From: jeremy@garland.bt.co.uk (Jeremy Pavier)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: The Annotated Pratchett File, v5.0 - part 2 of 3
Date: 28 Jan 93 10:51:44 GMT
Organization: Intelligent Networks, British Telecom

Leo,

As requested, some additional annotations for "Witches Abroad" and 
"Guards! Guards!".

All page numbers relate to UK Corgi Paperback editions.

Witches Abroad
------- ------

P. 32	Footnote regarding Mrs Cosmopolite talks about monks "staring at my
feet" and starting a martial art "where they scream incomprehensibly at one
another and then hit their opponent with a broom". This sounds like a reference
to a character from BBC TVs "Last of the Summer Wine" called Norah Batty.
She's a hideous old battleaxe who is the subject of a running gag whereby another of the characters, Compo, fancies her something rotten but is put off
by her horrible wrinkled stockings. She frequently has to resort to the broom
to clear senile delinquents from her doorstep.

P. 33 	Grandmaster Lobsang Dibbler - I note this only because you have to have 
read "Guards! Guards!" or "Moving Pictures" to really get the gag. Terry 
slipping the odd one in for we affecionados here?

P. 33	"Money forges the chains which bind the labouring classes"
That sounds like something Marx (Karl) might have said, if I'd read him, 
which I haven't.

P. 38	"Non compost mental" - bastardisation of "Non compos mentis"
Lit. "Not of sound mind"

P. 58	"Whenever I deals with dwarfs, the phrase 'Duck's Arse' swims
across my mind"
Possibly a reference to a phrase like "Tight as a duck's arse" implying
excessive meanness. Duck's arses have to be tight, otherwise they'd sink 
- alright?

Guards! Guards!
------- -------
P. 21	"That was where you had to walk on rice paper wasn't it?"
Reference to old David Carridine TV series, "Kung Fu". In one of the early
episodes (or possibly the pilot) our Shaolin monk-in-training was tasked
to walk along a sheet of rice paper without ripping it or leaving a mark.
Thereby proving he didn't have sweaty feet, I suppose.

P. 51	"They had three grown-up childre, all born, Vimes had assumed, as a
result of extremely persuasive handwriting"
This resonates with an old joke about a man who had been away in prison (or at
sea or somesuch) for over two years. When he returns home it is to find his
wife nursing a three month old baby. The punchline, and her explanation,
goes something like "It must have been the letters you wrote"

P. 52	The fizzing and flashing illuminated sign outside Capt. Vimes office
is a reference to the tired old visual cliche from most film noir. The seedy
detective's office or apartment always had a big neon sign just outside the 
window.

P. 55	"Shershay la fem" = "Cherche la femme"
Surely this one's too obvious and needs no further explanation.

P. 60	Footnote "Good day! Good day! What is all of this that is going on 
here (in this place)" This resonates on two levels. Firstly as a good example
of literal translation going wrong and secondly as a fine reminder of that
wonderful BBC TV series "Dixon of Dock Green" where every bobby was your
friend and it was perfectly acceptable for a copper to walk into a room
and say "'Ello! 'Ello! What's going on 'ere then?"

P. 62	Footnote "Felicitaions to all present at the closing of the day."
Another wonderfully garbled Dixonism. Having captured the criminal and set
the audience's mind at ease about how safe it is to walk the streets of
London, our man Dixon would sign of with a cheery "Evening All". What a
wonderful language English is.

P. 64	"What'd he mean, Justices" [...] "There ain't no Justices"
Definitely a film quote, but I can't remember which film. Help!!!

P. 76	"Do real wizards leap about after a spell and start chanting
'Here we go, here we go, here we go' ..."
Chant commonly associated with football fans whose team has just scored. 
Also used, historically, by gangs of striking miners just before they realise
that the mounted policemen with big sticks are coming their way.
Definitely a British phenomenon.

P. 91	"It was strange, he felt, that so-called intelligent dogs, horses
and dolphins never had any difficulty indicating to humans the
vital news of the moment ..."
Dogs - Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, etc.
Horses - Champion, Trigger, Silver, etc..
Dolphins - Flipper
He forgot "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" whose ability to communicate very
complex, often extremely abstract, concepts with a bit of clicking and
hopping around, was a wonder to behold

P. 93	"Who loves you, pussycat?"
Nice amalgamation of Kojak's use of the term "pussycat" and his catchphrase
"Who loves ya, baby?

P. 94 "I've seen a horsefly ... housefly ... greenfly, but I've never seen
a dragon fly" Sounds reminiscent of the "I've never seen an elephant fly"
song from Dumbo.

P. 103	"Of all the cities in all the world it could have flown into, he 
thought, it's flown into mine" I can't believe we all missed this excellent
Humphrey Bogart / Casablanca reference. Captain Vimes seems to be somewhat like
Moorcock's Eternal Champion - having all the characteristics of great
detective heroes through the ages, especially the good lines.

P. 141 "Some are born to command ...."
I don't know where the original quote comes from, but it goes something like
"Some are born to greatness, some achieve greatness and others have greatness
thrust upon them". See also "Small Gods" reference for P. 21




Pav
-- 
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In theory, there is no difference 	|Pav/Uncle Jezza
between theory and practice.		|jeremy@garland.bt.co.uk
In practice, there is.			|