Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: The Annotated Pratchett File, v1.4
From: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 22:40:05 GMT
Followup-To: alt.fan.pratchett
Organization: Contract to CSC, Victoria Uni, Wellington, New Zealand

leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) writes:

> WYRD SISTERS:
>
>  - This whole novel brims with Shakespeare references (to the Scottish
>    Play in particular). I am waiting for someone out there to collect
>    and submit some of the more obscure ones.

If you want to list some of the blindingly obvious ones:
 - the three wyrd sisters (in Macbeth, the three witches are constantly
	referred to as the "weird sisters" and once the "weird women").
 - the blood on the hand (cf. Lady Macbeth's disobedient dog: "out out
	damn spot") 
(more if my boss stops dropping in :)

> PYRAMIDS:

   - Djelibeybi (jelly-baby)
   - Ptraci (Tracy, silent P)
   - Pthagonal (variant of pythagoras) arguing about pi not being a decent
	number.
   - "Ibid you already know" (Ibid. is short for ibidem, and is used when
	citing references to mean "as before")
   - "Iesope, the greatest teller of fables in the world" (variant of
	Aesop)

> MOVING PICTURES:
>
>  - This one has uncountable references to classic Hollywood movies and
>    anecdotes. Again, I eagerly await your input.

My favourite was the Blues Brothers reference (then again, it was pretty
blatant).

>  - One thing that might easily slip by the casual reader is the fact that 
>    the two femme fatales of this novel are called Ginger and Ruby, both
>    names signifying a red color.

Amber Lynn, the porno queen? :-) I can remember TP being particularly
impressed with all the references to King Kong that he managed to
squeeze in, especially with keeping the height of KK (50ft) in the
story.

> SMALL GODS:
>
> - Divers allusions to more or less well-known anecdotes involving
>   philosophers. Nathan, you were going to supply exact page numbers
>   and quotes for this section, yes, yes, yes?

Yes, but my copy of the book was rudely taken away before I'd gotten more
than a few out....  Perhaps when (if?) it finally gets released here for
real, I'll be able to complete these.

--begin
Collection of Classic Gags from Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett.

---
P 110

  Now that Brutha could get a clearer view, he could see that there
were one or two differences between the men.  One had a shorter beard,
and was very red in the face, and was waggling a finger accusingly.
  'He bloody well accused me of slander!' he was shouting.
  'I didn't!' shouted the other man.
  'You did!  You did!  Tell 'em what you said!'
  'Look, I merely suggested, to indicate the nature of paradox, right,
that if Xeno the Ephebian said, "All Ephebians are liars --"'
  'See?  See?  He did it again!'
  '-- no, no, listen, listen ... then, since Xeno is himself an
Ephebian, this would mean that he himself is a liar and therefore --'
  Xeno made a determined effort to break free, dragging four desperate
fellow philosophers across the floor.
  'I'm going to lay one right *on* you, pal!'

[Based on the Epidemes Paradox: "Epidemes the Cretan says that all
Cretans are liars - therefore he is a liar, therefore not all Cretans
are liars, therefore we can't conclude he is a liar, therefore ..."]

---
P 130

  'Yeah,' said Urn, grinning.  'Use your left hand, do you?'
  'Er, I use both,' said Brutha.  'But not very well, everyone says.'
  'Ah,' said Didactylos.  'Ambi-sinister?'
  'What?'
  'He means incompetent with both hands,' said Om.

[Ambidextrous means able to use both hands equally well.  'dextr-' is
the prefix meaning "right" as in "right hand".  'sinistr-' is the
prefix meaning "left".  I guess it's a play on left-handedness always
being put down.  Hmm, the smutty might take the "use your left hand"
as a reference to masturbation too.]

---
P 153

  'Oh.  My god,' he said.
  'Something wrong?' said Didactylos.
  'Could someone fetch my tortoise?'

[The god's name is "Om" -- "Om, my god".  His god is currently in the
form of a tortoise]

---
P 244

  ... the unwritten motto of the Quisition: "Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum".
  When you have their full attention in your grip, their hearts and
minds will follow.

[testiculos does not translate as "full attention"]

---
P 9

  Brother Nhumrod

[Nhumrod - numb rod, geddit?]

---
P 108

  The labyrinth of Ephebe is ancient and full of one hundred and one
amazing things you can do with hidden springs, razor-sharp knives, and
falling rocks.  There isn't just one guide through it.  There are six,
and each one knows his way through one-sixth of the labyrinth.  Every
year they have a special competition, when they do a little
redesigning.  They vie with one another to see who can make his
section even more deadly than the others to the casual wanderer.
There's a panel of judges, and a small prize.
	[...]

P 142

  ... diagonally forward and right three-and-a-half paces, and left
sixty-three paces, pause two seconds -- where a steely swish in the
darkness suggested that one of the guardians had devised something
that won him a prize - and up three steps ...

---
P 18

  'Oh, *Me*!' said the tortoise.

[cf. "Oh God!"]

---
P 23

  De Chelonian Mobile

[cf. Galileo's xxx]

---
P 147

  '... Yes.  With your permission, lord, I will write you more balls
than you can imagine ...'

---
--end

> GOOD OMENS:
>
>  - [There was a very obscure joke involving an old British nursery rhyme.
>   Can anybody still recall what it was? Is, for that matter, alt.fan.
>   pratchett archived somewhere, so I can look over the old articles?]

I didn't keep a copy of the conversation,  sorry - boy it was boring :)

Cheers;

Nat
(gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz -- Nathan Torkington -- is the electronic text and
 MS-DOS archivist for the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett