HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart)
Subject: Re: Yawn.
Reply-To: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Organization: Delft University of Technology
Distribution: alt
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 11:59:02 GMT

gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington) writes:

> To more interesting matters - I've just finished Small Gods (due to be
> officially released here tomorrowish).  

Good. I'm getting a bit tired of all the Reaper talk here -- Small Gods
is the new one, and I wish there was more discussion.

> I tend to agree with Leo Breebaart's review (posted here before, which
> I will repost/make available on an FTP site on request)

Fame at last!

By the way, I was planning to do a "Witches Abroad" review as well, but have
decided against it. That book is *not* my favourite Discworld novel,
and I think it has a few things wrong with it. But as long as Terry
Pratchett is reading this group I feel that it would be impolite
of me to post such a negative review -- who the fuck am I to criticize, 
in his face, a book that he probably has worked very long and hard on?

Maybe I'll do one of "Eric" instead, for our American friends...

> I'd be interested in knowing every last gag in SG - I'm pretty sure I
> missed a couple (tho' I loved the Epidemes paradox takeoff and the
> "Everything works both ways" line). 

"Everything works both ways"? Please explain...

I personally liked Didactylos' version of Alexander The Great's "there's no
royal road to learning, sire" anecdote.
It's difficult to come up with more Small Gods gags from memory, though.
There were so many I'm sure I did not get all of the references.

Which brings me to the fact that I more and more wish that there was
an "Annotated Pratchett" file somewhere. The FAQ makes a good start,
but it could be a whole project in its own right.

Tell you what; if people are interested in this, I'm willing to
start the Annotated Pratchett Project right here and now. If there is any
in-joke in a Terry Pratchett book that you feel people might easily "not
get" because they are not familiar with the subject matter it refers to,
mail an explanation to me at

    leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl

And I will collect and post the results back to the net. Maybe the existence
of the project and this address can be put in the FAQ as well? (BTW, with
the many new readers Pratchett's appearance has attracted, I think the
FAQ might be posted for a while with a higher frequency than usual...)

-- 
Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton)
Subject: I just wondered ...
Distribution: world
Organization: Indexed; Access: Random.
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 18:40:42 +0000

.. if there was any connection at all between Bill Door and Bill Gates ?

Nick Leverton
--
   <nleverton@cix.compulink.co.uk>            <leveret@warren.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett)
Subject: Re: DW setting and typoes
Cc: tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-To: tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 23:15:34 +0000

>Do the humour possibilities of this stage interest you then? A
>specific example is the part in Reaper Man when Death talks to Azrael.
>I found it a bit off putting to read the conversation on the left hand
>page, with this *HUGE* 'YES.' staring out from the page opposite,
>destroying the comic tension (IMHO).  The surprise (and therefore
>humour) element could have been immeasurably improved by arranging the
>page breaks so that the 'YES.' came at the top of a left hand page,
>ie. it's *supposed* to be the first thing you read, rather than the
>first thing you *actually* read.
>
>I guess that I'm being nit-picky, but I reckon its something similar
>to 'comic timing' in visual or aural humour.

>Gordon.

Get away...you amaze me...why didn't I think of that...oh deary deary me.

Listen.  Do you really think I'm some kind of dumbo to miss that kind of
opportunity?  I wrote 400 extra words to get it on a left-hand page in the
hardcover -- then Corgi shuffled people in the production department when it
was going through and my careful instructions disappeared into a back hole.
Go on...tell me more about comic timing...


Terry
From: uhschreg@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Ulrich Schreglmann)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Erm. Excuse me?
Date: 27 Jul 92 14:20:06 GMT
Organization: Student Pool, CSD, University of Erlangen, Germany

tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:

>Oh, lawdy lawdy.  OF COURSE I have the DW books in machine readable form.
>Think about it for a moment, will you?

Will you mail them to me? I'll pay you twice as much as you get in roy-
alties. Who needs publishers, after all? :-)


May the Cool be with You!

(C)OOL mcmxcii
From: nlc@vulcan.xtel.co.uk (Neil Cook)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Armageddon the Musical
Date: 28 Jul 92 11:08:53 GMT
Organization: X-Tel Services Ltd.

Well, I've nearly finished reading the aformentioned book, good fun,
I would recommend it.

However, I wanted to comment on the cover, which has quotes from Terry
on the front and back, talking about Robert Rankin like he was the next best
thing since sliced bread. Come on Terry, why the effusive praise? Do you
love him that much, or was it a deal with Corgi to get the back of the book
filled with trailers for DW books? ;)

Also, Robert Rankin's style reminds of someone else, and I couldn't quite
remember until a minute ago... In the book (ATM), Rankin goes on about the
Fundamentalists merging with the L Ron Hubbard church. Well, I think the
Scientologists are extremely dodgy etc, but I have read a couple of the "Mission
Earth" books in an idle day at the library, and they are the books that I was
reminded of whilst reading ATM. Wyrd...

Neil Cook.
From: garton@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Simon Garton)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: O and A levels
Date: 22 Jul 92 23:56:16 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego


 Someone@somebody.edu posted a message asking what O and A
levels were. They are a relict of the British educational
system, which was designed to get most people to 16+ at high
school, with an extra 2 years for smart/destined for University.
Essentially this is what happens .. you tootle through school
taking a pretty wide variety of courses until 8th grade, when
you decide what O (Ordinary level) exminations you wish to take.
These are pretty essential requirements : most non-minimum wage
jobs are going to ask for at least 5 O levels including Englsish
language, and maybe Math. An O level is pretty much a 2 year
course, ending with a 2-3 hour exam, with maybe some coursework
counting towards the grade (letter grade, C is a pass). Most
people you'd meet at college have about 7 or 8 O levels
(remember a much smaller proportion make it to college than in
the US.) After O levels, some people leave school, and others
stay in school (age 16ish at this point) for A (advanced) levels
: much more complicated, take another two years, and most
people take 3. They are very stongly linked to University
entrance : in Britain you submit Uni applications through a
centralised committee (UCCA) by indicating which are your top
five choices of schools you want : UCCA consults with the
schools, which return an offer composed of three grades which
they expect you to get in your subjects. Example : I wanted to
do Biology at Aberystwyth Univ, taking Math, Bio and Chem A
levels : Aber wrote back to me requiring I obtain at least a B
in each subject. The grades they require depend on the course,
on your scores at O level and how many applicants they ahev etc
etc.  If you then get those grades when you take the exam at 18
, you can accept that place, otherwise you get sent to clearing
where other Universities you didn;t name may ask you if you want
to go there.
Still with me ? There are also AO levels, which you take
inbetween O and A levels if you are good at a subject. If you're
not smart enough to do O levels (which are also known as GCE
General certificate of education.) you can take CSE's which are
simpler and still count for jobs (Certificate of standard
education) Of course a few years back Thatcherism got to
education and changed them all to GCSE's. 

I hope this gives you a flavour. I'm sure a lot of people can
pick holes in my explanation but this is roughly how it works.
Please email me for more info if you like.           

Simon (13 O's, 1 AO and then I got out of the British system and
did something called the International Baccalaureate which makes
O and A levels look .... well, look like a high school diploma
|-) 8-) 8-o %#&~!! |-(
(sequence represents me getting hit for that last comment) 
 
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski)
Subject: Re: DW setting and typoes                   
Reply-To: winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Nashua NH
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 21:56:16 GMT


In article <memo.540961@cix.compulink.co.uk>,
tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
|>
|>Rede it and weeb.  You think publishers LIKE work on disc?  I know from my
|>own experience, and via the Society of Authors, that this not not the case.

So unlike Our Favorite Author and all us computer nerds on the Net, the
publishers refuse to live in a disc world....

--PSW
From: tjhamalainen@cc.helsinki.fi
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Peaceful netting (was: Re: atrician's assassination, plus two questions
Date: 27 Jul 92 22:58:33 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

> In article <1992Jul23.122024.13169@vela.acs.oakland.edu> mwlucas@vela.acs.oakland.edu ( ) writes:
>>This is the only newsgroup that I've been on since its creation that hasn't
>>had a good, old-fashioned, all-out flamefest/rumorfest/backstabbing-growling-
>>throwing-things-even-quite-heavy-furniture-fest.  You people are all too
>>complacent and peaceful. 

Yes.  It must have something to do with the fact that we're all reading TP's
works.  Please don't tell that to army officials: soon they'll forbid us from
reading any of his works.  TP's readers just won't make good soldiers :-)
And I've still to do my national service...

R. Godfather "The man who will see TP in August '93 :-)"
_______________________________________________________________________
TJ Hamalainen (Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki)
DECNET:   HYLK::TJHAMALAINEN             :-----------------------------
Bitnet:   tjhamala@finuh                 : I pretend to work,
Internet: tjhamalainen@hylk.helsinki.fi  : they pretend to pay me.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: lpj@col.hp.com (Laura Johnson)
Subject: Re: Patrician's assassination, plus two questions
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 15:29:23 GMT
Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division

> In article <dxgmprg.jrs@netcom.com> jrs@netcom.com (John Switzer) writes:
> >Amazing ain't it? When I saw TP had his own alt group, my first thoughts were
> >"great, now he's going to get hammered just like the others (aspirin, anthony,
> >etc.). I just guess we Discworld fans are a step up from those other miserable
> >dung-grubbing totally worthless shreds of human debris, huh?
> 

Maybe it's because Terry is, after all, *here*. (You know, "Here: At this
virtual location in the ether.")  Trashing Terry on alt.fan.pratchett 
would be sorta like being an atheist on the diskworld: he might just come 
down from Mount Wossname and throw rocks through our windows!

For the humor-impaired: :-).

For Terry: NO, HONESTLY, we're not just saying we love you 'cause you're
here! We were saying that before you got here! We love you! I loved 
_Reaper_Man_! Really! Pleeeez don't throw rocks through my windows!

-Laura 
-- 
lpj@hpctdls.col.hp.com
Opinions expressed are my own, but may be licensed for a nominal fee.
From: bob@castle.ed.ac.uk (Bob Gray)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: morris
Keywords: literature humor minor
Date: 29 Jul 92 17:42:36 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

guest@scinet.up.ac.za (Guest van WISNAT) writes:
>Anyone know what the Morris dance in Reaper Man is ? It seems to be put 

It is the dance that morris dancers dance.

Go into any village in the English countryside during the
summer. They can usualy be found performing their arcane
rituals on the village green.

Ignore the cheap imitatators on top of vehicles in the
nearby car parks.
	Bob.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: mdymond@nyx.cs.du.edu (Melanie Dymond)
Subject: Translations of DW books?
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 18:33:07 GMT


Can anyone tell me how many languages the DW books have been translated
into? Do they translate well? I picked up a couple of German translations
while on holiday a little while back, but my school German hasn't got me
more than a few pages into them yet.... 

So I'm a completist. So sue me.

Terry -- I know this is many years back by now, but could you tell me
whether TCOM was printed in hardback at about the same time as the
original paperback? I do have a HB copy, but I think it's a reprint.

Thanks to all,

Mel.
mdymond@nys.cs.du.edu
uhah013@vax.rhbnc.ac.uk

Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: Elizabeth.Mccoy@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Elizabeth Mccoy)
Subject: Re: Yawn.
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Distribution: alt
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 22:25:43 GMT

In article <leo.712410421@galaxy> leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl writes:
>gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington) writes:
>
>> This group sure goes downhill as soon as the object of worship
>> arrives.  Suddenly we're all trying to outdo each other with puns, 

>No, I not slamming the recent *explicit* "let's come up with DiscWorld ideas"-
>thread in this group. I'm not even against the attempts to out-pun
>and out-Pratchett Pratchett: I have seen some enjoyable stuff so far, so
>Nathan's yawn seems misplaced to me.

Right -- wouldn't have missed that bit about how the water gets back on
the Disc for anything... (elephants).

>But I have to agree with him that it is remarkable how all of a sudden 
>everybody has become a comic. What is it about the presence of someone
>like Terry Pratchett that makes us react this way?

I think that it's A) psychic osmisis, and B) we are vastly entertained
by Pratchett's books, so we want to make this group (or ourselves)
entertaining to him -- sort of payment.  And there's the standard
ego-trip ("see, I can be funny too!") reason for some. But, well, if
everyone acts in a certain way on a newsgroup, it tends to stay pretty
much that way, and I don't see anyone telling Terry "Hey, stop that
silly stuff! This isn't the newsgroup for it!" or anything similar....

I don't mind, either -- just so long as the source of it all doesn't
decide that it's all too boring and stupid and he needs to get an
account with a different name on it so people won't all try to act like
comedians whenever he posts something.

(Oh, yeah -- don't forget the "Oh my gods he *answered my post*"
syndrome.  That's where one feels a great deal of awe and tries to cover
it up by pointing out how silly that is and how cosmopoliten oneself is.
This is done to keep the poor object-of-worship from running from the
room to get away from the nutcases on their knees, I suspect. *sigh*
Pity there's no way to say, "I am totally honored that you have
acknowledged my existance" without sounding like A) a total airhead or
B) insincere.)

--EM
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: gribbish@milton.u.washington.edu (Toonatic)
Subject: Comic Books                   
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 16:35:29 GMT

I recently picked up issue one of "The Light Fantastic" from my local comics
  retailer (I normally don't buy Comics, but having enjoyed the books so much,
  I decided that I wanted to see what the company which produced it could do)
  (oh, the company is an independent called something like "Imagines"... I'll
   have to go check the cover again)

In any case, I was wondering if anyone knows when the second issue will be out,
  and if anyone knows where I can get back-issues of "The Colour of Magic"
  which I understand came out in Comics form earlier. (makes sense)

Thanks for any info,

Gribbish@milton.u.washington.edu
--The man with no .sig
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett)
Subject: Chapters                                
Cc: tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-To: tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 12:40:35 +0000

DW books don't have chapters because, well, I just never got into the habit
of chapters.  I'm not sure why they should exist (except maybe in children's
books, to allow the parent to say 'I'll read to the end of the chapter and
they you must go to sleep.')  Films don't have chapters.  Besides, I think
they're interfere with the shape of the story.  Use a bookmark is my advice.

Terry
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: sauron@parrot.WPI.EDU (Amelia Ruth Rich)
Subject: Re: You geeks
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 01:27:03 GMT

In article <36239@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> garton@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Simon Garton) writes:

>We have a new VP nomination ? You only managed to misspell 5 
>words in your 6 line message : Pratchett with 2 t's is the name
>of the newsgroup, no excuses for that. Repetitive is spelt with
>an 'i', loser only has one 'o'and 'kool' in your signature ....?
>
>Anyway what's your point ? Trying to annoy people ? Gee, thats
>mature. If you don't like Pratchett, why (a) are you reading his
>books (b) reading this newsgroup (c) wasting valuable
>butt-scratching time bothering to post idiot messages. Maybe if
>you told us a little more about CSG's books some of us might be
>tempted to explore a little.... but if you, sir, happen to be
>the kind of person that CSG's books appeal to I might just pass
>for a while.


though i do agree with your assessment of the previous poster, id
like to stand up for craig shaw gardner. he has written some rather
amusing fantasy/humor books.  i also like pratchett, and i think that
if you like pratchett that you might also like CSG.

just my   $.02



   +---------------------+---------\\__--.------------------------+
   |      Amy Rich       |      |\/   o\ . ARGGH.... Stop eating  |
   +---------------------+      |   "" <.                         |
   | sauron@wpi.wpi.edu  |      |/\  __/       my .sig file...    |
   +---------------------+---------//-----------------------------+
From: uhschreg@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Ulrich Schreglmann)
Subject: Re: You geeks
Organization: Student Pool, CSD, University of Erlangen, Germany
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 14:03:20 GMT

uhschreg@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Ulrich Schreglmann) writes:

>bradfiel@phakt.usc.edu (The B-field) writes:

>>Well, he's had his say so let's just ignore him and keep up the IQ level
>>of the Internet.

>Yeah, let's not post any follow-ups to it.

After all the article would be expired and forgotten very quickly if all
those blasted follow-ups didn't exist.


May the Cool Be with You!

(C)OOL mcmxcii
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: ac463@yfn.ysu.edu (Rich Yauman)
Subject: Re: Erm. Excuse me?
Reply-To: ac463@yfn.ysu.edu (Rich Yauman)
Organization: St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown, OH
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 18:11:18 GMT


In a previous article, Elizabeth.Mccoy@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Elizabeth Mccoy) says:

>In article <1992Jul24.164138.24718@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (mike blaser) writes:
>>Hang on a second.  It's not typos as in 'The Colour of Magic' instead of
>>'The Color of Magic' is it?
>
>I should hope not. That's not a typo. (Now, if only my own *personal*
>brand of Elizabethean spelling could be so blessed. *sigh* I wonder if
>my life-book got misfiled in the lot that were back before they invented
>spelling, and therefore there's been anti-spelling contamination....)
>
   The big problem is that if you had editors "correcting" the spelling
from English to American spelling, you would then probably get the same
editor deciding that the writings of the inhabinants of DiscWorld had
terrible spelling that needed to be corrected by this same editor.
Did you notice that the only DW character that knows how to spell, is 
the dead leader of the dead rights group in Reaper Man.  I wonder if
we will see this character again.

-- 
 Rich Yauman ac463@yfn.ysu.edu  /  Only AMIGA USERS make it possible  /
------------------------------ /              ^^^^^                  /
If at first you don't succeed /_____________________________________/
Force it. If it breaks, it needed replaced anyway. -a Murphy's Law /
From: gordon@robots.oxford.ac.uk (Gordon Buxton)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: DW setting and typoes
Date: 28 Jul 92 11:44:41 GMT
Organization: Robotics Research Group, Engineering Science Dept, Oxford, UK.

In article <36199@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> garton@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Simon Garton) writes:
>Intriguing ... I have the English hard cover edition, and here
>they got the spacing right, and the YES is on a left hand page,
>I loved the effect... similar to Death ALWAYS SPEAKING IN TONES
>SOUNDING LIKE LEAD SLABS FALLING ON GRANITE etc etc. What copy
>do you have ? I dread to think what the US producers could
>do with that bit : just put it in ordinary capitals tucked
>beneath Deaths OWN WORDS.

I have the U.K. paperback edition.  I've got all the rest in paperback
too, so a hardback would sort of ruin the look of my bookshelf ... not
to mention the look of my grant.  Interesting, though, that they could
get it right in hardback, but not in paperback.

>In the meantime, where does Azrael (the name) come from ... I
>know I have heard it before.

err... Good Omens, by any chance :-)  (he does seem to have been
'promoted' since then, though)

Gordon

-----------------------------
gordon@ ...

----- oh what's the use?
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: uhschreg@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Ulrich Schreglmann)
Subject: Re: Patrician's assassination, plus two questions
Organization: Student Pool, CSD, University of Erlangen, Germany
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 08:52:48 GMT

kcc@wucs1.wustl.edu (Ken Cox) writes:

>First question:  Rumor has it that a sequel to Good Omens, possibly
>entitled "668: The Neighbor of the Beast", was contemplated.

Well, it definitely sounds Pratchettian. It's the sort of gag getting
you off guard while seesawing with your chair. There should be a label
on these books warning that they might be hazardous to your neck.


May the Cool be with You!

(C)OOL mcmxcii
From: jewell@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Larry Jewell)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: talk.bizarre (was Re: You geeks)
Date: 29 Jul 92 21:32:44 GMT
Organization: Purdue University

If you put talk.bizarre and misc.test in your kill files, the signal-to-noise
ratio will improve tremendously.


Larry J
-- 
#Larry W. Jewell (ex-USN) jewell@mace.cc.purdue.edu                         # 
#"Sunday's horoscope is noteworthy because of its strange, sudden and wholly#
#unpredictable and inexplicable occurrences, affecting all phases of life." #
#--"Your Horoscope," L.A. Evening Herald Express, Saturday, Dec. 6, 1941.   #
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: jgreely@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu (J Greely)
Subject: Re: Johnny and the Dead                 
Originator: jgreely@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu
Organization: Ohio State University Computer and Information Science
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 22:14:25 GMT

In article <memo.536486@cix.compulink.co.uk> tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk
 (Terry Pratchett) writes:
>YA means Young Adult means vaguely adolescent.  YA books have fewer teddy
>bears and more inner city grit.

Or vice-versa, depending on which direction you're coming at it from.
Come to think of it, though, much "adult" fiction is warm and fuzzy
compared to the Brothers Grimm, so it could go either way
(verse-vicie?).


				"Don't fire until you see
				 the pink of their eyes!"
-- 
J Greely (jgreely@cis.ohio-state.edu; osu-cis!jgreely)