From: rsholmes@rodan.syr.EDU (Rich Holmes)
Subject: Re: Annotation: inconsistencies
In-reply-to: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk's message of Tue, 15 Dec 1992 23:54:26 +0000
Organization: Syracuse University
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 13:01:54 EST

In article <724488866snx@warren.demon.co.uk> leveret@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton) writes:

>Leo, please add to the list of known inconsistencies Nanny Ogg's annual bath:
>
>In "Witches Abroad", p.154 (Corgi pbk edition), Granny refers to Nanny
>Ogg's proposal to take a bath with the words "My word, doesn't autumn
>roll around quickly". But on page 128 of Lords and Ladies, as Nanny
>takes a bath after manhandling the captured Elf, we read: "'But it ain't
>April!', neighbours told themselves..."
>
>Nick.

I'm sure Australian readers have no problem with this. However, may I
direct your attention to the first footnote in _The Colour of Magic_
which explains that the disk has eight seasons: Spring Prime,
(unnamed), Autumn Prime, Winter Secundus (Spindlewinter), Secundus
Spring, Summer Two, (unnamed), Backspindlewinter. The start of the
year is Hogs' Watch Night in the middle of Backspindlewinter. Suppose
we equate this to Jan. 1 and assign 100 days to each season (the year
is 800 days long). I don't recall any discussion of months on the
Discworld -- there's no moon, is there? -- but let's assume "April" is
a translation into English of the concept "the fourth twelfth of a
year". Then a month is 66 or 67 days. This seems dubious since none of
12, 66, or 67 are divisible by 8, but I don't know what else to assume
given that the only month-names used appear to be the English ones.
Maybe the months actually are 64 days, there are 12 of them, and the
remaining 32 days are distributed as days that fall outside of months,
but that's more or less the same thing, so let's keep it simple: 12
months, 66 or 67 days each.  Hence the following conjectural calendar:

Day   1    January    1  Hog's Watch Night
Day  50    January   50  Start of Spring Prime
Day  67    February   1
Day 134    March 1
Day 150    March 17      Start of (unnamed summer season)
Day 200    March 67      First midsummer (Small Gods' Eve)
Day 201    April 1
Day 250    April 50      Start of Autumn Prime
Day 267    May 1
Day 334    June 1
Day 350    June 17       Start of Winter Secundus
Day 400    June 67       Crueltide
Day 401    July 1
Day 450    July 50       Start of Secundus Spring
Day 467    August 1
Day 534    September 1
Day 550    September 17  Start of Summer Two
Day 600    September 67  Alls Fallow
Day 601    October 1
Day 650    October 50    Start of (unnamed autumn season)
Day 667    November 1
Day 734    December 1
Day 750    December 17   Start of Backspindlewinter
Day 800    December 67   Hog's Watch Eve

[This calendar is based entirely on that one footnote (p. 13, Signet
edition) and any additions or corrections based on other texts would
be welcome.]

Thus the first autumn does occur during "April". The question is now,
does Nanny bathe every autumn, or only once a year?

--
- Rich Holmes
"Grown men, he told himself, in flat contradiction of centuries of
accumulated evidence about the way grown men behave, do not behave
like this." -- Douglas Adams