pretty certain that the same Patrician was in all the books. [...] He's clearly lost weight and got more austere. It must be the pressure. As for racehorses and so on -- Vetinari is not the first Patrician, and no doubt the earlier ones, like Lord Snapcase, were often crazed, greedy and acquisitive. So he has inherited all sorts of things. But he doesn't change anything without a reason."When the people on afp were not immediately prepared to take his word for this (after all, what does he know -- he's only the author...), Terry conceded:yJ~„‰‰/ ,€•€€‚‚‚ãO׉‚‚‚ÿ"How about: maybe he was Vetinari, but written by a more stupid writer?"Which was grudgingly accepted. Still, discussion about the differences between the "early" and the "recent" Patrician continues to flare up regularly. When some people on alt.fan.pratchett questioned whether Vetinari would really be the type of man to throw the kind of party described in Mort, Terry answered:"I've always thought the Patrician is a party animal. Can you imagine waking up next day and remembering all those witty things you said and did, and then realising that he was listening?"J‡Ó‹. *€9€€‚€€‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 44/39] "'Reflected-sound-of-underground-spirits?'"Surprising as it may seem (or at least as it was to me), there are quite a few people who do not understand this cryptification of 'economics', even though it is explicitly explained by Terry a bit later, on p. 71/63: 'echo-gnomics'. Some of the confusion perhaps arises from the fact thatwe don't usually associate gnomes with spirits, as in: ghosts. But I think Terry here simply means spirits (as in: souls) living underground, with the emphasis on the word 'underground'.汉‰¹Ž5 8€c€€‚‚‚ã0ሉãÓ¤K‰‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 49/43] "Let him but get to Chimera or Gonim or Ecalpon and half a dozen armies couldn't bring him back."The Chimera was a fire-breathing monster from Greek mythology (see the annotation for p. 171/154 of Sourcery). The name is also a pun on Cimmeria, Conan the Barbarian's mythical homeland, while 'Chimerical' has the general connotation of something mythical or imaginary as well.Ecalpon is 'Noplace' spelled backwards. This is similar to Erewhon, which is 'Nowhere' spelled backwards (well, almost), the idealistic commonwealth described in Samuel Butler's eponymous novel. Also, 'Nehwon' is the universe where Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have most of their adventures.‡TÓ‹LÁ3 4€©€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿGo-Nim, finally, is the name of a Japanese board game similar to four-in-a-row.- [p. 62/55] "[...] I WAS EXPECTING TO MEET THEE IN PSEPHOPOLOLIS."Death and Rincewind are replaying their own version of the well-known folktale Appointment in Samarra. Terry says:"My mo¹ŽLÁ‰Æther told me the 'Appointment in Samarra' story when I was very young, and it remained. She says she read it somewhere, or maybe heard it...I'd always thought it was from the 1001 Nights, although I never went looking for it. It's one of those stories that a lot of people vaguely know, without quite knowing why..."ûÖ¹ŽGÄ% €­€€‚‚ÿFor those who aren't familiar with the story, it concerns a servant to a rich Baghdad merchant who goes to the market and encounters Death there, who gestures at him. Convinced that this is a very bad omen indeed, the servant rushes back to his master in a great panic and begs him for a horse, so that he can ride to Samarra and escape whatever calamity will befall him should he stay in Baghdad. The kind master gives the servant a horse, and goes out to investigate for himself. When the merchant finds Death and asks him why he frightened the servant so, Death replies: "I wasn't trying to scare him, it is just that I was so very surprised to meet him here, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra!"ILÁÆ1 0€1€€‚€€€€‚ÿOver the centuries, countless versions and re-tellings of this story have appeared in books, plays and poems in all languages and cultures. One of my correspondents was so intrigued by the tale that with the help of alt.fan.pratchett he set out to find the original, or at least the earliest known version. After much research, he now believes this to be When Death Came to Baghdad, an old ninth century Middle Eastern Sufi teaching story, told by Fudail ibn Ayad in his Hikayat-i-Naqshia ('Tales formed according to a design').?GÄÏÈ+ $€)€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿIf anyone has a reference to an even earlier version, we would love to hear about it.- [p. 73/65] "'Here's another fine mess you've got me into,' he moaned and slumped backwards."This is a well-known Laurel and Hardy catchphrase. Hardy (the fat one) always says it to Laurel (the thin one), who then usually responded by ruffling the top of his hair with one hand and whimpering in characteristic fashion.People have been quick to point out to me that Hardy never actually said "fine mess", though, but always "nice mess".X1Æ'Í' €c€€‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 75/67] This is the first occurrence of the name 'Dunmanifestin' for the home of the Gods at the top of Cori Celesti. It is used again in several places throughout the other Discworld novels.This is not only a reference to the many British place names that begin with 'Dun' (a Gaelic word meaning castle or fort and hence town) but also a reference to the supposedly traditional name for a twee retirement bungalow in the suburbs. When people (especially the bourgeois middle classes) retire to the suburbs they always, according to the stereotype, give the house some 'cute' punning name. Since the Dun/Done association is well-known, one of the more common names (though it is a matter of discussion if anyone has ever actually seen a house with this name) is 'Dunroamin' -- that is "done roaming" -- i.e. the owners of the house have finished "travelling the world" and are now settled down to a life of the Daily Mail, golf and coffee mornings. From this, we get that a retirement home for gods not possessing much taste, might just be named 'Dunmanifestin'.ÒÏÈJE X€¥€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚‚€€‚‚㎉€€‚ÿA correspondent tells me that 'Dun' is also an Old English word for hill.- [p. 76/68] "[...] Zephyrus the god of slight breezes."Zephyrus was in fact the Greek god of the soft west winds. The interactions of the gods in 'The Sending of Eight' strongly bring to mind the Godshome scenes in Leiber's Swords series.- [p. 78/70] The Sending of EightJust as the first chapter of The Colour Of Magic has many resonances with Fritz Leiber's Swords series, so can this chapter be regarded as a light parody of the works of horror author H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote many stories in a universe where unspeakable Evil lives, and where Ancient Gods (with 'ÍJ‰Æunpronounceable names) play games with the lives of mortals.°}'Íú3 4€û€€‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿLovecraft also wrote a story called The Colour out of Space, about an indescribable, unnatural colour.- [p. 92/82] "[...] the circle began to spin widdershins."This entire section is a direct analogy to the workings of a normal electrical generator, with the Elemental Magical Force being the electromotive force we all know and love from high school physics lessons.- [p. 98/87] "The floor was a continuous mosaic of eight-sided tiles, [...]"It is physically impossible for convex octagons (the ones we usually think of when we hear the word 'octagon') to tile a plane. Unless, of course, space itself would somehow be strangely distorted (one of the hallmarks of the Cthulhu mythos). It is possible, however, to tile a plane with non-convex octagons (and Terry nowhere says or implies he meant convex tiles). Proof is left as an exercise to the reader (I hate ASCII pictures).‰^Jƒ+ $€½€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 101/89] "[...] the disposal of grimoires [...]"I don't think too many people will have missed that this section echoes the two main methods of nuclear waste disposal: sealing drums in deep salt mines, and dropping the drums into trenches at subduction zones. Of these two methods, the trench dumping has only been theorised about and not actually employed.- [p. 114/101] "'I spent a couple of hundred years on the bottom of a lake once.'"Reference to the sword Excalibur from the King Arthur legend. There's another reference to that legend on p. 128/113: "'This could have been an anvil'".c4úæ/ ,€i€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚ÿSome people were also reminded of the black sword Stormbringer, from Michael Moorcock's Elric saga.- [p. 114/101] "'What I'd really like to be is a ploughshare. I don't know what that is, but it sounds like an existence with some point to it.'"Swords and ploughshares have always been connected through a proverb originating in a famous phrase from the Bible, in Isaiah 2:4: "[...] and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more".¶ƒœ 5 8€€€‚‚‚‚‚€€ãÕ‰‚ÿ- [p. 117/103] "I'LL GET YOU YET, CULLY, said Death [...]"Death is addressing Rincewind here, so the use of what looks like a different name is confusing. Terry explains: "Cully still just about hangs on in parts of the UK as a mildly negative term meaning variously 'yer bastard', 'man', 'you there' and so on. It's quite old, but then, Death is a history kind of guy."The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (a 19th century reference book; see also the Words From The Master section in chapter 5) explains 'cully' as being a contracted form of 'cullion', "a despicable creature" (from the Italian: coglione). An Italian correspondent subsequently informed me that "coglione" is actually a popular term for testicle, which is often used to signify a stupid and gullible person. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'cully' may also have been a gypsy word.@æA P€€€‚€€€€‚‚€€‚‚㱦 "‰‚ÿ- [p. 118/104] The entire Lure of the Wyrm section parodies the Pern novels (an sf/fantasy series) by Anne McCaffrey. The heroine of the first Pern novel Dragonflight is called Lessa, and the exclamation mark in Terry's dragonriders' names parallels the similar use of apostrophes in McCaffrey's names.- [p. 124/109] "The dragons sense Liessa's presence."This section in italics (continued later with Ninereeds) is another Pern reference (see the annotation for p. 118/104), in this case to the way McCaffrey depicts the mental communications from the dragons.✠HB= H€Å€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€€€€€‚ÿ- [p. 125/110] "Oh, you know how it is with wizards. Half an hour afterwards you could do with another one, the dragon grumbles."The 'half an hour afterwards' quiHB‰Æp is more conventionally made about Chinese food.- [p. 130/114] "[...] it appeared to be singing to itself."Although singing swords are common as dirt in myths and folklore, we do know that Terry is familiar with many old computer games, so the description of Kring may be a passing reference to the prototypical computer adventure game ADVENT (later versions of which were also known as Adventure or Colossal Cave). In this game, a room exists where a sword is stuck in an anvil. The next line of the room's description goes: "The sword is singing to itself".Q™D7 <€5€€‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 141/123] "[...] he had been captivated by the pictures of the fiery beasts in The Octarine Fairy Book."A reference to our world's Blue, Brown, Crimson, Green, etc., Fairy Books, edited by Andrew Lang.+ [p. 156] "'It is forbidden to fight on the Killing Ground,' he said, and paused while he considered the sense of this."This echoes a famous line from Stanley Kubrick's 1964 movie Dr Strangelove, which has President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) saying: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."0 HBÉF' €€€‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 168/145] "At that moment Lianna's dragon flashed by, and Hrun landed heavily across its neck. Lianna leaned over and kissed him."A strange error, since in the rest of the story the girl's name is Liessa. Terry says the typo (which occurs in both the original Colin Smythe hardcover and the 1st edition of the Corgi paperback, but can also be found as late as the 5th edition of the US Signet paperback) must have been introduced sometime during the publishing process: they are not in his original manuscript.õÆ™D¾I/ ,€€€‚‚‚‚‚€ €‚ÿEven so, the switch is kind of appropriate because Anne McCaffrey has a tendency herself to suddenly change a character's name or other attributes (T'ron becoming T'ton, etc.). At least one of my correspondents thought Terry was changing Liessa's name on purpose as an explicit parody.- [p. 169/146] After Rincewind and Twoflower escape from the Wyrmberg they are flying a dragon one moment and a modern jetliner the next.Clearly they have been, get this, translated to another plane (the last few paragraphs of this section seem to support the theory that Terry actually intended this rather implicit pun). Note also the "powerful travelling rune TWA" appearing on the Luggage: Trans World Airlines. ÕÉFÈK5 8€«€€‚€ €‚‚€ €‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 171/148] 'Zweiblumen' is the (almost) literal German translation of 'Twoflower' (it actually translates to 'Twoflowers', so a 'better' translation would have been the singular form: 'Zweiblume').'Rjinswand', however, is merely something that was intended to sound foreign -- it is not a word in any language known to the readers of alt.fan.pratchett.- [p. 172/149] "[...] a specialist in the breakaway oxidation phenomena of certain nuclear reactors."A ¾I O7 <€€€‚‚‚‚‚ãéùŸ‰ãø‰‚‚‚ÿ"Breakaway oxidation phenomena" is a reasonably well-known example of doubletalk. Basically, what Terry's saying here is that Dr Rjinswand is an expert on uncontrolled fires in nuclear reactors. And we all know what Terry's job was before he became a Famous Author...- [p. 176/153] "'I am Goldeneyes Silverhand Dactylos,' said the craftsman."'Dactylos' means 'fingers' in dog Greek. See also the annotation for p. 159/115 of Small Gods.The fate of Dactylos has been suffered by craftsmen in our world as well. In 1555 Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of St Basil's Church in Moscow. He was so pleased with this piece of work by the two architects, Postnik and Barma, that he had them blinded so they would never be able to design anything more beautiful.ñÈK1+ $€ã€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 179/155] "[...] the incredibly dry desert known as the Great Nef."'Neff' is the name of an oven manufacturer, and 'nef' is of course 'fen' (i.e. something incredibly wet) spelled backwards.- [ O1‰Æp. 184/160] "The captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying."Probably the best known version of this line is from Woody Allen, who said: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying".šq O˃) €ã€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ+ [p. 184/160] "'His name is Tethis. He says he's a sea troll.'"In Greek mythology Tethys or Thetis was the personification of the feminine fecundity of the sea. She was the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, and the youngest female Titan (or Titanide). Eventually she married her brother Oceanus, and together they had more than 3000 children, namely all the rivers of the world.Undoubtedly because of these origins, 'Tethys' is a name that has been given to, amongst others, a tropical sea that existed during the Triassic era in what is now Southern Europe, and to a moon of Saturn, one primarily composed of water ice._:1*†% €u€€‚‚ÿNote that this is one instance where it appears Terry violates his own unwritten rule that trolls should have 'mineral' names. Perhaps this is simply because we are looking at this early book in the series with hindsight: the only rock troll to appear up to this point lasted about three paragraphs and didn't have a chance to introduce himself. But even if the unwritten rule was already established in Terry's mind at this point, it seems reasonable that it need not apply to Tethis, who is, after all, neither a rock troll nor originally a Discworld creature.j;˃”ˆ/ ,€w€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 189/164] "'Ghlen Livid,' he said."Glenlivet is a well-known Single Malt Scotch whisky. It's a wee bit more expensive than Johnny Walker.- [p. 193/168] He told them of the world of Bathys, [...]"'Bathys' is Greek for 'deep', as in for example bathyscaphe deep-sea diving equipment.- [p. 194/168] "[...] the biggest dragon you could ever imagine, covered in snow and glaciers and holding its tail in its mouth."Tethis is describing a planet designed according to a world-view that is about as ancient and as widespread as the idea of a Discworld itself.¬w*†@Œ5 8€ï€€‚‚‚‚‚€€€€‚ÿThe snow and glaciers seem to point specifically to the Norse mythology however, where the Midgard serpent Jormungand circles the world in the manner described.- [p. 198/172] "'Well, the disc itself would have been created by Fresnel's Wonderful Concentrator,' said Rincewind, authoritatively."It is stereotypical that in fantasy fiction (e.g. Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories) and role-playing games (e.g. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) spells are often named after their 'creator', e.g. 'Bigby's Crushing Hand'. And indeed, in our universe Augustin Fresnel was the 19th century inventor of the Fresnel lens, often used in lighthouses to concentrate the light beam. A Fresnel lens consists of concentric ring segments; its main advantage is that it is not as thick as a (large) normal lens would be. The disc Rincewind is referring to is a transparent lens twenty feet across.m6”ˆ­Ž7 <€m€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 221/191] "Whoever would be wearing those suits, Rincewind decided, was expecting to boldly go where no man [...] had boldly gone before [...]"From the famous opening voice-over to the Star Trek television series:"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations -- to boldly go where no man has gone before."(This became "where no-one has gone before" only in the newer, more politically correct Star Trek incarnations) ë@ŒÙÀ5 8€×€€‚‚‚‚‚€ €ãž‰‚ÿ- [p. 222/192] "'? Tyo yur atl ho sooten gatrunen?'"People have been wondering if this was perhaps a real sentence in some Scandinavian language (the letters used are from the Danish/Norwegian alphabet), but it isn't.Terry remarks: "The point is that Krullian isn't Swedish -- it'­ŽÙÀ‰Æs just a language that looks foreign. In the same way, I hope the hell that when Witches Abroad is translated the translators use some common sense when dealing with Nanny Ogg's fractured Esperanto."D­ŽÁ1ªAÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÁ5ŽThe Light Fantastic!áÙÀ>Ã@ N€Ã€€ €‚‚€€‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿTHE LIGHT FANTASTIC- [title] The Light Fantastic. The book's title comes from the poem L'Allegro, written by John Milton in 1631: "Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee Jest and youthful Jollity Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles Such as hang on Hebe's neck And love to live in dimple sleek Sport that wrinkled Care derides And Laughter holding both his sidesåÁXÅ5 8€Ë€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚€€‚ÿ Come and trip it as ye go On the light fantastic toe."- [p. 6/6] "[...] proves, whatever people say, that there is such a thing as a free launch." The reference is to the saying "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" (also known by its acronym 'TANSTAAFL', made popular by science fiction author Robert Heinlein in his classic novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, although the phrase was originally coined by American economist John Kenneth Galbraith).S*>ëÇ) €U€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 8/8] "[...] the sort of book described in library catalogues as 'slightly foxed', [...]" "Slightly foxed" is a term used primarily by antiquarian booksellers to denote that there is staining (usually due to Ferric OXide, hence 'FOXed') on the pages of a book. This does not usually reduce the value of the book, but booksellers tend to be scrupulous about such matters.- [p. 8/8] Many people have commented on the last name of the 304th Chancellor of Unseen University: Weatherwax, and asked if there is a connection with Granny Weatherwax.´ƒXÅ_Ê1 0€€€‚ãЉ‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ In Lords And Ladies, Terry supplies the following piece of dialogue (on p. 224/161) between Granny and Archchancellor Ridcully as an answer: "'There was even a Weatherwax as Archchancellor, years ago,' said Ridcully. 'So I understand. Distant cousin. Never knew him,' said Granny."- [p. 8/8] "[...] even with the Wee Willie Winkie candlestick in his hand." This is one of those candlesticks with a flat, saucer-like base, a short candleholder in the middle and a loop to grip it by at one side. 'Wee Willie Winkie' is a Mother Goose nursery rhyme, and traditional illustrations always show Willie going upstairs carrying a candle.æ«ÇwÌ2 2€Í€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ "Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, Upstairs and downstairs, in his night gown. Rapping at the windows, Crying through the lock, 'Are the children all in bed? For it's now eight o'clock.'"- [p. 9/9] "[...] the Book of Going Forth Around Elevenish, [...]" The title the ancient Egyptians used for what we now call the Book of the Dead was The Book of Going Forth By Day. Note that in the UK until a few years ago the pubs opened at 11 a.m.ûÌ_ÊrÏ/ ,€™€€‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚ÿ If you try really hard (one of my correspondents did) you can see this as a very elaborate joke via the chain: Around Elevenish --> Late in the morning --> Late --> Dead --> Book of the Dead. But I doubt if even Terry is that twisted.- [p. 10/10] Dandelion Clock Amongst English (and Australian) children there exists the folk-belief that the seed-heads of dandelions can be used to tell the time. The method goes as follows: pick the dandelion, blow the seeds away, and the number of puffs it takes to get rid of all the seeds is the time, e.g. three puffs = three o'clock. As a result, the dandelion stalks with their globe of seeds is regularly referred to as a "dandelion clock" in colloquial English.àwÌ/ ,€Á€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 10/10] "'To the upper cellars!' he cried, and bounded up the stone stairs." The magicrÏÙÀ eating its way through the ceilings with the wizards chasing it floor after floor vaguely resonates with the 'alien blood' scene in the movie Alien, where the acidic blood of the Alien burns through successive floors of the ship, with people running down after it.- [p. 24/24] "[...] when a wizard is tired of looking for broken glass in his dinner, [...], he is tired of life."HrÏÕ5 8€'€€‚ã4¨#‰ãO׉‚‚‚‚‚ÿ See the annotation for p. 193/158 of Mort.- [p. 26/26] "I WAS AT A PARTY, he added, a shade reproachfully." When someone on the net wondered if this scene had been influenced by Monty Python (who also do a Death-at-a-party sketch), Terry replied: "No. I'm fairly honest about this stuff. I didn't even see the film until long after the book was done. Once again, I'd say it's an easy parallel -- what with the Masque of the Red Death and stuff like that, the joke is just lying there waiting for anyone to pick it up."È›- (€7€€‚€€‚‚‚ÿThe Masque of the Red Death is a well-known story by Edgar Allan Poe, in which the nobility, in a decadent and senseless attempt to escape from the plague that's ravishing the land, lock themselves up a castle and hold a big party. At which a costumed personification of Death, of course, eventually turns up and claims everyone anyway.It is perhaps also worth pointing out that the quoted sentence looks very much like a classic Tom Swiftie (if you can accept Death as a shade). Tom Swifties (after the famous series of boys' novels which popularised them) are sentences of the form "xxx, said he zzz-ly", where the zzz refers back to the xxx. Examples:¼„ÕY 8 >€ €€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€ €€€‚ÿ "Pass me the shellfish," said Tom crabbily. "Let's look for another Grail!" Tom requested. "I used to be a pilot," Tom explained. "I'm into homosexual necrophilia," said Tom in dead earnest.- [p. 30/30] "[...] the only forest in the whole universe to be called -- in the local language -- Your Finger You Fool, [...]" The miscommunication between natives and foreign explorers Terry describes here occurs in our world as well. Or rather: it is rumoured, with stubborn regularity, to have occurred all over the globe. Really hard evidence, one way or the other, turns out to be surprisingly hard to come by. As Cecil Adams puts it in More of the Straight Dope: "Having now had the "I don't know" yarn turn up in three different parts of the globe, I can draw one of two conclusions: either explorers are incredible saps, or somebody's been pulling our leg."Ï\ 4 6€Ÿ€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 34/34] "Twoflower touched a wall gingerly." Speaking of Tom Swifties...- [p. 34/34] "'Good grief! A real gingerbread cottage!'" The cottage and the events alluded to a bit later ("'Kids of today,' commented Rincewind. 'I blame the parents,' said Twoflower.") are straight out of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale by the brothers Grimm. If you have access to the Internet, you can find an on-line version of the original fairy tale at the URL:uIY Ñ, &€“€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ ftp://ftp.uu.net/doc/literary/obi/Fairy.Tales/Grimm/hansel.and.gretel.txt.Z- [p. 35/35] "'Candyfloss.'" Candyfloss is known as cotton candy in the US, or fairy floss in Australia. It's the pink spun sugar you can eat at fairs and shows.- [p. 35/35] "He read that its height plus its length divided by half its width equalled exactly 1.67563..." A parody of the typical numerical pseudo-science tossed about regarding the Great Pyramid and the 'cosmic truths' (such as the distance from the Earth to the Sun) that the Egyptians supposedly incorporated into its measurements.òÃ\ ÏA/ ,€‡€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ The remark about sharpening razor blades at the end of the paragraph is similarly a reference to the pseudo-scientific 'fact' that (small models of) pyramids are supposed to have, among many other powers, the ability to sharpen razor blades that are lefÑÏAÙÀt underneath the pyramids overnight.- [p. 37/37] "'Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper.'" From the first Conan The Barbarian movie (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger): "Conan! What is good in life?" "To crush your enemies, drive them before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women." This quote, in turn, is lifted more or less verbatim from an actual conversation Genghiz Khan is supposed to have had with his lieutenants.r1ÑADA P€c€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 45/45] "'Of course I'm sure,' snarled the leader. 'What did you expect, three bears?'" Another fairy tale reference, this time to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.- [p. 46/46] "'Someone's been eating my bed,' he said." A mixture of "someone's been eating my porridge" and "someone's been sleeping in my bed", both from the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fairy tale.- [p. 47/47] "Illuminated Mages of the Unbroken Circle" An organisation with this name is also mentioned in the Illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.[ ÏAœF; D€A€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚ãE`‰ãЉ‚ÿ+ [p. 57/57] "The universe, they said, depended for its operation on the balance of four forces which they identified as charm, persuasion, uncertainty and bloody-mindedness."The four fundamental forces that govern our universe are gravitation, electro-magnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.The word 'charm' also resonates with the concept of quarks, the elementary quantum particles that the strong nuclear force in fact acts on. For more information see the annotation for p. 133/97 of Lords And Ladies.RADJ- (€¥€€‚‚‚ãv‰‚ÿ+ [p. 62/62] "'In the beginning was the word,' said a dry voice right behind him. 'It was the Egg,' corrected another voice. [...] '[...] I'm sure it was the primordial slime.' [...] 'No, that came afterwards. There was firmament first.' [...] 'You're all wrong. In the beginning was the Clearing of the Throat--'" The bickering of the spells is cleared up somewhat by the creation passages on pp. 103/85-119/99 from Eric. It is quite clearly stated that first the Creator did an Egg and Cress (for Rincewind), then He Cleared His Throat, then He Read the Octavo (that's the word then), which created the world and finally the primordial slime came into being because Rincewind couldn't eat the Egg and Cress Sandwich and just dropped it on the beach. The Creator subcontracted for the firmament, so it isn't quite clear when that came to be.MœFhL9 @€)€€‚‚‚‚‚ã™\"‰ãO׉‚‚‚‚‚ÿ"In the beginning was the word" is of course also a biblical allusion to John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."- [p. 82/82] "'Anyway, I don't believe in Caroc cards,' he muttered." Caroc = Tarot. See also the annotation for p. 110/90 of Mort. A minor inconsistency, by the way, is that on p. 24/24 there actually is a reference to Tarot cards.- [p. 88/88] "[...] what about all those studded collars and oiled muscles down at the Young Men's Pagan Association?"âJ…N; D€Å€€‚ã‚jŸ‰ã%‚€ €‚‚‚ÿ A reference to the Young Men's Christian Association, YMCA. See also the annotation for p. 14/14 of Pyramids. In our world the YMCA somehow became associated with the homosexual scene (I think quite a few people singing merrily along to the Village People's hit 'YMCA' would have been very surprised to learn what the song was really about), hence the "studded collars and oiled muscles" bit.- [p. 93/93] "'Only when you leave, it's very important not to look back.'"9 hLÊ- (€€€‚€€‚‚‚ÿ It's always important never to look back if you're rescuing somebody from Death's domain. The best known example of this can be found in the tragic legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus went to fetch his departed loved one, talked Hades (the Greek version of Death) into it, but had to leave without looking back. Of course he lo…NÊÙÀoked -- and she was gone forever. A contemporary retelling of the Orpheus legend can be found in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. A few people have written and suggested a reference to Lot's wife in Genesis 19:26 (who was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back when they left Sodom and Gomorrah), but the fact that we're talking about Death's domain here indicates clearly to me that the Orpheus reference is the one Terry intended.Ñ…NÒƒ7 <€£€€‚‚‚ãÞRÛ4‰ãÓ¤K‰‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 104/104] "Rincewind wasn't certain what a houri was, but after some thought he came to the conclusion that it was a little liquorice tube for sucking up the sherbet." A houri is actually a beautiful young girl found in the Moslem paradise. For more information on sherbets see the annotation for p. 122/111 of Sourcery.- [p. 105/105] "[...] homesickness rose up inside Rincewind like a late-night prawn birani." A birani is an Indian rice curry.`Ê2†G \€3€€‚‚‚ãÓ¤K‰ãÖ$O‰ãÓ¤K‰‚‚€€€€‚ÿ- [p. 128/128] "'Man, we could be as rich as Creosote!'" This is the first mention of Creosote, whom we will later meet as a fully developed character in his own right, in Sourcery. See also the annotation for p. 125/113 of Sourcery.- [p. 133/133] The idea of a strange little shop that appears, sells the most peculiar things, and then vanishes again first appears in a short story by H. G. Wells, appropriately called The Magic Shop. A recent variation on the same theme can be found in Stephen King's Needful Things.í´Òƒ‰9 @€i€€‚ãØω㎉‚‚€€‚ÿ When an a.f.p. reader mistakenly thought that this type of shop was invented by Fritz Leiber (see the annotation for p. 9/9 of The Colour of Magic), Terry replied: "Actually, magically appearing/disappearing shops were a regular feature of fantasy stories, particularly in the old Unknown magazine. They always sold the hero something he didn't -- at the time -- know he needed, or played some other vital part in the plot. And I think they even turned up on the early Twilight Zones too. You're referring to a Leiber story called Bazaar of the Bizarre or something similar, where a shop appears which seems to contain wonderful merchandise but in fact contains dangerous trash."K2†¯‹E X€—€€‚€€€€‚‚‚‚ãk t#‰ãO׉‚‚‚‚‚ÿ The Leiber story is indeed called Bazaar of the Bizarre. It features Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and can be found in Swords Against Death.- [p. 171/171] "'Do not peddle in the affairs of wizards...'" See the annotation for p. 183/149 of Mort.- [p. 209/209] "The young turtles followed, orbiting their parent." My herpetological correspondent tells me that in our world no known turtles give any sort of care to their young. They just lay the eggs and leave the hatchlings to fend for themselves, which incidentally helps explain why sea turtles are becoming extinct.†E‰5ŽA P€‹€€‚€ €‚‚‚‚€€€€€€‚ÿ It can be argued that Great A'Tuin is in fact a kind of sea turtle (admittedly, a somewhat unusual sea turtle), since only sea turtles have flippers in place of feet and spend most of their time swimming.- [p. 213/213] "'They do say if it's summa cum laude, then the living is easy --.'" Substituting "graduation with distinction" for the Latin "summa cum laude" gives a perfectly unexceptional sentiment, but it is, of course, also a reference to the song 'Summertime' from the Gershwin opera/operetta/musical Porgy and Bess: "Summertime, and the living is easy".< ¯‹qŽ1¯2ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿqŽ MEqual Rites/5Ž¬À, &€€€€‚€‚‚ÿEQUAL RITES- A central theme of this book (as well as of the other Discworld witch novels) is the contrast between on one side the (female) witches or wiccans, who are in touch with nature, herbs and headology, and on the other side the (male) wizards who are very ceremonial and use elaborate, mathematics-like tools and rituals. This conflict ratheqŽ¬À5Žr closely mirrors a long-standing feud between occult practitioners in our real world. (And all the infighting within each camp occurs in real life, as well.)ˆQqŽ4Ä7 <€£€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚‚ãBn‰‚ÿMy source for this also mentions that Pratchett's witches, especially, are obvious stereotypes of the kinds of people one can run into at wiccan festivals.- "Only dumb redheads in Fifties' sitcoms are wacky." Refers to Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy fame.- One of my correspondents recalls that he interviewed Terry in 1987 for a university magazine. In that interview Terry said that one thing which had tickled him about Josh Kirby's artwork for the Equal Rites cover was that it subliminally (accidentally?) reflected the Freudian overtones of the book (references to "hot dreams", the angst of adolescence, things that might be called "magic" envy)... Kirby's artwork "coincidentally" draws Esk with the broom handle where a penis would be (traditionally supposed to be the basis of the "witches flying around on broomsticks" myth).ž1¬ÀÒÇm ¨€c€€‚€€‚‚€€‚‚€€ãü‰‚‚€€€€€€€€ãü‰€€ãü‰‚ÿ- Kirby caricatures himself as the pointy-eared wizard on the back cover -- anyone who has seen his picture in The Josh Kirby Posterbook can confirm this.- [p. -/5] "Thanks to Neil Gaiman, who loaned us the last surviving copy of the Liber Paginarum Fulvarum, [...]" Neil Gaiman is the author of the acclaimed Sandman comics series, as well as the co-author with Terry of Good Omens. Liber Paginarum Fulvarum is a dog-Latin title that translates to Book of Yellow Pages, i.e. not the Book of the Dead, but rather the Phonebook of the Dead. The book appears in Good Omens as well as in Sandman, where it is used in an attempt to summon Death (although the colourist didn't get the joke and simply coloured the pages brown). Terry said (when questioned about it in a Good Omens context):/ø4ÄÊ7 <€ñ€€‚ã¡B×+‰ãBn‰‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ "Liber Paginarum Fulvarum is a kind of shared gag. It's in the dedication of Equal Rites, too. Although I think we've got the shade of yellow wrong -- I think there's another Latin word for a kind of yellow which is closer to the Yellow Pages colour." The other word for yellow Terry is thinking of may possibly be 'gilvus', or 'croceus', or 'luteus'.- [p. 8/10] "[...] up here in the Ramtop Mountains [...]" RAMTOP was the name of a system variable in the old Sinclair Spectrum computers.T)ÒÇUÌ+ $€S€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 45/45] "'I've seen the thundergods a few times,' said Granny, 'and Hoki, of course.'" The name Hoki derives from 'hokey' in combination with the Norse god Loki. The description of Hoki is pure Pan, however.- [p. 73/73] "According to the standard poetic instructions one should move through a fair like the white swan at evening moves o'er the bay, [...]" These instructions stem in fact from a folk song called 'She Moved Through the Fair', which has been recorded by (amongst others) Fairport Convention, Van Morrison and All About Eve:ÚÊ\Î- (€µ€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ "My young love said to me, 'My mother won't mind And my father won't slight you for your lack of kine'. And she stepped away from me and this she did say, 'It will not be long now till our wedding day' She stepped away from me and she moved through the fair And fondly I watched her move here and move there And she made her way homeward with one star awake As the swan in the evening moves over the lake"£tUÌ / ,€é€€‚‚‚‚‚€ €‚ÿ- [p. 79/79] "'Gypsies always come here for the fair, [...]'" Someone on alt.fan.pratchett pointed out that in our world, Gypsies were named because people thought they were Egyptians. Since the Discworld equivalent of Egypt is Djelibeybi, shouldn't Hilta Goatfounder have been talking about, say, 'Jellybabes'? Terry answered: "Okay. Almost every word in the English\Î 5Ž language has a whole slew of historic associations. People on the Disc can't possibly speak 'English' but I have to write in English. Some carefully-positioned 'translations' like 'It's all Klatchian to me' can work, but if I went the whole hog and 'discworlded' every name and term, then the books would be even more impenetrable and would probably only be read by people who like learning Klingon. I do my best -- French fries can't exist on Discworld, for example -- but I think 'gypsies' is allowable."/\Î:/ ,€€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 80/79] "If broomsticks were cars, this one would be a split-window Morris Minor." A Morris Minor is a British car that non-Brits might be familiar with either through the video clip for Madness' song 'Driving in my car', or through the TV series Lovejoy. In that series, Lovejoy's car 'Miriam' is a Morris Minor. For the rest of you, here's a description: Imagine a curvaceous jelly-mould in the shape of a crouching rabbit, like Granny used to use. Turn it open-side-down and fit four wheels, near the corners. On the rabbit's back build a cabin, with picture windows and a windscreen in two parts at an angle to each other. Add turn indicators consisting of little arms which flip out of the body at roof level, just behind the doors. Furnish the cabin in a post-War austerity style, and power the result with a 1935 vintage 850cc straight four engine pulling about 30bhp. In its day, in 1948, this was the height of desirability -- so much so that for its first few years it was only available for export.©n ã; D€Ý€€‚‚‚‚‚ã¡B×+‰ãBn‰€€‚ÿ Even in the Nineties, a fair number of Moggies are still going, er, strong. You can actually pay a couple of thousand pounds for a good one which works, because they're so easy to maintain. And the split-screen ones are very definitely collectors' items.- [p. 111/109] "Bel-Shamharoth, C'hulagen, the Insider -- the hideous old dark gods of the Necrotelicomnicom, [...]" The Necrotelicomnicom is another reference to the Phonebook of the Dead (see the annotation for the dedication of Equal Rites), but is also a pun on the evil book of the dead Necronomicon, used by H. P. Lovecraft in his Cthulhu stories._$:B ; D€I€€‚㎉€€‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ Bel-Shamharoth is an Elder God of the Discworld we already met in 'The Sending of Eight' in The Colour Of Magic. C'hulagen is obviously made up out of the same ingredients as C'thulhu, and the Insider refers to the unnamed narrator of Lovecraft's The Outsider.- [p. 119/117] "The lodgings were [...] next to the [...] premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbours." Terry's having fun with a familiar saying that originated with Robert Frost's poem Mending a Wall: ÜãK - (€¹€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ "My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbours'." And since people keep pointing it out to me I suppose it might as well be mentioned here that 'fence' is also the English word for a dealer in stolen goods.- [p. 121/119] "'Mrs Palm,' said Granny cautiously. 'Very respectable lady.'" "Mrs Palm(er) and her daughters" is a euphemism for male masturbation.ÜB P) €¹€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 122/120] "'Yes, that's it,' said Treatle. 'Alma mater, gaudy armours eagle tour and so on.'" Treatle refers here to the old student's (drinking) song 'Gaudeamus Igitur', written in 1781 by Christian Wilhelm Kindleben, a priest in Leipzig who got kicked out because of his student songs. The song is still in use at many universities and schools, where it gets sung during graduation ceremonies. The actual lyrics are: "Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus.‰NK åA; D€€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ãøô¥‰ãÓ‰‚ÿ Post iucundam iuventutem, Post molestam senectutem, Nos habebit humus, nos habebit humus.PåA5Ž"Which roughly translates to: "Let us be merry, therefore, whilst we are young men. After the joys of youth, After the pain of old age, The ground will have us, the ground will have us."- [p. 132/130] The maid at Unseen University is called Ksandra, which puns on Troy's Cassandra; but might also refer to Sandra being yet another typical 'Tracey/Sharon' sort of name in England. See also the entry for p. 106/95 of Reaper Man.(ùP E/ ,€ó€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ Perhaps the fact that nobody can understand Ksandra (because she talks with her mouth full of clothes-pegs) is also an obscure reference to the classical Cassandra, daughter of Priam of Troy, whom the Gods gave the gift of prophecy and the curse of no-one believing a word she said.- [p. 133/130] "'Hmm. Granpone the White. He's going to be Granpone the Grey if he doesn't take better care of his laundry.'" You really have to read Tolkien in order to understand why this is so funny. Sure, I can explain that in The Lord of the Rings a big deal is made of the transformation of wizards from one 'colour' to another (and in particular Gandalf the Grey becoming Gandalf the White), but that just doesn't do justice to the real atmosphere of the thing.âåA$H5 8€Å€€‚‚‚‚‚€€€€‚ÿ- [p. 143/141] "[...] the Creator hadn't really decided what he wanted and was, as it were, just idly messing around with the Pleistocene." Refers to the Pleistocene geological era (a few dozen million years or so ago), but also to Plasticine, a brand name that has become (at least in Britain, Australia and New Zealand) a generic name for the modelling clay children play with.- [p. 163/159] Some folks thought they recognised the duel between Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle from T. H. White's description of a similar duel in his Arthur, The Once and Future King (also depicted as a very funny fragment in Disney's The Sword in the Stone, which was an animation film based on this book). However, Terry says:R EvJ5 8€;€€‚ãBn‰‚‚‚‚ãô‰‚ÿ "The magical duel in Equal Rites is certainly not lifted from T. H. White. Beware of secondary sources. Said duel (usually between a man and a woman, and often with nice Freudian touches to the things they turn into) has a much longer history; folkies out there will probably know it as the song 'The Two Magicians'."- [p. 176/172] "'Million-to-one chances,' she said, 'crop up nine times out of ten.'" The first mention of this particular running gag in the Discworld canon (to be featured most prominently in Guards! Guards!).Ë$HŠLI `€—€€‚€ €ãx–‰‚‚‚‚€€ã;£‰ã%‚‚ÿ It is not quite the earliest appearance in Terry's work, though: he also uses it on p. 46/55 of The Dark Side Of The Sun.- [p. 188/184] "[...] which by comparison made Gormenghast look like a tool shed on a railway allotment." Gormenghast is the ancient, decaying castle from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. See also the annotation for p. 17/17 of Pyramids.- [p. 202/197] "'Like "red sky at night, the city's alight",' said Cutangle."–rvJ M$ €ä€€‚‚ÿ Plays on the folk saying: "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning".5ŠLUM1·PÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿUM]ˆMort£h M; D€Ñ€€ €‚‚‚‚ãΉ€ €‚‚‚‚‚ÿMORT- [p. 17/16] "'They call me Mort.' WHAT A COINCIDENCE, [...]" Not only does 'Mort' mean 'death' in French, but in The Light Fantastic we also learned (on p. 95/95), that Death's own (nick)name is Mort. Opinions on a.f.p. are divided as to which of these two facts is the 'coincidence' Death is talking about.+ [p. 24/21] "The only thing known to go faster than ordinary light is monarchy, [...]"This is where the popular (on the net, at least) 'kingons and queons' footnote starts out, which parodies a postulate of J Sarfatti based on Bell's theorem on quantum physics. Bell proves that in order for quantUM Mum theory to be valid, there has to exist a way to transfer information between subatomic particles that is faster than light. Sarfatti then theorised that this so called 'superluminar' communication could be modulated and used to send messages.ûÊUMÿƒ1 0€•€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€ €‚ÿDuring a discussion on a.f.p., Terry had this to add to the subject:"I've a strong suspicion that the smaller the country, the more powerful the monarch as an emitter of kingons.Surely the size of the king in proportion to the size of his country is the important factor. If you're king of a country of ten people there must be quite a high kingon flux.As to where kingons come from in the first place, they come from God. God is invoked in the coronation service. God wants fat red-haired girls and clothes horses who can't keep their mobile phone conversations private. God likes people with lots of front teeth. God must have a hand in all this, otherwise we'd have slaughtered all kings years ago."%ü$†) €ù€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 30/25] "'How do you get all those coins?' asked Mort. IN PAIRS." A reference to the old Eastern European practice of covering a dead friends' eyes with coins. In the Greek version of this custom, a single coin or obulus was put under the tongue of a deceased person. This was done so that the departed loved one would have some change handy to pay Charon with (the grumpy old ferryman who transported departed souls over the river Styx towards the afterlife -- but only if they paid him first).Wÿƒ{ˆ? L€1€€‚‚‚‚‚ãü¿Ÿ‰ãÓ‰‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ The Eastern European version has a similar background.- [p. 31/26] "The answer flowed into his mind with all the inevitability of a tax demand." An acknowledgement of the "nothing is certain but death and taxes" saying. See also the annotation for p. 151/133 of Reaper Man.- [p. 33/28] "'I shall call you Boy', she said." The subplot of Ysabell and Mort and the matchmaking efforts by her father echoes Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (where Estelle, for instance, also insists on calling Pip 'Boy' all the time).Åv$†@‹O l€í€€‚‚‚‚‚ãp "‰ãŽ‰‚‚€€€€€€€€‚ÿ- [p. 34/29] Albert's stove has 'The Little Moloch (Ptntd)' embossed on its door. There exists a make of wood burning stove called 'The Little Wenlock'. For those who don't know what a Moloch is, I'll let Brewer (see the annotation for p. 117/103 of The Colour Of Magic) do the explaining: "Moloch: Any influence which demands from us the sacrifice of what we hold most dear. Thus war is a Moloch, king mob is a Moloch, the guillotine was the Moloch of the French Revolution, etc. The allusion is to the god of the Ammonites [Phoenicians], to whom children were 'made to pass through the fire' in sacrifice."y>{ˆ¹; D€}€€‚‚‚‚‚€€€€€€‚ÿ To be fair, however, it must be pointed out that almost all we know about Moloch is based on what the bitter enemies of the Phoenicians said about him.- [p. 40/33] "AND WHY DO YOU THINK I DIRECTED YOU TO THE STABLES? THINK CAREFULLY NOW." The whole section on Mort's training, and this paragraph in particular, explores a theme familiar from stories such as told in The Karate Kid, or The Empire Strikes Back, and of course the TV series Kung Fu, where a young student is given many menial tasks to perform, which are revealed to be integral to his education.î@‹Õ. *€Ý€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 47/39] "[...] the city of Sto Lat [...]" A Polish correspondent tells me that 'Sto lat' is actually the title of a Polish party song, more or less equivalent to 'For he's a jolly good fellow'. 'Sto lat' means 'hundred years', and the lyrics to the song are as follows: "Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje, zyje nam. Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje, zyje nam. Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz -- niech zyje, zyje nam. Niech zyje nam!"Which loosely translates to:Š]¹kÃ- (€»€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚Õkà M‚ÿ "Hundred years, hundred years, let him live for us, Hundred years, hundred years, let him live for us, Once again, once again, let him live for us!" Thinking I was on to something I immediately enquired if 'Sto Helit', another name Terry uses often, had a similar background, but my correspondent says it's not even Polish at all.- [p. 54/45] "IT'S THE MORPHOGENETIC FIELD WEAKENING, said Death." Terry loves playing with morphogenetic principles in the Discworld canon, and I think this is the first place he explicitly mentions it. Morphogenetics are part of a controversial theory put forward by ex-Cambridge biologist Rupert Sheldrake. 'Controversial' is in fact putting it rather mildly: personally I feel 'crackpot' would be a much better description. Which explains why on the Discworld, of course, it's valid science.úÂÕeÆ8 >€…€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 65/53] "TIME LIKE AN EVER-ROLLING STREAM BEARS ALL ITS..." Death is quoting from Our God, Our Help in Ages Past, by Isaac Watts. The verse in full is: "Time like an ever-rolling stream Bears all its sons away They fly forgotten as a dream Dies at the opening day."No wonder Albert thinks Death has been overdoing it.- [p. 71/59] "[...] the abode of Igneous Cutwell, DM(Unseen), [...]" DM(Unseen) means that Cutwell holds a Doctorate in Magic from Unseen University. It's the usual way of writing an academic qualification in Britain (e.g. DD for Doctor of Divinity, or PhD for Doctor of Philosophy) -- though the University name ought to be in Latin.~CkÃãÉ; D€‡€€‚‚‚ã‘ž‰ã°‰‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 84/69] "[...] just like a Cheshire cat only much more erotic." See the annotation for p. 142/141 of Wyrd Sisters.- [p. 85/69] "[...] the fire of the Aurora Coriolis [...]" This is the air glow around Cori Celesti (as in our aurora borealis), but it is also a reference to the Coriolis force that acts on spinning objects.- [p. 88/72] "'Die a lot, do you?' he managed." For those readers who are not familiar with Tibetan Buddhism: it is believed that religious leaders who are spiritually advanced (the Dalai Lama being only one such individual) will reincarnate and continue to guide the people. In 1993, for instance, an eight-year old boy in Tibet was discovered to be the seventeenth reincarnation of the Karmapa, and was promptly whisked away from his native village and installed in the Tsurphu monastery.ÆeÆæË= H€€€‚ãô‰‚‚‚‚ã(!=‰ã%‚‚ÿ In Guards! Guards! we eventually learn that Abbot Lobsang has indeed been reincarnated.- [p. 90/74] "Princess Keli awoke." Another 'dumb blonde' pun (on Kelly this time) along the lines of Ptraci and Ksandra? See the annotation for p. 45/45 of Pyramids.- [p. 93/76] "[...] if Mort ever compared a girl to a summer's day, it would be followed by a thoughtful explanation of what day he had in mind and whether it was raining at the time.";ãÉ!Î3 4€€€‚ã°‰ã°Ï‰‚‚‚ÿ Considering the sheer volume of Discworld material written so far, with its high jokes-per-page count, it is quite remarkable that Terry Pratchett doesn't recycle (or inadvertently reinvent) his own jokes more often than he does. As for instance in the case of this particular Shakespeare-inspired joke that would be repeated two books later in Wyrd Sisters (see the annotation for p. 213/212 of that book).- [p. 99/81] "'[...] the princesses were so noble they, they could pee through a dozen mattresses --'"àæË</ ,€Á€€‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ Albert here mangles the Grimm fairy tale known as The Princess and the Pea, in which a princess proves her nobility to her future husband and his mother by being so fine constitutioned that a pea placed underneath the dozen mattresses she was given to sleep on kept her awake all night. If you have access to the Internet, you can find an on-line version of the original fairy tale at the URL: ftp://ftp.uu.net//doc/literar!Î< My/obi/Fairy.Tales/Grimm/princess.and.pea.txt.ZB!Î~) €3€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ I have since then received mail indicating that the best known version of this fairy tale was the one written by Hans Christian Andersen, and that the Grimm version was in fact pulled from the collection because it was so similar. I was not able to obtain any further evidence for this claim, so if anybody out there knows something about this, please drop me a line.- [p. 110/90] Caroc cards and the Ching Aling. Caroc = Tarot and Ching Aling = I Ching: two ways of accessing the Distilled Wisdom of the Ancients, and all that.]&<Û7 <€M€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€€€‚ÿ- [p. 118/97] "I SHALL CALL IT -- DEATH'S GLORY." In the fishing world there exists a popular dry fly called Greenwell's Glory, named after its inventor, a 19th century parson.- [p. 126/103] "'-- and then she thought he was dead, and she killed herself, and then he woke up and so he did kill himself, [...]'" Ysabell starts to list off a number of tragic romances, mostly mangled versions of existing stories. This one appears to be the Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet, or perhaps the original source: Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe.§z~‚- (€õ€€‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 127/104] "'-- swam the river every night, but one night there was this storm and when he didn't arrive she --'" This is the saga of Hero and Leander. Leander swam the Hellespont each night to be with Hero (who was a virgin (yeah, sure!) in the service of Aphrodite, and therefore not accessible by more conventional means). But then there was indeed a storm, and the candle she used as a beacon blew out, and the Gods couldn't hear his prayers over the noise of the storm, and so he drowned, and the next morning she saw his body and drowned herself as well. Read Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander for more details. áÛŽ + $€Ã€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 133/109] "'Why, lordship, we drink scumble, for preference.'" Scumble is the Discworld equivalent of scrumpy, a drink probably unknown to most non-UK readers. It's a (very) strong cider, originating from the West country, Somerset farmhouses in particular. On the subject of scrumpy, Terry writes: "I can speak with authority, having lived a short walking -- to get there, at least, although it seemed to take longer coming back -- distance from a real cider house.낧 . *€×€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ 1) You are unlikely to buy scrumpy anywhere but from a farm or a pub in a cider area. 2) It won't fizz. It slumps in the glass, and is a grey-orange colour. 3) The very best scrumpy is (or at least, was) made on farms where a lot of the metalwork around the press was lead; the acid apple juice on the lead gave the resultant drink a kick which lasted for the rest of your life. 4) While a lot of the stories about stuff being put in 'to give it body' are ÝŽ ¶ 2 2€»€€‚‚‚‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚ÿ probably apocryphal, apparently it wasn't uncommon to put a piece of beef in the stuff to give it 'strength'. 5) I certainly recall a case of a female tourist having to have an ambulance called out after two pints of scrumpy. 6) We used to drink almost a pint, topped off with half an inch of lemonade; this was known as 'cider and gas' and was popular in our part of the Mendips. Two pints was the max. I recall that as we went `§ O@- (€Á€€‚‚‚€ €‚ÿ back across the fields someone who is now a professor of medieval history fell down a disused mine shaft and still carried on singing."- [p. 154/126] Alberto Malich was rumoured to have disappeared when trying to perform the Rite of AshkEnte backwards. Since we know that the Rite is used to summon Death, it doesn't seem too unreasonable to suppose that performing it backwards might drive Death away from you, which is probably why Albert did it. Unfortunately for him, it is also not very unreasonable to suppose that pe¶ O@ Mrforming the rite backwards will instead summon you to Death... i¶ ïC7 <€Ó€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€€€‚ÿ There also are two villages called Ash in Kent, UK. It is unknown if the connection is deliberate.- [p. 161/132] Queen Ezeriel refers to our world's Cleopatra who also used to bathe in asses' milk, and who eventually committed honourable suicide by clutching a venomous snake (an asp, to be precise) to her bosom.- [p. 183/149] "'Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards because a refusal often offends, I read somewhere.'" Ysabell probably read one part of this in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings where we find (in The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter III) that Gildor Inglorion the High Elf says: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards because they are subtle and quick to anger". The other part she may have got from signs often seen in stores and pubs around the English-speaking world: "Do not ask for credit, because a refusal often offends".8óO@'GE X€ç€€‚ãDv ‰ãЉ‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€ €‚ÿ See also the annotation for p. 367/264 of Lords And Ladies.- [p. 186/152] "BEGONE, YOU BLACK AND MIDNIGHT HAG, he said." Death is alluding to - 's Macbeth, act 4, scene 1, where Macbeth says to the witches: "How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!"- [p. 192/157] "'Sodomy non sapiens,' said Albert under his breath." "Sodomy non sapiens" is dog Latin for "buggered if I know". Since this is explicitly translated by Albert two sentences later, it never occurred to me to include this annotation in earlier versions of the APF. I had to change my mind when e-mail and discussions in a.f.p. made it clear that quite a few readers never make the connection, and think instead that Albert really doesn't know what the phrase means.3ïCZI/ ,€ €€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 193/158] "'When a man is tired of Ankh-Morpork, he is tired of ankle-deep slurry.'" The original quote here dates back to 1777, and is by Samuel Johnson (a well-known harmless drudge): "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." Quite a few people have mistaken this quote for a reference to Douglas Adams. Of course Adams was simply parodying Johnson's quote as well when he wrote (in Chapter 4 of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe):à'GoK5 8€Á€€‚‚‚‚‚㞉ã R¢‰‚ÿ "[...] when a recent edition of Playbeing magazine headlined an article with the words 'When you are tired of Ursa Minor Beta you are tired of life', the suicide rate there quadrupled overnight."- [p. 195/159] "'Alligator sandwich,' he said. 'And make it sna--'" Refers to an old playground one-liner: "give me an alligator sandwich and make it snappy!". Terry uses this joke in a different context in Witches Abroad (see the annotation for p. 176/154 of that book).ÎZIqM4 6€€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 197/161] "'Fireworks?' Cutwell had said." The stuff about wizards knowing all about fireworks is a reference to Tolkien's The Hobbit, where the great Wizard Gandalf was famed (in times of peace) for entertaining everybody with fireworks.- [p. 212/172] In the Disc model, Ankh-Morpork was a carbuncle. A carbuncle is (1) a red semiprecious gem, and (2) a festering sore like a boil.- [p. 221/180] "Alberto Malich, Founder of This University."O+oKÀO$ €W€€‚ÿ Albert's name resonates slightly with our world's Albertus Magnus (also known as Albert the Great). Albertus Magnus (born in 1193 in Laufingen at the Donau, Germany), became known as 'the Magician' and was probably the most famous priest, philosopher and scientist of his time. Amongst other things he taught at the University of Paris, was Bishop of Regensburg, and at the age of 84 he again undertook the long journey from Cologne to Paris to defend the scientific work of his greatest student, Thomas Aquinas, against attacks and misunderstandings.ÍqMèO l€›€€‚€ €€ €‚‚€ €€ €‚‚‚ÀOè M‚ã  ‰ãΉ‚ÿ- [p. 224/183] "I don't even remember walking under a mirror." Superstition says that both walking under a ladder and breaking a mirror give bad luck. Therefore, by the sort of skewed logic Terry continually gives to his characters, walking under a mirror must be really bad news.- [p. 226/184] "[...] purposes considerably more dire than, say, keeping a razor blade nice and sharp." See the annotation for p. 35/35 of The Light Fantastic.ªÀO’„) €€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 240/196] "He remembered being summoned into reluctant existence at the moment the first creature lived, in the certain knowledge that he would outlive life until the last being in the universe passed to its reward, when it would then be his job, figuratively speaking, to put the chairs on the tables and turn all the lights off." Three years later, in 1990, Neil Gaiman's Death says, in the story 'Facade': "When the first living thing existed, I was there, waiting. When the last living thing dies, my job will be finished. I'll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave."î豆1 0€Ý€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 255/208] "IS THIS THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS, AND BURNED THE TOPLESS TOWERS OF PSEUDOPOLIS? wondered Death." A reference to Helen of Troy (or Tsort, I suppose I should say), over whom the Trojan War was started. The exact original quote, from Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Dr Faustus, goes: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!"¬}’„]ˆ/ ,€û€€‚‚‚‚‚ãþ‰‚ÿIlium is the Latin name for Troy.- [p. 271/221] "'Only Ysabell said that since you turned the glass over that means I shall die when I'm--' YOU HAVE SUFFICIENT, said Death coldly. MATHEMATICS ISN'T ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE." Except that the events detailed in Soul Music imply that Ysabell was right in this case ("After that, it was a matter of math. And the Duty.")...9±†–ˆ16Vÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ÿÿÿÿ–ˆèËSourceryÒ—]ˆh‹; D€/€€ €‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€ €€€‚ÿSOURCERY- [p. 8/10] "'My son,' he said. 'I shall call him Coin.'" A pun on the English boy's name 'Colin', with a nod to the expression "to coin a phrase".- [p. 12/14] "[...] this was a bit more original than the usual symbolic chess game [...]" This subject comes up every now and again on alt.fan.pratchett, so it is time for an annotation to settle this matter for once and for all: playing (chess) games with Death is a very old concept, that goes back much further than both Ingmar Bergman's famous 1957 movie The Seventh Seal, or Chris deBurgh's less famous 1975 song 'Spanish Train' (which describes a poker game between God and the Devil).V'–ˆ¾/ ,€O€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 22/22] "It was quite possible that it was a secret doorway to fabulous worlds [...]" A reference to C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy story The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, in which the heroes are magically transported to the Land of Narnia through the back of an old wardrobe, which was made from a tree that grew from the seeds of a magical apple taken from that Land long before.- [p. 28/28] "'I saw this picture of a sourcerer in a book. He was standing on a mountain top waving his arms and the waves were coming right up [...]'"Nh‹À7 <€/€€‚€€‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ Probably a reference to a famous scene from the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' segment in Disney's 1940 film Fantasia. The "sourcerer" being in fact the Apprentice, Mickey, dreaming of commanding the wind to blow, the waves to wave, the stars to fall, and so on. Some people were also reminded of Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest.- [p. 44/42] "'Psst,' it said. 'Not very,' said Rincewind [...], 'but I'm working on it.'" Play on the word 'pissed', common British/Australian (but apparently not American) slang fo¾À]ˆr 'drunk'.Õž¾íÂ7 <€=€€‚€ €‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 51/48] "Of all the disreputable taverns in all the city you could have walked into, you walked into his, complained the hat." Paraphrases Humphrey Bogart's famous line from Casablanca: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."- [p. 55/52] "By the way, the thing on the pole isn't a sign. When they decided to call the place the Troll's Head, they didn't mess about." The reference is to traditional British pub names like King's Head, Queen's Head or Nag's Head, all occurring quite frequently, where the appropriate head (a nag being a horse) is displayed on a sign outside, often on a pole before the building.°}ÀÅ3 4€û€€‚‚‚€ €€ €‚ÿ- [p. 66/61] "The study of genetics on the Disc had failed at an early stage, when wizards tried the experimental crossing of such well known subjects as fruit flies and sweet peas. Unfortunately they didn't grasp the fundamentals, and the resultant offspring -- a sort of green bean thing that buzzed -- led a short sad life before being eaten by a passing spider." Sweet peas were used by Mendel in his early genetic experiments. Fruit flies are used in contemporary genetics. Among the 'fundamentals' that the wizards failed to grasp is of course the fact that you can only cross individuals within each species, not across.ð¯íÂÈA P€_€€‚ãÓ¤K‰‚‚€ €‚‚ãÉW‰ãЉ‚ÿ However, I was told that in 1991 (three years after Sourcery) an article was published in which a team of geneticists write about a certain transposon that seemed to be common to both maize and fruit flies, implying that it might be possible to have some form of horizontal transmission between vegetable and animal DNA, after all.+ [p. 68] "SEE ALSO: thee Apocralypse, the legende of thee Ice Giants, and thee Teatime of the Goddes."In Norse mythology, the "Twilight of the Gods" refers to Ragnarok, the final conflict at the end of times between the gods and their enemies (amongst which are the Ice Giants). See also the annotation for p.308/222 of Lords and Ladies@ ÅÍÊ3 4€€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 69/64] "'Anus mirabilis?'" "Annus mirabilis" translates to "year of wonder". "Anus mirabilis" does not. Brewer mentions that the year of wonder in question is actually known to be 1666, "memorable for the great fire of London and the successes of our arms over the Dutch."- [p. 71/66] "'From these walls,' said Carding, 'Two hundred supreme mages look down upon you.'" Napoleon, to his troops just before the Battle of the Pyramids: "From the summit of these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you".֙ȣÍ= H€3€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€€€€€‚ÿ- [p. 75/69] "'[...] that would be the Patrician, Lord Vetinari,' said Carding with some caution." A sideways pun (via 'veterinary') on the name of the famous de Medici family, who were the enlightened rulers of Renaissance Florence. During one of those interminable "which actor should play which Discworld character if there was a movie?" discussions, Terry gave some insight in how he himself visualises the Patrician: "I can't remember the guy's name, but I've always pictured the Patrician as looking like the father in Beetlejuice -- the man also played the Emperor of Austria in Amadeus. And maybe slightly like the head bad guy in Die Hard."Ô‘ÍʃC T€#€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚‚€€€€€€‚ÿ The actors Terry is thinking of are Jeffrey Jones and Alan Rickman, respectively.- [p. 76/70] "[...] his chair at the foot of the steps leading up to the throne, [...]" In Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Stewards of Gondor also sat on a chair on the steps below the real throne, awaiting the return of the king. The prophecy in that case also included a magic sword, although Tolkien neglects to make any mention of a strawberry-shaped birthmark. Other occurrences of the legend can be found in Robert Jordan's The Wheel £Íƒ]ˆof Time epic fantasy series, in Raymond E. Feist's Prince of the Blood, and in David Eddings' Belgariad quintet.T+£Í×) €W€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ This is undoubtedly one of those cases where everybody is drawing on a much older idea. Legends about kings, swords and birthmarks are of course legion, although I must admit that so far I haven't been able to actually find an occurrence of the 'chair below the real throne' concept outside of contemporary fiction.- [p. 76/70] "[...] the sort of man you'd expect to keep a white cat, and caress it idly while sentencing people to death in a piranha tank [...]" A reference to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, leader of SPECTRE and arch enemy of James Bond.A ƒ5 8€€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 88/81] "The market in Sator Square, the wide expanse of cobbles outside the black gates of the University, was in full cry." The word 'Sator' refers to a famous magic square (magic square, get it?) dating back to the times of the spread of Christianity in Europe. 'Sator' means sower or farmer. The complete square is: S A T O R A R E P O T E N E T O P E R A R O T A S This square is palindromic in all directions. The sentence you get reads: Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas, which means, more or less: "The sower [i.e. God] in his field controls the workings of his tools [i.e. us]". Some correspondents questioned the correctness of this translation, so if anyone has a good reference to something else I'd love to hear it.1×I/ ,€€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚ÿ The magic Sator square also has the property that it can be 'unfolded' into two "A PATER NOSTER O" strings that form a cross with the 'N' as a pivot element (sorry, proper graphics will have to wait until a future edition of the APF). The 'A' and the 'O' stand for alpha and omega.- [p. 107/98] "'And I seem to remember he spoke very highly of the soak. It's a kind of bazaar.'" Punning on 'souk', meaning a Middle Eastern marketplace; and the verb 'soak', meaning to charge (and get) exorbitant prices.ç_ / ,€Ï€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 122/110] "the kind of spaghetti that would make M. C. Escher go for a good lie down [...]" Maurits C. Escher: Dutch (yeah!) graphic artist of this century, well-known for his tangled, paradoxical pictures of optical illusions and plane-filling tilings. Read Douglas Hofstadter's Goedel, Escher, Bach for much, much more information.- [p. 122/111] "'It looks like someone has taken twice five miles of inner city and girded them round with walls and towers,' he hazarded."m/IÌ > J€_€€‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ãßÆÝ#‰ãΉ‚ÿ From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan: "So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girded round"- [p. 122/111] "[...] 'sherbet and, and -- young women.'" 'Sherbet' is a cooling Oriental fruit drink (also a frozen dessert) as well as a fizzy sweet powder children eat as a sweet, and which comes in a cardboard tube with a liquorice 'straw' at the top. To get to the sherbet you bite off the end of the liquorice and suck through it. See also the annotation for p. 104/104 of The Light Fantastic.Ÿk_ k4 6€×€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 125/113] "'[...] pretty much of a miracle of rare device.'" Coleridge's Kubla Khan: "It was a miracle of rare device A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!"- [p. 125/113] "My name is Creosote, Seriph of Al Khali, [...]" Ok, lessee: Creosote parodies the proverbially rich Croesus (king of Lidya -- which lies in what is now Turkey -- in the 6th century BC), 'Serif' is a typographical term which also puns on 'caliph', and 'Al Khali' is pronounced 'alkali' (just covering all the bases here, as my original source put it), but probably refers to the Rub' al Khali desert in Arabia.[2Ì ÒA) €e€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ Creosote itself is actually the name for an oily liquid mixture of organic chemicals, resulting as a by-pkÒA]ˆroduct from the industrial burning of coal or wood.- [p. 126/114] The hashishim as the "original Assassins". The English word "assassins" was originally used to denote a group of fanatical Ismailis (a Shi'ite Muslim sect) who, between 1094 and 1273, worked for the creation of a new Fatimid caliphate, murdering prominent individuals. They murdered prominent individuals; hence, "assassin" in English came to mean a politically motivated murderer. v;kHD; D€w€€‚‚‚‚‚€ €€€€ €‚ÿ The name derives from the Arabic "hashashin" -- Marco Polo and other European chroniclers claimed that the Assassins used hashish to stimulate their fearless acts. For example, Brewer writes: "Assassins. A band of Carmathians, collected by Hassa, subah of Nishapour, called the Old Man of the Mountains, because he made Mount Lebanon his stronghold. This band was the terror of the world for two centuries, when it was put down by Sultan Bibaris. The assassins indulged in haschisch (bang), an intoxicating drink, and from this liquor received their name."ÖÒA^F@ N€­€€‚€€‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ For more information, see also the Hawkwind song 'Hassan I Sabbah' on their album Quark, Strangeness and Charm.- [p. 126/114] Creosote's poetry is mostly based on Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The poem parodied on this page goes: "A book of verses underneath the bough A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou"- [p. 127/115] "'They spent simply ages getting the rills sufficiently sinuous.'"Kubla Khan:N#HD¬H+ $€G€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ "And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills."- [p. 127/115] "'Wild honey and locusts seem more appropriate, [...]'" Because John the Baptist ate those, according to Matthew 3:4 (also Mark 1:6): "And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." In order to avoid confusion it should perhaps be pointed out that the locusts in question are the seeds of honey locust trees, also known as carob and (from this story, of course) St John's Bread.B^FîJ4 6€€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 127/115] "'You can't play a dulcimer, by any chance?'" Kubla Khan: "It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimer she played."- [p. 128/116] "'Has anyone ever told you your neck is as a tower of ivory?'" This, and Creosote's further compliments to Conina ("your hair is like a flock of goats that graze upon the side of Mount Gebra", "your breasts are like the jewelled melons in the fabled gardens of dawn", etc.) are all very similar to the compliments in the Biblical 'Song of Solomon':$ô¬HN0 .€é€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead." "Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." "Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies." I did an electronic search across the entire King James bible for "jewelled melons", but those appear to be an invention of Creosote's. Fine by me -- I was already slightly shocked to find out that "thy hair is as a flock of goats" was a genuine Biblical compliment and not something Terry had made up.Ë‹îJé€@ N€€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ãJ¢‰ãÓ‰‚ÿ- [p. 129/117] "Get up! For the morning in the cup of day, / Has dropped the spoon that scares the stars away."The Rubaiyat: "Awake! for morning in the bowl of night Hath flung the stone that puts the stars to flight."- [p. 130/118] "[...] a falling apple or a boiling kettle or the water slopping over the edge of the bath." A falling apple supposedly helped Newton discover the Law of Gravity, a boilNé€]ˆing kettle helped Watt revolutionise the steam engine (see also the annotation for p. 175/153 of Reaper Man), and Archimedes, according to legend, discovered the principles of fluid displacement while taking a bath.ÈN±ƒ+ $€;€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 132/119] "The Seriph's palace, known to legend as the Rhoxie, [...]" No connection to the original Croesus here, but rather to the Alhambra, the palace of the Emirs of Granada in 15th century Spain. As Terry says: "Incidentally, the Seriph's palace, the Rhoxie, is indeed a 'resonance' with the Alhambra -- a famous Moorish palace which became a synonym for an impressive building, and later became a common cinema name as in Odeon and, yes, Roxy."- [p. 141/127] "Nijel the Destroyer" may be a suitably heroic-looking name, but 'Nijel' is of course pronounced as 'Nigel', a name that is traditionally associated with wimpy rather than with heroic males.‹^é€<†- (€½€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ I am told that among school-age Australians, Nigel is in fact slang for someone with no friends.- [p. 142/129] "'For example, do you know how many trolls it takes to change a lamp-wick?'" Someone, somewhere, hasn't heard of the "How many does it take to change a light-bulb?" - jokes this is a reference to. This annotation is for him/her.- [p. 142/129] "'[...] it's more than just pointing a finger at it and saying "Kazam--"'" Captain Marvel, an American comic book character was able to transform himself into his superhero alter-ego by saying the magic word 'Shazam'.0ñ±ƒlˆ? L€ã€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€€€ €‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 154/139] "[...] the Librarian dropped on him like the descent of Man." Reference to Charles Darwin's landmark 1871 book The Descent of Man.- [p. 162/147] "'He asked me to tell him a story.'" This is the first, but not the last time in the book that Creosote asks Conina for a story. This refers to 1001 Nights, and the stories Scheherezade had to tell every night to her Caliph, Harun al-Rashid.- [p. 167/151] "'I'm looking up the Index of Wandering Monsters', said Nijel."&÷<†’‹/ ,€ï€€‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ 'Wandering Monsters' is a phrase that comes from the world of fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons And Dragons, and it more or less means just what you think it means. Nijel is of course exactly the type of stereotypical nerd who would, in our world, actually play D&D.- [p. 171/154] "'It have thee legges of an mermade, the hair of an tortoise, the teeth of an fowel, and the wings of an snake.'" More reputable witnesses than Broomfog describe the chimera or chimaera (from Greek mythology) as a fire-breathing monster having either the hindquarters of a serpent and the head of a lion on the body of a goat, or else the back of a goat, the wings of a dragon, the front half of a lion, and three heads (one each for goat, lion and dragon).b9lˆô) €s€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ Woody Allen somewhere describes a mythical beast called the Great Roe, which has "the head of lion and the body of a lion, only not the same lion".- [p. 185/167] "Next to it was a small, sleek oil lamp and [...] a small gold ring." The magic lamp and magic ring, which summon a demon when rubbed, appear in the legend of Aladdin. On p. 208/187 Creosote tells the story of how "one day this wicked old pedlar came round offering new lamps for old [...]". This is also part of the original Aladdin fairy tale, an on-line version of which you can find at the URL:†]’‹†À) €»€€‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ gopher://wiretap.spies.com:70/00/Library/Classic/aladdin.txt- [p. 210/189] "It was a Fullomyth, an invaluable aid [...]" Refers to the 'Filofax' system: a small notebook (the more expensive versions are leather-bound) with loose-leaf information sheets, diary, calendar, notes, wine lists, London underground maps, etc. In the UK the Filofax at one time became the badge of the stereotypical 80s Yuppie, seen working in London's "square mile", walking around with a mobile phoô†À]ˆne clamped to his ear while referring to his Filofax to find a free appointment. Hence the Genie: "'Let's do lunch...'".S"ôÙÂ1 0€E€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 215/193] "'Like not thinking about pink rhinoceroses,' said Nijel [...]" I always thought that the impossibility of trying not to think of something specific was a general concept, but a correspondent informs me that the writer Tolstoy actually founded a club as a boy, which you could be admitted to if you managed a test. The test was to sit in a corner, and not think of a white bear.- [p. 215/193] Significant Quest --> Trivial Pursuit.- [p. 227/204] "Other things besides the cream floated to the top, he reflected sourly."1î†À ÅC T€Ý€€‚ãÖ‰ãΉ‚‚‚‚ã_p"‰ã%‚‚ÿ Another Tom Swifty, as per the annotation for p. 26/26 of The Light Fantastic.- [p. 230/207] "'The world, you see, that is, the reality in which we live, in fact it can be thought of as, in a manner of speaking, a rubber sheet.'" Ovin is modifying Einstein's explanation of gravity for a magical setting. See also the annotation for p. 134/128 of Pyramids.- [p. 236/212] "'We are poor little ... unidentified domesticated animals ... that have lost our way ...' he quavered."9ÙÂCÇ4 6€ €€‚€ €‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ 'Sheep' was almost right. The exact song the horsemen are trying to sing goes: "We're poor little lambs, that have lost our way" CHORUS: "Baaa, baa, baa." and is a favourite of the highly drunk.- [p. 245/221] "'It's not that, then?'" In all editions of this novel I am aware of (UK Corgi paperback, UK Gollancz hardcover, US Signet paperback) this line is printed in a plain font. It seems logical, however, that the line is said by Pestilence and should therefore have been in italics.Ê£ Å Ê' €G€€‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 257/232] "'Oh, yes. It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.'" Rincewind, nerving himself up to distract the Things in the Dungeon Dimensions so that Coin can escape, is anticipating Granny Weatherwax in this little speech. The theme is clearly important to Terry from the humanist angle, but its roots are in the occult -- actively holding in mind who and what you are is a traditional exercise in a number of mystical teachings. Note that this statement is the result of the inspiration particle which hit Rincewind on p. 165/149.Û®CÇèË- (€]€€‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 259/233] "For a moment the ape reared against the darkness, the shoulder, elbow and wrist of his right arm unfolding in a poem of applied leverage, and in a movement as unstoppable as the dawn of intelligence brought it down very heavily." This is a rather subtle reference to the scene with the bone and tapir skull in the 'Dawn of Man' portion of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.= Ê%Ì1¹qÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ÿÿÿÿ%Ìö†Wyrd Sisters°qèËÕÎ? L€ã€€ €‚‚€€‚‚€€‚‚€€‚ÿWYRD SISTERS- [title] Wyrd Sisters In Macbeth, the three witches are sometimes called the weird sisters, e.g. act 2, scene 1: (Banquo) "I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters [...]"; or act 4, scene 1: (Macbeth) "Saw you the weird sisters?" (Lennox) "No, my lord." But there's a bit more to it than just the Macbeth reference. 'Wyrd' is the Norse concept of destiny or fate, as embodied by the Norns (who probably inspired the Witches in Macbeth). Since 'weird' to a modern reader just means 'strange', it's easy to miss the overtones of the title and just assume that it's an Old spelling of 'weird'.b%%ÌC= H€K€€‚‚‚€€ã°‰€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 5/5] "'When shall we three meet again?'" Macbeth, act 1, scene 1, first line. The entire opening scene of Wyrd Sisters is of course a direct parody on the opening scene of Macbeth.- [p. 5/5] "Gods prefer simple, vicious ÕÎCèËgames, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight To Oblivion; [...]" Probably the most famous Chance (or Community Chest) card in Monopoly: "GO TO JAIL -- Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.". (or 200 pounds, or 200 guilders, or 200 of whatever currency you care to name)._0Õ΢/ ,€a€€‚‚‚€ €‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 7/7] "The junior witch, whose name was Magrat Garlick, relaxed considerably." Terry says: "Magrat is pronounced Magg-rat. Doesn't matter what I think is right -- everyone I've heard pronounce it has pronounced it Maggrat." "In Margaret Murray's book "The Witch Cult in Western Europe" you will find a number of Magrats and Magrets, and a suggestion that they were not misspellings but an earlier form of Margaret; also in the lists of those arraigned for witchcraft are the surnames Garlick, Device and Nutter. No Oggs or Weatherwax's, though."d5C/ ,€k€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 8/8] "Meanwhile King Verence, monarch of Lancre, was making a discovery." There exists a book entitled Servants of Satan, which is about the history of witch hunts. It contains the following paragraph: "This brings us back to Pierre de Lancre. He became convinced that Basque women where an immoral and unfaithful lot when observing their social arrangements during his witch-hunting expedition. De Lancre was especially horrified at the leadership roles in religious services taken by Basque women, the very women among whom witchcraft was rife..."Ü¢; D€¹€€‚€ €‚‚㽎‰ãЉ‚‚‚ÿ Terry comments: "I'm astonished. I've never heard of the guy, and I'm reasonably well-read in that area. But it is a lovely coincidence." It may also not be entirely a coincidence that 'Lancre' is a common way of referring to Lancashire, the county where the famous 17th century witch trials were held (see the annotation for p. 78/57 of Lords and Ladies).- [p. 11/10] "NO PREMONITIONS? STRANGE DREAMS? MAD OLD SOOTHSAYERS SHOUTING THINGS AT YOU IN THE STREET?"Ø: E X€±€€‚€€‚‚‚‚€€‚‚€€ã°‰‚‚‚ÿ Refers to the famous "Beware the ides of March" warning in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, act 1, scene 2.- [p. 14/14] "'Can you tell by the pricking of your thumbs?' said Magrat earnestly." Macbeth, act 4, scene 1: (2 Witch) "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes [...]". Keep an eye on Macbeth, act 4, scene 1. It's one of Terry's favourites in Wyrd Sisters.- [p. 19/19] "Duke Felmet stared out gloomily at the dripping forest."¦mà 9 @€Û€€‚‚‚‚‚€ €€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ Felmet's dislike of the forest resonates with the prophecy foretelling Macbeth had nothing to fear until Birnam wood itself would march against him.- [p. 20/20] "There had been something about him being half a man, and... infirm on purpose?" Infirm of purpose, is what Lady Macbeth calls her husband in Macbeth, act 2, scene 2.- [p. 20/20] "[...] with nothing much to do but hunt, drink and exercise his droit de seigneur." 'Droit de seigneur' or 'jus primae noctae' ('right of first night'): a custom alleged to have existed in medieval Europe giving the lord of the land the right to sleep the first night with the bride of any one of his vassals. The evidence for this custom deals with redemption dues which were paid to avoid its enforcement. It probably existed as a recognised custom in parts of France and possibly Italy and Germany, but not elsewhere.…@: q@E X€€€‚‚‚€€ã;£‰ã%‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 22/21] "[...] an architect who had heard about Gormenghast but hadn't got the budget." Gormenghast is the ancient, decaying castle from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. See also the annotation for p. 17/17 of Pyramids.- [p. 22/22] "'There is a knocking without,' he said." In act 2 of Macbeth, scenes 2 and 3 have a lot of [Knocking within] in the stage directions.- [p. 25/25] "'How many times have you thrown a magic ring into the deepest depths à q@èËof the ocean and then, when you get home and have a nice bit of turbot for your tea, there it is?'"ëà ƒB' €×€€‚‚‚‚ÿ Nanny's ring story is a well-known folk tale that goes back as least as far as Herodotus, but has also been used by e.g. Tolkien and Jack Vance. More interesting is that at least one non-Brit over on alt.fan.pratchett had some trouble making sense of the implied connection between the concepts of 'turbot' and 'tea'. What he did not realise was that 'tea' is the term the British tend to use for any meal taken between 4.30 and 7 pm, which may therefore include a nice, juicy turbot.#èq@¦E; D€Ñ€€‚‚‚ã°‰‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 26/26] "'You'd have to be a born fool to be a king,' said Granny." I must have read Wyrd Sisters close to twenty times by now, and except for the last time this nice bit of foreshadowing completely passed me by.- [p. 30/30] "'All the women are played by men.'" For those who do not know: in Shakespeare's time this was indeed the case; no women were allowed on stage.- [p. 35/35] "He'd tried to wash the blood off his hand." Obvious, because very well known, but since I'm annotating all the other Shakespeare references, I might as well point out here that Felmet's attempts to wash the blood from his hands echo Lady Macbeth's actions in Macbeth after the killing of Duncan in act 5, scene 1: "Out, damned spot!", etc.s4ƒBH? L€i€€‚€€‚‚€ €€ €ã쉂ÿ- [p. 36/35] The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered At All Terry invented this title; he has not written any words to it (apart from the fragments that appear in the novels); but many fans (including a folk singer called Heather Wood) have; and there did turn out to exist an old Oxford drinking song that also uses the key phrase of the hedgehog song. See the Song... section in Chapter 5 for one documented version of that song. Terry pleads parallel evolution, and observes that: "There is a certain, how shall I put it, natural cadence to the words."Ô¦EÜJ/ ,€)€€‚ã쉂‚‚‚‚ÿ Readers of alt.fan.pratchett have also engaged in a collective song writing effort, the results of which can be found in the Pratchett Archives (see Chapter 6 for details), in the file /pub/pratchett/misc/hedgehog-song. See also Chapter 5, Song..., for a sample.- [p. 50/49] "Nanny Ogg also kept a cat, a huge one-eyed grey tom called Greebo [...]" 'Greebo' is a word that was widely used in the early seventies to describe the sort of man who wanders around in oil-covered denim and leather (with similar long hair) and who settles disagreements with a motorcycle chain -- the sort who would like to be a Hell's Angel but doesn't have enough style.%ÚHMK d€µ€€‚‚‚€€ã\U‰ãЉ‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 50/50] "'Well met by moonlight,' said Magrat politely. 'Merry meet. A star shines on --'" Magrat's first greeting comes from A Midsummer Night's Dream: "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania". See also the annotation for p. 350/252 of Lords and Ladies. From Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings comes the Elvish greeting: "A star shines on the hour of our meeting".- [p. 53/53] "'Every inch a king,' said Granny." A quote from King Lear, act 4, scene 6.b ÜJcOW |€€€‚€€€€‚‚€€€€€€‚‚‚‚€€€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 58/58] "'A Wizard of Sorts,' Vitoller read. 'Or, Please Yourself.'" Not quite a Shakespeare title, but Please Yourself refers to both As You Like It and the subtitle of Twelfth Night: "Or What You Will".- [p. 60/60] "It was the cats and the roller skates that were currently giving him trouble..." Refers to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals Cats and Starlight Express.- [p. 61/60] "However, in Bad Ass a cockerel laid an egg and had to put up with some very embarrassing personal questions."HM·5 8€'€€‚‚‚‚‚€€ã=z£‰‚ÿ Legend has it that from an egg laid by a cockerel and hatched by a serpent, a cockatrice (also known cO·èËas a basilisk) will spawn. Since the cockatrice is a monster with the wings of a fowl, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a cock, whose very look causes instant death, it should be clear that such an egg would be a very bad omen indeed.- [p. 65/65] "'Is this a dagger I see before me?' he mumbled." From what is probably the most famous soliloquy in Macbeth: act 2, scene 1. See also the annotation for p. 184/183.‹ZcOB„1 0€µ€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 68/67] "The stone was about the same height as a tall man, [...]" This is a reference to the Rollright stones near Chipping Norton in the UK, which according to legend can not be accurately counted.- [p. 75/74] "A faint glow beyond the frosted panes suggested that, against all reason, a new day would soon dawn." The first scene of the first act of Shakespeare's Hamlet starts at midnight, and describes a scene lasting about fifteen minutes -- yet the act ends at dawn. Likewise, the summoning of WxrtHltl-jwlpklz the demon takes place at night, but ends with the quote given above.e.·§†7 <€]€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€ €‚ÿ+ [p. 82] "[...] the Twins, toddling hand in hand along the midnight corridors, [...]"The same image can also be found in Stanley Kubrick's classic horror movie The Shining, where the ghosts of two small girl twins (who were horribly murdered in a 'dark deed') walk handin hand through the corridors of the Overlook Hotel.- [p. 84/83] "[...] its eyes two yellow slits of easy-going malevolence [...]" In earlier editions of the APF this was flagged as one of Terry's major inconsistencies. After all, Greebo is supposed to have only one eye.f/B„ ‰7 <€_€€‚€ €‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ But since then, Terry has explained on a.f.p: "Greebo is loosely modelled on a real cat I knew when I was a kid -- he had two eyes, but one was sort of pearly coloured. He's blind in one eye."- [p. 88/87] "Magrat was picking flowers and talking to them." What follows is a satire of the mad Ophelia in Hamlet: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts." (act 4, scene 5).- [p. 95/94] "It's all very well calling for eye of newt, but do you mean Common, Spotted or Great Crested?"Ò§†Š4 6€¥€€‚€€‚‚€€‚‚ÿ Eye of Newt is one of the ingredients used by the witches in Macbeth, act 4, scene 1. This scene also resonates very faintly with the famous running gag in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail:êà ‰ýŠ' €‡€º€‚‚‚ÿBridge keeper: "What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"Arthur: "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"Bridge keeper: "Huh? I -- I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh!"+ÞŠ(M h€½€€‚‚‚ã̦‰ãΉ‚‚‚‚€€‚‚€ €‚‚€€‚ÿ- [p. 103/103] "[...] (a dandelion clock at about 2 pm)." For an explanation of the dandelion clock see the annotation for p. 10/10 of The Light Fantastic.- [p. 108/107] "'Infirm of purpose!'" Lady Macbeth says this in Macbeth, act 2, scene 2.- [p. 108/108] "'[...] and you said, "If it's to be done, it's better if it's done quickly", or something [...]'" Macbeth, act 1, scene 7: "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly."ì½ýŠ À/ ,€{€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 109/108] "Granny glanced around the dungeon." This is another misprint: it should be Nanny, not Granny. Terry says the error is not present in his own version of the text, but both the UK and USA paperbacks have it.- [p. 127/126] "'[...] the land and the king are one.'" A concept straight out of the Arthurian legends.- [p. 128/127] "[...] rose from the ditch like Venus Anadyomene, only older and with more duckweed." Venus Anadyomene is the classical image of Venus rising from the sea (from which she was born), accompanied by dolphins. The name is given to the famous lost painting by Apelles, as well as to the one by Botticelli in the Accademia delle Belle( ÀèË Arti in Florence."í(BÂ5 8€Û€€‚‚‚‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 133/132] "'I have no recollection of it at this time,' he murmured." Duke Felmet is echoing the words of Richard Nixon's subordinates under questioning by the Senate Committee during the Watergate affair.- [p. 134/133] "[...] whirl a farmhouse to any available emerald city of its choice." A Wizard of Oz reference.- [p. 139/138] "'I mean, Black Aliss was one of the best.'" My sources tell me that Black Annis is the name of a fearsome witch from Celtic/Saxon mythology.é² À+Å7 <€e€€‚‚‚€€‚‚‚‚€ €‚ÿ- [p. 142/141] "Greebo's grin gradually faded, until there was nothing left but the cat. This was nearly as spooky as the other way round." Refers to the Cheshire cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a beast famous for slowly vanishing until only its grin remains.- [p. 145/144] "[...] Herne the Hunted, the terrified and apprehensive deity of all small furry creatures [...]" Herne the Hunter is a spectral hunter of medieval legend, said to originally have been a keeper in Windsor Forest. Herne appears in many stories, varying from Shakespeare (who else) to the fairly recent ITV television series "Robin of Sherwood" (starring Jason "son of" Connery).a(BÂŒÇ9 @€Q€€‚€ €‚‚ãЉ€€‚ÿ When alt.fan.pratchett readers mistakenly assumed that the reference originated from this series, Terry cautioned: "Be careful when reference spotting... Herne the Hunter certainly did turn up in the Robin of Sherwood series and on an album by "Let's breathe romantically to music" group Clannad, but any passing pagan will tell you he goes back a lot, lot further than that." Herne the Hunter also appears himself in Lords And Ladies. Here is some relevant information condensed from the book The Western Way by John and Caitlin Matthews:J+ÅÖÉ/ ,€7€€‚‚‚‚‚€€‚ÿ "Herne the Hunter / Cernunnos is God of green and growing things; huntsman, spirit of earth, birth and masculinity. Often pictured seated cross-legged with antlers on his brow, he is [...] tutelary deity of many modern witch covens."- [p. 156/155] "[...] trying to find a laboratory opposite a dress shop that will keep the same dummy in the window for sixty years, [...]" This refers to the 1960 movie version of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, where the director uses the effect described to indicate the rapid passing of time.6÷ŒÇ Ì? L€ï€€‚‚‚€€ãl¯#‰‚‚‚‚€€‚‚‚ÿ- [p. 158/158] "He'd sorted out the falling chandelier, and found a place f