From: Leo Breebaart Subject: The Annotated Pratchett File, v9.0 Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchett Summary: BEING: THEE moft LEARNED and EDDYFYING COMPENDIUM intended for the AMUSEMENT of the NOBLE and the INSTRUCTION of the VULGAR, pofted on occafion upon THEE NETTE and CONSISTING of an OSTENTATIOUSNESS of COMMENTARIES and EXPLICATIONS by which shall be shewn the TRUE MEANING of the LEGION and MANY JESTS, SAWS and WITTICISMS to be FOUND in the MULTITUDINOUS WORKS of MISTER TERENCE PRATCHETT, OBE, scribe of thysse parifh. FEATURING a CAST of THOUSANDS confifting in PART of WIZARDS, WARRIORS, MONK^H^H^H^HAPES, DIURSE ALARUMS and ONE THOUSAND ELEPHANTS. BEWARE! Here be SPOILERS! Organization: Unseen University Followup-To: alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchett Reply-To: apf@lspace.org Archive-name: apf-9.0 Last-modified: 17 August 2004 Version: 9.0 (The Pointless Albatross Release) Editor: Leo Breebaart Assistant-Editor: Mike Kew URL: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Preface to v9.0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the first 'real' release of the Annotated Pratchett File since the v7a.0 release of 16 June 1996. Back then, I apologised for the eighteen months that had passed between v7.0 and v7a.0, and I promised I would do better next time. Um, yes. Apologising again, but now for the eight *years* that have passed between v7a.0 and this v9.0, seems a bit pointless. Let me instead just thank all you APF readers for your patience, your submissions, your corrections, and your offers to help. In all those eight years the flow of supportive words and emails and Usenet messages never once dried up, and I doubt if I could ever express adequately enough how motivating and helpful that has been. Having learned my lesson, I will make no promises or predictions this time with respect to future releases of the APF, but my honest intention is for v9.0 to signal the start of a period of steady APF development on all fronts: annotation content, World Wide Web version, typeset version -- everything. In a sense I still consider v9.0 an 'intermediate' version, and I have Plans for major improvements all over. We will just have to see how (and when!) it all plays out; for now I hope that v9.0 will be a welcome milestone, of sufficient quality to make sure everybody is once again willing to come along on the next leg of the trip. Leo Breebaart Delft, August 2004 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- You are now reading the 9th edition of the Annotated Pratchett File, or APF for short. For information about what is new or changed in v9.0 with respect to previous editions I refer you to the new _Version History and Timeline_ section in the _Editorial Comments_ chapter. Ever since its creation in 1992, one of the most popular pastimes on the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett has been discussing the many jokes, parodies, allusions and references with which Terry Pratchett seasons his work. Since, as Terry once put it, "alt.fan.pratchett as an entity has the attention span of a butterfly on cocaine", it quickly became clear that it would be a good idea to distil some of these discussions into something with a little more persistence and staying power than individual Usenet articles (remember that this all took place long before something like Google Groups -- or indeed even the World Wide Web itself -- existed!). And so the _Annotated Pratchett File_ was born, and (because I was brave or foolish enough to volunteer) I became its editor. Over the years the APF has grown in popularity and size. It now contains nearly two thousand annotations, and is available in a number of different formats. Yet it is still (and if I can help it will always be) called a 'file', reflecting its origin as a short text file that I regularly posted to alt.fan.pratchett. The structure of the APF is straightforward, with the annotations divided into two large chapters: the _Discworld Annotations_, and all the _Other Annotations_. Within each group, the books are listed in the order in which they were published (with the exception that in the Discworld chapter the proper novels come before the secondary material such as the maps and the _Science of Discworld_ books). Within each book, the annotations are sorted in ascending order by page number, with that number referring to the edition I actually own myself, which will typically be the original UK hardcover edition. (Some of the earlier books also list paperback page numbers -- for more information please read the _Page Numbers_ section in the _Editorial Comments_ chapter.) Each annotation is 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 used to be quite handy when new APF versions appeared more frequently, but has since become a lot less meaningful. We are sticking to the practice for now, on account of tradition. The APF incorporates, in this edition once again more than ever before, many passages from articles that Terry himself has posted to alt.fan.pratchett. As a long time active contributor to the group, he often provides inside information on many aspects of his writing, and it would be a waste to let this first-hand knowledge just disappear into Usenet history. Much of this material has been incorporated into the annotations themselves, but quite a bit of interesting information that did not fit anywhere else has been collected in the _Thoughts and Themes_ chapter. The APF ends with the already mentioned _Editorial Comments_ chapter, where various nuts & bolts of the editing process are discussed. It also lists information to help you obtain the most recent version of the APF in whatever format you prefer. One particular piece of technical information is so important I am placing it here as well as 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 far. Please mail all your feedback to me at: apf@lspace.org and maybe you will see *your* contribution become a part of the next edition. I will now leave you to the annotations, and end this introduction with a thought that is a bit of a cliche but nonetheless true: I hope you will enjoy reading the APF as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Discworld Annotations --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE 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. - [p. 8/8] "For example, what was A'Tuin's actual sex?" I have had email 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. - [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'. Since 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 mind 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. - [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 more than 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. Given 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." - [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. - [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. Beachcomber/Morton used an eccentric cast of regular characters in his sketches, which frequently caricatured self-important and highbrow 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: "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." A 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. - [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. - [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. - [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. In 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.)." - [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-Morpork 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' cliche. 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 :-)..." - [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). However, 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: "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?" - [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 that we 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'. - [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. Go-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 mother 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..." For 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!" Over 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'). If 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". - [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 placenames 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'. A 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 Eight_ Just 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 unpronounceable names) play games with the lives of mortals. Lovecraft 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 Lovecraft's 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). - [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'". Some 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". - [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. - [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. - [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' quip 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". - [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." - [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. Even 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. - [p. 171/148] 'Zweiblumen' is the (almost) literal German translation of 'Twoflower' (it actually translates to 'Twoflower*s*', 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." "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. - [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. - [p. 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". + [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. Note 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. - [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. The 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. - [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. - [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's *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." THE 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 sides 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). - [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. 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. Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, Upstairs and downstairs, in his nightgown. 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. 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 globes of seeds are regularly referred to as a "dandelion clocks" in colloquial English. - [p. 10/10] "'To the upper cellars!' he cried, and bounded up the stone stairs." The magic 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." 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." _The 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: "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." - [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 online version of the original fairy tale at the URL: - [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. 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 left 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. - [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. + [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_. + [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. "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?" 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 disco 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.'" 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 looked -- 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. - [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. - [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_. 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." 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. 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". EQUAL 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 rather 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.) My 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). - 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 Terry's co-author on _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): "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. - [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: 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 - [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 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." - [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. 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. 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_: 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. - [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. Post iucundam iuventutem, Post molestam senectutem, Nos habebit humus, nos habebit humus. 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_. 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 _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. - [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 modeling 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: "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!_). 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 toolshed 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." Plays on the folk saying: "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning". MORT - [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 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. During 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." - [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). 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 acknowledgment 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). - [p. 34/29] Albert's stove has 'The Little Moloch (Ptntd)' embossed on its door. There exists a make of woodburning 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." 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. - [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: 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. - [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. - [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. 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." 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 --'" 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 online version of the original fairy tale at the URL: 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. - [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_. - [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. - [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. 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 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 back across the fields someone who is now a professor of medieval history fell down a disused mineshaft 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 performing the rite backwards will instead summon *you* to Death... There also are two villages called Ash in Kent, UK. It is unknown if there is a deliberate connection. - [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". 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 Shakespeare'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 email 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. - [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_): "[...] 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). - [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." 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. - [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_. - [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." - [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! Ilium 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.")... SOURCERY - [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. It goes back much further than either 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). - [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 [...]'" 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 for 'drunk'. - [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. - [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 (a) you can only cross individuals *within* each species, not *across*, and (b) you are not supposed to use magic. With respect to (a) 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_ - [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". - [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_." 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 of Time_ epic fantasy series, in Raymond E. Feist's _Prince of the Blood_, and in David Eddings' _Belgariad_ quintet. 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. - [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. 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. - [p. 122/110] "the kind of spaghetti that would make M. C. Escher go for a good lie down [...]" Maurits C. Escher: Dutch graphic artist of the 20th 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." 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_. - [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. Creosote itself is actually the name for an oily liquid mixture of organic chemicals, resulting as a by-product 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. 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." 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_: 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. - [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': 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. - [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 boiling 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. - [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. 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'. - [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." '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). 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. - [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 phone clamped to his ear while referring to his Filofax to find a free appointment. Hence the Genie: "'Let's do lunch...'". - [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." 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." '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. - [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. - [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_. WYRD 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'. - [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 games, 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). - [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." - [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..." 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?" 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." 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. - [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 of the ocean and then, when you get home and have a nice bit of turbot for your tea, there it is?'" 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. - [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. - [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." Readers of alt.fan.pratchett have also engaged in a collective songwriting 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 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. - [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. - [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." Legend has it that from an egg laid by a cockerel and hatched by a serpent, a cockatrice (also known as 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. - [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. + [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. 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?" 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_: Bridgekeeper: "What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" Arthur: "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?" Bridgekeeper: "Huh? I -- I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh!" - [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." - [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 Arti in Florence. - [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. - [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 Hun*ter* 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). 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: "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. - [p. 158/158] "He'd sorted out the falling chandelier, and found a place for a villain who wore a mask to conceal his disfigurement, [...]" Describes _The Phantom of the Opera_, another musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. See also the annotations for _Maskerade_. - [p. 159/158] "[...] the hero had been born in a handbag." The protagonist in Oscar Wilde's _The Importance of Being Earnest_ was found, as a baby, in a handbag. - [p. 159/158] "It was the clowns who were giving him trouble again." The clowns are the Marx Brothers. The third clown is Harpo, who never speaks, only honks ("business with bladder on a stick"). The short speech that follows, "This iss My Little Study..." is typical Groucho, and the "Atsa right, Boss" is Chico. - [p. 159/158] "_Thys ys amain Dainty Messe youe have got me into, Stanleigh_" Laurel & Hardy. Laurel's first name was Stan. See also the annotation for p. 73/65 of _The Colour of Magic_. - [p. 160/159] The Dysk. The famous Globe Theatre (which was octagonal in form!) was built by Cuthbert Barbage on the Bankside in Southwark (London) in 1599. Shakespeare had a share in the theatre and acted there. The Globe was destroyed by fire, rebuilt, and eventually completely demolished in 1644. Currently, The Globe is being rebuilt again by an American entrepreneur on the South Bank, a few hundred yards from its original site. - [p. 162/161] "*All the disk is but an Theater*, he wrote, *Ane alle men and wymmen are but Players*. [...] *Sometimes they walke on. Sometimes they walke off*." _As You Like It_, act 2, scene 7: "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; [...]" - [p. 163/162] "I had this dream about a little bandy-legged man walking down a road." I have resisted annotating this for 7 editions of the APF, but oh what the heck: Hwel is dreaming of Charlie Chaplin. - [p. 165/164] "'I *said*, where's your pointy hat, dopey?'" Dopey is one of the seven dwarfs in Walt Disney's animated _Snow White_. Terry likes toying with Disney's dwarf names. See for instance the annotation for p. 324/271 of _Moving Pictures_. - [p. 167/166] "'_Brothers! And yet may I call all men brother, for on this night --_'" This is (in spirit) the St Crispin's Day speech from _King Henry V_. See the annotation for p. 239/238. - [p. 182/181] "Double hubble, stubble trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bub---" The witches in _Macbeth_, act 4, scene 1: "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble." - [p. 169/168] "[...] go around with axes in their belts, and call themselves names like Timkin Rumbleguts." This is a sarcastic comment on the behaviour of most generic fantasy dwarfs, but of course the main image it invokes is of classic Tolkien characters like Thorin Oakenshield, etc. - [p. 173/172] "'We've got a special on GBH this season.'" The abbreviation GBH stands for Grievous Bodily Harm. - [p. 178/177] "The pay's the thing." Puns on a well-known Shakespeare quote from _Hamlet_ (act 2, scene 2): The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king If you have access to the Internet, you can find online versions of all of Shakespeare's plays at the URL: - [p. 179/178] "'I've got this idea about this ship wrecked on an island, where there's this--'" This can of course refer to a thousand different movies or plays. In view of the general influences for this book, however, I'd bet my money on Shakespeare's _The Tempest_. - [p. 181/180] "*Round about the cauldron go*, [...]" What follows is a parody on _Macbeth_, act 4, scene 1, in which three witches boil up some pretty disgusting things in their cauldron. Try reading both versions side by side. - [p. 182/181] "He punched the rock-hard pillow, and sank into a fitful sleep. Perchance to dream." Taken from the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy in _Hamlet_. - [p. 183/182] "KING: Now if I could just find my horsey..." Hwel's script is _Richard III_ done as a Punch-and-Judy show. - [p. 184/183] "Is this a duck I see before me, its beak pointing at me?" _Macbeth_, act 2, scene 1 again. See the annotation for p. 65/65. - [p. 186/185] "Leonard of Quirm. He's a painter, really." Refers to Leonardo da Vinci, who also worked on (but didn't succeed in building) a flying machine. - [p. 186/185] "We grow old, Master Hwel. [...] We have heard the gongs at midnight." Shakespeare again: _King Henry IV, part 2_, act 3, scene 2: "FALSTAFF: Old, old, Master Shallow. [...] We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow." - [p. 189/188] "'There's many a slip twixt dress and drawers.'" A Nanny Ogg variant on the saying "There's many a slip 'tween the cup and the lip" ('slip' here meaning 'petticoat'). - [p. 189/188] "'A week is a long time in magic,' said Nanny." Sir Harold Wilson: "A week is a long time in politics". - [p. 193/192] "1ST WITCHE: He's late. (Pause)" [Etc.] Parodies Samuel Beckett's classic play _Waiting for Godot_, where similar dialogue occurs. - [p. 199/198] "'Did you know that an adult male carries up to five pounds of undigested red meat in his intestines at all times?" Stereotypical (but basically true) propaganda that radical vegetarians like to quote in order to gross people out and get them to stop eating meat (of course, the average vegetarian has about five pounds of undigested vegetable matter in his intestines). The cliche is used fairly often, amongst other places in the movie _Beverly Hills Cop_. Terry had this to say on the subject: "Yep. That one I got from some way out vegetarian stuff I read years ago, and went round feeling ill about for days. And two years ago I saw _Beverly Hills Cop_ on TV and rejoiced when I heard the line. God, I wish I'd seen the film before I'd written _Guards! Guards!_... I'd have had someone out on stake-duty on horseback, and someone creep up behind them with a banana..." Note that in _Men at Arms_, the second City Watch book, Terry does manage to work in a _Beverly Hills Cop_ joke. See the annotation for p. 251/190 of _Men At Arms_. - [p. 207/206] "'All hail wossname,' she said under her breath, 'who shall be king here, after.'" _Macbeth_, act 1, scene 2: "All hail, Macbeth; that shalt be king hereafter!" - [p. 208/207] "'Is anyone sitting here?' he said." _Macbeth_, act 3, scene 4: Macbeth: 'The table's full.' Lennox: 'Here is a place reserv'd, sir.' Macbeth: 'Where?' Visible only to Macbeth the ghost of Banquo is sitting in his chair. - [p. 211/210] "'We're scheming evil secret black and midnight hags!'" _Macbeth_, act 4, scene 1: "How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!" See also the annotation for p. 186/152 of _Mort_. - [p. 212/211] "'I never shipwrecked anybody!' she said." Neither did the three witches from _Macbeth_, if you read carefully, but I nevertheless think there is a reference here: act 1, scene 3. - [p. 213/212] "I'd like to know if I could compare you to a summer's day. Because -- well, June 12th was quite nice, and ..." One of Shakespeare's more famous sonnets (Sonnet XVIII, to be precise) starts out: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate - [p. 213/212] "'But I never walked like that! Why's he got a hump on his back? What's happened to his leg?'" A reference to Richard the Third. A rather appropriate reference: in Shakespeare's _Richard III_, he is presented as an evil, lame, hunchbacked king, whom Henry must kill to save England. This is not historically correct -- rather it is how Henry would have liked people to remember it. Had Shakespeare strayed from the 'official' version he would have found himself in deep trouble with Henry's heirs -- royalty was taken seriously in those days. - [p. 213/213] "'It's art,' said Nanny. 'It wossname, holds a mirror up to life.'" _Hamlet_, act 3, scene 2: "To hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." - [p. 214/213] "'Ditch-delivered by a drabe', they said." One of the ingredients in _Macbeth_, act 4, scene 1 is a "finger of birth-strangled babe, ditch-delivered by a drabe". - [p. 225/225] "--THE NEXT NIGHT IN YOUR DRESSING ROOM THEY HANG A STAR--" Death is quoting from 'There's No Business Like Show Business', the song from the Irvin Berlin musical _Annie Get Your Gun_, also performed by Ethel Merman in the 1954 movie _There's No Business Like Show Business_. - [p. 227/226] "'[...] who would have thought he had so much blood in him?'" Lady Macbeth in _Macbeth_, act 5, scene 1: "Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him". - [p. 235/234] "Like Bognor." Bognor Regis is a town on the south coast of England, between Brighton and Portsmouth. A sleepy seaside resort, it is best-known for King George V's attributed last words, supposedly said after his physician told him he would soon be brought to Bognor to convalesce: "Bugger Bognor!". - [p. 236/235] "'Can you remember what he said after all those tomorrows?'" _Macbeth_, act 5, scene 5, from a another famous soliloquy: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. - [p. 239/238] "They were far more the type of kings who got people to charge into battle at five o'clock in the morning..." Shakespeare's Henry V was just such a king, and Terry is referring here to the 'St Crispin's Day' speech in _King Henry V_, act 4, scene 3: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. PYRAMIDS - [p. 5/5] The Titles of the Books _Pyramids_ is split into four 'Books', a structure that gives it a unique position amongst the otherwise chapterless Discworld novels (_The Colour of Magic_ doesn't really count -- it's a collection of linked novellas, not a single novel with chapters or sections). Book I is _The Book of Going Forth_, which refers to _The Book of Going Forth By Day_, (see the annotation for p. 9/9 of _The Light Fantastic_). Book II is _The Book of the Dead_, a more direct reference to the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Book III is _The Book of the New Son_ which puns on the title of the Gene Wolfe SF novel _The Book of the New Sun_ (perhaps there is an earlier title both authors are drawing on, but I haven't been able to trace it). Book IV, finally, is _The Book of 101 Things A Boy Can Do_, which gives a nod to the typical titles sported a few decades ago by books containing wholesome, innocent, practical, but above all *educational* activities for children. - [p. 7/7] "[...] the only turtle ever to feature on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, [...]" The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram depicts the evolution of stars, plotting luminosity (how strongly they emit light) versus surface temperature (determined from their colour). - [p. 8/8] "Some people think a giant dung beetle pushes it." The ancient Egyptians did, for instance. - [p. 10/10] "Morpork was twinned with a tar pit." A reference to the concept of twin cities. Following the horrors of the Second World War, and in the spirit of egalitarianism and common feeling for our fellow men which prevailed at that time, it was decided that the best way to cement bonds between the people of the world so that they would never *ever* even consider dropping big noisy things on each other again, was to have every town, village and (apparently) cowshed in Europe 'twinned' with an equivalent one which had previously been on the other side. With these new-found unities, the merry laughing people of Europe would engage in fraternal and sporting activities, school-children would go on two-week exchange visits to discover that they couldn't stand sauerkraut, and the respective mayors of the towns would be able to present each other with touching and expensive symbols of international friendship and get in the local paper all on other peoples' money. The most visible effect of this accord is the presumptuous little legend under the sign at the entrance to towns and villages saying "Little Puddlebury -- twinned with Obermacht am Rhein". Some towns (Croydon springs to mind) got a little over-enthusiastic about twinning, with the result that they are coupled to several towns, which makes the sign saying "Croydon welcomes careful drivers" look reminiscent of a seventeen-year-old's jacket at a Guns n' Roses concert. You may -- or may not -- care to know that the UK town of Cowes has a twin relation with the New Zealand township of Bulls. - [p. 11/11] "Teppic paused alongside a particularly repulsive gargoyle [...] He found himself drumming his fingers on the gargoyle, [...] Mericet appeared in front of him, wiping grey dust off his bony face." It may not be immediately obvious from the text, but Mericet *was* the gargoyle. Teppic had been leaning on his camouflaged instructor all the time. This is another annotation which I am only putting in after repeated requests from readers. Personally, I feel that 'getting' this is simply a question of careful reading. But a quick straw poll of a.f.p. readers showed most were in favour of explicitly annotating it, so in it went. Terry was once asked at a talk if he was always fully in control of his characters and events or if they tended to run away with him. The answer was: always in control -- with one single exception. The whole of the assassin examination sequence in _Pyramids_ was written "almost in a trance" with no idea of what was to happen next. It is one of his favourite bits. - [p. 12/12] Teppic's test. Teppic's examination is heavily modelled on the British Driving test, which, as with the other important tests in British life such as 16- and 18-plus exams, undergraduate finals, and doctoral vitas is not actually intended to test whether you are actually any *good* at what is being tested, concentrating instead on your proficiency at following arbitrary instructions. Many of the elements of a driving test are present in the passages which follow: The short list of questions, the sign on a small card (often held upside down), the clipboard. Mericet's rather stilted language, "Now, I want you to proceed at your own pace towards the Street of Book-keepers, obeying all signs and so forth", is almost a direct parody, as is the little speech at the end of the test. The 'Emergency Drop' (p. 42/42) is the 'Emergency Stop', where you have to stop the car "as if a child has run out into the road, while keeping control of the vehicle at all times". Finally, the back of the Highway Code has a table with minimum vehicle stopping distances, which examiners *almost* never ask about. - [p. 14/14] "He [...] jumped a narrow gap on to the tiled roof of the Young Men's Reformed-Cultists-of-the-Ichor-God-Bel-Shamharoth Association gym, [...]" Refers our world's YMCA youth hostels. YMCA stands for 'Young Men's Christian Association', and is often made fun of (e.g. Monthy Python and their 'Young Men's Anti-Christian Association'). See also the annotation for p. 88/88 of _The Light Fantastic_. - [p. 15/15] "[...] the narrow plank bridge that led across Tinlid Alley." In our world, Tin Pan Alley is the popular name for the area in New York City near 14th Street, where many publishers of popular songs had their offices in the late 19th / early 20th century. Aspiring composers would audition their new songs, and the din of so many songs being pounded out of pianos up and down the street gave the district its name. Another theory has it that the name derived from the rattling of tins by rivals when a performance was too loud and too protracted. In England, Denmark Street, off Charing Cross Road, was also called Tin Pan Alley. Today the phrase simply refers to the music publishing industry in general, and it is therefore no surprise that later, in _Soul Music_, we learn that the Guild of Musicians have their headquarters there. - [p. 17/17] "Oh, Djelibeybi had been great once, [...]" The name Djelibeybi puns on the sweets called Jelly Babies. See also the annotation for p. 109/82 of _Soul Music_. It has been remarked that there are quite a few parallels between the country of Djelibeybi and the castle of Gormenghast as described by Mervyn Peake in his _Gormenghast_ trilogy (which we know Terry has read because in _Equal Rites_ he compares Unseen University to Gormenghast, and in _Wyrd Sisters_ he does the same with Lancre Castle). The hero of _Gormenghast_, Titus, also has a mother with a cat obsession, and his father died because he thought he was an owl. Furthermore, the atmosphere of decay, ancient history and unchanging ritual pervades both Djelibeybi and Gormenghast, with in both cases the presence of arbiters of tradition who are almost as powerful as (or even more so than) the actual ruler. For those interested in pursuing Gormenghast further (people who have read it almost invariably seem to think it's a work of genius), the names of the three novels are _Titus Groan_ (1946), _Gormenghast_ (1950) and _Titus Alone_ (1959, revised 1970). - [p. 19/19] "[...] the Plague of Frog." Refers to the Biblical 'Plague of Frogs' from Exodus. - [p. 20/20] On the subject of the Assassin's Guild School, Terry has this to say: "Yes, the whole setup of the Assassin's Guild school has, uh, a certain resonance with Rugby School in _Tom Brown's Schooldays_ (note to Americans: a minor Victorian classic of school literature which no-one reads anymore and which is probably now more famous for the first appearance of the Flashman character subsequently popularised by George MacDonald Fraser)." Teppic and his friends map directly to corresponding characters in _Tom Brown's Schooldays_: Teppic is Tom, Chidder is Harry "Scud" East, Arthur is George Arthur and Cheesewright is sort of Flashman, but not exactly. The line on p. 27/26 about "'If he invites you up for toast in his study, *don't go*,'" may refer to the incident where Tom is roasted in front of the fire by Flashy and his cronies. The reference to blanket-tossing on p. 45/44, which Arthur puts a stop to, is also an incident in _Tom Brown_, on Tom's first day. The scene in the dormitory on the first night, when Arthur gets down to say his prayers, also has an equivalent in the book. - [p. 39/38] "'Truly, the world is the mollusc of your choice...'" The oyster is, of course, a mollusc. - [p. 45/44] "[...] the day when Fliemoe and some cronies had decided [...]" Someone on a.f.p. noticed that 'Flymo' is a brand of lawnmower, and wondered if there was a connection. Terry replied: "Er. I may as well reveal this one. That section of the book is 'somewhat like' _Tom Brown's Schooldays_. A bully (right hand man to the famous Flashman) was Speedicut. Speedicut is (was?) a name for a type of lawnmower -- I know, because I had to push the damn thing... Hence... Fliemoe. Well, it's better than mugging old ladies..." - [p. 45/44] "It transpired that he was the son of the late Johan Ludorum [...]." At a British public school/grammar school sports day, the pupil who overall won the most, was declared 'Victor Ludorum' -- "Winner of the games". - [p. 45/45] "He could send for Ptraci, his favourite handmaiden." Should be pronounced with a silent 'p'. Note also that in the UK the name Tracey (Sharon, too) is often used to generically refer to the kind of girl immortalised in the "dumb blonde" jokes, or Essex Girl jokes as they are known in the UK. This annotation may also help explain why over on alt.fan.pratchett people regularly and affectionately refer to their Favourite Author as 'Pterry' (although the lazier participants usually just refer to him as TP, conforming to the sometimes bloody annoying Usenet habit of acronymising everything longer than two words or four characters, whichever comes first. Hence DW stands for Discworld, TCOM for _The Colour of Magic_, and APF for Annotated Pratchett File -- but you already knew that). I was later informed that 'Pterry' was also the name of a pterodactyl on a kids' TV program called _Jigsaw_, but as far as I can recall Terry's nickname was not coined with that in mind. - [p. 50/49] "It's rather like smashing a sixer in conkers." Conkers are the nuts of the Horse Chestnut -- not the one you eat, the other one with the really spiky outer covering. It is a regular autumn pass-time in England for school-boys to put conkers on the end of bits of string, and commence doing battle. The game of conkers is played by two players, almost always by challenge. One player holds his conker up at arms length on the end of its bit of string, and the other player tries to swing his one with sufficient force to break the other player's conker. After a swing, roles are reversed. Since this is a virtually solely male sport, whose participants' average age is about seven (although there is a bunch of nutters who regularly get on local news programmes with their "world championship"), there is of course much potential for strategic 'misses' against the opponents knuckles, or indeed against almost any other part of his anatomy. In the (rather unlikely, usually) event of one conker breaking the other one, the winning conker becomes a 'one-er'. A conker which has won twice, is a 'two-er'. Hence a 'sixer' (although it must be remembered that there are of course the usual collection of bogus seventeeners and sixty-seveners which circulate the black market of the playing field). There is a black art as to how to ensure that your conker becomes a sixer -- baking very slowly in the oven overnight, is one approach, as is soaking for a week in vinegar. Most of these methods tend to make the conkers, if anything, more rather than less brittle. There's probably a lesson for us all in there somewhere. - [p. 50/49] The legend of Ankh-Morpork being founded by two orphaned brothers who had been found and suckled by a hippopotamus refers to the legend of Romulus and Remus who were two orphaned brothers raised by a wolf, who later went on to found Rome (the brothers did, not the wolf). - [p. 58/56] "Hoot Koomi, high priest of Khefin [...] stepped forward." The name Koot Hoomi (or Kuthhumi) is a Sanskrit word that means 'teacher'. Koot Hoomi is the author of a series of letters that were published as _The Mahatma Letters To A. P. Sinnett_, and which form the basis of many theosophical teachings. - [p. 63/62] "'Look, master Dil,' said Gern, [...]" Since not everyone is familiar with all those weird English food items, this is probably a good place to point out that there is a red line that runs from 'Dil the Embalmer' to 'Dill the Pickler' to 'dill pickle', a British delicacy. - [p. 64/62] "'Get it? Your name in lights, see?'". "Your name in lights" is generally a term indicative of achieved fame and success. In this context, however, not everybody may be aware that 'lights' is also a word originally describing the lungs of sheep, pigs, etc., but more generally used for all kinds of internal organs. Presumably Gern has taken various parts of the dead king and spelt out Dil's name. - [p. 64/62] "'[...] I didn't think much of the Gottle of Geer routine, either.'" Ventriloquists who want to demonstrate their skill will include the phrase "bottle of beer" as part of their patter. However, as it is impossible to pronounce the 'B' without moving your lips, it usually comes out as "gottle of geer". Gern has presumably been playing macabre ventriloquism games with the corpse. - [p. 64/63] "'Good big sinuses, which is what I always look for in a king.'" In the process of embalming, the Egyptians removed the deceased's brain through the nose cavity. That's all I know about the process, and if it's all right with you people I'd rather keep it that way. - [p. 71/69] "'Do I really have to wear this gold mask?'" Terry has confirmed that the scenes in which Dios dresses up Teppic in his King's outfit (starting with the Flail of Mercy and culminating in the Cabbage of Vegetative Increase) are a parody of the old BBC children's game show _Crackerjack_. In this show the contestants were asked questions, and for each correct answer they received a prize, which they had to hold on to. If they answered wrong, they were given a large cabbage, increasing the likelihood of dropping everything. The person left at the end who hadn't dropped anything won the game. - [p. 73/71] "'Interfamilial marriage is a proud tradition of our lineage,' said Dios." Teppic is astonished to hear that his great-great-grandmother once declared herself male as a matter of political expediency. It was in fact indeed the custom of the Egyptians to marry their pharaohs to close relatives, and Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I, wife and half-sister of Thutmose II, and mother-in-law of Thutmose III actually did proclaim herself king in order to seize the throne. Incidentally, Dios is using the wrong word here: A marriage between relatives would be *intra*familial, not *inter*familial. - [p. 90/87] "'This thing could put an edge on a rolling pin.'" See the annotation for p. 35/35 of _The Light Fantastic_. There's another more explicit reference on p. 140/134: "[...] contrary to popular opinion pyramids don't sharpen razor blades". - [p. 95/91] "'Squiggle, constipated eagle, wiggly line, hippo's bottom, squiggle' [...] the Sun God Teppic had Plumbing Installed and Scorned the Pillows of his Forebears." The constipated eagle is obviously the plumbing system, but what not many people outside Britain will realise is that the hippo's bottom comes from an advert for Slumberdown beds, which featured a hippo sitting down next to a chick. - [p. 95/92] Pteppic's dream about the seven fat and seven thin cows is a reference to the Bible's Joseph, who had to explain a similar dream (which did not have the bit about the trombone, though), to the Pharaoh. _Pyramids_ is of course riddled with religious references, most of which are too obvious or too vague to warrant inclusion here. - [p. 100/97] "All things are defined by names. Change the name, and you change the thing." This is a very ancient concept in magic and 'primitive' religions. Although I haven't asked him, I'm willing to bet money that Terry did *not* take his inspiration from Ursula Le Guin's _A Wizard of Earthsea_, despite the many emails I have received suggesting a connection. For a definitive reference on this subject, read James George Frazer's _The Golden Bough_. - [p. 102/99] "[...] I am a stranger in a familiar land." The phrase "stranger in a strange land" originates from the Bible, Exodus 2:22, "And she bare [Moses] a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." Since the "strange land" in question was Egypt, there's a nice resonance with _Pyramids_ itself in Terry's use of the phrase. These days, people may be more familiar with the quote as the title of Robert Heinlein's 60s cult science fiction book. - [p. 109/105] "'*Doppelgangs*,' he said." Pun on the German word 'doppelgaenger', meaning 'body double'. Thanks to dozens of bad sf-movies the word has entered the English language in the mostly sinister meaning of some metamorphic life form taking the shape of a human being. - [p. 127/121] Notice the sound accompanying the pyramid flares. It phonetically spells 'Cheops'. - [p. 134/128] "It seemed to Teppic that its very weight was deforming the shape of things, stretching the kingdom like a lead ball on a rubber sheet." This metaphor ties in neatly with the quantum aspects of the Pyramids: rubber sheets distorted by balls are one popular way of visualising Einstein's general theory of relativity. The sheet represents the space-time-continuum, and the balls are bits of mass (like suns and planets). The balls press down and deform the space around them. When things try to move along the rubber sheet, not only are they attracted into the dimples in the sheet (gravity), but things like light which try to travel in a straight line find little kinks in their path around an object. - [p. 144/138] "'She can play the dulcimer,' said the ghost of Teppicymon XXVII, apropos of nothing much." Reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's _Kubla Khan_. See also the annotation for p. 127/115 of _Sourcery_. - [p. 156/150] "[...] distilling the testicles of a small tree-dwelling species of bear with the vomit of a whale, [...]" Animal substances are extensively used as fixatives in perfume. Examples include musk (from deer-testicles; 'musk' is Sanskrit for 'scrotum'), ambergris (from the intestines of whales) and castor (from a beaver's perineal gland). - [p. 157/150] "...Phi * 1700[u/v]. Lateral e/v. Equals a tranche of seven to twelve..." Some confusion has arisen here, because the asterisk symbol '*' is the same one used in at least some of the editions of _Pyramids_ as a footnote marker. This has caused a few people to wonder if there's a 'missing footnote' intended for this page. Matters are not helped much by the fact that the American paperback edition *does* contain the text of a footnote on (their equivalent of) p. 157/150. This footnote is simply misplaced and the marker for it occurs on the *previous* page (see also previous annotation). We'll let Terry have the last word in order to remove any remaining doubt: "I'm pretty sure the missing footnote in Pyramids doesn't exist. If it's what I'm thinking of, we just bunged in loads of gibberish maths and among the symbols was, yes, '*'." I am told that in later paperback editions the asterisk in question has been entirely removed from the text. - [p. 168/162] "'I've got as far as "Goblins Picnic" in Book I.'" After the children's song called "Teddy Bears' Picnic": If you go down to the woods today You're sure of a big surprise If you go down to the woods today You'd better go in disguise For ev'ry bear that ever there was Will gather there for certain, because Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic. - [p. 176/169] The philosophers shooting arrows at tortoises are discussing one of Zeno's three motion paradoxes. See also Douglas Hofstadter's _Goedel, Escher, Bach_. Or Zeno. - [p. 178/171] "The rest of them die of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, [...]" Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle (HUP) says that for a quantum particle (e.g. an electron), it is impossible to know with complete accuracy both where it is and how fast it is going. The act of observing it interferes with the event you want to measure (in fact, one might say that at the quantum level the observation *is* the event) in such a way that it is physically impossible to determine both velocity and position of the particle in question. - [p. 179/171] Philosophers' names. Xeno refers to Zeno, of aforementioned paradox. Copolymer ("the greatest storyteller in the history of the world") might refer to both Homer (because of the name) and Herodotus, 'the father of history', who was known for his very chatty and discursive style, and who basically made his living as a story-teller/dinner guest. Pthagonal ("a very acute man with an angle") refers to Pythagoras. Iesope ("the greatest teller of fables") to Aesop. Antiphon ("the greatest writer of comic plays") to Aristophanes. And Ibid (whose name reminds us of Ovid) is actually short for ibidem, which means, when citing literature references: 'same author as before'. Hence the quip later on: "Ibid you already know". The only one left is Endos the Listener, who is perhaps meant to portray the standard second-man-in-a-Socratic-dialogue -- the man who spends the entire dialogue saying things like "That is correct, Socrates", "I agree", "you're right", "your reasoning appears correct", and the like. Also, an 'antiphon' is a name for a versicle or sentence sung by one choir in response to another (e.g.: "No you can't / Yes I can!" repeated many times with rising pitch. Or a more modern example would perhaps be Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody': "No, we will not let you go / Let me go!"). 'Copolymer' is a term from chemistry; it refers to a polymer (plastic) made from more than one kind of monomer (simple compound). [ Finally, my source also suspects that Copolymer's monologue may be a take-off on a particular translation of his _Histories_. Anybody? ] - [p. 179/172] "'The tortoise *did* beat the hare,' said Xeno sulkily." Reference to Aesop's classic fable _The Hare and the Tortoise_. If you have access to the Internet, you can find an online version of the Aesop fables at the URL: - [p. 180/173] "Now their gods existed. They had, as it were, the complete Set." For those of you whose Egyptian mythology is a little rusty: Set, brother to Isis and Osiris and father of Anubis, was the Egyptian God of evil and darkness. - [p. 181/174] "'Sacrifice a chicken under his nose.'" Refers to the old practice of burning a feather under the nose of an unconscious or fainted person. - [p. 181/174] "'[...] here comes Scarab again... yes, he's gaining height... Jeht hasn't seen him yet, [...].'" The high priest's commentary on the gods' battle for the sun is obviously based on sports commentators. In particular, several of the phrases are based on the diction of David Coleman, a popular British figure of fun noted for his somewhat loose grasp on reality and his tendency towards redundancy and solecism. In fact, an amusingly redundant comment spoken live by a personality is sometimes referred to as a 'Colemanball', after the column of that name in the satirical magazine _Private Eye_. Typical Colemanballs include, "...He's a real fighter, this lad, who believes that football's a game of two halves, and that it isn't over until the final whistle blows", or during the test (cricket) matches, "And he's coming up to bowl now... The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey...". (That last one wasn't even by David Coleman, but still qualifies as a Colemanball). - [p. 197/189] "'Symposium' meant a knife-and-fork tea." Etymologically, a symposium is indeed a "get-together for a drink". Since the Greeks believed in lubricating intellectual discussion with drink, the term eventually came to be used for a meeting which combined elements of partying and intellectual interchange. - [p. 197/189] The Tsortean wars refer to the Trojan wars. (Read also _Eric_. Or Homer.) - [p. 201/193] "A philosopher had averred that although truth was beauty, beauty was not necessarily truth, and a fight was breaking out." A famous quotation from John Keats' 'Ode on a Grecian Urn': 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' -- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. - [p. 204/195] "[...] ships called the _Marie Celeste_, [...]" The _Marie Celeste_ left port in 1872 with a full crew, but was later found (by the crew of the _Dei Gratia_), abandoned on the open sea, with no crew, the single lifeboat missing, and half-eaten meals in the mess hall. It was later discovered that captain Morehouse of the _Dei Gratia_ had dined with the captain of the _Celeste_ the night before she sailed, and Morehouse and his crew were eventually tried for murder, but acquitted because there was no hard evidence. The missing crewmen were never found. - [p. 205/197] "And one of them had reputedly turned himself into a golden shower in pursuit of his intended." According to Greek mythology the beautiful Danae had been locked away in a dungeon by her father (King Acrisius of Argos) because a prophecy had foretold that his grandson would slay him. But Zeus, King of the Gods, came upon Danae in a shower of gold, and fathered Perseus upon her. + [p. 221] "[...] every camel knew what two bricks added up to." In jokes, the castration (or, as the punchline dictates, speeding up) of camels is achieved by taking two bricks and smashing the animal's testicles between them. - [p. 250/239] "'Go, tell the Ephebians --' he began." This is a paraphrase of "Go tell the Spartans", which is the beginning of the memorial for the Spartan soldiers who got massacred by the Persians at Thermopylae as a result of Greek treachery. The full quote is given by Simonides (5th century BC) as: Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, That here obedient to their laws we lie - [p. 270/259] "And it was while he was staring vaguely ahead, [...] that there was a faint pop in the air and an entire river valley opened up in front of him." People interested in more stories about magically disappearing valleys are referred to R. A. Lafferty's 'Narrow Valley' (to be found in his collection _Nine Hundred Grandmothers_), where a half a mile wide valley is sorcerously narrowed (with its inhabitants) to a few feet and then opened up again by the end of the story. - [p. 271/259] "[...] the birds said more with a simple bowel movement than Ozymandias ever managed to say." Ozymandias was the Greek name for Ramses the Second. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem _Ozymandias_ is famous, but because it is short and it has always been a favourite of mine I hope you will forgive me the indulgence of reproducing it here in full: Ozymandias I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that their sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." While I was browsing the net in order to find an on-line copy of _Ozymandias_ so that I could cut-and-paste the text, I came across a wonderful piece of related information. It appears that in 1817 Shelley held a sonnet-writing session with his friend, the poet Horace Smith. Both wrote a sonnet on the same subject, but while Shelley came up with the aforementioned _Ozymandias_, Mr Smith produced something so delightfully horrendous I simply have to indulge even further, and include it here as well. By now the connection to our original annotation has been completely lost, but I think you might agree with me that Smith's poem would be worthy of Creosote: On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below. In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws The only shadow that the Desert knows. "I am great Ozymandias," saith the stone, "The King of kings: this mighty city shows The wonders of my hand." The city's gone! Naught but the leg remaining to disclose The sight of that forgotten Babylon. We wonder, and some hunter may express Wonder like ours, when through the wilderness Where London stood, holding the wolf in chase, He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess What wonderful, but unrecorded, race Once dwelt in that annihilated place. The poem was cited by Guy Davenport of the University of Kentucky in a New York Times article a few years ago, which concluded: "Genius may also be knowing how to title a poem." + [p. 273] "'You said it worked for Queen wossname, Ram-Jam-Hurrah, or whoever,' said Chidder." Legend has it that Cleopatra had herself smuggled to Caesar inside an oriental rug. - [p. 277/265] "'For the asses' milk?' said Koomi [...]" See the annotation for p. 161/132 of _Mort_. GUARDS! GUARDS! - [p. 10/10] "'Hooray, hooray for the spinster's sister's daughter.'" This recalls the ritual question "Is there no help for the Widow's Son?" in Masonic ritual. - [p. 16/15] "'Let's say a skion turns up, walks up to the Patrician [...]'" The correct spelling is actually 'scion', meaning "young descendant of a noble family". - [p. 18/17] "'Yea, the king will come [...] and Protect and Serve the People with his Sword.'" This is Terry having fun with foreshadowing again. The prophecy of Brother Plasterer's granddad describes Carrot to a tee, with the "Protect and Serve" tying in neatly with the motto of the City Watch (see the annotation for p. 51/48). - [p. 20/19] "'They were myths and they were real,' he said loudly. 'Both a wave and a particle.'" Reference to the wave/particle duality theory of e.g. light, which appears to have the properties of both a wave and a particle, depending upon what context you are working in. - [p. 21/19] "'That was where you had to walk on ricepaper wasn't it,' said Brother Watchtower conversationally." Reference to the old David Carradine TV series, _Kung Fu_. In one of the earliest episodes our Shaolin monk-in-training was tasked to walk along a sheet of ricepaper without ripping it or leaving a mark. - [p. 26/24] "It wasn't only the fresh mountain air that had given Carrot his huge physique." Someone on a.f.p. asked Terry if the name or the character of Carrot was perhaps inspired by an old American comic called _Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew_. Terry answered: "Never heard of it. The TRUE answer is that when I was writing the book an electrician was rewiring our house and the nickname of his red-haired apprentice was Carrot. It kind of stuck in my mind." - [p. 29/27] "'And Bob's your uncle.'" Some people have been wondering just where this expression comes from (the joke also occurs on p. 16/15 and p. 108/98). Terry himself gives the following answer: "Apparently from a 19th Century Prime Minister, Lord Robert Stanley, who was a great one for nepotism. If you got a good Government job it was because "Bob's your uncle". It came to mean 'everything's all right'." - [p. 52/48] The fizzing and flashing illuminated sign outside Captain Vimes' office is a reference to the tired old visual cliche from most film noir. The seedy detective's office or apartment always has a big neon sign just outside the window. - [p. 51/48] The motto of the Night Watch, "FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC", is dog Latin for "Make my day, punk". "Go ahead, make my day" is a well-known Clint 'Dirty Harry' Eastwood quote. The 'punk' comes from another famous _Dirty Harry_ scene (see the annotation for p. 136/124) Notice also that the translation Terry supplies ("To protect and to serve") is actually the motto of the Los Angeles Police Force. My source tells me that Hollywood writers and directors, notorious for the accuracy of their movies and TV shows, tend to have *all* police cars bear this motto. In a sort of reverse formation, this has caused some individual police forces across the USA to adopt it, so that by now the motto has become fairly wide-spread. - [p. 53/49] "'The E. And the T sizzles when it rains.'" The magic tavern sign Brother Watchtower is stealing has a burnt-out 'E' and a sizzling 'T' just like the 'HOT L BALTIMORE' sign in the play of the same name. - [p. 54/49] "[...] a certain resemblance to a chimpanzee who never got invited to tea parties." For the entertainment of their younger visitors, British zoos used to have the tradition of holding Chimpanzees' Tea Parties, where the chimps were dressed up and seated at a table, drinking and eating from a plastic tea set. Chimp tea parties have remained in the British consciousness due to the TV advertisements for PG Tips tea bags featuring chimps pouring tea. - [p. 55/51] "'*Shershay la fem*, eh? Got a girl into trouble?'" "Cherchez la femme" ("look for the woman") is a cliche phrase of pulp detective fiction: when someone's wife has been murdered one should always search for signs of another woman's involvement. - [p. 60/55] "'Good day! Good day! What is all of this that is going on here (in this place)?'" Carrot's actions and words in this scene mirror the behaviour of the stereotypical British friendly neighbourhood bobby attempting to break up a family argument or innocent street brawl. Nearly all my correspondents trace this stereotype directly back to the sixties BBC television 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?". Calling people 'sunshine' (next footnote on the page), and signing off with "Evening, all" are apparently also Dixonisms. - [p. 62/56] "'Evenin', Detritus.'" 'Detritus' is a word meaning "any loose matter, e.g. stones, sand, silt, formed by rock disintegration". - [p. 64/59] "'What'd he mean, Justices?' he said to Nobby. 'There ain't no Justices.'" This annotation has been the subject of some heated a.f.p. discussion (and if you think that this is a silly thing to get worked up over, you are obviously not familiar with alt.fan.pratchett. Or with Usenet, for that matter). Anyway, there were a few people who felt that Terry was referring here to Larry Niven's _Ringworld_ series, where the main character, Louis Wu, always uses the phrase "There ain't no justice" (abbreviated as "TANJ"). Other people found this connection incredibly far-fetched for such a generic sentence, and said so rather forcefully. Eventually, Terry stepped in and short-circuited the entire discussion by writing: "Mostly in the Discworld books, particularly _Mort_, the phrase is "There's no justice" so that it can be balanced with "There's just me/you/us". And that phrase is truly generic. Really, so is "There ain't no justice" -- it's just that Niven does use it a lot and, I suspect, uses it because it is familiar to readers. Admittedly, it's become 'his' via repetition. But there's a difference between using an established phrase which another author has commandeered and using one *specifically* associated with one person -- "Make my day" has one owner, whereas "There ain't no justice" is a cliche. To be honest, I didn't have anything particularly in mind when Charley uttered the phrase -- but if you think it's a Niven reference, fair enough." - [p. 76/70] "'Do *real* wizards leap about after a tiny spell and start chanting 'Here we go, here we go, here we go', Brother Watchtower? *Hmm*?'" "Here we go, here we go" is a chant (usually sung to the tune of Sousa's 'Stars and Stripes Forever') commonly associated with football (soccer) fans. According to my correspondent it is 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. 91/83] "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 [...]" Just for the record: some famous television/movie dogs fitting this description are Lassie and Rin Tin Tin; horse examples are Champion, Trigger, Silver ("I said *posse*!"), and Black Beauty; the only dolphin example I know of is probably the most famous of them all: Flipper. Australian fans have expressed their disappointment that Terry left out Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, whose ability to communicate very complex, often extremely abstract concepts with a bit of clicking and hopping around was apparently a wonder to behold. Terry later more than made up for this when he introduced Scrappy the Kangaroo as a character in _The Last Continent_. See also the annotation for p.55 of that book. + [p. 91/83] "And *then* he went out on to the streets, untarnished and unafraid." "But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid." is a well-known quote -- that describes Carrot to a tee -- from Raymond Chandler's essay _The Simple Art of Murder_. - [p. 93/85] "'Who loves you, pussycat?', said Nobby under his breath." Nice amalgamation of TV detective Kojak's use of the word 'pussycat' and his catchphrase "Who loves ya, baby?". - [p. 94/86] "'I've seen a horsefly [...] And I've seen a housefly. I've even seen a greenfly, but I ain't never seen a dragon fly" Sounds reminiscent of the 'I've never seen an elephant fly' song which the crows sing in Walt Disney's 1941 movie _Dumbo_. Another similar children's song is called 'The Never Song' by Edward Lipton. - [p. 97/88] "[...] Gayheart Talonthrust of Ankh stood fourteen thumbs high, [...]" The breeding of swamp dragons is a parody of British high society's obsession with horse breeding. The height of a horse is traditionally measured in hands. - [p. 99/90] "'One just has to put up with the occasional total whittle.'" Describing Errol as a whittle is actually a quite clever pun. On the one hand 'whittle' simply means something reduced in size (usually by means of slicing bits and pieces off it), while on the other hand Sir Frank Whittle was the inventor of the modern aircraft jet engine. When Whittle showed his original design to his supervisor at Manchester University, the latter said, "Very interesting, Whittle my dear boy, but it will never work". - [p. 103/94] "'Just give me the facts, m'lady,' he said impatiently." "Just the facts, ma'am", is a catchphrase from the _Dragnet_ radio series (later a TV series, and later still a Dan Aykroyd/Tom Hanks movie). - [p. 103/94] "Of all the cities in all the world it could have flown into, he thought, it's flown into mine..." Pretty obvious Bogart/Casablanca paraphrase, in keeping with Vimes' role as the Discworld equivalent of the ultimate film noir anti-hero. - [p. 114/104] The bit about the hero killing a monster in a lake, only to have the monster's mum come right down the hall the next day and *complain*, is a reference to Grendel and his mother, two famous monsters from the _Beowulf_ saga. - [p. 114/104] "Pour encourjay lays ortras." Discworld version of the French phrase "pour encourager les autres". The phrase originates with Voltaire who, after the British executed their own admiral John Byng in 1757 for failing to relieve Minorca, was inspired to write (in Chapter 23 of _Candide_) a sentence that translates to: "in this country we find it pays to shoot an admiral from time to time to encourage the others". - [p. 116/106] "'For example, foxes are always knocking over my dustbins.'" Terry, at least at one point in his life, lived in the west country, near Bristol. Bristol has become famous for its urban foxes (although they apparently operate in all largish greenish cities in the UK). In the early 80s, BBC Bristol made a famous programme on these urban foxes, called _Foxwatch_. On this programme, hitherto unachieved photographs of vixens caring for their sprogs were aired; this made the programme (which was narrated by David Attenborough) very famous. The Archchancellor's rant is a very good approximation of a David Attenborough wildlife programme narration. And according to the Foxwatch myth, foxes knock over dustbins. - [p. 117/107] "'Did you suggest a working party?', said Wonse." It is British Government Policy to suggest a working party whenever an intractable problem presents itself. It is usually stocked with opposition MPs. - [p. 118/108] "Once you've ruled out the impossible then whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth. [...] There was also the curious incident of the orangutan in the night-time ..." Two Sherlock Holmes references for the price of one. The original quotes are "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" from _The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet_, and "[...] the curious incident of the dog at nighttime" in _Silver Blaze_. The second reference also reminds me, in a very roundabout way, of Edgar Allan Poe's _The Murders in the Rue Morgue_. - [p. 120/110] "[...] as ghastly an array of faces as ever were seen outside a woodcut about the evils of gin-drinking [...]" The reference here is to the famous series of 18th century morality woodcuts by William Hogarth, with names like "Gin Lane" and "Beer Street". - [p. 126/115] "'Dunno where this place is, Captain. It belongs to some posh bint.'" This is very British slang. Posh, meaning upper class, arises from the days of the Empire. It is an acronym, standing for 'Port Out, Starboard Home'. These were the most pleasant (least hot?) cabins on the ships sailing to the jewel in the crown, India, and therefore the most expensive, meaning that only the aristocracy could afford them. (The above explanation is in fact quite false -- that is, it's true that posh means upper class, but the acronym is one of these persistent, oh so plausible, after-the-fact etymologies, which are nearly always wrong.) 'Bint' arises as a bit of cockney soldier slang in WWII. It is actually Arabic for 'young girl'. Many British soldiers were stationed in Alexandria, Egypt, in North Africa, and this word was brought into the language by them. - [p. 134/122] "'So I'm letting you have a place in Pseudopolis Yard.'" The Watch's second base, affectionately called 'The Yard', is a reference to Scotland Yard, where the British Police Headquarters used to be located (these days, they have moved to New Scotland Yard). - [p. 136/124] "This is Lord Mountjoy Quickfang Winterforth IV, the hottest dragon in the city. It could burn your head clean off." Vimes replays here one of the best-known scenes in Clint Eastwood's first 'Dirty Harry' movie, the 1971 _Dirty Harry_. "Aha! I know what you're thinking... Did I fire six shots or only five? To tell you the truth, I forgot it myself in all this excitement. This here's a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it can blow your head clean off. Now, you must ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do you, punk?" Note how nicely Winter*forth* the *fourth* corresponds to the caliber of the Magnum. - [p. 143/130] "''E's plain clothes, ma'am,' said Nobby smartly. 'Special Ape Services'." _Special Ape Services_ shares the acronym SAS with the crack British troops who are sent to storm embassies, shoot prisoners of war, and execute alleged terrorists before anything has been proven by trial, etc. Not that one wants to get political, mind you. - [p. 156/141] "'Ah. Kings can cure that, you know,' said another protomonarchist knowingly." See the annotation for p. 103/76 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 162/147] "[...] and stepped out into the naked city." _The Naked City_ was an American TV cop show in the 50s, mostly forgotten today, except for its prologue narration: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This is one of them." - [p. 164/149] "There are some songs which are never sung sober. 'Nellie Dean' is one. So is any song beginning 'As I was a walking...'" 'Nellie Dean' is an old music hall song: There's an old mill by the stream Nellie Dean. Where we used to sit and dream Nellie Dean. For an explanation of songs beginning 'As I was a walking...' see the annotation for p. 313/238 of _Men at Arms_. - [p. 200/181] "'This is love-in-a-canoe coffee if ever I tasted it.'" This refers to the punchline of the old joke (familiar from, for instance, a Monty Python sketch): Q: What do American beer and making love in a canoe have in common? A: They're both fucking close to water. - [p. 200/182] "'He's called Rex Vivat.'" _Rex Vivat_, of course, means: "long live the king". This reminds me a bit of Robert Rankin, who named his lead character in _They Came And Ate Us_ Rex Mundi. Rex's sister has a role in the book too. Her name is Gloria. Now you may begin to understand why Rankin is so often discussed on alt.fan.pratchett, and why there is so much overlap between his and Terry's audiences. - [p. 236/214] "'The Duke of Sto Helit is looking for a guard captain, I'm sure.'" The Duke of Sto Helit, in case anyone had forgotten, is none other than Mort. - [p. 241/219] "Someone out there was going to find out that their worst nightmare was a maddened Librarian. With a badge." The movie _48 Hrs_, starring Nick Nolte and Eddy Murphy, has a scene in which Eddy Murphy is in a bar full of rednecks, shouting "I am your worst nightmare! A nigger with a badge!" - [p. 260/236] "'If that dragon's got any voonerables, that arrow'll find 'em.'" Killing dragons by shooting a magical arrow in a special location is a standard cliche of mythology and fantasy fiction. One of the best-known contemporary examples can be found in Tolkien's _The Hobbit_, where Bard kills the dragon Smaug with a special black arrow. - [p. 278/252] "'All for one!' [...] 'All for one what?' said Nobby." "All for one and one for all" was of course the motto of the Three Musketeers. A whole new generation has learned about this through the combined efforts of an uninspired Disney flick and a particularly nauseating song by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting. - [p. 282/256] "Both dragons appeared to realise that the fight was the well-known Klatchian standoff." Or Mexican standoff in our world, which is when two people have loaded, cocked guns pointed right at each other. If either shoots, they both die. This leaves them stuck, since if either just turns away, the other will immediately shoot him. - [p. 284/257] The scene where Errol's supersonic boom smashes the dragon out of the air is possibly based on another Clint Eastwood movie, the 1982 _Firefox_. - [p. 289/262] "'In 1135 a hen was arrested for crowing on Soul Cake Thursday.'" There are several historical examples in our world of animals being arrested, excommunicated or killed for various crimes. Articles in the October 1994 issue of _Scientific American_ and in _The Book of Lists #3_ give several examples: a chimpanzee was convicted in Indiana in 1905 of smoking in public; 75 pigeons were executed in 1963 in Tripoli for ferrying stolen money across the Mediterranean; and in 1916, "five-ton Mary" the elephant killed her trainer and was subsequently sentenced to death by hanging -- a sentence that involved a 100-ton derrick and a steam shovel. But the law is fair, and sometimes the animals get the better of it: when in 1713 a Franciscan monastery brought the termites who had been infesting their buildings to trial, a Brazilian court ruled that termites had a valid prior claim to the land, and ordered the monks to give the termites their own plot. Note that Soul Cake Thursday in later Discworld novels becomes Soul Cake Tuesday, after previously having been Soul Cake Friday in _The Dark Side of the Sun_. - [p. 313/284] "'Sergeant Colon said he thought we'd get along like a *maison en Flambe*.'" Maison en Flambe = house on fire. - [p. 314/285] "'Here's looking at you, kid,' he said." Another quote from _Casablanca_. ERIC - [title] _Eric_ The subtitle to _Eric_ ('Faust', crossed out) already indicates what story is being parodied in this novella: that of the German alchemist and demonologist Johannes (or Georg) Faust who sold his soul to the devil. The most famous version of the Faust legend is perhaps the one told by Goethe in _Faust_, with Cristopher Marlowe's earlier play _The Tragical History of Dr Faustus_ a close second. - [p. 9/9] "[...] where the adventuresses Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan, Red Scharron and Diome, Witch of the Night, were meeting for some girl talk [...]" Herrena is the swordswoman from _The Light Fantastic_ who hunted Rincewind, and Red Scharron is the Discworld version of Red Sonja. I can't place Diome, though her name sounds horribly familiar. There was a minor Greek goddes called Dione, and a Greek warrior called Diomedes, but neither of those sounds appropriate. - [p. 27/21] The book Eric uses to summon his demon has the title _Mallificarum Sumpta Diabolicite Occularis Singularum_, or the Book of Ultimate Control. But note the initials. Also, the actual dog-Latin translates more or less to: "Evil-making Driver of the Little One-Eyed Devil". - [p. 26/31] "In the centre of the inferno, rising majestically from a lake of lava substitute and with unparalleled view of the Eight Circles, lies the city of Pandemonium." The name 'Pandemonium' originates with Milton's _Paradise Lost_; it's the city built by Lucifer and his followers after the Fall. - [p. 46/41] The name of the Tezumen god, 'Quetzovercoatl', puns on the actual Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. According to Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl was also supposed to return to his people at some particular future date. - [p. 50/46] "There are quite a lot of uses to which you can put a stone disc with a hole in the middle, and the Tezumen had explored all but one of them." This may refer to the Aztecs (who the Tezumen are obviously modelled on anyway) who, according to popular legend did not know about the wheel either, but reputedly used small discs with holes in them for money, and who had a basketball-like game where the baskets were also stone discs with holes in them. The tale that the losers got sacrificed is probably untrue. But the winners were allowed to take the possession of any spectators they chose -- no one hung around after the game in those days. Other sources say that it was the *winners* who got the privilege of being sacrificed. Oh well, whether it was losers, spectators, or winners -- at least *somebody* got sacrificed. - [p. 52/47] "[...] a giant-sized statue of Quetzovercoatl, the Feathered Boa." Quetzalcoatl the Aztec God was in fact portrayed as a winged serpent. This is almost, but not quite, the same as a feathered boa. A feather boa is of course also an item of women's clothing that became popular in the 1920s. - [p. 58/51] Ponce da Quirm, looking for the Fountain of Youth, is based on Ponce de Leon, the 15th century Spanish nobleman who did the same. - [p. 81/69] "Fortunately, Rincewind was able to persuade the man that the future was another country." Reference to the opening words of _The Go-between_. See the annotation for p. 13/11 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 82/70] "Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules, of Hector and Lysander and such great names as these." This is actually the opening line to the march 'The British Grenadiers', an English song dating back to the 17th century with about the same jingoism factor as 'Rule Britannia' or 'Land of Hope and Glory': Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules, Of Hector and Lysander, and such great men as these; But of all the world's brave heroes there's none that can compare With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, to the British Grenadier. - [p. 89/75] Lavaeolus is not only a dog-Latin translation of 'Rincewind', but the character is also a parody of Ulysses, tragic hero of the Trojan wars. It's really not necessary to annotate all the stuff about wooden horses and such, right? Right? - [p. 97/81] "'It'll be fifteen choruses of 'The Ball of Philodephus' next, you mark my words.'" Refers to an old and rather obscene British drinking song called 'The Ball of Kerrymuir', which, according to Terry: "[...] belongs in the same category as 'Colonel Bogey' -- everyone knows a line or two [sorry... everyone male and in the UK, anyway]". For a sample of the lyrics to this song, see the _Song..._ section in Chapter 5 of this document. The song's title was changed into the slightly more convincing-sounding 'The Ball of Philodelphus' in the small-format UK paperback of _Eric_. - [p. 99/82] "-- vestal virgins, Came down from Heliodeliphilodelphiboschromenos, And when the ball was over, There were --" From one of the more printable verses of 'The Ball of Kerrymuir' (see previous annotation): Four and twenty virgins Came down from Inverness, And when the ball was over There were four and twenty less One page later (p. 100/83) there is a final reference to the song: "-- the village harpy she was there --" - [p. 115/96] "'Multiple choice they call it, it's like painting the -- painting the -- painting something very big that you have to keep on painting, sort of thing.'" The British proverb this refers to is "it's like painting the Forth bridge". The Forth bridge can be found spanning the Forth river (no kidding) between the towns of North Queensferry and South Queensferry, just outside Edinburgh, Scotland. It is so large that when they have finished painting it, it is time to start over again. In reality, I'm told, they simply look for bits of the Forth bridge that need painting and paint them. So it is true that they keep on painting, but they do it discretely, not continuously. (One correspondent reports that a similar story is told about Golden Gate bridge being in a perpetual state of corrosion control painting, and it would not surprise to find other very large man-made structures will have given rise to their own local versions of the proverb.) - [p. 117/97] "'Centuries [...]. Millenia. Iains.'" For some reason, Rincewind has problems with the word 'aeons'. See p. 94/86 of _Sourcery_ for the first documented occurrence of this particular blind spot. - [p. 121/100] "Some ancient and probably fearful warning was edged over the crumbling arch, but it was destined to remain unread because over it someone had pasted a red-and-white notice which read: 'You Don't Have To Be 'Damned' To Work Here, But It Helps!!!'" The original notice (according to Dante, in the translation by Rev. Francis Cary) would have been the famous: "Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric moved: To rear me was the task of power divine, Supremest wisdom, and primeval love. Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here." The more obvious reference (included here only to stop the email from people who thought I missed it) is of course the cheesy legend "You Don't Have To Be Mad To Work Here, But It Helps!". - [p. 121/101] "'Multiple exclamation marks [...] are a sure sign of a diseased mind." People like using this particular quip in Usenet conversations or in their .signatures, and every time somebody will follow-up with "hey, you're wrong, that's a quote from _Reaper Man_!". The answer is of course simply that similar quotes occur in *both* books (in _Reaper Man_ it's on p. 215/189, and goes: "Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind"). Since then, _Maskerade_ has been released, which of course takes the concept of the insanity-defining exclamation marks to a whole new level. - [p. 122/101] "'[...] I think it's quite possible that we're in Hell.'" The whole sequence in Hell is based loosely on Dante's _Inferno_ (which in turn is based on Vergil's _Aeneid_) in much the same way the book as a whole is based on _Faust_. Rincewind and Eric correspond to Vergil (who is Dante's guide to Hell) and Dante in the same way that they are Mephistopheles and Faust. The various references to the geographical topology build on how Dante organised Hell in nine concentric circles (this of course had to become eight circles for the Discworld version!). The outer circles contained lesser sinners, such as Julius Caesar and Socrates, while the inner circles were reserved for mortal sinners (mostly Dante's political enemies; some people down there weren't dead at the time of publication, but got a mention anyway). At the centre, in the 9th circle, Lucifer sits chewing away on Brutus, Crassus and Judas. If you climb over him you get to Purgatory, meeting Cato the younger on the way. - [p. 125/103] "I mean, I heard where we're supposed to have all the *best* tunes," Refers to the old saying "the devil has all the good tunes". - [p. 131/107] "'[...] his punishment was to be chained to that rock and every day an eagle would come down and peck his liver out. Bit of an old favourite, that one.'" Most people will associate this particular punishment with Prometheus (who stole the secret of fire from the Gods and gave it to mankind), but in fact Prometheus underwent his punishment chained to a rock in the Caucasus (from which Hercules later freed him). The chap who had to go through to the same thing in the Underworld was the giant Tityus, who had tried to rape Leto, the mother of Artemis and Apollo. As the demon says: this particular punishment is a bit of an old favourite with Zeus. - [p. 132/108] "'Man who went and defied the gods or something. Got to keep pushing that rock up the hill even though it rolls back all the time--'" Eric is thinking of king Sisyphus of Corinth, who betrayed Zeus to the father of the girl Aegina, whom Zeus had abducted (the girl, not the father). - [p. 135/110] "'According to Ephebian mythology, there's a girl who comes down here every winter.'" In Greece she was called Persephone, daughter of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture. Hades abducted Persephone, imprisoned her in the underworld, and took her for his wife. Ceres went into mourning and there was a worldwide death of crops and famine. The gods negotiated a deal with Hades whereby he would release Persephone from the underworld, but only if she had eaten nothing while down there (she hadn't thus far, being too upset). Upon hearing of her impending release, Persephone's heart was gladdened, and before she could be stopped, she started eating a pomegranate. She spit it out, but it was found she had swallowed six pomegranate seeds. Hades therefore demanded that she should spend 6 months out of each year in the underworld. During the 6 months that Persephone is down below, her mother, Ceres, neglects her duties and this causes the winter. Hence: "'I think the story says she actually *creates* the winter, sort of.' 'I've known women like that,' said Rincewind, nodding wisely." - [p. 136/110] "'Or it helps if you've got a lyre, I think.'" A reference to the legend of Orpheus (see also the annotation for p. 93/93 of _The Light Fantastic_), who charmed Hades and Persephone into releasing Eurydice by virtue of his lyre-playing. - [p. 153/124] "Pour encouragy le -- poor encoura -- to make everyone sit up and damn well take notice." "Pour encourager les autres." See the annotation for p. 114/104 of _Guards! Guards!_ MOVING PICTURES This one has uncountable references to classic Hollywood movies and anecdotes. - Terry actually meant for Gaspode to die at the end of the book, but his editors/beta-readers made him reconsider. - People have noticed that the two femmes fatale of this novel are called Ginger and Ruby, both names signifying a red colour. Terry Pratchett says that he did *not* intend this as a reference to _Gone with the Wind_'s Scarlett. - Instead, Ruby got her name because like all trolls she needed a mineral name. Ginger got her name because Terry wanted to use the Fred Astaire quote (see a few annotations further down) about her partner, and so Ginger was an obvious choice for the leading lady's name. - [p. 9/7] "This is space. It's sometimes called the final frontier." See the annotation for p. 221/191 of _The Colour of Magic_. - [p. 15/12] "'Looking,' it said [...] 'f'r a word. Tip of my tongue.'" The word is 'Eureka'. See the annotation for p. 139/101 of _Small Gods._ - [p. 18/14] "'I thought they were trying to cure the philosopher's stones, or somethin',' said the Archchancellor." That should be: trying to *find* the Philosopher's Stone: the quest of all alchemists is to discover a substance that will turn all base metals into gold. - [p. 19/15] Archchancellor Ridcully's wizard name is 'Ridcully the Brown'. In Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_ there's a (relatively) minor wizard called 'Radagast the Brown', who was also very well in tune with nature, and definitely of the "roams-the-high-forest-with-every-beast-his-brother" type. Talked to the birds, too. - [p. 22/18] "And then a voice said: 'That's all, folks.'" Anybody out there who has never seen Porky Pig use this phrase to end one of those classic Looney Tunes animated cartoons? - [p. 23/19] "They often didn't notice them, or thought they were walruses." Sometimes people send me annotations that are so beautifully outrageous that I simply *have* to include them. For instance, the walruses may be connected to the boiling mercury mentioned earlier in the text, via the chain: boiling mercury --> mad hatters --> Lewis Carroll --> walrus. Isn't it a beauty? - [p. 34/28] "'[...] what is the name of the outer-dimensional monster whose distinctive cry is "Yerwhatyerwhatyerwhat"'?" I had been getting some conflicting stories concerning this annotation, so I hope that this time I have managed to get it right. Apparently "Yer what?" is a common London phrase, used when you didn't catch what someone said, or you want them to repeat it because you can't believe it. The longer form is more typically associated with soccer fans, as part of a chant, usually made in response to an opposing supporter army's war cries in an attempt to imply a certain lack of volume (and hence numbers) to the other side's support: Yerwhat (pause) Yerwhat (pause) Yerwhatyerwhatyerwhat. - [p. 34/28] "'Yob Soddoth,' said Ponder promptly." Yob Soddoth should be pronounced: "Yob sod off". 'Sod off' is a British form of 'bugger off', and 'yob' is an old term now almost entirely synonymous to the phrase "English football supporter" (apparently Mark Twain once said: "they are not fit to be called boys, they should be called yobs"). The word probably derives from 'back-chat' -- a 19th century London thieves' argot in which words were turned round in order to confuse police eavesdroppers. Not so far removed from Polari, in fact (see the _Words From The Master_ section in Chapter 5). At the same time it is also a pun on H. P. Lovecraft's 'Yog-Sothoth', one of the chief supernatural nasties in the Cthulhu mythos (see especially the novelette _The Dunwich Horror_ and the novel _The Lurker at the Threshold_). Finally, Ponder and Victor are studying the _Necrotelicomnicom_ in this scene. See the annotation for p. 111/109 of _Equal Rites_ for more information on the Lovecraft connection there. - [p. 34/28] "Tshup Aklathep, Infernal Star Toad with A Million Young" Another one of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos nasties is 'Shub-Niggurath', The Goat with a Thousand Young. ('The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young' is the full, but less common, title). - [p. 35/29] Victor Tugelbend's university career, with his uncle's will and all that, shows parallels to similar situations described in Roger Zelazny's (highly recommended) science fiction novel _Doorways in the Sand_, and in Richard Gordon's 'Doctor' series of medical comedy books/movies (_Doctor in the House_, _Doctor in Love_, _Doctor at Sea_, etc.) I had noticed the Zelazny parallel when I first read _Moving Pictures_, but thought the reference was too unlikely and too obscure to warrant inclusion. Since then *two* other people have pointed it out to me... Terry later remarked, in response to someone mentioning the _Doctor in the House_ movie on the net: "I remember that film -- the student in question was played by Kenneth More. All he had to do, though, was fail -- the people who drew up the will involving Victor thought they were cleverer than that. Maybe they'd seen the film..." - [p. 41/34] Movie producer Thomas Silverfish is directly modelled on movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, whose real name was Samuel Gelbfisch, and who spent a short time as Samuel Goldfish before changing his name a second time to Goldwyn. Goldwyn was responsible for a whole sequence of malapropisms known collectively as Goldwynisms, some of which are so well known now as to have passed into the common parlance. A number of Goldwyn quips are repeated (in one form or another) by Silverfish throughout the book ("you'll never work in this town again", "include me out", "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on", etc.). - [p. 50/41] "No-one would have believed, in the final years of the Century of the Fruitbat, that Discworld affairs were being watched keenly and impatiently by intelligences greater than Man's, or at least much nastier; that their affairs were being scrutinised and studied as a man with a three-day appetite might study the All-You-Can-Gobble-For-A-Dollar menu outside Harga's House of Ribs..." This paragraph is a word-by-word parody of H. G. Wells' _War of the Worlds_, which begins with: "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water." - [p. 56/47] "'Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a sword a little.'" Refers to the quip: "Can't act. Can't sing. Can dance a little.", made about Fred Astaire, reputedly by a studio-executive at RKO after Astaire's first screen test. When somebody once asked Astaire's producer about the story, however, he was told that it was complete and obvious nonsense, since Fred Astaire already was a established major Broadway star at the time. - [p. 58/48] "'This is Gaffer Bird,' beamed Silverfish." 'Gaffer' not only means 'old man', but a gaffer is also the head electrician in a film production unit, charged principally with taking care of the lighting. Gaffer's tape is a less sticky form of duct tape, used universally in the theatre, concert and movie worlds to keep people from stumbling over cables. If you enjoy annoying people, go over to the Kate Bush newsgroup rec.music.gaffa, and ask there if her song 'Suspended in Gaffa' refers to Gaffer's tape or not. - [p. 73/61] "'Or Rock. Rock's a nice name.'" Presumably in reference to late actor Rock Hudson, with 'Flint' punning on Errol Flynn. - [p. 75/62] "[...] Victor fights the dreaded Balgrog". In Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_ you can find a very nasty monster called a Balrog. - [p. 81/67] Ginger's real name is Theda Withel, which might be a very oblique reference to Theda Bara, famous movie star of the 1910s, a kind of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, avant la lettre ('Theda Bara' is an anagram of 'Arab Death'!). Her portrayal of evil women in movies like _When a Woman Sins_ and _The She Devil_ caused the current meaning of the word 'vamp' to be added to the English language. Just as Dibbler later describes Ginger to Bezam Planter as "the daughter of a Klatchian pirate and his wild, headstrong captive", so does a studio biography describe Theda Bara as born in the Sahara to a French artiste and his Egyptian concubine. But in fact, Theda's father was a Cincinnati tailor. - [p. 82/69] The resograph built by Riktor the Tinkerer. Terry says: "The reality meter in Moving Pictures is loosely based on a Han dynasty (2nd Century AD) seismograph; a pendulum inside the vase moves and causes one of eight dragons to spit a ball in the direction of the tremor." Also, the name 'Riktor' refers to our 'Richter', of the earthquake scale fame. - [p. 86/71] "And perhaps even a few elves, the most elusive of Discworld races." Some people were wondering if this doesn't contradict the information we get about Elves later, in _Lords and Ladies_, such as that they can only enter our World during Circle Time -- besides, Elves would hardly be the type of beings to become actors, one should think. The answer can be found in _Lords and Ladies_ as well, however, on p. 229/165: Ridcully: "Elves? Everyone knows elves don't exist any more. Not proper elves. I mean, there's a few folk who say they're elves --" Granny Weatherwax: "Oh, yeah. Elvish ancestry. Elves and humans breed all right, as if that's anything to be proud of. But you just get a race o' skinny types with pointy ears and a tendency to giggle and burn easily in sunshine. I ain't talking about them. There's no harm in them. I'm talking about real wild elves, what we ain't seen here for --" - [p. 88/73] "'We just call it the 'Hiho' song. That's all it was. Hihohiho. Hihohiho.'" The best-known song in Walt Disney's 1937 full length animation movie _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_ is sung by the seven dwarfs and starts: Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho It's off to work we go + [p. 76] "They were the only witnesses to the manic figure which splashed down the dripping street, pirouetted through the puddles, [...]" As Nobby's subsequent comment ("Singing in the rain like that.") already indicates, Holy Wood magic is making Dibbler reenact one of the ost famous movie scenes of all time: Gene Kelly dancing and singing through the deserted city streets in _Singin' in the Rain_. The 'DUMdi-dum-dum, dumdi-dumdi-DUM-DUM' rhythm also fits the song exactly. - [p. 97/80] _The Boke Of The Film_ Traditional (if somewhat archaic by now) subtitle for movie novelisations. The related phrase "The Book of the Series" is still alive and well, mostly in the context of documentaries. - [p. 97/80] "This is the Chroncal of the Keeprs of the ParaMountain [...]" Another fleeting reference to the movie company Paramount. - [p. 101/84] "'And my daughter Calliope plays the organ really nice, [...]'" Calliope is not only the name of the Muse of Epic Poetry, but a calliope is also a large, organ-like musical instrument consisting of whistles operated by steam. There exists a very funny Donald Duck story, called 'Land of the Totem Poles' (written by the one and only Carl Barks), in which Donald somehow manages to become a travelling calliope salesman. Highly recommended. - [p. 103/86] "The sharp runes spelled out _The Blue Lias_. It was a troll bar." 'Lias' is a blue limestone rock found in the south-west of England. - [p. 105/87] "'Cos he was her troll and he done her wrong.'" Ruby's song 'Amber and Jasper' is the Discworld version of the folk song 'Frankie and Johnny': Frankie and Johnny were lovers, Oh, Lordie how they could love! They swore to be true to each other, Just as true as the stars above, He was her man, but he done her wrong. - [p. 111/93] Ruby's song: "Vunce again I am fallink in luf / Vy iss it I now am a blue colour? / Vot is the action I should take this time / I can't help it. Hiya, big boy." In the 1930 movie _Blue Angel_ Marlene Dietrich plays Lola-Lola, the cabaret entertainer who ruins the life of the stuffy professor who falls in love with her. In the movie, Marlene performs a song called 'Falling in Love': Falling in love again Why am I so blue? What am I to do? I can't help it. Marlene Dietrich sang this with her characteristic German accent, hence the "fallink" and "vy" in the parody. The line "Hiya, big boy" is typically associated with Mae West, though I have not been able to find out if it was ever used in any specific movie. - [p. 115/95] "[...] Victor couldn't understand a word." The duck's incomprehensibility brings to mind the animated incarnation of Donald Duck. In fact, all of the Holy Wood animals have begun to act a bit like famous cartoon animals; for instance the cat and the mouse acting out a Tom & Jerry scene (although the speech impediment of the cat is more reminiscent of Sylvester). - [p. 115/95] "'What's up, Duck?' said the rabbit." One of Bugs Bunny's catch phrases: "What's up, doc?". (There is in fact a cartoon where Bugs actually says "What's up, duck?" to Daffy Duck...) - [p. 147/123] "'Rev Counter for Use in Ecclesiastical Areas'" 'Rev' is short for both 'Reverend' and for 'revolutions'. On the one hand it stands to reason that in Ecclesiastical areas you'll find lots of clergymen, which you may want to count. On the other hand the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes contains the words used by the Byrds in their song 'Turn! Turn! Turn!', so perhaps Riktor's counter was indeed intended to count actual revolutions after all. - [p. 149/124] "'Go, Sow, Thank You Doe.'" The usual slang for a one-night stand or a quickie at the local brothel is "Wham, Bam, thank you, Ma'am." - [p. 151/126] "'A rock on the head may be quite sentimental, [...], but diamonds are a girl's best friend.'" In the 1949 movie _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_, Marilyn Monroe sings: A kiss on the hand may be quite continental But diamonds are a girl's best friend - [p. 154/129] "'What's it called?' 'Laddie,' said the handler." Laddie is the Discworld counterpart to our world's famous movie collie, Lassie. In the movie _Son of Lassie_ the protagonist was in fact called Laddie, but was played by Pal, the dog who had previously played Lassie in the original movie _Lassie Come Home_. Interestingly enough, Pal had a real-life son who *was* called Laddie, but this Laddie was only used for stunt and distance shots since he wasn't as pretty as his brother, who eventually got to play Lassie in the CBS TV show, and who was the only dog ever in the role to actually be called Lassie, or rather, Lassie Jr. Lassie was always played by a male dog, mainly because a bitch tends to go into heat, during which time she becomes unphotogenic because of severe shedding. It also gets bothersome to have to deal with the constant disruptions on the set caused by various male dogs in the area wanting to, um, propose to her. Finally, two odd little coincidences. First, the _Lassie_ dogs often had small dogs as companions. Second, Pal/Lassie's trainer was a man by the name of Rudd Weatherwax... - [p. 158/132] Film studio names. Untied Alchemists is United Artists. Fir Wood Studios is Pinewood Studios. Microlithic Pictures is Paramount (tiny rock vs. big mountain), and Century Of The Fruitbat is Twentieth Century Fox. Terry says: "I've already gone electronically hoarse explaining that Floating Bladder Productions was just picked out of the air [...]" - [p. 159/132] "'[...] we're doing one about going to see a wizard. Something about following a yellow sick toad,' [...]" That's a yellow brick road, and the reference is of course to _The Wizard of Oz_. Terry's pun also reminded a correspondent of an old joke about an Oz frog with a bright yellow penis who hops up to a man and says: "I'm looking for the wizard to help me with my 'problem'." The man answers: "No problem, just follow this road until you get to the emerald city." The frog thanks him and hops off along the road. Shortly afterwards, Dorothy and Toto come along and she also asks the man where she can find the wizard, and then he says: "Just follow the yellow dick toad". Well, *I* thought it was funny. - [p. 165/137] "It was about a young ape who is abandoned in the big city and grows up being able to speak the language of humans." The Librarian's script is of course a reversal of Edgar Rice Burroughs' _Tarzan_ story. Since Tarzan is supposed to be one of those five or so cultural icons that are so truly universal that *everybody* in the world is familiar with them, I expect this may well turn out to be the APF's Most Unnecessary Annotation of all... - [p. 172/143] "'It sounded like 'I want to be a lawn', I thought?'" Ginger echoes movie star Greta Garbo's famous quote: "I want to be alone". Garbo later claimed, by the way, that what she had actually said at the time was "I want to be *let* alone", which is of course not quite the same thing at all... - [p. 174/145] The _Necrotelicomnicom_. On the Discworld the _Necrotelicomnicom_ (see also the entry for p. 111/109 of _Equal Rites_) was written by the Klatchian necromancer Achmed the Mad (although he preferred to be called Achmed the I Just Get These Headaches). In real life, horror author H. P. Lovecraft assures us that the _Necronomicon_ was written by the mad Arab Abdul al-Hazred. - [p. 178/148] "'It's fifteen hundred miles to Ankh-Morpork,' he said. 'We've got three hundred and sixty elephants, fifty carts of forage, the monsoon's about to break and we're wearing... we're wearing... sort of things, like glass, only dark... dark glass things on our eyes...'" Paraphrases a well-known quote from the _Blues Brothers_ movie, fifteen minutes before the end, just as the famous chase scene is about to begin and Jake and Elwood are sitting in their car: Elwood: "It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses" Jake: "Hit it." - [p. 197/164] "'In a word -- im-possible!' 'That's two words,' said Dibbler." Another Goldwynism: "I can tell you in two words: im-possible." - [p. 206/171] "'If you cut me, do I not bleed?'" said Rock. Paraphrased from Shylock's famous monologue in Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_, act 3, scene 1: "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" - [p. 221/184] "'Just one picture had all that effect?'" Dibbler and Gaffer don't put a name to it, but they are discussing the theory of subliminal messages here. It's one of those theories that somehow manages to sound so 'right' you just *want* it to be true. Studies have been done, however, but none has ever shown tricks like subliminal advertising to actually have any measurable effect on an audience. - [p. 223/186] "'It always starts off with this mountain --'" Ginger's dream describes the characteristic 'logo' scenes of all the major movie companies. The mountain is from Paramount ("there are stars around it"), and after that we get Columbia ("a woman holding a torch over her head"), 20th Century Fox ("a lot of lights"), and MGM ("this roar, like a lion or tiger"). - [p. 229/191] "'And Howondaland Smith, Balgrog Hunter, practic'ly eats the dark for his tea,' said Gaspode." Smith's name is derived from Indiana Jones, and for the explanation about 'Balgrog' see the annotation for p. 75/62. 'Howondaland' also brings to mind Gondwanaland, a name for the southern continents mashed together by continental drift. - [p. 245/204] "'You find nice place to indulge in bit of 'What is the health of your parent?' [...]'" "How's your father" is a British euphemism for "sexual intercourse", made popular by the _Carry On_ series of films. - [p. 282/235] "Twopence more and up goes the donkey!" Terry explains: "[...] In _Moving Pictures_ and _Reaper Man_ a lot of use is indeed made of, god help me, Victorian street sayings that were the equivalent of 'sez you'. "Tuppence more and up goes the donkey", a favourite saying of Windle Poons, comes from the parties of strolling acrobats who'd carry their props on a donkey. They'd make a human pyramid and collectors would go around with the hat declaring that "tuppence more and up goes the donkey" as well. But the donkey never got elevated because, of course, the collectors always needed "tuppence more"." "It belongs in the same general category of promise as 'Free Beer Tomorrow'." - [p. 297/249] The climactic scene of the novel is not only a _King Kong_ reversal spoof. Terry says the 50 ft. woman also refers to the protagonist from the 1958 movie _Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman_ (recently and redundantly remade with Daryl Hannah in the title role -- if there's one movie that did not need to be remade it was this one, trust me). - [p. 304/254] "'If it bleeds, we can kill it!'" This line is from the 1987 movie _Predator_, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. 'It' in this case was a green-blooded, invisible alien hunter. - [p. 305/255] "YOU BELONG DEAD, he said." This is based on Boris Karloff's final words in the 1935 movie _Bride of Frankenstein_: "We belong dead". - [p. 305/255] "'Careful,' said the Dean. 'That is not dead which can eternal lie.'" This is from a famous H. P. Lovecraft quote (which was also used by metal groups Iron Maiden (on the _Live After Death_ album cover) and Metallica (in the song 'The Thing That Should Not Be')): That is not dead which can eternal lie And with strange aeons even death may die It is supposed to be a quote from Abdul al-Hazred's _Necronomicon_ (see annotation for p. 174/145), and Lovecraft uses the verse in several stories, particularly in _The Call of Cthulhu_ and _The Nameless City_. In reality, I'm told the quote originated with the Victorian decadent poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, but I have no definite reference on this. - [p. 306/256] "''Twas beauty killed the beast,' said the Dean, who liked to say things like that." Last line of _King Kong_, said under similar circumstances. - [p. 310/259] "[...] everyone has this way of remembering even things that happened to their ancestors, I mean, it's like there's this great big pool of memory and we're linked up to it [...]" This is Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. - [p. 312/261] "'A fine mess you got me into.'" See the annotation for p. 73/65 of _The Colour of Magic_. - [p. 319/266] Detritus hitting the gong in the underground theatre refers to the Rank Organisation's man-with-the-gong trademark, which Rank used at the start of each film just as Columbia used the Statue of Liberty and MGM the roaring lion. - [p. 323/270] "'Play it again, Sham,' said Holy Wood." The most famous line never uttered in _Casablanca_: "Play it again, Sam." It should perhaps be pointed out that Sham Harga is a character we already met in _Mort_. Terry did *not* just create him in order to be able to make this pun. - [p. 324/271] "'And that includes you, Dozy!'" One of the dwarfs in Disney's _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_ was called Sleepy, another was called Dopey. - [p. 327/274] "'Cheer up,' she said. 'Tomorrow is another day.'" The final line of _Gone with the Wind_. - [p. 329/276] "'Uselessium, more like,' murmured Silverfish." The paragraph where this quote occurs of course describes how Silverfish discovers the Discworld equivalent of Uranium. In this light, it may be interesting to recall that before he became a full-time writer Terry Pratchett worked as press officer for nuclear power stations. - As far as the giant statue is concerned (and the running gag about it reminding everyone of their uncle Oswald or Osric etc.): the nickname 'Oscar' for the Academy Awards statuette apparently originated with the Academy Librarian (oook!), who remarked that the statue looked like her uncle Oscar. The nickname first appeared in print in a 1934 column by Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky, and quickly became a household word. REAPER MAN - [title] _Reaper Man_ The title _Reaper Man_ parodies Alex Cox's 1984 cult movie _Repo Man_. More accurately, _Repo Man_ itself is a pun on 'reaper man', a very ancient name for Death (compare also e.g. 'the grim reaper'). But apparently Terry has said elsewhere (i.e. not on the net), that his 'Reaper Man' was indeed meant as a pun on the movie-title (much to the chagrin of his publishers, who would have probably preferred it if he had called it _Mort II_). - The 'Bill Door' sections of this novel have many parallels with classic Westerns, e.g. _High Plains Drifter_. - If you liked the idea of the trolley life-form, you may also want to check out a short story by Avram Davidson called _Or All The Sea With Oysters_. It's all about the life cycle of bicycles and their larval stages: paperclips and coat hangers. - [p. 5/7] "It is danced under blue skies to celebrate the quickening of the soil..." Whatever the original idea behind Morris dancing was, it long ago indeed became associated with Spring ("As fit as [...] a morris for May Day" -- Shakespeare), and nowadays many Morris teams begin their dancing season with a May Day performance. See the _...and Dance_ section of Chapter 5 for more on Morris dancing. - [p. 5/7] "It is danced innocently by raggedy-bearded young mathematicians [...]" The Morris used to be a peasants' dance, but these days Morris dancers often are, for some reason, scientists, mathematicians, or (ook!) librarians. - [p. 7/9] Azrael is not a reference to Gargamel's cat in the Smurf cartoons. Rather, both Azraels are references to the Islamic Angel of Death, supposedly the very last creature to die, ever. In the actual legend, Azrael is bound in chains thousands of miles long, and possesses millions of eyes: one for every person that has ever lived or will ever live. When a person dies, the eye in question closes forever, and when Azrael goes blind it will be the end of the human race. - [p. 13/14] "The front gates of Nos 31, 7 and 34 Elm Street, Ankh Morpork." Minor inconsistency: we are told the conversation between the pines lasts seventeen years, so when the old one finally gets chopped down, its age should have been 31751 years, not still 31734. - [p. 15/16] "The pendulum is a blade that would have made Edgar Allan Poe give it all up and start again as a stand-up comedian [...]" Refers to Poe's famous story _The Pit and the Pendulum_ in which a victim of the inquisition is tied up beneath a giant descending, sweeping, razor-sharp pendulum. If you have access to the Internet, you can find an online version of this story at the URL: - [p. 25/24] "'What I could do with right now is one of Mr Dibbler's famous meat pies --' And then he died." The attributed last words of William Pitt the younger were: "I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies." + [p. 25] "There was no shape, no sound. It was void, without form. The spirit of Windle Poons moved on the face of the darkness." An allusion to the Biblical creation of the universe as described in Genesis 1:2: "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." - [p. 31/30] "'Did you see his eyes? Like gimlets!' [...] 'You mean like that Dwarf who runs the delicatessen on Cable Street?'" A Gimlet Eye is a piercing stare or squint. See also the annotation for p. 35/27 of _Soul Music_. - [p. 32/30] "'Anyway, you can't trust those voodoo gods. Never trust a god who grins all the time and wears a top hat, that's my motto.'" This god is Baron Samedi (or Saturday), the most important (and best-known) voodoo god or loa. He is the God of the Dead, and is traditionally associated with cross-roads. For more information about Baron Samedi you should, of course, read _Witches Abroad_ (see also the annotation for p. 179/157 of that book). - [p. 37/35] "'Yes, but they drink blood,' said the Senior Wrangler." I suppose most people will know that a wrangler is somebody who rounds up cattle or horses, but it may be less common knowledge that a 'Senior Wrangler' is in fact the title given to the top 12 maths graduates at Cambridge University. In maths, those who get firsts are called Wranglers, seconds are senior optimes, and thirds are junior optimes. - [p. 58/53] "'Celery,' said the Bursar." A few correspondents thought that the Bursar's particular choice of vegetable might have been motivated by an old episode of the _Goon Show_, where a sketch goes in part: Sheriff of Nottingham: "What? Tie him to a stake?" Bluebottle: "No, do not tie me to a stake" (pause) "I'm a vegetarian!" Prince John: "Then tie him to a stick of celery." - [p. 60/55] The address of the Fresh Start Club: _668 Elm Street_. Connects a reference to the _Nightmare on Elm Street_ series of horror movies with the tentative title for a _Good Omens_ sequel: _668 -- The Neighbour of the Beast_ (see the _Good Omens_ annotation on that subject). - [p. 66/60] Ridcully's uncle disappeared under mysterious circumstances after eating a charcoal biscuit on top of a meal spiced up by half a pint of Wow-Wow Sauce. The circumstances may become less mysterious once you realise that charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre are the basic ingredients of gunpowder. Also, there actually exists a condiment called Wow-Wow Sauce, which was popular during the 1800s. More information can be found in the _Discworld Companion_. - [p. 72/65] "Many songs have been written about the bustling metropolis, [...]" Ok, let's see. 'Ankh-Morpork! Ankh-Morpork! So good they named it Ankh-Morpork!' comes from 'New York, New York' (see also the annotation for p. 142/130 of _Johnny and the Dead_), 'Carry Me Away From Old Ankh-Morpork' is 'Carry Me Back To Old Virginia', and 'Ankh-Morpork Malady' may be 'Broadway melody'. 'I Fear I'm Going Back to Ankh-Morpork' has not been traced to a particular song title, but general opinion holds that it is a spoof of the Bee Gees song 'Massachussets', which starts out "Feel I'm goin' back to Massachussetts". - [p. 76/69] "'Did it take long to get it looking like that?' 'About five hundred years, I think.'" Or, as Terry explains more poignantly in a _Sourcery_ footnote (on p. 21/22): "You mows it and you rolls it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks across it." A few people thought these might have been references to a scene in one of the Asterix comics, but this is another case of two authors both using the same, older source. As Terry explains: "The lawns line was I believe a comment made by a University gardener to an American tourist years and years ago; it turns up from time to time." - [p. 77/69] "'Isn't that one off Treacle Mine Road?'" And on p. 176/155 we learn that One-Man-Bucket was run over by a cart on Treacle Street. Treacle is another word for molasses, and most people will be familiar with the concept of "a hole in the ground from which you get molasses" through _Alice in Wonderland_'s Mad Tea Party. Terry jokes: "Treacle mining is a lost British tradition. There used to be treacle mines in Bisham (near Marlow, on the Thames) and in several northern towns, I believe. But the natural treacle was too sharp and coarse for modern tastes and the industry was finally killed off by the bulk import of cheap white sugar in the last century." "I know the Bisham treacle was very crudely melted into moulds and sold in slabs. Shops used to smash the slabs up and sell the solid treacle as sweets. It's quite a different stuff to the crude 'golden syrup' treacle still occasionally sold." - [p. 80/72] "'A couple of'em had a bit of a tiff or something? Messing around with golden apples or something?'" In Greek mythology it was a golden apple that indirectly led to the Trojan war and to the accompanying complete division of the divine pantheon into two opposing camps. - [p. 88/79] "[...] honorary vestigial virgining [..]" Pun on the Vestal virgins (priestesses of the goddess Vesta) in ancient Rome. 'Vestigial' of course means "remaining or surviving in a degenerate or imperfect condition or form". - [p. 97/87] "Who is he going to call! *We're* the wizards around here." A reference to the catchphrase "Who ya gonna call?!" from the movie _Ghostbusters_. - [p. 98/88] "Mr so-called Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents!'" Send-up of the folk-story _The Pied Piper of Hamelin_. If you have access to the Internet, you can find an online version of this fairy tale at the URL: - [p. 100/89] "'[...] it puts a bloody RSVP on it!' 'Oh Good. I like sherry,' said the Bursar." VSOP is a type of brandy, not sherry. RSVP, of course, stands for "Respondez s'il vous plait" -- i.e. please reply [to this invitation]. - [p. 105/94] "'Don't stand in the doorway, friend. Don't block up the hall.'" This is an almost verbatim line from Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A Changin'. - [p. 105/94] "Or sporting a Glad To Be Grey badge" 'Glad To Be Gay' was the well-known slogan of the Gay Liberation movement, a decade or so ago (as well as the title of an excellent Tom Robinson song). In the late 80s, 'Glad To Be Grey' badges were actually commercially available. - [p. 106/95] The names of the Fresh Start Club members. Count Notfaroutoe refers to Count Nosferatu, the vampire from Friedrich Murnau's classic 1922 movie _Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens_ (remade in 1979 by Werner Herzog, starring Klaus Kinski). 'Lupus' is Latin for wolf, so 'Lupine' means 'wolfish', similar to e.g. 'feline'. Finally, there exists a mineral called ixiolite. Note, by the way, that banshees are traditionally supposed to be female creatures. When someone on a.f.p. asked if Reg Shoe was based on Reg, the leader of the Judean Peoples' Front in Monty Python's _Life of Brian_, Terry answered: "No. Not consciously, anyway. As with other 'real world' Discworld names, like Susan, Victor, Albert, etc, I picked the name because of... er... associational harmonics. Albert is an 'old' name. Reg is a good working class name and has a post-war feel to it. It's hard to explain it further, but all popular names carry a burden of associations. The best examples in the last decade have been Sharon and Tracy; whatever the *truth*, the perception is that these are working-class, Essex bimbo names, although twenty or thirty years ago they'd have been considered glamorous (which is why, the myth runs, the kids got given them). Any Brit would probably associate a type or age with names like, say, Victoria, Emma, Kylie, Sid, Wayne and Darron. Reg is a good name for a dependable guy, the sort who runs the skittles league (I know this, 'cos my Uncle Reg did...)" - [p. 108/97] "Every full moon I turn into a wolfman. The rest of the time I'm just a ... wolf." This interesting twist on the age-old werewolf idea has been thought of and used by others a few times before. I'd particularly recommend 'What Good is a Glass Dagger', an excellent short story by Larry Niven. (I realise that merely by mentioning it here I may have spoilt it for you, but I think the story is still very enjoyable, regardless). - [p. 113/100] "'[...] songs like 'The Streets of Ankh-Morpork' [...]'" Refers to the classic Ralph McTell song 'The Streets of London'. An impressive set of lyrics for 'The Streets of Ankh-Morpork' can be found on the Pratchett Archives. - [p. 135/120] "I EXPECT, he said, THAT YOU COULD MURDER A PIECE OF CHEESE?" Echoes p. 24/21 of _Mort_, where Death says to Mort: "I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY". - [p. 146/129] "LAST YEAR SOMEONE GOT THREE STREETS AND ALL THE UTILITIES." The game 'Exclusive Possessions' is of course the Discworld equivalent of Monopoly. + [p. 131] "When he turned the blade, it made a noise like *whommmm*. The fires of the forge were barely alive now, but the blade glowed with razor light." This description evokes images of the light sabers in the _Star Wars_ movies. + [p. 149/132] "On the fabled hidden continent of Xxxx, somewhere near the rim, there is a lost colony of wizards who wear corks around their pointy hats and live on nothing but prawns." The continent referred to in this quote is Australia (which means that we are talking here about the Wizards of Oz, right?), where there exists a brand of beer called 'XXXX' (pronounced 'Four Ex'), produced by the Castlemaine Tooheys brewery. A New Zealand correspondent tells me that the reason the beer is called 'XXXX' is that if it had been called 'BEER' the Australians wouldn't have been able to spell it. Ahem. (The actual origin of the name 'XXXX' lies in the number of marks used by Castlemaine to indicate alcoholic strength. Most European beers today are of 4X strength, with some being 3X or even 5X.) The corks around the pointy hats refer to the supposedly traditional headwear of Australian Swagmen: Akubra hats with pieces of cork dangling on strings around the wide rim in order to keep the flies off the wearer's face. Needless to say, you can live a lifetime in Australia and never get to actually see somebody who looks like this. Monty Python's 'Philosophers' sketch is a good send-up of the stereotype. Since then, the stereotype has been reinforced by a series of Australian Tourism Commission ads promoting Australia in America and Britain on 1980s television, which featured Paul 'Crocodile Dundee' Hogan saying something along the lines of: "Come on down here, and we'll throw another shrimp on the barbie for you" ('barbie' = barbecue). At the risk of boring you all to death with this, I must admit that I am curious as to the exact wording of that Hogan ad. I have received extraordinary amounts of mail about this annotation, and so far there have been seven different phrases mentioned, namely: -- toss another shrimp on the barbie for you -- throw another shrimp on the barbie -- chuck another prawn on the barbie -- slap a prawn on the barbie for you -- shove a couple more prawns on the barbie -- pop another prawn on the barbie for you -- put another prawn on the barbie for you So, can anybody tell me (a) whether the ad said 'shrimp' or 'prawn', (b) whether the "for you" was actually part of the sentence or not, and (c) whether these poor animals were in fact tossed, thrown, chucked, slapped, shoved, popped, or simply put on the barbie? Finally, an Australian correspondent tells me that "Don't come the raw prawn with me, sport" is a local saying having a meaning somewhere in between "Pull the other one, it's got bells on" and "Don't give me that crap". Use this information at your own peril. Annotation update: Some time after the above annotation appeared in APF 7.0 I received email from a correspondent who had actually managed to obtain a compilation video from the Australian Tourist Commission, containing all the ads Paul Hogan did for them in the 1984-89 period. Among those was, indeed, one he did for the internationally targeted campaign, at the end of which he clinches his spiel by saying: "C'mon. Come and say g'day. I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya." I find it highly ironic that the actual mystery verb turns out to be one that was not mentioned by *any* of my previous correspondents... - [p. 154/136] "'I don't hold with all that stuff with cards and trumpets and Oo-jar boards, mind you.'" An Ouija board is a well-known means of communicating with the dead. It's a board with letters and symbols on it, and the spirits supposedly move a glass over it and spell out messages. The name 'Ouija' derives from 'oui' and 'ja', two words meaning 'yes', one of the symbols on the board. - [p. 151/133] "'Everyone thought you were to do with taxes.' NO. NOT TAXES." As Benjamin Franklin once wrote: In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. - [p. 156/138] "[...] especially if they *do* let the younger wizards build whatever that blasted thing is they keep wanting to build in the squash court." This is a reference to the fact that the first nuclear reactor, built by Enrico Fermi, was indeed erected under a squash court. Irrelevant, but interesting, is that for a long time Russian physicists, misled by a poor translation, believed that Fermi's work was done in a 'pumpkin field'. - [p. 168/147] "'Ah... many a slip 'twixt dress and drawers,' said Duke." See the annotation for p. 189/188 of _Wyrd Sisters_. - [p. 175/153] "Behind him, the kettle boiled over and put the fire out. Simnel fought his way through the steam." The joke here is that Ned Simnel is trying to think of a new, better way to power his Combination Harvester, when he is interrupted by the "pointless distraction" of his kettle boiling over. This refers to our world's anecdote about James Watt, who supposedly got his idea for improving the steam engine when he watched the condensing steam from a kettle on the boil. (Note that contrary to popular belief, Watt *didn't* invent the steam engine itself: what he did was have revolutionary new ideas (e.g. the use of a condenser) on how to make the steam engine really (cost-)efficient, practical and portable.) For more information on steam engines, see also the annotation for p. 259/186 of _Small Gods_. - [p. 178/157] "Mustrum Ridcully trotted into his study and took his wizard's staff from its rack over the fireplace. He licked his finger and gingerly touched the top of his staff." Gary Cooper does this a few times in the 1941 movie _Sergeant York_. According to my source, Cooper's explanation in the movie was "It cuts down the haze a mite" -- or something along those lines. - [p. 182/160] "'It's from the Dungeon Dimensions!' said the Dean. 'Cream the basket!'" Basket is a British euphemism for bastard. In this case it of course also applies to the shopping trolley (or basket). - [p. 187/164] "'No, Not "with milk"', said Windle." See the annotation for p. 277/243. - [p. 192/168] The harvesting battle between Death and the Combined Harvester has echoes of various similar contests in American folklore. There is for instance the story of the legendary American lumberjack Paul Bunyan and the Lumber Machine. According to that legend (as told in the Disney cartoon, ahem), Paul realised, after a magnificent battle at the end of which the Machine had won by a quarter-inch more timber, that the age of the great lumberjacks was over, and he wandered off with his steed Babe the Blue Ox, never to be seen again. There's also the much older American folk song 'John Henry', which describes a similar contest in which John Henry beats the new steam-driven pile-driver (he was a railway builder, and drove in the spikes that held the rails down), but dies of the effort. - [p. 201/176] "Stripfettle's Believe-It-Or-Not Grimoire" Ripley's _Believe It Or Not!_ was more or less the forerunner of today's tabloids of the '500 pound baby' variety. However, his items were supposedly true and he had a standing offer to provide notarised proof if you didn't believe him. Typical items included potatoes that looked like President Eisenhower, dogs that could hold a dozen tennis balls in their mouths, and a fireplace that cast a shadow that looked like the profile of the owner of the house, but would only cast the shadow at the exact time of the owner's death. - [p. 204/179] "Remember -- wild, uncontrolled bursts..." From the movie _Aliens_: "Remember -- short, controlled bursts...". This entire section is filled with action-movie references ('Yo!'), but _Alien_/_Aliens_ seems to have been a particularly fruitful source. Many quotes and events have direct counterparts: "Yeah, but secreted from what?", "No one touch *anything*", "It's coming from *everywhere*!", and "We are *going*" are only a few examples, and of course there is the matter of the Queen... - [p. 217/191] "The raven cleared its throat. Reg Shoe spun around. 'You say one word,' he said, 'just one bloody *word*...'" Edgar Allen Poe rears his head once more in a reference to his famous poem, _The Raven_, which is all about death, doom and gloom. In the poem, the ominous raven in question constantly repeats just a single word: _Nevermore_. - [p. 233/204] "Windle snapped his fingers in front of the Dean's pale eyes. There was no response. 'He's not dead,' said Reg. 'Just resting,' said Windle." Just two words: Parrot Sketch. - [p. 234/204] "'I used to know a golem looked like him, [...] You just have to write a special holy word on 'em to start 'em up.'" For those needing a refresher course in Jewish magic, a golem is indeed a clay automaton. The special holy word is either the name of God, or the Hebrew word for truth, 'emet' (aleph-mem-tav). To turn the golem off, you erase the name, or, if you used 'emet', the initial aleph, which changes the word to 'met' (mem-tav), meaning dead. - [p. 235/206] "'Artor! Nobblyesse obligay!'" From the phrase _noblesse oblige_, meaning "rank imposes certain obligations". - [p. 246/215] "'Bonsai!'" A typical Pratchettian mix-up of two different things: 'Banzai!' is the Japanese war cry shouted by kamikaze pilots as they performed their suicide runs. It means 'ten thousand years', and was originally an honorary greeting used in front of the Emperor, whom the kamikazes were, of course, dying for. 'Bonsai' is the art of growing tiny potted trees shaped and stunted into very particular growth patterns. - [p. 246/215] "'Like... small trees. Bush-i-do. Yeah.'" 'Bushido' means "the way of the warrior", and is pronounced bu-shi-do. - [p. 247/216] "Occasionally people would climb the mountain and add a stone or two to the cairn at the top, [...]" My correspondents tell me that there are many such mountains to be found around the world. In Ireland there is one specific mountain called Maeves Grave. On the top of it is a heap of stones which is believed to be the grave of the evil Celtic Queen Maeve. To prevent her from ever leaving the grave, each visitor to the mountain is supposed to pick up a stone, and carry it up the hill and put it on the grave. - [p. 258/226] "'I'm just going out,' he said. 'I may be some time.'" A quote that Terry uses again in another, similar situation. See the annotation for p. 236/170 of _Small Gods_. - [p. 259/226] The idea of a were-man and were-woman who fall in love, but whose animal and human phases are out of sync with respect to each other was the main plot element in the 1985 fantasy movie _Ladyhawke_, starring Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. - [p. 264/230] "Azrael, the Great Attractor, the Death of Universes, [...]" In previous editions of the APF, I said that the Great Attractor was part of an astronomical theory that had been discredited some time ago. It turns out that this is far from the truth. Basically, astronomers have discovered that there are large regions of the cosmos being held back from the smooth overall expansion (or Hubble flow) as dictated by the Big Bang/Expanding Universe theory. The culprit would seem to be something or some things within a vast clumping of galaxies that appears to be causing an acceleration of all the surrounding galaxies in its direction. In an offhand comment during a press conference, Alan Dressler referred to this galactic pileup as the 'Great Attractor', and the name immediately stuck. Although the theory was not universally accepted by all scientists, I understand the evidence for it has held up well, and in fact I saw a recent newspaper article claiming that the Great Attractor had actually been identifier by a group of international astronomers as the cluster Abel 3627. - [p. 264/231] "LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?" Some folks thought that this line sounded familiar and wondered if it was a quote, but Terry has assured us that he made this one up all by himself. - [p. 265/232] "*YES*" In the hardcover edition of _Reaper Man_, this super-large word appears on a left page, so that it takes the reader by surprise as she turns the page. In the paperback edition this is not the case, thus spoiling the effect entirely. When questioned about this, Terry said: "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 black hole. Go on... tell me more about comic timing..." The American paperback edition, by the way, also gets it right. - [p. 267/235] "To deliver a box of chocolates like this, dark strangers drop from chairlifts and abseil down buildings." A reference to a UK TV commercial for 'Milk Tray' chocolates, in which a James Bond-like figure does death-defying stunts, only to leave a box of chocolates in some place where a woman finds them at the end of the ad. - [p. 267/235] "'DARK ENCHANTMENTS', he said." A reference to a brand of chocolates called 'Black Magic'. - [p. 270/237] "'Chap with a whip got as far as the big sharp spikes last week,' said the low priest." Refers to the _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ movies, in which Indiana Jones (with trademark whip) always steals stuff from sacred temples loaded with spikes, big rolling balls, and nasty insects. - [p. 271/238] "The priests heard the chink of a very large diamond being lifted out of its socket." This is the sequence where Death enters the Lost Jewelled Temple of Doom of Offler the Crocodile God and purloins the massive diamond called the Tear of Offler from the statue therein. On p. 109/109 of the _The Light Fantastic_, however, Twoflower tells Bethan the story of Cohen the Barbarian stealing this very same sacred diamond. There are ways around this inconsistency, of course. The most reasonable one seems to me the fact that there is no reason why we have to assume that all the stories told about Cohen are necessarily true. - [p. 275/242] "'Let's see ... something like 'Corn be ripe, nuts be brown, petticoats up ...' something.'" This is a paraphrase or alternate version of an existing "ould Sussex Folk Song", quoted in Spike Milligan's autobiography _Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall_ as follows: Apples be ripe, nuts be brown, Petticoats up, trousers down. - [p. 275/242] "'I take it you *do* dance, Mr Bill Door?' FAMED FOR IT, MISS FLITWORTH." Dancing with death is of course a metaphor as familiar as playing a game of chess or Exclusive Possessions with Death. - [p. 276/242] "[...] 'Do-si-do!' [...]" A dosi-do is a square dance figure in which two dancers start facing each other, then circle round each other, passing back to back (in French: 'dos-a-dos'). - [p. 277/243] "'I know this one! It's the Quirmish bullfight dance! Oh-lay!' 'WITH MILK'?" _Oh-lay!_, a phonetic version of the Spanish cry _Ole!_, sounds also the same as the pronunciation of the French phrase "au lait" which means "with milk", as in e.g. 'cafe au lait'. - [p. 280/246] "One yodel out of place would attract, not the jolly echo of a lonely goatherd, but fifty tons of express-delivery snow." A reference to the puppet sequence in _The Sound of Music_, a song in which both yodelling and lonely goatherds are featured. - [p. 280/246] "'And who was that masked man?' They both looked around. There was no one there." Refers to the Lone Ranger. - [p. 282/248] "'Just me, your lordship,' said the watchman cheerfully. 'Turning up like a bad copper.'" 'Copper' is a British colloquialism for policemen (see also the annotation for p. 185/140 of _Men at Arms_), but 'copper' is also a somewhat archaic synonym for 'penny', which gives the link to the saying: "turning up like a bad penny". Hence also the old joke: 'What do you call a policeman's night shift pay?' 'Copper nitrate'. - [p. 283/249] "'You know,' said Windle, 'it's a wonderful afterlife.'" _It's A Wonderful Life_ is the title of Frank Capra's classic 1946 movie about a special kind of undead (or rather: unliving) man. - [p. 284/250] "WINDLE POONS? 'Yes?' THAT WAS YOUR LIFE." Reference to the TV show _This Is Your Life_, where a noted celebrity is surprised and (hopefully) embarrassed by having the high (and occasionally low) points of his/her life recounted by friends and acquaintances during a half hour programme. WITCHES ABROAD - [p. 7/7] "'Hurrah, I've discovered Boyle's Third Law.'" Sinking to the ultimate depths of trivial annotating, I suppose I should point out here, if only for completeness' sake, that (a) there is only one single 'Boyle's law', which (b) says that if temperature is kept constant, the volume and pressure of a gas are inversely related. - [p. 7/7] "Like finding that bloody butterfly whose flapping wings cause all these storms we've been having lately [...]" Rather literal interpretation of one of the most often-cited examples of Chaos theory, called the Butterfly effect: a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a storm because in Chaos theory results are not proportional to causes. - [p. 9/9] The three urban legends Terry mentions briefly in the footnote are all quite well-known, and can be found in any decent collection of such stories, but just in case not everyone is familiar with them: The first story is about a family whose grandmother dies on vacation. In order to avoid bureaucratic hassle they decide to strap her to the roof-rack of the car, and cross the border back to their own country. During a rest-room stop, somebody steals the car, grandmother and all. The second story is that of the people who return home after a night out, and find their dog choking to death in front of the door. They race him to the vet, who discovers that the dog is choking on a human finger he must have bitten off a burglar. The third story is that of a man and woman having sex in the back seat of a car, when some serious accident happens and they become trapped. In order to free them from their predicament, the car has to be cut open with a torch, after which the woman supposedly comments: "My husband will be furious, it was *his* car". Much more information about these and countless other urban legends can be found in Jan Harold Brunvand's books. If you're on the net, you may want to check out alt.folklore.urban. - [p. 10/9] "She had called upon Mister Safe Way, Lady Bon Anna, Hotaloga Andrews and Stride Wide Man." Safeway is the name of a supermarket chain. Terry says: "I needed some good names that sounded genuinely voodoo. Now, one of the names of one of the classic gods is Carrefour. It's also the name of a supermarket chain in my part of the world, and I used to grin every time I drove past. Hence, by DW logic, Safeway. Bon Anna I'm pretty sure is a genuine voodoo goddess. The other two are entirely made up but out of, er, the right sort of verbal components." - [p. 12/11] "Desiderata Hollow was making her will." 'Desiderata' literally means: "things missing and felt to be needed". It is the name of a popular prose poem, written by Max Ehrman in 1927, full of advice about life and how to deal with it. DESIDERATA is copyrighted material, and can not be reproduced or sold without permision. Any violation is the basis for legal action. Books containing DESIDERATA are published by Crown Publishers, N.Y.C. and can be obtained from Tim Tiley Ltd., Bristol. The author was Max Ehrmann. Other permissions must be obtained from the owner of the copyright -- Robert L. Bell, 427 South Shore Drive, Sarasota, Florida, USA 34234. - [p. 16/15] "'Wish *I* was going to Genua,' she said." Terry writes: "This may or may not already be an annotation somewhere, but Genua is a 'sort of' New Orleans with a 'sort of' Magic Kingdom grafted on top of it. It had its genesis some years ago when I drove from Orlando to New Orleans and formed some opinions about both places: in one, you go there and Fun is manufactured and presented to you, in the other you just eat and drink a lot and fun happens." - [p. 17/15] "'Mr Chert the troll down at the sawmill does a very good deal on coffins [...]'" This confirms the unwritten rule that says all Discworld trolls must have mineral names: 'chert' is a dark-coloured, flintlike quartz. - [p. 17/16] "Her name was Lady Lilith de Tempscire, [...]" Tempscire is actually a French transliteration of Weatherwax. - [p. 19/17] "[...] at least two of those present tonight were wearing Granny Weatherwax's famous goose-grease-and-sage chest liniment." In Victorian times, children's chests were often smeared with a large helping of goose grease in order to keep out the cold. Channel swimmers also used to use goose grease. Perhaps they still do... - [p. 20/18] "'Tempers Fuggit. Means that was then and this is now,' said Nanny." Well -- almost. The actual Latin phrase is "tempus fugit": "time flies". - [p. 27/24] "As Nanny Ogg would put it, when it's teatime in Genua it's Tuesday over here..." This refers to an old and very silly song by J. Kendis and Lew Brown, which goes: When it's night-time in Italy, it's Wednesday over here. Oh! the onions in Sicily make people cry in California. Why does a fly? When does a bee? How does a wasp sit down to have his tea? If you talk to an Eskimo, his breath will freeze your ear. When it's night-time in Italy, it's Wednesday over here. - [p. 30/26] "'You can't get the wood,' she said." This was Henry Crun's standard excuse for not actually building anything he'd invented, on the _Goon Show_. - [p. 33/29] "The author, Grand Master Lobsang Dibbler, had an address in Ankh-Morpork." This is yet another incarnation of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, the Ankhian entrepreneur we learn much more about in _Moving Pictures_, and who also appears in _Small Gods_ as the Omnian businessman Dhblah. Also, the name is a direct reference to Tuesday Lobsang Rampa, who was one of our world's more successful psychic hoaxers: actually named Cyril Hoskin, and son of a Devon plumber, Lobsang Rampa claimed to be a Tibetan monk with paranormal powers. He wrote the best-selling 1956 book _The Third Eye_ which, even though Rampa was exposed as a fraud by _Time_ Magazine in 1958, is still being printed and sold as the real thing 30 years later. Rich, gullible people like actress Shirley MacLaine still pay money to have their 'third eye' opened up by contemporary Rampa equivalents. When questioned about the name, Terry answered: "I know all kindsa Tibetan names... Kelsang, Jambel, Tsong, Tenzin, Tupten (drops Tibetan reference book on foot)... but Lobsang is, thanks to Mr Rampa, probably the best known." - [p. 33/29] "There was a knock on the door. Magrat went and opened it. 'Hai?', she said." Apart from being Magrat's ninja war cry, 'Hai?' also means 'Yes?' in Japanese. - [p. 38/34] "'Shut up. Anyway, she's non compost mental,' said Granny." "Non compos mentis" is a Latin phrase meaning "not of sound mind". + [p. 42/37] "'Anno Domini, I said.'" Anno Domini means 'year of our Lord' (as in e.g.: 1993 AD). It is indeed also used to denote old age, although this usage is a fairly recent literary invention, dating back to at least 1888 when Rudyard Kipling wrote the short story _Venus Annodomini_. - [p. 47/41] "No one ran up them wearing dirndls and singing. They were not nice mountains." Refers to the opening scene of _The Sound of Music_, where Julie Andrews does just that: running up the mountains, and singing, and wearing dirndls (if you want to know what a dirndl looks like, go see the movie). - [p. 48/42] "The witches flew along a maze of twisty little canyons, all alike." This refers back to a legendary message that appeared in Crowther & Woods' text adventure game _ADVENT_ (see also the annotation for p. 130/114 of _The Colour of Magic_): "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike." Many games have included variants of this. It also appeared in _Zork_ ("The second of the great early experiments in computer fantasy gaming", as _The New Hacker's Dictionary_ describes it), and in the _Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ game you appear in your own brain, in "a maze of twisty synapses". + [p. 48/42] The section dealing with dwarfs (and in fact, almost *everything* Terry writes about dwarfs) is a parody of Tolkien's dwarves. In particular, compare the witches' musings on mine entries and invisible runes to Tolkien's scenes outside Moria. Dwarf bread brings to mind Tolkien's waybreads: cram and lembas. And as the witches leave the dwarfs, they have an encounter with a wretched creature mumbling something about his birthday... - [p. 49/43] "[...] and spake thusly: 'Open up, you little sods!'" In Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_ there is a famous scene outside the dwarven mines of Moria, where invisible runes written on the door (and revealed by the wizard Gandalf) give our heroes the clue as to how to get the door to open, namely by saying the word 'friend'. Personally, I like Nanny Ogg's way better. - [p. 51/45] "[...] if more trolls stopped wearing suits and walking upright, and went back to living under bridges [...]" See the annotation for p. 193/140 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 52/45] "It's often said that eskimos have fifty words for snow. This is not true." In fact, the situation regarding eskimos and snow is pretty much the same as the one Terry subsequently describes for dwarfs and rocks: eskimos have a number of different words for different *kinds* of snow and ice, but nothing out of the ordinary. - [p. 58/51] "'[...] whenever I deals with dwarfs, the phrase 'Duck's Arse' swims across my mind.'" From the phrase "tight as a duck's arse", implying excessive meanness. - [p. 61/53] "'I knows all about folk songs. Hah! You think you're listenin' to a nice song about... about cuckoos and fiddlers and nightingales and whatnot, and then it turns out to be about... about something else entirely,' she added darkly." Just as an example of the type of song Granny may have in mind, here are a few verses of 'The Cuckoo's Nest': As I went a-walking one morning in May I spied a pretty fair maid and unto her did say For love I am inclined and I'll tell you of my mind That my inclination lies in your cuckoo's nest. Some like a girl who is pretty in the face And some like a girl who is slender in the waist Ah, but give me a girl who will wriggle and will twist At the bottom of the belly lies the cuckoo's nest. When this annotation led to a torrent of similar folk songs being discussed on a.f.p., at one point Terry chimed in with: "My favourite was something I think by a guy called Diz Disley back in the very early 70s. From memory: As I walked out one May morning, In the month of Februaryyy, I saw a pretty serving maid a-comin' out the dairy; A handsome knight came ridin' by I politely raised my cap and They went behind the stable and I never saw what happened." - [p. 62/54] "'Thank goodness witches float.'" An obvious joke, but easily missed: refers to ducking suspected witches. If they drowned, they were innocent. - [p. 62/55] "The maiden, the mother and the... other one." The "other one" is the crone. See also the annotation for p. 248/218. - [p. 67/59] "'Der flabberghast,' muttered Nanny. 'What's that?' said Magrat. 'It's foreign for bat.'" Well no, it isn't, actually. The German word for bat is 'Fledermaus', as in Johann Strauss' famous operette _Die Fledermaus_. 'Flabberghast' seems to derive more from the plain English 'flabbergasted' (meaning: astonished beyond belief). Similarly, 'die flabbergast' apparently was a Mozart-spoofing sketch that Dudley Moore did in _Beyond The Fringe_. - [p. 87/75] The names the witches are considering for themselves are puns on existing airline companies or their acronyms. Nanny Ogg starts to say _Virgin Airlines_, but is rudely interrupted by a gust of wind. - [p. 88/77] "'I like stuff that tells you plain what it is, like... well... Bubble and Squeak, or... or... 'Spotted Dick,' said Nanny absently." Americans might be amazed to learn that Bubble and Squeak, Spotted Dick, and Toad-in-the-Hole (which is mentioned a few lines further down) are all actually the names of existing British delicacies. Nanny Ogg is correct in identifying Toad-in-the-Hole as a sausage embedded in a sort of tart filled with pancake batter. Bubble and Squeak is traditionally made on Boxing Day from Christmas leftovers (potato, onion, cabbage and Brussels sprouts appear to be favourite ingredients among alt.fan.pratchett readers, fried up together in lard. Spotted Dick is a suet-sponge pudding with currants or sultanas in it. - [p. 89/78] "'Magrat says she will write a book called Travelling on One Dollar a Day, and it's always the same dollar.'" Refers to the famous traveller's guide originally titled _Europe on Five Dollars a Day_. This is of course also extensively parodied in the _Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ ("see the wonders of the universe for only twenty Altairian dollars per day"). - [p. 91/79] "What does cojones mean?" 'Cojones' is Spanish for 'hen's eggs', colloquially used for 'testicles'. The whole 'Thing with the Bulls' section spoofs the annual bull running festival of Pamplona in our world. Ernest Hemingway was very impressed with this macho activity, and used the word 'cojones' to describe the bravery displayed by the young men participating in the event. I doubt if it originated with Hemingway, but to this day "having the balls" is used in both English and Spanish to mean "act bravely". - [p. 95/83] "''S called the Vieux River.' 'Yes?' 'Know what that means?' 'No.' 'The Old (Masculine) River,' said Nanny. 'Yes?' 'Words have sex in foreign parts,' said Nanny hopefully." The Mississippi River is often known as 'Old Man River', for instance in the classic song from the 1936 Kern/Hammerstein musical _Show Boat_. Near the mouth of the Mississippi lies New Orleans, on which Genua seems to be largely based. And then there are the riverboats, with the gamblers... - [p. 96/84] "[...] she wants to make it a Magic Kingdom, a Happy and Peaseful place [...]" The most famous part of the Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida, is officially called the 'Magic Kingdom'. - [p. 97/84] "[...] Samedi Nuit Mort, the last night of carnivale, [...]" Samedi Nuit Mort = Saturday Night Dead, a reference to the television comedy show _Saturday Night Live_. - [p. 97/85] "'That means Fat Lunchtime,' said Nanny Ogg, international linguist." Actually, 'Mardi Gras' means Fat Tuesday. Nanny Ogg is confusing 'Mardi' with 'Midi', which mean 'midday', i.e. lunchtime. - [p. 114/99] "Even Magrat knew about Black Aliss." In Terry Pratchett's universe Black Aliss is obviously the evil witch of *all* fairy tales. The stories referred to here are _Sleeping Beauty_, _Rumpelstiltskin_ and _Hansel And Gretel_, all of which are available as on-line versions (see the annotation for p. 34/34 of _The Light Fantastic_). - [p. 122/107] "Are you the taxgatherers, dear?' 'No, ma'am, we're --' '-- fairies,' said Fairy Hedgehog quickly." This is a _Blues Brothers_ reference: in the film, the dialogue goes: "'Are you the police?' 'No, ma'am, we're musicians.'" - [p. 134/117] "'[...] there's been other odd things happening in this forest.'" Magrat then goes on to describe more or less what happened in the fairy tales of _Goldilocks and the Three Bears_ and _The Three Little Pigs_. - [p. 134/118] "'[...] some ole enchantress in history who lived on an island and turned shipwrecked sailors into pigs.'" For once, Nanny Ogg *doesn't* mix up two or more real-world tales, but gets the story (almost) right: Circe was the name of the sorceress from the _Odyssey_ who lived on the island Aeaea, and turned Ulysses' shipmates into pigs when they landed (but didn't shipwreck) there. - [p. 136/119] "[...] around Defcon II in the lexicon of squabble." In the jargon of American military planners, the DEFCON scale (for _Defence Readiness Condition_) is used to describe the level of preparedness of U.S. military forces. I quote from _The Language of Nuclear War -- An Intelligent Citizen's Dictionary_ by H. Eric Semler, James J. Benjamin, Jr., and Adam P. Gross: "DEFCON 5 describes a state in which forces are at normal readiness, while DEFCON 1, referred to as the "cocked pistol," indicates a state of extreme emergency, when forces are poised for attack. Not all U.S. military forces are simultaneously at the same DEFCON. The DEFCON varies depending upon the type of weapon with which the troops are equipped and the region in which they are deployed. For example, U.S. troops in South Korea are always at DEFCON 4 but soldiers tending nuclear missiles deployed in the continental U.S. are normally kept at DEFCON 5. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy raised the DEFCON of U.S. forces to DEFCON 2 (a status just below wartime conditions)." - [p. 137/120] "'Oh? It's all wishing on stars and fairy dust, is it?'" Fairly standard magic-related concepts, but perhaps it should be noted that wishing on stars is done in Disney's _Pinocchio_, while fairy dust features heavily in _Peter Pan_ (both the original play and the subsequent Disney movie). - [p. 137/120] "'[...] and no one doesn't get burned who sticks their hand in a fire.'" I feel that in _Witches Abroad_ Terry was experimenting much more than usual with the literary device of foreshadowing. This is only one of the many instances in the book where something is said that means nothing to the reader first time around, but which suddenly becomes very significant when you notice it during a re-read, and you already know what is going to happen later. - [p. 139/122] "'What some people need,' said Magrat, [...], 'is a bit more heart.' 'What some people need,' said Granny Weatherwax, [...], 'is a lot more brain.' [...] What *I* need, thought Nanny Ogg fervently, is a drink." These are references to the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion respectively, once you remember that an alcoholic drink is also known as 'Dutch courage'. In fact, in the original book the courage the Lion is given comes in a bottle, and many feel that Baum had alcohol in mind when he wrote it. - [p. 139/122] The farmhouse landing on Nanny Ogg, and the subsequent events involving dwarfs looking for ruby-coloured footwear are references to _The Wizard of Oz_. All Terry's references are to the movie version, incidentally, not the book. In the book Dorothy obtains Silver Shoes instead of Ruby Slippers, doesn't say anything approaching "... we're not in Kansas any more", and of course the book doesn't have a 'dingdong' song. - [p. 140/123] "'You know, Greebo,' she said. "I don't think we're in Lancre.' Dorothy, to her dog, in _The Wizard of Oz_: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." - [p. 148/130] "'[...] that girl with the long pigtails in a tower [...] Rumplestiltzel or someone.'" The girl with the long hair is Rapunzel from the famous fairy tale of the same name. 'Rumpelstiltskin' is a different, unrelated fairy tale involving a dwarf spinning gold out of straw. - [p. 153/134] "Not a Ronald in sight." Terry says: "Yep... direct use of existing East London rhyming slang there (Richard the Third = turd)." - [p. 159/139] "'That's 'cos you're a wet hen, Magrat Garlick,' said Granny." When questioned about the phrase, Terry explained: "Perfectly good British slang. A 'wet hen' is bedraggled, sad and useless. Probably not as useless as a big girl's blouse, though, and better off than a lame duck." - [p. 173/152] "'My full name's Erzulie Gogol,' said Mrs Gogol. 'People call me Mrs Gogol.'" This resonates with _In the Heat of the Night_ (see the annotation for p. 365/277 of _Men at Arms_), in so much as we have two persons of the same profession, one of them black, the other white, and one of them *way* out of her territory. The name 'Erzuli' comes directly from Voodoo religion. Maitresse Erzulie (also known as Ezili) is the ideal figure of womanhood, and the spirit of love and beauty. - [p. 174/153] "'This is Legba, a dark and dangerous spirit,' said Mrs Gogol." Legba (also known as Papa Legba or Legba Ati-bon) is the Voodoo spirit of the cross-roads, where the Above meets the Below. He is "on both sides of the mirror". He leans on a stick, and another of his symbols is the macoutte (straw sack). Chickens are sacrificed to him by twisting their neck till they are dead. - [p. 176/154] "So he said 'Get me an alligator sandwich -- and make it quick!'" It is obvious that Granny is trying to tell a joke here -- and failing miserably. The problem was that quite a few readers (including yours truly) were having trouble figuring out what that joke was supposed to be in the first place. People started asking about the Alligator Joke so frequently on alt.fan.pratchett, that eventually Terry himself posted the following "definitive explanation of the alligator joke": "It is (I hope) obvious that Granny Weatherwax has absolutely no sense of humour but she has, as it were, heard about it. She has no grasp of how or why jokes work -- she's one of those people who say "And then what happened?" after you've told them the punchline. She can vaguely remember the one-liner "Give me an alligator sandwich -- and make it snappy!" but since she's got no idea of why it's even mildly amusing she gets confused... all that she can remember is that apparently the man wants it quickly." When conversation on the net then turned to the origins of the joke, he followed up with: "As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I first came across the joke in an ancient US comedy routine -- Durante or someone like him. It sounds burlesque." See the annotation for p. 195/159 of _Mort_ for another type of meta-joke based on the alligator joke. - [p. 177/155] Emberella --> Embers; Cinderella --> Cinders... - [p. 179/157] "'I am called Saturday.' 'Man Saturday, eh?' said Nanny Ogg." Nanny is thinking of Man Friday as in Robinson Crusoe's native friend. But Saturday is of course none other than Baron Samedi (Samedi = Saturday), the Voodoo keeper of cemeteries and lord of zombies. He appears as a skeleton wearing a top hat and a black cane. - [p. 197/172] "Nanny Ogg waved the jug again. 'Up your eye!' she said. 'Mud in your bottom!'" The two traditional English toasts being mixed up here are "bottoms up" and "here's mud in your eye". - [p. 198/174] "[...] Nanny Ogg and the coachmen were getting along, as she put it, like a maison en flambe." See the annotation for p. 313/284 of _Guards! Guards!_ - [p. 199/175] "[...] Nanny Ogg kept calling them 'Magrats', but they were trousers, and very practical." Calling them Magrats is a reference to Bloomers, originally a female costume consisting of jacket, shirt and Turkish trousers gathered closely around the ankles, introduced by Mrs Amelia Bloomer of New York in 1849. Associated with the Woman's Rights Movement, the outfit met with little success. Nowadays 'bloomers' is applied to the trouser portion only. - [p. 228/201] "'This is [...] Sir, Roger de Coverley.'" 'Sir Roger de Coverley' is the title of a folk dance. - [p. 228/201] "'...my name is Colonel Moutarde...'" 'Moutarde' is French for 'mustard'. Colonel Mustard is the name of one of the characters in the board game (and subsequent movie) _Clue_ (or _Cluedo_). - [p. 229/201] Casanunda, "the world's greatest lover", refers to our world's Casanova. Notice that Casanova is often roughly pronounced as 'Casanover' (emphasis on the 'over'), and that Casanunda (emphasis on the 'unda') is a dwarf... Actually, Casanunda is lying, because we later find out he's only the world's *second* greatest lover. But this should not surprise us, since yet even later (in _Lords and Ladies_) we also find out that he is an Outrageous Liar. - [p. 235/207] "Nanny Ogg's voyages on the sea of intersexual dalliance had gone rather further than twice around the lighthouse, [...]" A popular way of staving off boredom at typical British seaside holiday resorts is to take a trip in a small boat, which will often journey out as far as the local lighthouse and circumnavigate it. Hence the above colloquialism, implying that Nanny's experiences were not limited to the inshore waters of male/female relationships. - [p. 248/218] "The maiden, the mother and the crone." Traditionally, the wiccan goddess (see _Equal Rites_ annotation) is viewed as the triple entity maiden/mother/crone, and our witches indeed echo this model. Neil Gaiman uses the triple goddess quite often in his _Sandman_ series. - [p. 249/219] "Mrs Gogol's hut travelled on four large duck feet, which were now rising out of the swamp." Baba Yaga is a witch in Russian folklore, who had a hut that stood, and was able to turn around, on chicken feet. I don't believe that hut could walk, however. (Neil Gaiman seemed to think it could, though: Baba Yaga and a walking hut figure in Book 3 of his excellent _Books of Magic_.) One of Mussorgsky's _Pictures at an Exhibition_ ('House on hen's legs') also refers back to Baba Yaga, by way of another Russian's painting of said fairy tale hut. - [p. 252/222] "'I'm a world-famous liar.' 'Is that true?' 'No.'" Casanunda here recreates the famous liar paradox: Epimenides the Cretan saying "All Cretans are liars". For more information on this paradox see any good book about logic puzzles, although I particularly recommend Douglas R. Hofstadter's _Metamagical Themas_. - [p. 252/222] "'Well, maybe I'm only No. 2,' said Casanunda. 'But I try harder.'" This was the catchphrase from a well-known ad campaign in the late 60s. The No. 2 was car rental firm Avis; Hertz was No. 1. Avis still uses the "we try harder" slogan, but the "we're No. 2" part was dropped a long time ago. - [p. 274/241] "'[...] what was that Tsortean bloke who could only be wounded if you hit 'im in the right place?'" Nanny is thinking of the Discworld version of Achilles, who was invincible except for a small spot on his heel. - [p. 285/252] "Nanny kicked her red boots together idly. 'Well, I suppose there's no place like home,' she said." Another _Wizard of Oz_ reference (kicking her shoes together three times and saying a similar sentence invoked the spell that transported Dorothy home from Oz). + [p. 285/252] "But they went the long way, and saw the elephant." Several people were immediately reminded of Fritz Leiber's Hugo award winning novelette _Gonna Roll The Bones_, which ends: "Then he turned and headed straight for home, but he took the long way, around the world." Terry has said there is no conscious connection, however. "Seeing the elephant" also resonates nicely with _The Lord of the Rings_, where Bilbo complains wistfully that he never got to see an elephant on *his* adventures 'abroad': "[...] Aragorn's affairs, and the White Council, and Gondor, and the Horsemen, and Southrons, and oliphaunts -- did you really see one, Sam? -- and caves and towers and golden trees and goodness knows what besides. I evidently came back by much too straight a road from my trip. I think Gandalf might have shown me round a bit." Also, "to have seen the elephant" is British military slang dating back to the 19th century, and means to have taken part in one's first battle, while during the 1849 California Goldrush, "going to see the elephant" was widely used as a phrase by people to signify their intention to travel westwards and try their luck. (See e.g. JoAnn Levy's 1999 book _They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush_.) SMALL GODS - [p. 8/7] "'I remember,' said Lu-Tze." Lu-Tze is probably meant to parallel Lao-Tze, the writer of the _Tao Te Ching_ and thus one of the founders of Taoism. The mountain range he carries with him is reminiscent of stories told by and of Taoist and Buddhist sages. - [p. 8/7] "'Young fellow called Ossory, wasn't there?'" For what it's worth: an ossuary is a place where the bones of the dead are kept. + [p. 9/8] The name 'Brutha' is of course pronounced as a jive-ified 'brother', and resonates with the name of Buddhism's prophet Buddha. - [p. 11/9] Brother Nhumrod. Brother Nhumrod's name is not only an obvious pun on the man's sexual problems, but also refers to the Biblical Nimrod who was "a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10:8). - [p. 12/10] "Give me a boy up to the age of seven, Nhumrod had always said." This is a reference to the Jesuit saying: "Give me a child for the first seven years, and you may do what you like with him afterwards." The Jesuits boasted that they could convert anyone if they just started early enough. - [p. 15/12] The Cenobiarch. A cenobite is a "member of a religious order following a communal way of life". The 'arch' suffix denotes leadership (as in e.g. 'matriarch'). - [p. 15/12] "[...] and torturers, and Vestigial Virgins..." See the annotation for p. 88/79 of _Reaper Man_. - [p. 19/15] _You Don't Have To Be Pitilessly Sadistic To Work Here But It Helps!!!_ Refers to those lame stickers and signs in offices and work areas all over the world that say: "You don't have to be insane to work here but it helps!". In _Eric_ a similar slogan is pasted on the door to the Discworld Hell ("You don't have to be 'Damned' to work here..."). - [p. 31/23] "De Chelonian Mobile [...] The Turtle Moves." This whole theory parodies Galileo Galilei's struggle to get his theory of a moving earth (moving around the sun, that is) accepted by the Christian Church. The specific phrasing of the motto refers to what Galileo supposedly uttered under his breath after recanting his theory to the Inquisition (mirrored by Didactylos having to do the same in front of Vorbis); "E pur si muove" -- "And yet it moves". This explains why the Chelonists say "The Turtle Moves" and not, say, "It's A Turtle" or "We're On A Turtle". After all, the point of contention is the existence of the turtle, not whether it's mobile or stationary. - [p. 31/23] "'And what does that stand on?' he said." This is the classic objection to the turtle theory, at least according to an anecdote that has been told about every big name scientist from Bertrand Russell to William James. In the story, the scientist, after giving a lecture on astronomy, is approached by a little old lady who says that he's got it all wrong and that the world in fact rests on the back of a giant turtle. The scientist then asks the lady what the turtle is standing on, and she answers: on the back of a second, even larger turtle. But, asks the scientist, what does *that* turtle stand on? To which the lady triumphantly answers: "You're very clever, young man, but it's no use -- it's turtles all the way down!". + [p. 53/39] "'He was eight feet tall? With a very long beard? And a huge staff? And the glow of the holy horns shining out of his head?'" Michelangelo depicted Moses with horns after coming down from Mount Sinai. This can be traced back to an interpretation error from the original Hebrew, where the same word can mean either "send out rays" or "be horned", depending on context. - [p. 55/40] "'I was beginning to think I was a tortoise dreaming about being a god.'" This parallels one of the writings of Chuang Tzu, a Taoist sage: "Once Chuang Chou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Chuang Chou. Suddenly he woke up, and there he was, solid and unmistakable Chuang Chou. But he didn't know if he was Chuang Chou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Chou." - [p. 60/44] "'The other novices make fun of him, sometimes. Call him The Big Dumb Ox.'" St Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) was called the "the dumb ox" by his fellow students due to his silence during theological disputes at the university. He just listened, or perhaps lurked is a better term. He also had a large and awkward frame, like Brutha. The story goes that Thomas' teacher (Albertus Magnus, see the annotation for p. 221/180 of _Mort_) rebuked the insensitive students by saying: "His name will be remembered long after yours are all forgotten". He was right. Thomas Aquinas was canonised less than a century later. (And so was Albertus Magnus, but not until 1931.) - [p. 78/57] "He was good at raking paths. He left scallop patterns and gentle soothing curves." This is a description of a Zen rock garden. - [p. 80/59] "'Nice fresh indulgences? Lizards? Onna stick?'" Given the Medieval Catholic nature of Omnianism, Dhblah's trade in indulgences (time off for a loved one in Purgatory) isn't at all surprising. - [p. 83/60] "Below it, the doors of the Great Temple, each one made of forty tons of gilded bronze, opened by the breath (it was said) of the Great God Himself, swung open ponderously and -- and this was the holy part -- silently." The doors of a temple in Alexandria were opened by a steam engine designed by the Greek philosopher Hero. With similar legends surrounding it. This is a myth, however. Hero *did* invent a steam "engine", but it was merely a small sphere that rotated due to steam pressure (history's earliest executive toy?) There is no evidence that he ever used the invention for any real work (e.g. opening doors). - [p. 87/64] "'And -- that other one. The *eminence grease*.'" Eminence grise = "grey eminence", as in "shadowy power". - [p. 90/66] "'[...] they have to cross a terrible desert and you weigh their heart in some scales [...] And if it weighs less than a feather, they are spared the hells.'" In Egyptian myth, a dead man was judged by Osiris, Thoth, Anubis and forty-two Assessors in the Hall of Judgement in the Underworld. His heart was balanced against the Feather of Truth while he made his Confession. If his heart was heavy (with guilt), then the monster Amit ate the heart. See the Egyptian Book of the Dead for more details. - [p. 92/67] "Give me that old-time religion..." This is the title to a song, originally belonging to the evangelist revival camp meeting category, which has the chorus: Give me that old time religion, Give me that old time religion, Give me that old time religion, Cos it's good enough for me. It has been taken up by the SF filk community ('filk' = folk singing, but with funny or parodying lyrics), which has added verses like: Let's sing praise to Aphrodite She may seem a little flighty, but she wears a green gauze nighty, And she's good enough for me. and the Lovecraftian: We will worship old Cthulhu, Yes, we'll worship old Cthulhu, I can't find a rhyme for Cthulhu And that's good enough for me. - [p. 100/73] "You have to walk a lonesome desert... You have to walk it all alone..." Terry said in an article to a.f.p: "This probably is a good time to raise the 'lonesome valley/lonesome desert' lines from _Small Gods_, with apologies to you who, because of finance, heel-dragging by publishers or because you threw all that tea in the harbour, haven't read it yet. Yes, I know variants of the song have turned up on various folk/country/spiritual albums over the last forty years, but some American friends tracked variations of it back to the last century and the anonymous mists of folk Christianity. So I used it, like everyone else has done. Like 'Lord of the Dance', it's one of those songs that transcends a specific religion -- and also a very attractive use of language." - [p. 105/77] "The Voice of the Turtle was heard in the land." The Bible, Song of Solomon 2:12: The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Note that the biblical 'turtle' in fact refers to the turtledove. - [p. 106/77] "'I am what I am. I can't help it if people think something else.'" This is *not* a Popeye reference! "I am that I am" is what God said to Moses in answer to the questions "What is his name? What shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:14). - [p. 108/79] "There was Sergeant Simony, a muscular young man [...]" 'Simony' is the religious crime of selling benefices. Since Terry doesn't refer to or joke about this second meaning at all in the rest of the book, I had left this annotation out of previous versions of the APF, but people kept writing me about it, so this time I've put it in for completeness' sake. - [p. 114/83] "'Three years before the shell.'" The phrase "x years before the mast" was used by sailors to indicate the length of time they've been in their profession. Common seamen slept in the forward part of the ship, i.e. before the main mast on sailing ships. Officers slept in the after part of the ship where they could get easy access to the tiller. - [p. 117/85] Terry Pratchett translates the book title _Ego-Video Liber Deorum_ here as _Gods: A Spotter's Guide_. Actually, the dog-Latin translates more literally to _The I-Spy Book of Gods_. I-Spy books are little books for children with lists of things to look out for. When you see one of these things you tick a box and get some points. When you get enough points you can send off for a badge. They have titles like _The I-Spy Book of Birds_ and _The I-Spy Book of Cars_. - [p. 117/85] "Or, to put it another way the existence of a badly put-together watch proved the existence of a blind watchmaker." This whole section is parodying the creationist argument that complex creatures such as those which exist in the world could only be the product of deliberate design and hence must have been created by a Supreme Being rather than by a 'blind' process such as evolution. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins provided a counter-argument in his book _The Blind Watchmaker_. - [p. 119/87] "It was worse than women aboard. It was worse than albatrosses." Both women and albatrosses are traditionally considered bad luck on a ship. For a classic example of the latter, just recall Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_. - [p. 126/92] "The shepherd had a hundred sheep, and it might have been surprising that he was prepared to spend days searching for one sheep; [...]" Another Biblical allusion. Jesus used this as a parable for the mercy of God, in Matthew 18:12: "How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?" - [p. 127/92] "[...] the priests of Ur-Gilash [...]" The name is a composite of several ancient names. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Babylonian tale which contains some interesting parallels to contemporary Biblical stories. Gil-Galash was ruler of one of the Euphrates civilisations. And Ur was, of course, a Babylonian city, as well as a prefix signifying "primal" or "original". + [p. 131/95] "'According to Book One of the Septateuch, anyway.'" A reference to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible/Torah. When Brutha, Om's last great prophet, finishes writing *his* book, the Septateuch will become the Octateuch, which is of course wholly appropriate for the Discworld... - [p. 138/100] "'There's one of 'em that sits around playing a flute most of the time and chasing milkmaids.'" This describes Krishna, an avatar or incarnation of the god Vishnu in Indian mythology, who spent his youth playing the flute and dancing with as many as 100 milkmaids at a time. - [p. 139/101] Legibus's entrance incorporates some concepts borrowed from several legends of famous philosophers. Archimedes was the one who jumped out of the bath and ran naked down the street shouting 'Eureka!' after he'd discovered the principle of fluid displacement. He also said "Give me but a place to stand and a long enough lever, and I can move the world", a quote that Terry repeatedly uses in different forms. The "Number Nine pot and some string, please" probably refers to the ancient method of calculating the curvature of the Earth's surface as done by Eratosthenes of Cyrene. The drawing of triangles vaguely recalls Pythagoras. - [p. 142/103] "[...] putting a thirty-foot parabolic reflector on a high place to shoot the rays of the sun at an enemy's ships [...]" Legend has it that Archimedes did just this in the defence of the city of Syracuse in 213 BC. - [p. 143/103] "'[...] some intricate device that demonstrated the principles of leverage by incidentally hurling balls of burning sulphur two miles.'" This is a description of the Ballista, another weapon supposedly invented by Archimedes. - [p. 152/110] "[...] if Xeno the Ephebian said, 'All Ephebians are liars --'" This is the Liar Paradox again. See the annotation for p. 252/222 of _Witches Abroad_. - [p. 153/111] "'That's right,' he said. 'We're philosophers. We think, therefore we am.'" Play on Descartes' famous philosophical pronouncement "Cogito, ergo sum" -- "I think, therefore I am". - [p. 153/111] "'Thesis plus antithesis equals hysteresis,' said Ibid." A play on the central tenet of dialectical materialism, which was lifted (by Marx and Engels) from Hegelian philosophy: "Thesis plus antithesis yields synthesis". - [p. 154/112] "'Fedecks the Messenger of the Gods, one of the all-time greats,' said Xeno." Federal Express (or FedEx) is an overnight shipping courier service. - [p. 154/112] A running gag in the book is the penguin associated with Patina, the Goddess of Wisdom. This refers to Minerva or Pallas Athena (*Pal*-las A-*thena*, get it, get it?), who was the Roman/Greek goddess of wisdom, and whose symbol was an owl. - [p. 159/115] The Greek name Didactylos, besides having the word 'didactic' as its root (very appropriate for a philosopher), also translates as 'Two-fingers'. The British equivalent of "giving someone the finger" consists of extending two fingers upwards, palm facing the gesturer, in a kind of rotated 'V for Victory' sign. The origin of this rude gesture is supposed to date back to the battle of Agincourt. In those days the French used to cut the index and middle fingers off the right hands of any British archers they happened to catch, in order to render them useless for further shooting should they e.g. ever manage to escape and rejoin their army. When the English finally won the battle (largely thanks to their longbowmen) the gesture quickly evolved from a Frenchmen-ridiculing "look what I still got" statement into a more general rudeness. Whether this story, charming as it may be, is in fact completely incorrect, or only partially incorrect, or completely correct after all, is something I will no longer be attempting to resolve in this annotation, since proponents of all three theories have been supplying me with quotes from various history books in order to support their claim. - [p. 164/118] "Candidates for the Tyrantship were elected by the placing of black or white balls in various urns, thus giving rise to a well-known comment about politics." That comment probably being: "It's all a load of balls". - [p. 168/121] _Nil Illegitimo Carborundum_ is dog-Latin for "Don't let the bastards grind you down". Variants of it crop up in various places, most notably _Nil Carborundi Illegitimo_ which apparently is a key phrase in the Illuminati mythos. - [p. 170/122] Urn's name is a reference to the old joke: Question: "What's a Greek urn?" Answer: "About $2,50 an hour!" Or, as the _Goon Show_ put it: -- "What's a Greek urn?" -- "It's a vase made by Greeks for storing liquid." -- "I wasn't expecting that answer." -- "Neither were quite a few smart-alec listeners." - [p. 178/128] "'Worried, eh? Feeling a bit Avis Domestica? Cluck-cluck?'" Actually, the Latin name for 'chicken' is _Gallus Domesticus_ -- even though 'avis' by itself does mean 'bird'. - [p. 178/129] "He caught a glimpse of a circle of damp sand, covered with geometrical figures. Om was sitting in the middle of them." The whole scene with Om drawing shapes in the sand is a reference to the computer programming language Logo, in which figures are drawn by a turtle-shaped cursor ('turtle graphics'). In fact, it was also possible to get a real 'turtle': a little robot attached to a Logo machine by a long cable which would walk around on a big sheet of paper. - [p. 180/130] "'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". Hence: ambi-sinister = having two left hands. - [p. 182/131] "The Library of Ephebe was -- before it burned down -- the second biggest on the Disc." Refers of course to our world's Alexandrian Library. Brewer tells us that this Library was supposed to have contained 700,000 volumes. It was already burned and partially consumed in 391, but when the city fell into the hands of the calif Omar, in 642, the Arabs found books sufficient to "heat the baths of the city for six months". Legend has it that Omar ordered the Library torched because all the books in it either agreed with the Koran, and were therefore superfluous; or else disagreed with the Koran, and were therefore heretical, but this is probably just apocryphal. Other references say that the inhabitants of Alexandria torched the scrolls themselves in order to keep the knowledge out of the hands of the Arabs. - [p. 182/131] "[...] a whole gallery of unwritten books [...]" Libraries of unwritten books are of course very rare, but do tend to crop up occasionally in L-Space. The library described in the opening section of _Beyond Life_ by James Branch Cabell contains the novels of David Copperfield as well as Milton's _King Arthur_. In Neil Gaiman's _Sandman_, Lucien's library (a direct homage to Cabell) also contains books that were never written, such as _Alice's Journey Beyond The Moon_ by Lewis Carroll, _The Lost Road_ by J. R. R. Tolkien, and P. G. Wodehouse's _Psmith and Jeeves_. There's also a library of future books in Robin McKinley's novel _Beauty_. Finally, other people were reminded of the library in Jorge Luis Borges' story _The Library of Babel_, where a vast universe is described which contains *all* possible books (assuming a finite alphabet and a fixed book size the number of all possible books is mindbogglingly huge, but finite) -- in random order. Most books in such a library would appear written by the 'monkey and typewriter' brigade, but all the coherent books, whether actually written or not, are in there as well. All libraries are connected through L-Space anyway, aren't they? - [p. 183/132] Didactylos carrying a lantern and living in a barrel is a reference to Diogenes, the famous philosopher who is reputed to have done the same. - [p. 184/132] Aristocrates = Aristotle + Socrates + aristocratic. - [p. 185/133] "Art was not permitted in Omnia." The comment about no art and pictures being allowed in Om resonates with similar prohibitions in various real world religions, ranging from the Muslims to the Amish. - [p. 208/150] "'Ah gentlemen,' said Didactylos. 'Pray don't disturb my circles.'" Legend has it that when Syracuse was eventually taken the Roman soldiers entered Archimedes' house as he was trying to solve a geometrical problem. He had just been drawing some figures on the floor of his house when the soldiers entered. "Gentlemen, pray don't disturb my circles," Archimedes is reported to have said to the soldiers, one of whom then drew his sword and slew him on the spot. - [p. 209/150] "'You don't belong to the Quisition,' said the Corporal. 'No. But I know a man who does,' said Brutha." In the UK there were a series of adverts for the AA (Automobile Association) where people were in various dire motoring trouble. They were asked by a passenger (say) if they knew how to get out of it. They replied either: "No. But I know a man who can." or "No. But I know a man who does." It's now very much a part of English idiom. - [p. 215/154] "'Describe what an Ambiguous Puzuma looks like,' he demanded." Brutha goes on to describe the Puzuma as having its ears laid flat against its head. Of course, as we learned in the footnote on p. 178/171 of _Pyramids_, in a Puzuma's "natural state", everything is laid flat against everything else... - [p. 220/158] "'One minute upright, next minute a draught-excluder.'" Discussions on a.f.p., initiated by a puzzled American reader, revealed that the concept of a 'draught-excluder' is one of those things only British readers are familiar with. Many English houses, especially older ones, have doors with a gap at the bottom, which will allow cold draughts into the room. To solve this, rather than simple expedients such as making doors that fit, the English instead place a cylindrical stuffed object (often shaped amusingly like a snake with felt eyes and tongue, for the tackily inclined) along the bottom of the door to keep out the draughts. Hence: a draught excluder. I have been informed that the English exported their draught excluders to Australia as well, and that Croatians also know them, but use them for windows rather than for doors. - [p. 225/161] "'Tell him you can't recall!'" "I can't recall" was the mantra of the White House officials during the investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal in the late 1980s. - [p. 226/162] "'Life in this world,' he said, 'is, as it were, a sojourn in a cave.'" This paragraph is a very loose parody of a famous Socratic dialogue in Plato's _Republic_, Book VII. I quote (and edit down a wee bit) from _Labyrinths of Reason_ by William Poundstone, p. 203: "Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open toward the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. [...] and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave? [...] And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would see only the shadows? [...] And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose they were naming what was actually before them? [...] To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images." - [p. 226/162] "Go on, do Deformed Rabbit ...it's my favourite." Reference to the art of making shadow animals with your hands, as described on p. 43/36 of _Moving Pictures_: "'Mainly my uncle did "Deformed Rabbit", said Victor. 'He wasn't very good at it, you see.'" - [p. 226/162] "'And the wrong sort of ash', said Vorbis." The (true) story goes that British Rail was having difficulty one winter getting trains to run on time, which they blamed on the snow. They were then quizzed as to why their snow-ploughs couldn't deal with the problem. They replied that it was "the wrong sort of snow", a phrase that has now entered the English idiom. In defence of British Rail it should be pointed out that their remark wasn't as silly as it seems at first sight: what happened was that fine, dry, powdery snow blew inside the traction motor cooling slots and, melting, caused the motors to arc over. It simply is very rare for British snow to be cold and dry enough to do this, hence the "wrong sort of snow" comment which the press, seeking as usual for any excuse to make fun of British Rail, leapt upon with great glee. - [p. 231/166] Didactylos' anecdote about the royal road to learning parodies a similar one told about Aristotle and Alexander the Great. - [p. 236/170] "'I'm just going out,' said Brutha. 'I may be some time.'" Brutha here repeats the last words of Captain Oates, who walked out in a blizzard on Scott's unsuccessful Antarctic expedition, in order to try and save food for the remaining expedition members. He was never seen again. It didn't work. - [p. 249/179] "The scalbie took no notice. [...] It had perched on Om's shell." Resonates with the _B.C._ comic strip, which occasionally features a bird of indeterminate species standing on a turtle's shell. They don't get along very well, either. - [p. 254/182] "'Got to have a whole parcel of worshippers to live on Nob Hill.'" Nob Hill is an affluent section of San Francisco (which in turn got its name from 'nob', a British term of derision for upper-class people, especially those who are a little ostentatious with their wealth). - [p. 259/186] "'Something that'd open the valve if there was too much steam. I think I could do something with a pair of revolving balls.'" Urn's steam engines are more or less identical to the ones that were described by Archimedes and used in ancient Ephebe -- I mean Greece. These engines also used copper spheres as heating vessels, and these spheres did, in fact, have a regrettable tendency to explode, which is what limited their use until some bright person thought of adding overpressure relief valves. These steam engines never really caught on, because of various practical problems and the greater cost-effectiveness of slave-power. See also the James Watt annotation for p. 175/153 of _Reaper Man_. The contraption with revolving balls Urn is thinking of in the sentence quoted above was identified by several readers as something called a speed governor, invented by James Watt. This consists of two balls spinning on two opposite movable arms around a rotating central axis. When the centrifugal force gets large enough to lift the balls up, the movement opens a safety valve that lets off the steam, causing the rotation to slow down and the balls to come down again, closing the valve, etc. -- a simple but ingenious negative feedback device. - [p. 264/190] "There was a city once [...] there were canals, and gardens. There was a lake. They had floating gardens on the lake,[...]. Great pyramid temples that reached to the sky. Thousands were sacrificed." This description evokes Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), the capital of the ancient Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan was built on islands in a lake (now drained) and was crossed by canals, and the floating gardens may still be seen, as may ruins of many pyramid temples on which thousands were indeed sacrificed. - [p. 277/198] "'About life being like a sparrow flying through a room? Nothing but darkness outside? And it flies through the room and there's just a moment of warmth and light?'" This story appears in the Anglo-Saxon historian St Bede's account of the conversion of England to Christianity in the year 625. A noble relates this metaphor for human existence to King Edwin of Northumbria, and concludes, "Of what went before and of what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant. If therefore this new faith [Christianity] can give us some greater certainty, it justly deserves that we should follow it." The original meaning of the parable was to describe the human condition, with life as a moment of light between two dark unknowns; it's a nice twist of irony that Terry here uses it to describe the *divine* condition instead. - [p. 286/205] "Like many early thinkers, the Ephebians believed that thoughts originated in the heart, and that the brain was merely a device to cool the blood." In our world this idea was originally proposed by none other than Aristotle. Aristotle got almost everything to do with natural history dead wrong, although in his defense it must be said that it was not his fault that later cultures took his works to be Absolute Truth instead of trying to experiment and find things out for themselves. - [p. 287/206] "[...] promises in his head." The Small Gods' offer that "All this can be yours, if you just worship *me*..." parallels the Temptation of Christ in the desert, during his forty days' fast before starting his preaching. The offer of food is similar, but more closely related to St Peter's vision in Acts 10:11, in which a blanket is lowered from heaven, containing all sorts of ritually unclean food, notably Pork (the Roast Pig which is proffered by the Small Gods). - [p. 289/207] "The wheel had been nailed flat on the top of a slim pole." St Simon Stylites (or Simon the Elder), a Syrian Monk, spent the last 39 years of his life living atop a pole. There are quite a few accounts of pole sitting in Syrian Monasticism, and a variety of other hermits and extremely pious lunatics also lived this way. - [p. 290/208] "'My parents named me Sevrian Thaddeus Ungulant, [...]'" The hero of Gene Wolfe's science fiction novel _Book of the New Sun_ is called Severian. Like Brutha, Severian has a problem with forgetting things. St Ungulant's sidekick Angus resonates with the breed of cattle of the same name (the Aberdeen Angus), which in turn may not be entirely unrelated to the fact that an 'ungulate' is a hoofed mammal. - [p. 307/220] "'A nod's as good as a poke with a sharp stick to a deaf camel, as they say.'" A reference to the British saying "A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse", meaning that no hint is useful to one who does not notice it, implying that a hint is currently in progress. Terry combines this in typical fashion with the saying "It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick". Monty Python had similar fun with this proverb in their "Nudge nudge" sketch: "'A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?'" - [p. 321/230] "'What've you got? He's got an army! You've got an army? How many divisions have you got?'" As the Allies in World War II were planning the landing in Italy, they had frequent meetings to discuss methods and consequences. On one of these meetings, Churchill made a reference to what the Pope would think about all this. To which Stalin replied, "The pope? How many divisions does he have?". - [p. 324/232] "I don't know what effect it's going to have on the enemy, he thought, but it scares the hells out of me." Paraphrases a comment made by the Duke of Wellington immediately before the Battle of Waterloo, about his own troops, in particular about the Highland regiments (large, hairy, kilts, bagpipes, etc.). - [p. 325/233] "'We said, the first thing we'll do, we'll kill all the priests!'" Paraphrases a line from Shakespeare's _King Henry VI, part 2_, act 4, scene 2 (a play that's also about bloody revolution): "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." - [p. 327/234] "Bishops move diagonally." Reference to chess moves. - [p. 340/244] "[...] plunged his beak through the brown feathers between the talons, and *gripped*." While I agree with Terry that biological correctness shouldn't stand in the way of a good joke or plot point, I feel it should still be pointed out that the organs Om is presumably aiming for don't exist in birds. They simply haven't got the balls. - [p. 341/244] "When you have their full attention in your grip, their hearts and minds will follow." 'Testiculos' does not *quite* translate as 'full attention'. The correct version of the quote originates with Chuck Colson, one of Richard Nixon's Watergate henchmen. - [p. 346/248] "[...] two pounds of tortoise, travelling at three metres a second, hit him between the eyes." Brewer tells us that in 456 BC Aeschylus, "the most sublime of the Greek tragic poets", was "killed by a tortoise thrown by an eagle (to break the shell) against his bald head, which it mistook for a stone". Somebody on alt.fan.pratchett accused Terry of using 'deus ex machina' solutions too often in the Discworld novels, and cited this as a particular example. After all, everything has been going just swimmingly for Vorbis right until the very end, when the situation is simply resolved by having Om smash into him. In answer to this, Terry wrote: "This is a valid point... but the key is whether the 'solution' is inherent in the story. Consider one of the most basic lessons of folk tale. The young adventurer meets the old woman begging for food and gives her some; subsequently (she being, of course, a witch) he becomes king/wins the princess/etc with her aid, because of his actions earlier. A solution doesn't 'come along'; it's built into the fabric of the story from an early stage. _Guards! Guards!_ and _Interesting Times_ both use this device. I'd suggest that such a resolution is perfectly valid -- as they say, using a gun to shoot the bad guy in Act 3 is only okay if the gun has been on the wall since Act 1. In _Small Gods_, though, not a single new thing is introduced or resurrected in order to defeat Vorbis -- he's defeated because of the way various characters react to events. The problem contains the solution coiled inside. If it's cowardice not to kill off your heroes but let them survive because luck runs their way, then I'll plead guilty in the certain knowledge that I won't get within a mile of the dock because of the crowds of authors and directors already there...:-)" - [p. 352/252] "'Right. Right. That's all I'm looking for. Just trying to make ends hummus.'" Hummus is a meat substitute/complement, made from chickpeas, usually eaten in Middle Eastern countries. - [p. 355/254] "YOU HAVE PERHAPS HEARD THE PHRASE, he said, THAT HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE?" "Hell is other people" is a quote from, and the message of, Jean-Paul Sartre's play _No Exit_. - [p. 355/255] Could the name Fasta Benj possibly be derived from 'Faster, Ben Johnson'? - [p. 377/270] "REMIND ME AGAIN, he said, HOW THE LITTLE HORSE-SHAPED ONES MOVE." Refers back to a joke on p. 12/14 of _Sourcery_, where we are told that Death dreads playing symbolic last chess games because "he could never remember how the knight was supposed to move". - There is a rumour going round that there was to be a crucifixion scene at the end of this book but that the publishers made Terry take it out. The idea of such a scene would appear to be a misrepresentation of the 'Brutha bound to the turtle' scene. To quote Terry on this: "Crucifiction in _Small Gods_: this is a familiar thing to me, a DW 'fact' that's gone through several retellings. Nothing's been taken out of _Small Gods_, or put in, and there was no pressure to do either." LORDS AND LADIES - [p. 5/5] "[...] young Magrat, she of the [...] tendency to be soppy about raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens." One of the best songs from _The Sound of Music_ is called 'My Favourite Things' (it's the song Maria sings for the Von Trapp children when they are all frightened of the thunderstorm). The opening verse goes: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens, Brown paper packages, tied up with strings, These are a few of my favourite things. The Von Trapp children would probably have murdered Magrat if she had been their governess. - [p. 13/11] "But that was a long time ago, in the past [footnote: Which is another country]" This might refer to _Hamlet_, where the future is described as "The undiscover'd country from whose bourn / No traveller returns", or perhaps Terry has read _The Go-between_, a 1950 book by L. P. Hartley, which opens with the words: "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there", which has become a familiar quotation in England. - [p. 13/11] "And besides, the bitch is... ...older." This is another Christopher Marlowe quote, from _The Jew of Malta_ (act IV, scene i): Barnadine: "Thou hast committed --" Barabas: "Fornication? But that was in another country; and besides, the wench is dead." - [p. 20/16] "This was the octarine grass country." A reference to (Kentucky) bluegrass country. - [p. 20/16] "Then, [...] the young corn lay down. In a circle." An explanation of the Crop Circle phenomenon might be in order here. Crop Circles are circular patches of flattened crops which have appeared in fields of cereals in the South and West of England over the last few years. There is no firm evidence pointing to their cause: this has been taken by certain parties as a prima facie proof that they are of course caused by either alien spacecraft or by some supernatural intelligence, possibly in an attempt to communicate. In recent years, circle systems have become increasingly elaborate, most notably in the case of a circle in the shape of the Mandelbrot Set, and another system which is shown on the cover of the recent Led Zeppelin compilation album, which seems to indicate that whoever's up there they probably have long hair and say _Wow!_ and _Yeah!_ a lot. A number of staged circle-forging challenges in the summer of '92 have demonstrated both how easy it is to produce an impressive circle by mundane, not to say frivolous methods, and also the surprisingly poor ability of 'cereologists' to distinguish what they describe as a "genuine" circle from one "merely made by hoaxers". Anyone with a burning desire to believe in paranormal explanations is invited to post to the newsgroup sci.skeptic an article asserting essentially "I believe that crop circles are produced by UFO's/Sun Spots/The Conservative Government/The Easter Bunny" and see how far they get.... - [p. 24/19] "Nanny Ogg never did any housework herself, but she was the cause of housework in other people." Over on alt.fan.pratchett it was postulated that this sounded a bit too much like a quote not to be a quote (annotation-hunters can get downright paranoid at times), but it took us a while to figure out where it originated, although in retrospect we could have used Occam's razor and looked it up in Shakespeare immediately. In _King Henry IV, part 2_, act 1, scene 2, Falstaff says: "I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men." - [p. 27/21] "Some people are born to kingship. Some achieve kingship, or at least Arch-Generalissimo-Father-of-His-Countryship. But Verence had kingship thrust upon him." The original quote is (as usual) by William Shakespeare, from _Twelfth Night_ (act 2, scene 5), where Malvolio reads in a letter (which he thinks was written to him by his mistress): "In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." The dictator most associated with the phrase 'Arch-Generalissimo-Father-of-His-Countryship' is probably Franco. - [p. 28/21] "Now he was inspecting a complicated piece of equipment. It had a pair of shafts for a horse, and the rest of it looked like a cartful of windmills. [...] 'It's a patent crop rotator,' said Verence." The patent crop rotator is an agricultural tool that might not figure very prominently in your day-to-day conversation (possibly since no such machine exists: crop rotation means growing different things in a field in successive years) but British comedy writers are apparently fascinated by it. Several people wrote to tell me that the cult TV comedy series _The Young Ones_ also used the patent crop rotator in their episode _Bambi_. When Neil (the hippy) is testing Rick (the nerd) on medieval history, the following dialogue ensues (edited somewhat for clarity): Rick: 'Crop rotation in the 14th century was considerably more widespread... after... God I know this... don't tell me... after 1172?' Neil: 'John.' Rick: 'Crop rotation in the 14th century was considerably more widespread after John?' Neil: '...Lloyd invented the patent crop rotator.' - [p. 29/22] "'I asked Boggi's in Ankh-Morpork to send up their best dress-maker [...]'" Boggi's = Gucci's. - [p. 38/29] "[...] it was always cheaper to build a new 33-MegaLith circle than upgrade an old slow one [...]" Think CPU's and MHz. - [p. 40/30] "I LIKE TO THINK I AM A PICKER-UP OF UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES. Death grinned hopefully." In Shakespeare's _The Winter's Tale_ we find the character Autolycus ("a Rogue"), saying in act 4, scene 2: "My father named me Autolycus; who being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." - [p. 42/31] "'My lord Lankin?'" Lord Lankin is a character in a traditional folk ballad: Then Lankin's tane a sharp knife that hung down by his gaire And he has gi'en the bonny nane A deep wound and a sair - [p. 67/50] "One of them was known as Herne the Hunted. He was the god of the chase and the hunt. More or less." See the annotation for p. 145/144 of _Wyrd Sisters_. - [p. 78/57] The names of the would-be junior witches. Two of the names resonate with the names used in _Good Omens_: Agnes Nitt is similar to Agnes Nutter, and Amanita DeVice (Amanita is also the name of a gender of deadly poisonous mushrooms) is similar to Anathema Device. There's also a Perdita in Shakespeare's _The Winter's Tale_; the name means 'damned' or 'lost'. In fact, all these names are based on the names of the so-called Lancashire Witches. The deeds of this group on and around Pendle Hill were the subject of probably England's most famous 17th century witchhunt and trials. The story is described in some fictional detail in a little-known book called, surprise, _The Lancashire Witches_, written at the end of the nineteenth century in Manchester by William Harrison Ainsworth. Interestingly enough, Ainsworth also wrote a book called _Windsor Castle_ in which Herne the Hunter appears as a major character (see previous annotation). - [p. 85/62] The names of the "new directions". 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon': a fairly well-known phrase used, amongst others, by Tolkien in a poem, by Theodore Roosevelt as the title for a book on hunting, and by pop-group A-ha as an album title. It originally is the title of an old Scandinavian fairy tale, which can be found in a book by Kay Nielsen, titled _East of the Sun and West of the Moon -- Old Tales from the North_. Terry has confirmed that this book was his source for the phrase. 'Behind the North Wind': from the title of a book by George McDonald: _At the Back of the North Wind_, the term itself being a translation of _Hyperborea_. 'At the Back Of Beyond': an idiom, perhaps originating from Sir Walter Scott's _The Antiquary_: "Whirled them to the back o' beyont". 'There and Back Again': The sub-title of Tolkien's _The Hobbit_. 'Beyond the Fields We Know': from Lord Dunsany's novel _The King of Elfland's Daughter_, where "the fields we know" refers to our world, as opposed to Elfland, which lies 'beyond'. The phrase was also used as the title of a collection of Dunsany's stories. - [p. 86/63] "'You know, ooh-jar boards and cards [...] and paddlin' with the occult.'" ooh-jar = Ouija. See the annotation for p. 154/136 of _Reaper Man_. - [p. 90/66] "'... and to my freind Gytha Ogg I leave my bedde and the rag rugge the smith in Bad Ass made for me, [...]'" The origins of the 'rag rugge' are more fully explained in _Equal Rites_. - [p. 103/76] "'Kings are a bit magical, mind. They can cure dandruff and that.'" Well, for one thing kings can cure dandruff by permanently removing people's heads from their shoulders, but I think that what Terry is probably referring to here is the folk-superstition that says that a King's touch can cure scrofula (also known as the King's Evil), which is a tubercular infection of the lymphatic glands. A similar type of legend occurs in Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_, but Shakespeare also has a lot to say on the subject in _Macbeth_, act 4, scene 3. - [p. 105/76] "Within were the eight members of the Lancre Morris Men [...] getting to grips with a new art form." In fact, many real life Morris teams put on so-called 'Mummers Plays': traditional plays with a common theme of death and resurrection. These ritual plays are performed on certain key days of the year, such as Midwinter's Day (Magrat's wedding is on Midsummer's Eve!), Easter, or All Souls Day (Halloween), at which time the Soul Cake play is performed. I am also told that a Soul Cake, traditionally served at All Souls, is similar to a Madeira Sponge (or 'yellow cake' as the Americans call it). - [p. 106/77] "'We could do the Stick and Bucket Dance,' volunteered Baker the weaver." There are Morris dances that use sticks, but according to my sources there aren't any that use buckets. Jason's reluctance to do this dance has its parallels in real world Morris dancing: at least in one area (upstate New York), a dance called the Webley Twizzle has a reputation for being hazardous to one's health, which is perhaps why it's hardly ever danced. It has even been claimed that someone broke his leg doing it, although no one seems to know any details. Of course, the reluctance of the Lancre Morris Men to perform the 'Stick and Bucket' may also have to do with the fact that the name of the dance very probably indicates another 'mettyfor' along the lines of maypoles and broomsticks. See the _...and Dance_ section in Chapter 5 for more information about Morris dancing. + [p. 106/77] "'I repaired a pump for one once. Artisan wells.'" Jason Ogg is thinking of Artesian Wells, a kind of well that gets its name from the French town of Artois, where they were first drilled in the 12th century. - [p. 106/77] "'And why's there got to be a lion in it?' said Baker the weaver." Because the play-within-a-play performed by the rude mechanicals in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ (act 1, scene 2) also features a lion in a starring role, of course. The Morris Men's discussions on plays and lions reminded one of my sources of the play written by Moominpapa in _Moominsummer Madness_ by Tove Jansson. When asked about it, Terry said that although he has read the Moomin books, the lion dialogue is not connected with them. - [p. 106/78] "'Hah, I can just see a real playsmith putting *donkeys* in a play!'" _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, by that mediocre hack-writer William S., is an example of a real play that *has* a donkey in it. Or to be absolutely precise, a character magically cursed with a donkey's head. - [p. 109/79] "The Librarian looked out at the jolting scenery. He was sulking. This had a lot to do with the new bright collar around his neck with the word "PONGO" on it. Someone was going to suffer for this." The taxonomic name for orangutans is 'Pongo pygmaeus'. And of course Pongo is a popular dog name as well, doubling the insult. - [p. 118/86] "[...] universes swoop and spiral around one another like [...] a squadron of Yossarians with middle-ear trouble." Terry writes: "Can it be that this is forgotten? Yossarian -- the 'hero' of _Catch-22_ -- was the bomber pilot who flew to the target twisting and jinking in an effort to avoid the flak -- as opposed to the Ivy League types who just flew nice and straight..." A minor correction: Yossarian was not the pilot, but rather the bombardier, who kept screaming instructions to the pilot over the intercom, to turn hard right, dive, etc. - [p. 118/86] "The universe doesn't much care if you step on a butterfly. There are plenty more butterflies." This immediately recalls the famous science fiction short story _A Sound of Thunder_, by Ray Bradbury, which has as its basic premise that the universe cares very much indeed if someone steps on a butterfly. - [p. 121/89] "'Good morning, Hodgesaargh,' she said." Hodgesaargh is based on Dave Hodges, a UK fan who runs a project called _The REAL Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_. This is a computer database containing a couple of thousand entries (the project began in 1987) in the style of Douglas Adams's _Hitch Hiker's Guide_. Dave takes his Guide along with him to SF conventions and events, where he auctions off printed versions of the Guide in order to raise money for charity. This is why the Guide is not readily available, e.g. on the Internet. One of the entries in the Guide concerns a computer virus called "Terry", which, it says, "autographs all the files on the disk as well as any nearby manuals". In real life Dave Hodges works for a firm that keeps birds away from airports and other places. To this purpose he sometimes uses a falcon called, yes, Lady Jane, who bites all the time, which gave Terry the idea for the character Hodgesaargh. Note that there exist at least two other "let's write a Hitch Hikers Guide" projects on the Internet that I know of. One of these is the _Project Galactic Guide_, which can be reached on the Web through the URL: - [p. 123/89] "Verence, being king, was allowed a gyrfalcon [...]" The complex issues of class distinction in falconry apparently existed in medieval times just as Terry describes them here. In _The Once and Future King_, T. H. White quotes a paragraph by Abbess Juliana Berners: "An emperor was allowed an eagle, a king could have a jerfalcon, and after that there was the peregrine for an earl, the merlin for a lady, the goshawk for a yeoman, the sparrow hawk for a priest, and the musket for a holy-water clerk." - [p. 133/97] "[...] five flavours, known as 'up', 'down', 'sideways', 'sex appeal', and 'peppermint'." The flavours of resons are a satire of the somewhat odd naming scheme modern physicists have chosen for the different known quarks, namely: 'up', 'down', 'strange', 'charm', and 'beauty' (in order of discovery and increasing mass). Since theoretical physicists don't like odd numbers they have postulated the existence of a sixth quark -- 'truth', which was only recently created at FermiLab in the USA. The beauty and truth quarks are often called 'bottom' and 'top' respectively. In earlier times (and sometimes even now), the strange quark was indeed called 'sideways'. - [p. 133/97] "_resons_ [footnote: Lit: 'Thing-ies']" In Latin 'res' does indeed mean 'thing'. - [p. 141/103] "'You are in my kingdom, woman,' said the Queen. 'You do not come or go without the leave of me.'" This has echoes of another traditional ballad, this time 'Tam Lin': Why come you to Carterhaugh Without command of me? I'll come and go, young Janet said, And ask no leave of thee As with some of the other folk song extracts Terry is closer to the recorded (in this case Fairport Convention) version than to the very early text in (say) the _Oxford Book of Ballads_. - [p. 144/104] "'Head for the gap between the Piper and the Drummer!'" There are several stone circles in England similar to the Dancers. Usually, legend has it that a group of dancers, revellers, ball players, etc. got turned to stone by the devil's trickery, for not keeping the Sabbath, or for having too much fun, or some other awful transgression. The Merry Maidens stone circle, with two nearby standing stones known as the Pipers, is one such site in Cornwall; the Stanton Drew stone circles near Bristol, the petrified remains of a wedding party that got out of control, also include a stone circle said to be dancers with a nearby set of stones representing the fiddlers. - [p. 153/111] "Magrat had tried explaining things to Mrs Scorbic the cook, but the woman's three chins wobbled so menacingly at words like 'vitamins' that she'd made an excuse to back out of the kitchen." The technical name for vitamin C is ascorbic acid. - [p. 163/118] "'Like the horseshoe thing. [...] Nothing to do with its shape.'" Granny refers to the traditional explanation for hanging horseshoes over the door, which is that they bring luck, but only if placed with the open side up -- otherwise the luck would just run out the bottom. - [p. 172/125] "'Good morrow, brothers, and wherehap do we whist this merry day?' said Carter the baker." It is impossible to list all the ways in which the sections about the Lancre Morris Men and the play they are performing parodies the play-within-a-play that occurs in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. The only way to get full enjoyment here is to just go out and read Shakespeare. While you're at it, pay particular attention to the names and occupations of both Terry's and William's 'Rude Mechanicals'. - [p. 173/125] "'And we're Rude Mechanicals as well?' said Baker the weaver." Baker's next three lines are "Bum!", "Drawers!" and "Belly!". These come from a song by Flanders and Swann, which is called 'P**! P*! B****! B**! D******!'. The first verse goes: Ma's out, Pa's out, let's talk rude! Pee! Po! Belly! Bum! Drawers! Dance in the garden in the nude, Pee! Po! Belly! Bum! Drawers! Let's write rude words all down the street; Stick out our tongues at the people we meet; Let's have an intellectual treat! Pee! Po! Belly! Bum! Drawers! - [p. 174/126] "'Yeah, everyone knows 'tis your delight on a shining night', said Thatcher the carter." It is relevant that Thatcher is making this remark to Carpenter the poacher, because it is a line from the chorus of an English folk song called 'The Lincolnshire Poacher': When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire Full well I served my master for more than seven year' 'Til I took up to poaching, as you shall quickly hear Oh 'tis my delight on a shining night In the season of the year! - [p. 174/126] The three paths leading from the cross-roads in the woods are variously described as being "all thorns and briars", "all winding", and the last (which the Lancre Morris Men decide to take) as "Ferns grew thickly alongside it". This echoes the poem and folk song 'Thomas the Rhymer', about a man who followes the Queen of Elves to Elfland: O see ye not yon narrow road, So thick beset wi' thorns and riers? That is the Path of Righteousness, Though after it but few enquires. And see ye not yon braid, braid road, That lies across the lily leven? That is the Path of Wickedness, Though some call it the Road to Heaven. And see ye not yon bonny road That winds about the fernie brae? That is the Road to fair Elfland, Where thou and I this night maun gae. - [p. 177/128] "'But it ain't April!', neighbours told themselves [...]" Inconsistency time! On p. 154/135 of _Witches Abroad_, Granny responds to Nanny Ogg's intention of taking a bath with the words "My word, doesn't autumn roll around quickly". In subsequent discussions on the net it was postulated that Nanny's bath habits could well be explained by taking into account the fact that the Discworld has eight seasons (see first footnote in _The Colour of Magic_ on p. 11/11), which might result in e.g. two autumns a year. And of course, on our world April *is* indeed a month in Autumn -- in the southern hemisphere (don't ask me if that also holds for a Discworld, though). Personally, I tend to agree with Terry, who has once said: "There are *no* inconsistencies in the Discworld books; occasionally, however, there are alternate pasts". - [p. 191/138] "[...] fed up with books of etiquette and lineage and _Twurp's Peerage_ [...]" _Burke's Peerage_ is a book that lists the hereditary titled nobility of the British Realm (the Peers of the Realm, hence the title of the book). It contains biographical facts such as when they were born, what title(s) they hold, who they're married to, children, relationships to other peers, etc. For example, under 'Westminster, Duke of' it will give details of when the title was created, who has held it and who holds it now. Also, 'twerp' and 'berk' (also spelt as 'burk') are both terms of abuse, with 'twerp' being relatively innocent, but with 'berk' coming from the Cockney rhyming slang for 'Berkshire Hunt', meaning 'cunt'. - [p. 191/138] "It probably looked beautiful on the Lady of Shallot, [...]" Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote a well-known poem called _The Lady of Shalott_ (see also e.g. Agatha Christie's _The Mirror Crack'd_). A shallot (double l, single t), however, is a small greenish/purple (octarine?) onion. + [p. 193/139] "'I mean, we used to have a tradition of rolling boiled eggs downhill on Soul Cake Tuesday, but --'" It is in fact a Lithuanian tradition (one of many) to roll boiled eggs downhill on Easter Sunday in a game similar to lawn bowls. The idea is to either (1) break the other person's egg, thereby eliminating them from the competition (although this can be risky, since your own egg may also break) or (2) to get your egg to just hit someone else's, in which case you win their egg. Similar traditions undoubtedly exist in many other European countries (in fact, I'm told it is also done in some English villages), though not in the Netherlands, where we'd be having extreme difficulties finding a spot high enough for an egg to be rolled down from in the first place. This the first mention in the Discworld books of Soul Cake *Tuesday* (see also the annotation for p. 289/262 of _Guards! Guards!_). Perhaps Terry finally settled on this day of the week because of the resonance with the traditional 'Pancake Tuesday' (the first Tuesday after Lent). - [p. 193/140] "Even these people would consider it tactless to mention the word 'billygoat' to a troll." This sentence used to have me completely stumped, until I discovered (with the help of the ever helpful alt.fan.pratchett correspondents) that this refers to a well-known British fairy tale of Scandinavian origin called 'The Three Billygoats Gruff'. That tale tells the story of three billygoat brothers who try to cross a bridge guarded by, you guessed it, a mean troll who wants to eat them. Luckily, the troll wasn't very smart, so the first two goats were able to outwit him by passing him one at a time, each saying "Don't eat me, just wait for my brother who's much bigger and fatter than I am". The third goat, Big Billygoat Gruff, was big, all right. Big enough to take on the troll and butt him off the bridge and right over the mountains far from the green meadow (loud cheers from listening audience). So the troll was both tricked and trounced. - [p. 204/147] "'I'll be as rich as Creosote.'" Creosote = Croesus. See the annotation for p. 125/113 of _Sourcery_. - [p. 216/156] "'All the hort mond are here,' Nanny observed [...]" Hort mond = haut monde = high society. - [p. 226/162] "'And there's this damn cat they've discovered that you can put in a box and it's dead and alive at the same time. Or something.'" This is Schroedinger's cat. See also the annotation for p. 279/199. + [p. ???/171] "'I was young and foolish then.' 'Well? You're old and foolish now.'" More people than I can count have written, in the light of Terry's fondness for They Might Be Giants, pointing out their song 'I Lost My Lucky Ball and Chain': She threw away her baby-doll I held on to my pride But I was young and foolish then I feel old and foolish now - [p. 239/172] "This made some of the _grand guignol_ melodramas a little unusual, [...]" Grand guignol, after the Montmartre, Paris theatre _Le Grand Guignol_, is the name given to a form of gory and macabre drama so laboriously horrific as to fall into absurdity. - [p. 243/175] "'Mind you, that bramble jam tasted of fish, to my mind.' 'S caviar,' murmured Casanunda." Many people recognised this joke, and mentioned a variety of different sources. Terry replied: "It's very, very old. I first heard it from another journalist about 25 years ago, and he said he heard it on the (wartime) radio when he was a kid. I've also been told it is a music-hall line." - [p. 248/178] "Quite a lot of trouble had once been caused in Unseen University by a former Archchancellor's hat, [...]" Refers back to certain events described more fully in _Sourcery_. - [p. 250/180] _Jane's All The World Siege Weapons_ _Jane's_ is a well known series of books/catalogues for military equipment of all sorts and types. There is a Jane's for aeroplanes, for boats, etc. - [p. 276/199] "[...] in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious." This is a reference to the well-known 'Schroedinger's cat' quantum theory thought-experiment in which a cat in a box is probabilistically killed, leaving it in a superposition of being alive and being dead until the box is opened and the wavefunction collapses. - [p. 276/199] "Shawn dived sideways as Greebo went off like a Claymore mine." A Claymore mine is an ingenious and therefore extremely nasty device. It is a small metal box, slightly curved. On the convex side is written "THIS SIDE TOWARDS THE ENEMY" which explains why literacy is a survival trait even with US marines. The box is filled with explosive and 600 steel balls. It has a tripod and a trigger mechanism, which can be operated either by a tripwire or, when the operator doesn't want to miss the fun, manually. When triggered, the device explodes and showers the half of the world which could have read the letters with the steel balls. Killing radius 100 ft., serious maiming radius a good deal more. Used to great effect in Vietnam by both sides. - [p. 277/199] "Green-blue blood was streaming from a dozen wounds [...]" This is a brilliant bit of logical extrapolation on Terry's part. Since iron is anathema to elves, they obviously can't have haemoglobin-based red blood. Copper-based (green) blood is used by some Earth animals, notably crayfish, so it's an obvious alternative. Of course, it was _Star Trek_ that really made pointy-eared, green-blooded characters famous... - [p. 285/205] "'This girl had her fiance stolen by the Queen of Elves and she didn't hang around whining, [...]'" A reference to the folk song 'Tam Lin', in which Fair Janet successfully wrests her Tam Lin from the Queen of Fairies, despite various alarming transformations inflicted on him. - [p. 285/205] "'I'll be back.'" Catchphrase used by Arnold Schwarzenegger in (almost) all his movies. - [p. 287/207] "Ancient fragments chimed together now in Magrat's head." The six lines given make up three different poems. From _The Fairies_, by Irish poet William Allingham (1850): Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen We dare not go a-hunting for fear of little men From a traditional Cornish prayer: From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night Good Lord deliver us And finally from a traditional school girls' skipping rhyme: My mother said I never should Play with the fairies in the wood If I did, she would say You naughty girl to disobey Your hair won't grow, your shoes won't shine You naughty little girl, you shan't be mine! - [p. 295/213] "'[...] one and six, beetle crushers! [...] one, two, forward... bean setting!'" This section demonstrates that Terry is not a Morris dancer himself; the terminology isn't quite authentic enough. But "beetle crushers" is an actual Morris step, and "bean setting" is the name of a dance and, by extension, a name for a move used in that dance. - [p. 298/215] "'Girls used to go up there if they wanted to get --'" Women who wished to conceive would spend the night on the um, appropriate bit of the Cerne Abbas Giant site in Dorset. See the annotation for p. 302/217. - [p. 300/216] "[...] the only other one ever flying around here is Mr Ixolite the banshee, and he's very good about slipping us a note under the door when he's going to be about." If you haven't read _Reaper Man_ yet, you may not realise that the reason why Mr Ixolite slips notes under the door is that he is the only banshee in the world with a speech impediment. - [p. 302/217] "'They're nervy of going close to the Long Man. [...] Here it's the landscape saying: I've got a great big tonker.'" The Discworld's Long Man is a set of three burial mounds. In Britain there is a famous monument called the Long Man of Wilmington, in East Sussex. It's not a mound, but a chalk-cut figure on a hillside; the turf was scraped away to expose the chalk underneath, outlining a standing giant 70 meters tall. There are several such figures in England, but only two human figures, this and the Cerne Abbas Giant. Chalk-cut figures have to be recut periodically, which provides opportunities to bowdlerize them. This is probably why the Long Man of Wilmington is sexless; it was recut in the 1870s, when, presumably, public displays of great big tonkers were rather frowned upon. However, the other chalk-cut giant in Britain, the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, is a nude, 55-meter-tall giant wielding a club, who has a tonker about 12 meters long, and proudly upraised. Nearby is a small earth enclosure where maypole dancing, etc. was once held. - [p. 305/219] "They showed a figure of an owl-eyed man wearing an animal skin and horns." I am told this description applies to the cave painting known as The Sorceror (aka The Magician, aka The Shaman) in the Trois Freres cave in Arieges, France. - [p. 305/219] "There was a runic inscription underneath. [...] 'It's a variant of Oggham,' she said." Ogham is the name of an existing runic script found in the British Isles (mostly in Ireland) and dating back at least to the 5th century. The Pratchett Archives contain a file with more information about the oghamic alphabet, including pictures of the individual characters. - [p. 307/221] "'Hiho, hiho --'" See the annotation for p. 88/73 of _Moving Pictures_. - [p. 308/222] "'It's some old king and his warriors [...] supposed to wake up for some final battle when a wolf eats the sun.'" Another one of Terry's famous Mixed Legends along the lines of the princess and the pea fairy tale in _Mort_. The wolf bit is straight from Norse mythology. The wolf Fenris, one of Loki's monster children, will one day break free from his chains and eat the sun. This is one of the signs that the Goetterdaemmerung or Ragnarok has begun, and at this point the frost giants <> will cross the Rainbow Bridge and fight the final battle with the gods of Asgard and the heroes who have died and gone to Valhalla. See the last part of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle for details. The sleeping king is one of the oldest and deepest folk-myths of western culture, some versions of the popular legend even have King Arthur and his warriors sleeping on the island of Anglesea. For more information, see e.g. the section about the Fisher King in Frazer's _The Golden Bough_, Jessie Weston's _From Ritual To Romance_ and all the stuff that this leads into, such as Elliot's _The Wasteland_ and David Lodge's _Small World_. - [p. 316/227] "The place looked as though it had been visited by Genghiz Cohen." Much later, in _Interesting Times_, we learn that Cohen the Barbarian's first name is, in fact, Genghiz. With respect to the original pun on Genghiz Kahn, Terry says: "As a matter of interest, I'm told there's a kosher Mongolian restaurant in LA called Genghiz Cohen's. It's a fairly obvious pun, if your mind is wired that way." - [p. 316/227] "Queen Ynci wouldn't have obeyed..." The ancient warrior queen Ynci is modelled on Boadicea (who led a British rebellion against the Romans). Boadicea's husband was the ruler of a tribe called the Iceni, which is almost Ynci backwards. - [p. 321/231] "...I think at some point I remember someone asking us to clap our hands..." From J. M. Barrie's _Peter Pan_: [...] [Tinkerbell the Fairy] was saying that she thought she could get well again if children believed in fairies. [...] "If you believe," [Peter Pan] shouted to them, "clap your hands; don't let Tink die." - [p. 324/233] "'Millennium hand and shrimp.'" One of the truly frequently asked questions on alt.fan.pratchett is "Where does this phrase come from?" (Foul Ole Ron also uses it, in _Soul Music_.) The answer concerns Terry's experiments with computer-generated texts: "It was a program called Babble, or something similar. I put in all kinds of stuff, including the menu of the Dragon House Chinese take-away because it was lying on my desk. The program attempted to make 'coherent' phrases (!) out of it all." One of the other things Terry must have fed it were the lyrics to the song 'Particle Man' by They Might Be Giants (see the annotation for p. 264/199 of _Soul Music_): Universe man, universe man Size of the entire universe man Usually kind to smaller men, universe man He's got a watch with a minute hand A millennium hand, and an eon hand When they meet it's happyland Powerful man, universe man. - [p. 328/236] "'I've got five years' worth of _Bows And Ammo_, Mum,' said Shawn." In our world there is a magazine _Guns And Ammo_; this appears to be the Discworld equivalent. - [p. 328/236] Shawn's speech. Shawn's speech is a parody of the 'St Crispin's Day' speech in Shakespeare's _King Henry V_. See also the annotation for p. 239/303 of _Wyrd Sisters_. - [p. 329/236] "[...] imitate the action of the Lancre Reciprocating Fox and stiffen some sinews while leaving them flexible enough [...]" And this one is from the even more famous 'Once more unto the breach' speech, also from _King Henry V_: "Then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood." - [p. 341/245] "'Ain't that so, Fairy Peaseblossom?'" One of the fairies in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ is called Peasblossom. In itself this is not very interesting, but it is directly relevant when you consider the point Granny is trying to make to the Elf Queen. - [p. 350/252] "The King held out a hand, and said something. Only Magrat heard it. Something about meeting by moonlight, she said later." In _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ (act 2, scene 2), Oberon, King of the Fairies, says to Titania, Queen of the Fairies (with whom he has a kind of love/hate relationship): "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania". - [p. 353/253] "'You know, sir, sometimes I think there's a great ocean of truth out there and I'm just sitting on the beach playing with... with *stones*.'" This paraphrases Isaac Newton. The original quote can be found in Brewster's _Memoirs of Newton_, Volume II, Chapter 27: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." - [p. 363/261] "'Go ahead, [...] bake my quiche.'" Clint Eastwood's _Dirty Harry_ again, another satire of the line which also inspired "FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC" (see the annotation for p. 51/48 of _Guards! Guards!_). - [p. 364/261] "'On with the motley. Magrat'll appreciate it.'" "On with the motley" is a direct translation of the Italian "Vesti la giubba" which is the first line of a famous aria from the opera _I Pagliacci_. (Operatic arias are usually known by their first line or first few words). It is the bitter aria in which the actor Canio laments that he must go on stage even though his heart is breaking, and climaxes with the line 'Ridi Pagliaccio'. - [p. 367/264] "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, especially simian ones. They are not all that subtle." Definitely a Tolkien reference this time. See the annotation for p. 183/149 of _Mort_. There is a version frequently seen on the net in people's .signatures, which I am sure will have Terry's full approval. It runs: "Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer". - [p. 371/267] "'My great-grandma's husband hammered it out of a tin bath and a couple of saucepans.'" On a.f.p. the question was asked why, if Magrat's armour was fake and not made of iron at all, was it so effective against the Elves? Terry answers: "A tin bath isn't made out of tin. It's invariably galvanised iron -- ie, zinc dipped. They certainly rust after a while." - [p. 382/274] "[...] he called it _The Taming Of The Vole_ [...]" Shakespeare again, of course. A vole is a small animal, somewhat similar to a shrew. MEN AT ARMS - Starting with "Men at Arms", the word 'Discworld' appeared on the copyright page with a 'registered trademark' symbol appended to it. When asked if this indicated a tougher policy against possible copyright infringements, Terry replied: "Discworld and some associated names are subject to various forms of trademark, but we don't make a big thing about it. We've had to take some very gentle action in the past and the trademarking is a precautionary measure -- it's too late to do it when you're knee-deep in lawyers. There will be a computer game next year, and possibly a record album. We have to do this stuff. But -- I stress -- it's not done to discourage fans, or prevent the general usage of Discworld, etc, in what I'd loosely call fandom. By now afp readers ought to know that. It's been done so that we have a decent lever if there's a BIG problem." - Someone complained on the net that the picture of the Gonne on the back cover of _Men at Arms_ gives away too much information about the story. Terry replied: "Hmm. We wondered about the cover 'giving away half the plot' and decided to go with it -- especially since Josh got the Gonne exactly right from the description. But I'd say it's pretty obvious VERY early in the book what sort of thing we're dealing with. That's what distinguishes a 'police procedural' from a mystery; after all, you know from the start whodunit in a Columbo plot, but the fun is watching him shuffle around solving it his way..." - [cover] On the cover, Josh Kirby draws Cuddy without a beard, even though it is mentioned many times in the text that he has one. - [p. 8/6] "But Edward d'Eath didn't cry, for three reasons." De'ath is an existing old English name. The De'aths came over with William the Conqueror, and tend to get very upset if ignorant peasants pronounce their name... well, you know, instead of 'Dee-ath' as it's supposed to be pronounced. - [p. 12/8] "'[...] an iconograph box which, is a thing with a brownei inside that paints pictures of thing's, [...]'" Kodak's first mass-produced affordable camera was called the "box brownie". A brownie is also the name of a helpful type of goblin. And we all know how cameras work on the Discworld... - [p. 20/14] "'Twurp's P-eerage,' he shouted." Burke's Peerage. See the annotation for p. 191/138 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 20/15] "'My nurse told me,' said Viscount Skater, 'that a *true* king could pull a sword from a stone.'" Arthurian legend, Holy Grail, that kind of stuff. - [p. 24/18] "Silicon Anti-Defamation League had been going on at the Patrician, and now --" Cf. the real life Jewish Anti-Defamation League. - [p. 25/18] "[...] the upturned face of Lance-Constable Cuddy, with its helpful intelligent expression and one glass eye." Columbo had a glass eye (or rather, Peter Falk, who played the part, had one). And he was rather short. - [p. 29/22] "'Oh, _nil desperandum_, Mr Flannel, _nil desperandum_,' said Carrot cheerfully." "Nil desperandum" is a genuine old Latin phrase, still occasionally in use, meaning "don't despair". - [p. 44/33] "'Remember when he was going to go all the way up to Dunmanifestin to steal the Secret of Fire from the gods?' said Nobby." Reference to Prometheus, who gave fire to man and got severely shafted for it by the previous owners. See also the annotation for p. 131/107 of _Eric_. - [p. 44/33] "Fingers-Mazda, the first thief in the world, stole fire from the gods." The name 'Fingers-Mazda' puns on Ahura-Mazda, or Ormuzd, the Zoroastrian equivalent of God. - [p. 46/34] "'Remember,' he said, 'let's be careful out there.'" The desk sergeant in _Hill Street Blues_ used to say this in each episode of the TV series, at the end of the force's morning briefing. - [p. 49/37] "'Morning, Mr Bauxite!'" Bauxite is the name of the rock that contains aluminium ore. I have fond memories of this red-coloured rock, because I grew up in a country (Suriname) whose economy depended entirely upon bauxite and aluminium. - [p. 54/41] "Mr Morecombe had been the Ramkins' family solicitor for a long time. Centuries, in fact. He was a vampire." In other words: a bloodsucking lawyer, right? - [p. 56/42] "[...] turn in their graves if they knew that the Watch had taken on a w--" Only funny the second time you read the book, because it is then that you realise that the first time every reader will have gotten this wrong... - [p. 62/47] "'No one ever eats the black pudding.'" Not very surprising at the Assassin's Guild: black pudding is made with blood. - [p. 64/47] "Captain Vimes paused at the doorway, and then thumped the palm of his hand on his forehead. [...] 'Sorry, excuse me -- mind like a sieve these days -- [...]'" Acting like a bumbling fool, making as if to leave, then smacking his head, 'remembering' something in the doorway, and unleashing an absolute killer question is exactly how TV Detective Columbo always drives his suspects to despair. - [p. 72/54] "'NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLOM OF NIT CAN STAY THESE MESSENGERS ABOT THIER DUTY'" This paraphrases the motto of the US postal service: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". In Tom Burnam's _More Misinformation_ it is explained that this quote by Herodotus is not really the official motto of the Postal service, since there is no such thing. But it is a quote that is inscribed on the General Post Office building in New York, and has been construed as a motto by the general populace. It refers to a system of mounted postal couriers used by the Persians when the Greeks attacked Persia, around 500 BC. - [p. 76/57] Capability Brown. Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1715-1783) actually existed, and was a well known landscape gardener and architect. His nickname derived from his frequent statement to prospective employers that their estates held great "capabilities". The existence of Sagacity Smith and Intuition De Vere Slave-Gore must be questioned, at least in this particular trouser-leg of time. - [p. 77/58] "It contained the hoho, which was like a haha only deeper." A haha is a boundary to a garden or park, usually a buried wall or shallow ditch designed not to be seen until closely approached. I'm told there's a rather nice haha at Elvaston Castle just outside Derby. From the house there appears to be an unobstructed vista into the distance, despite the presence of the main road to Derby crossing the field of view about 200 yards away. Unfortunately, when the house was designed, they hadn't invented double-decker buses or lorries, so the effect is a bit spoilt by the sudden appearance of the top half of a bus going past from time to time. - [p. 88/66] "'I think perhaps Lance-Constable Angua shouldn't have another go with the longbow until we've worked out how to stop her... her getting in the way.'" The Amazons of legend had a famously cutting way of solving this particular problem... - [p. 94/71] "There's a bar like it in every big city. It's where the coppers drink." Quite stereotypical of course, but the bar from the TV series _Hill Street Blues_ is the one that I was immediately reminded of. - [p. 94/71] "'That's three beers, one milk, one molten sulphur on coke with phosphoric acid --'" Phosphoric acid is in fact an ingredient of Coca Cola. It's part of the 0.5 % that isn't water or sugar. - [p. 94/71] "'A Slow Comfortable Double-Entendre with Lemonade.'" There is an existing cocktail called a 'Slow Comfortable Screw', or, in its more advanced incarnation, a 'A Long Slow Comfortable Screw Up against the Wall'. This drink consists of Sloe Gin (hence the 'slow'), Southern Comfort (hence the 'comfortable'), Orange Juice (which is what makes a screwdriver a screwdriver and not merely a bloody big vodka; hence the 'screw'), a float of Galliano (which is in a Harvey Wallbanger; hence the 'up against the wall'), served in a long glass (hence... oh, work it out for yourself). + [p. 74] "'GONNE'" 'Gonne' is actually an existing older spelling for 'gun' that can be found in e.g. the works of Chaucer. - [p. 113/85] "[...] or a hubland bear across the snow [...]" Scattered across the Discworld canon are numerous little changes in terminology to reflect the Discworld's unusual setup, and this is one of the more elegant ones, since there obviously can't be polar bears on the Disc... - [p. 115/86] The Duke of Eorle. Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl. Of doo-wop fame. - [p. 115/87] "One of the thoughts jostling for space was that there was no such thing as a humble opinion." Terry has admitted that the Duke of Eorl's conversational style was a bit of a dig at the way discussions on the net are typically held. People posting to Usenet newsgroups will often prefix even the most dogmatic monologues or megalomaniacal statements with the words "In my humble opinion...", in a (usually futile) attempt to render themselves invulnerable to criticism. The qualifier is used so often on the net that it even has its own acronym: 'IMHO', so you won't have to type so much when you use it. - [p. 116/88] "[...] that bastard Chrysoprase, [...]" Webster's defines chrysoprase as an applegreen variety of chalcedony, used as gem, but literally from the Greek words 'chrusos', gold and 'prason', leek. Chalcedony is a semi-precious blue-gray variety of quartz, composed of very small crystals packed together with a fibrous, waxy appearance. Note how both the 'gold' etymology and the 'waxy appearance' perfectly match Chrysoprase's character as the rich, suave, uptown Mafia-troll. Chrysoprase already appears (off-stage) on p. 179/178 of _Wyrd Sisters_, but his name is spelled 'Crystophrase' there. - [p. 127/96] "'What can you make it?' Carrot frowned. 'I could make a hat,' he said, 'or a boat. Or [...]'" This may be far-fetched, but *exactly* the same joke appears in the 1980 movie _Airplane!_ (renamed _Flying High_ in some countries). - [p. 130/98] "[...] a toadstool called Phallus impudicus, [...]" This mushroom actually exists. The Latin name translates quite literally to "Shameless penis". In English its common name is "Stinkhorn fungus", and it has been described to me as a large, phallus-shaped, pallid, woodland fungus smelling very strongly of rotten meat, and usually covered with flies. "Once experienced, never forgotten", as my source puts it. Another mushroom expert subsequently mailed me a long, detailed description of the toadstool's appearance, which I'm not going to include here. Suffice it to say that it's full of phrases like "yellow, glutinous goo", "the head exudes a black slime" and "I've smelled these from 50 paces on a still day". And no, the _Phallus Impudicus_ is not edible. - [p. 135/102] "A lot of equipment had been moved away, however, to make room for a billiard table. [...] 'My word. Perhaps we're adding just the right amount of camphor to the nitro-cellulose after all --'" In reality, nitro-cellulose (also known as guncotton) is an extremely explosive substance that was discovered by people trying to make artificial ivory for billiard balls. Camphor is nicely flammable in its own right. - [p. 136/103] "'Oh well. Back to the crucible." As well as being alchemist-speak for 'back to the drawing board' (a crucible is a container used in high-temperature melting), there is also the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield where the World Snooker Championships are played. - [p. 137/104] "'Haven't you seen his portrait of the Mona Ogg. [...] The teeth followed you around the room. Amazing.'" It can easily be observed that the Mona Lisa's *eyes* follow one around the room; Leonardo da Vinci supposedly achieved this by using some mysterious painting technique that only the greatest of painters are capable of. But as Tom Burnham explains in his _Dictionary of Misinformation_: "The eyes-that-follow-you trick is a simple one, used by innumerable artists in everything from posters to billboards." - [p. 143/108] "'Brother Grineldi did the old heel-and-toe trick [...]'" Joseph (Joey) Grimaldi was a famous English clown and pantomime of the 19th century. He was so influential and instrumental in creating the modern concept of the clown that circus clowns are still called "Joeys" after him. - [p. 150/113] "Possibly, if you fought your way through the mysterious old coats hanging in it, you'd break through into a magical fairyland full of talking animals and goblins, but it'd probably not be worth it." Reference to the children's classic _The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe_ by C. S. Lewis. See also the annotation for p. 22/22 of _Sourcery_. - [p. 153/116] "I'm on the path, he thought. I don't have to know where it leads. I just have to follow." This is almost a direct quote from a scene in _Twin Peaks_: Cooper: "God help me, I don't know where to start." Hawk: "You're on the path. You don't need to know where it leads. Just follow." - [p. 155/117] Zorgo the Retrophrenologist. For a while I thought we had finally found a troll whose name wasn't mineral-related, but no: zorgite is a metallic copper-lead selenide, found at Zorge, in the German Harz Mountains. - [p. 157/119] "'It's Oggham,' said Carrot." See the annotation for p. 305/219 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 157/119] "Soss, egg, beans and rat 12p. Soss, rat and fried slice 10p. [...]" People keep seeing a Monty Python reference in this, because they are reminded of the "Eggs, bacon, beans and spam..." sketch. But Terry says: "It's not really Python. Until recently transport cafes always had menus like that, except that 'Chips' was the recurrent theme. I used to go to one where you could order: Doublegg n Chips n Fried Slice, Doublegg n Doublechips n Doublebeans n Soss... ..and so on... The key thing was that you couldn't avoid the chips. I think if anyone'd ever ordered a meal without chips they'd have been thrown out. Note for UK types: this place was the White Horse Cafe at Cherhill on the A4. Probably just a memory. It wasn't far from where some famous rock star lunched himself in his car, although, come to think of it, not on chips." - [p. 159/120] Some people on a.f.p. indicated that they had difficulty understanding just what the Gargoyle was saying, so here is a translation into English of his side of the dialogue: "Right you are." "Cornice overlooking broadway." "No." "Ah. You for Mister Carrot?" "Oh, yes. Everyone knows Carrot." "He comes up here sometimes and talks to us." "No. He put his foot on my head. And let off a firework. I saw him run away along Holofernes Street." "He had a stick. A firework stick." "Firework. You know? Bang! Sparks! Rockets! Bang!" "Yes. That's what I said." "No, idiot! A stick, you point, it goes BANG!" - [p. 159/120] "[...] the strangest, and possibly saddest, species on Discworld is the hermit elephant." Our real world's hermit crab (which can be found on islands like Bermuda) behaves similarly: it has no protective shell of its own, so it utilises the shells of dead land snails. The reason why the hermit crab is one of the sadder species in our world as well is given in Stephen Jay Gould's essay 'Nature's Odd Couples' (published in his collection _The Panda's Thumb_): the shells that form the crabs' natural habitat are from a species of snail that has been extinct since the 19th century. The hermit crabs on Bermuda are only surviving by recycling old fossil shells, of which there are fewer and fewer as time goes on, thus causing the hermit crab to become, slowly but surely, just as extinct as the snails. - [p. 162/123] "'He also did the Quirm Memorial, the Hanging Gardens of Ankh, and the Colossus of Morpork.'" The last two items are equivalents of two of our world's 'seven wonders of antiquity': the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus of Rhodes. The Quirm memorial is less obvious. Perhaps Mausoleus' Tomb? There is also a similarity between the Colossus of Morpork and the sequence in Rob Reiner's 1985 movie _This Is Spinal Tap_ where a Stonehenge menhir, supposedly 30 feet high, is constructed to be 30 inches high, and ends up being trodden on by a dwarf. - [p. 163/124] "[...] the kind of song where people dance in the street and give the singer apples and join in and a dozen lowly match girls suddenly show amazing choreographical ability [...]" Terry is probably just referring to a generic stage musical stereotype here, but the production number mentioned most frequently by my correspondents as fitting the context is 'Who Will Buy?' from _Oliver!_, a musical version of Charles Dickens' _Oliver Twist_. - [p. 168/127] "'Some in rags, and some in tags, and one in a velvet gown... it's in your Charter, isn't it?'" This comes from the nursery rhyme _Hark! Hark!_. The Mother Goose version goes: Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark, The beggars are coming to town; Some in rags, some in tags, And some in velvet gown. _Opies' Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes_ gives the last two lines as: Some in rags, some in jags, And one in a velvet gown. Terry's household nursery rhyme book must strike a balance between these two versions. The rhyme is said to be about the mob of Dutchmen that William of Orange brought over with him to England in 1688, with the "one in a velvet gown" being the Prince himself. Or else it is a reference to Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, forcing monks to beg on the streets for a living. Take your pick. - [p. 171/130] "'A sixteen, an eight, a four, a one!'" This makes perfect sense: since trolls have silicon brains, naturally they'd think in binary. Every number, no matter how large can be represented in binary (29, for instance, is 11101; sixteen plus eight plus four plus one). Cuddy is therefore absolutely right when he points out to Detritus: "If you can count to two, you can count to anything!" - [p. 172/131] "'That,' said Vimes, 'was a bloody awful cup of coffee, Sham.' [...] 'And a doughnut'." This entire scene is a loose parody of David Lynch's cult TV series _Twin Peaks_, where the protagonists are forever eating doughnuts and drinking "damn fine coffee". - [p. 173/131] "'And give me some more coffee. Black as midnight on a moonless night." In one of the early _Twin Peaks_ episodes, Agent Cooper praises the coffee at the Great Northern Hotel, and is very precise in ordering breakfast, specifying the way the bacon etc. should be cooked and asking for a cup of coffee which is "Black as moonlight on a moonless night". Although the waitress at the Hotel is considerably less inclined to nitpick than Sham Harga, she also makes a comment along the lines of "That's a pretty tough order". - [p. 175/133] "'[...] clown Boffo, the *corpus derelicti*, [...]'" "Corpus delicti" is a Latin phrase meaning the victim's body in a murder case. - [p. 176/133] "The whole nose business looked like a conundrum wrapped up in an enigma [...]" Paraphrase of a famous quote by Winston Churchill, referring to Russia: "It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key." + [p. 179/135] "'He went into Grope Alley!'" Terry has confirmed that Grope Alley is based on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, which used to be the haunt of prostitutes and hence rejoiced in the name 'Gropecunte Lane' -- its modern name is just a more euphemistic way of putting things. It's the site of the Bank of England. Some would consider this to be appropriate. There's also a Grope Alley in Shrewsbury, getting its name from the Tudor buildings on either side almost meeting each other at roof level, causing one to have to grope along. - [p. 184/139] "'The word 'polite' comes from 'polis', too. It used to mean proper behaviour from someone living *in* a city.'" As far as I can tell this is utter and total balderdash. 'Policeman' indeed comes from 'polis', but 'polite' comes from the Latin 'polire', to polish. - [p. 185/140] "Vimes had believed all his life that the Watch were called coppers because they carried copper badges, but no, said Carrot, it comes from the old word *cappere*, to capture." This, however, appears to be true, according to Brewer's, who says that it is "more likely" that 'copper' derives from 'cop' (instead of the other way around!), as in the verb 'to cop something', which indeed comes from the Latin 'capere', to take. - [p. 189/143] "He pushed his hot food barrow through streets broad and narrow, crying: 'Sausages! Hot Sausages! Inna bun!'" From the folk song 'Molly Malone': In Dublin's fair city Where the maids are so pretty I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone She wheels her wheel-barrow Through streets broad and narrow Crying 'cockles and mussels alive alive-o' I am told that the statue that was put up in Dublin in honour of Molly was such an artistic failure, that it is now fondly known by the Dubliners as "The Tart with the Cart". - [p. 192/145] "'I call it a flapping-wing-flying-device, [...] It works by gutta-percha strips twisted tightly together.'" This time, Leonard has invented the rubber-band-powered model aeroplane. - [p. 193/146] "[...] wondering how the hell he came up with the idea of pre-sliced bread in the first place." From the saying (of inventions): "the greatest thing since sliced bread". - [p. 194/146] "'My cartoons,' said Leonard. 'This is a good one of the little boy with his kite stuck in a tree,' said Lord Vetinari." The reference to Charlie Brown's struggle against the kite-eating tree in Charles M. Shultz's comic strip _Peanuts_ will be obvious to most readers, but perhaps not everyone will realise that in Leonardo da Vinci's time a cartoon was also a full-size sketch used to plan a painting. - [p. 197/149] "'They do things like open the Three Jolly Luck Take-away Fish Bar on the site of the old temple in Dagon Street on the night of the Winter solstice when it also happens to be a full moon.'" I'm rather proud of figuring this one out, because I really hadn't a clue as to *why* this Fish Bar would be such a bad idea. Then it occurred to me to look up the word 'Dagon'. Webster's doesn't have it, but luckily Brewer saves the day, as usual: 'Dagon' is the Hebrew name for the god Atergata of the Philistines; half woman and half fish. It was actually a Dagon temple that the biblical Samson managed to push down in his final effort to annoy the Philistenes (Judges 16:23, "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.") After including this annotation in earlier editions of the APF, there have been numerous emails from people pointing out that H. P. Lovecraft also uses the entity Father Dagon as the leader of the Deep Ones in some of his horror stories. Terry has confirmed, however, that the inspiration for his Dagon goes back to the original source, not Lovecraft's incarnation. - [p. 203/153] "[...] Dibbler, achieving with his cart the kind of getaway customarily associated with vehicles that have fluffy dice on the windscreen [...]" Take an old, battered car of the type that the Waynes and Kevins of our world (boyfriends to Sharon and Tracey -- see the annotation for p. 106/95 of _Reaper Man_) often drive -- a Ford Cortina or Capri is the usual candidate in the UK. Respray it metallic purple. Some go-faster stripes, possibly a la 'Starsky and Hutch' may be appropriate at this time. Plaster rear window with car stickers in dubious taste: "Passion wagon -- don't laugh it could be your daughter inside", "My other car is a Porsche", or even: "I Ankh-Morpork". Advanced students might like to experiment with a stick-on cuddly Garfield in the rear window. Put in stretch seat-covers, preferably in luminous pink fur. Add a Sun-strip, possibly with the names of the owner and 'His bird' on them (so they can remember where to sit presumably). Hang a pair of fluffy dice from the rear-view mirror. *That* kind of vehicle. - [p. 205/155] "'Chrysoprase, he not give a coprolith about that stuff.'" Coprolith = a fossilised turd. - [p. 209/158] "'He say, you bad people, make me angry, you stop toot sweet.'" "Toute suite" = immediately. One of the few bits of French that the typical Brit is said to remember from schooldays. - [p. 210/158] "'C. M. O. T. Dibbler's Genuine Authentic Soggy Mountain Dew,' she read." Terry is not referring to Mountain Dew, the American soft drink, but is using the term in its original meaning, as a colloquialism for whisky -- particularly, the homemade 'moonshine' variety. - [p. 218/165] VIA CLOACA The major sewer in ancient Rome, running down into the Tiber, was called the Cloaca Maxima. Anything with 'Via' in its name would have been a street or road. The Cloaca Maxima was actually a tunnel. - [p. 235/178] "[...] huge scrubbing brushes, three kinds of soap, a loofah." Loofah is a genus of tropical climbing plant bearing a fruit, the fibrous skeleton of which is used for scrubbing backs in the bath. - [p. 238/180] "'Hi-ho -- '-- hi-ho --' 'Oook oook oook oook ook --'" The dwarvish hiho-song. See the annotation for p. 88/73 of _Moving Pictures_. - [p. 239/181] "'He said "Do Deformed Rabbit, it's my favourite",' Carrot translated." Running gag. See also the annotation for p. 226/162 of _Small Gods_. - [p. 251/190] "'All right, no one panic, just stop what you're doing, stop what you're doing, please. I'm Corporal Nobbs, Ankh-Morpork City Ordnance Inspection City Audit -- [...] Bureau ... Special ... Audit ... Inspection.'" Nobby is imitating Eddie Murphy. Terry explains: "Almost a trademark of the basic Murphy character in a tight spot is to whip out any badge or piece of paper that looks vaguely official and simply gabble official-sounding jargon, which sounds as if he's making it up as he goes along but nevertheless browbeats people into doing what he wants. As in: 'I'm special agent Axel Foley of the Special ... Division ... Secret ... Anti-Drugs ... Secret ... Undercover ... Taskforce, that's who I am, and I want to know right now who's in charge here, right now!' Cpl Nobbs uses this technique to get into the Armoury in M@A." - [p. 252/191] "'Have you got one of those Hershebian twelve-shot bows with the gravity feed?' he snapped. 'Eh? What you see is what we got, mister.'" This is straight from _The Terminator_. Arnold says to the gun shop owner: "Have you got a phase plasma rifle in the 40 watt range?" and the shopkeeper responds: "Hey, just what you see, pal". - [p. 255/193] "'Oh, wow! A Klatchian fire engine! This is more *my* meteor!'" Perhaps obvious, but this *really* had me puzzled until I realised that 'meteor' refers back to Sgt Colon's use of the French word 'metier' a few pages back... - [p. 257/195] "'No sir! Taking Flint and Morraine, sir!'" These two trolls first appeared as actors in _Moving Pictures_. As far as their names go, Flint is obvious, but I had to look up Morraine: Webster spells it with one 'r', and defines it as "the debris of rocks, gravel, etc. left by a melting glacier". An email correspondent subsequently pointed out to me that Webster's definition is lacking, because (a) the spelling with two r's *is* valid, and (b) morraine is *unstratified* debris only. If it were stratified it would be called esker or kame, which are of course fluvioglacial products rather than just glacial. Hey, don't look at me -- I'm just the messenger... - [p. 258/196] "Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness." From the old saying: "It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness". - [p. 258/196] "'Lord Vetinari won't stop at sarcasm. He might use' -- Colon swallowed -- '*irony*.'" This reminded many correspondents of Monty Python's 'Dinsdale' sketch: Vercotti: I've seen grown men pull their own heads off rather than see Doug. Even Dinsdale was frightened of Doug. Interviewer: What did he do? Vercotti: He used sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire. Presenter: By a combination of violence and sarcasm the Piranha brothers, by February 1966, controlled London and the South East. - [p. 263/200] "'I mean, I don't mean well-endowed with *money*.'" Very obvious, but still: it is the conventional stereotype that both under-sized males as well as black males are 'better-endowed' than white males. Hence the joke: 'What is fifteen inches long and white?' Answer: 'Nothing'. - [p. 268/203] "'Shall we be off... Joey, wasn't it? Dr Whiteface?'" Another Grimaldi reference. See the annotation for p. 143/108. - [p. 269/204] "'All those little heads...'" Clowns' faces are trademarked and cannot be copied by any other clown (unlike clothes or a specific act). If you are a clown, you can send a photograph of your face to the Clown and Character Registry, where the face is then painted on a goose egg (a tradition dating back to the 1500s) and stored. - [p. 277/210] "'Stuffed with nourishin' marrowbone jelly, that bone,' he said accusingly." All through the 1960s and 1970s, TV commercials for Pal ("Prolongs Active Life") dog food used to claim that it contained "nourishing marrowbone jelly", and showed an oozing bone to prove it. - [p. 279/212] "Gonnes don't kill people. People kill people." Slogan of the US National Rifle Association. - [p. 284/216] "'It's Bluejohn and Bauxite, isn't it?' said Carrot." More troll names. For Bauxite see the annotation for p. 49/37. Bluejohn is another one I had to look up, and again I was saved by Brewer's, because Webster's doesn't have it. Blue John is "A petrifaction of blue fluor-spar, found in the Blue John mine of Tre Cliff, Derbyshire; and so called to distinguish it from the Black Jack, an ore of zinc. Called John from John Kirk, a miner, who first noticed it.". Brewer's may not have the final word on this, however. A correspondent tells me that Blue John is actually derived from a rock called 'Bleu-Jaune' (blue-yellow) because of its mixed colouring. This rock was originally named in French either because it was first found shortly after the Norman invasion or because the buyers were primarily French. - [p. 285/216] "'Remember, every lance-constable has a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack.'" "Every French soldier carries in his cartridge-pouch the baton of a marshal of France." Said originally by Napoleon, though of course he would have pronounced it as "Tout soldat francais porte dans sa giberne le baton de mere'chal de France." Note that on p. 297/226 Detritus repeats the phrase as "You got a field-marshal's button in your knapsack", while on p. 302/230 Cuddy creatively manages "You could have a field-marshal's bottom in your napkin". + [p. 287/218] "'Only two-er things come from Slice Mountain! Rocks... an'... an'...' he struck out wildly, 'other sortsa rocks! What kind *you*, Bauxite?'" Detritus in drill sergeant mode replays a scene from the movie _An Officer and a Gentleman_, in which sergeant Foley (played by Louis Gossett, Jr) has a conversation with a new recruit as follows: Sgt Foley: "You a queer?" Sid Worley: "Hell no sir!" Sgt Foley: "Where you from, boy?" Sid Worley: "Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, sir." Sgt Foley: "Ah! Only two things come out of Oklahoma. Steers and queers." - [p. 295/224] "'You just shut up, Abba Stronginthearm!'" One of the members of the legendary Swedish pop group Abba was Bjorn Ulvaeus. Obviously, by Discworld logic, if Bjorn is a typical dwarf name, so is Abba. Not to mention the 'Bjorn Again' pun Death makes on p. 82/62: Bjorn Again is the name of an Australian band with a repertoire that consists entirely of Abba covers. - [p. 295/224] "'Aargh! I'm too short for this shit!'" A phrase originating from US forces slang during the Vietnam war, where the tour of duty was fixed so the 'grunts' knew exactly how long, to the day, until they were due back in 'the world'. A short timer was one who didn't have long to go and therefore didn't want to put himself at undue risk -- hence "I'm too short for this shit". Another popular reference to this expression is "I'm too old for this shit", a catchphrase for Danny Glover's character in the _Lethal Weapon_ series of movies. Terry adds: "'I'm too short for this shit' is a line that has appeared in at least two grunt movies. I had intended Cuddy to use it in the sewers..." - [p. 305/232] "'I thought you rolled around on the floor grunting and growing hair and stretching,' he whimpered." Reference to the famous werewolf transformation scenes in the 1981 horror movie _An American Werewolf in London_. - [p. 307/234] "'So we're looking for someone else. A third man.'" A reference to the film _The Third Man_. Terry says: "It may be that there is a whole generation now to whom The Third Man is just a man after the second man. And after all, it wasn't set in Vienna, Ohio, so it probably never got shown in the US :-)" The book contains a couple of other resonances with _The Third Man_. In the film, the British, French, American and Russian occupation troops in Vienna patrol the city in groups of four, one from each country, to keep an eye on each other. Carrot sends the Watch out in similar squads of a human, a dwarf and a troll. The final chase through the sewers under the city also mirrors the film. - [p. 313/238] "'As I was a-walking along Lower Broadway, [...]'" Terry says: "While there are 789456000340 songs beginning "As I was a-walking...", and I've probably heard all of them, the one I had in mind was 'Ratcliffe Highway'." 'Ratcliffe Highway' (a version which can be found on the album _Liege & Lief_ by Fairport Convention) starts out: As I was a-walking along Ratcliffe Highway, A recruiting party came beating my way, They enlisted me and treated me till I did not know And to the Queen's barracks they forced me to go - [p. 317/241] "'Hand off rock and on with sock!'" The Discworld version of an old army Sgt Major yell to get the troops up in the morning: "Hands off cocks, on with socks!". - [p. 318/242] "'We're a real model army, we are'" The New Model Army, besides supplying the name for a Goth group, was the Parliamentarian army which turned the tide of the English Civil War, and ensured the defeat of King Charles I. - [p. 321/244] "'Yes, sir. Their cohorts all gleaming in purple and gold, sir.'" Lord Byron, _The Destruction of Sennacherib_: The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold... The sheen of his spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. A cohort is not an item of clothing or armour but a division of the old Roman Army: the tenth part of a legion, 300 to 600 men. - [p. 325/246] "[...] Fondel's 'Wedding March' [...]" Fondel = Haendel. - [p. 325/247] "'[...] it's got the name B.S. Johnson on the keyboard cover!'" Johann Sebastian Bach's initials are 'JSB', which is 'BSJ' backwards, and Bach was of course also involved in organ music. But Terry has mentioned numerous times (not just on-line but also in _The Discworld Companion_) that he did not choose the name with this intention at all. - [p. 332/252] "'Who would have thought you had it in you,' said Vimes, [...]" Shakespeare. See the annotation for p. 227/226 of _Wyrd Sisters_. - [p. 341/258] "'Detritus! You haven't got *time* to ooze!'" "I ain't got time to bleed!" is a line from _Predator_, another Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie. - [p. 345/262] "It was important to ensure that rumours of his death were greatly exaggerated." Paraphrase of a famous quip Mark Twain cabled to Associated Press after they had reported his demise. - [p. 357/271] "_Cling, bing, a-bing, bong..._" The scene with Vimes' watch mirrors the movie _For a Few Dollars More_. All the way through this film, the bad guy has been letting a watch chime, telling his victims to go for their gun when the chimes stop (of course he always draws first and kills them). At the end of the film his victim is Lee van Cleef, and just as the watch chimes stop, Clint Eastwood enters with another watch, chiming away, to ensure Lee gets his chance and all is well. Terry says: "[...] when the play of Men At Arms was done a couple of months ago, [Stephen Briggs]'s people actually went to the trouble of getting a recording of the 'right' tune for the watch. It was interesting to hear the laughter spread as people recognised it..." - [p. 365/277] "'They call me *Mister* Vimes,' he said." In the Sidney Poitier movie _In the Heat of the Night_ the most famous line (and indeed the name of the sequel) is Poitier saying "They call me *Mister* Tibbs." - [p. 371/281] "'Would he accept?' 'Is the High Priest an Offlian? Does a dragon explode in the woods?'" Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods? - [p. 373/283] "'Like a fish needs a... er... a thing that doesn't work underwater, sir.'" From the quip (attributed to feminist Gloria Steinem): "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." Note that the bicycle is not known on the Discworld to anybody but the Patrician and Leonard of Quirm. And they don't know what it is. SOUL MUSIC - [cover] The cover of _Soul Music_ bears more than a passing resemblance to the cover of the album _Bat out of Hell_ by Meatloaf, one of the 70s best-selling rock albums. - [p. 8/5] "This is also a story about sex and drugs and Music With Rocks In." For anyone living in a cave: the classic phrase is "sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll". - [p. 8/5] "Well... ...one out of three ain't bad." With the many Meatloaf references in _Soul Music_ it is perhaps no surprise many people think they've spotted another one here, namely to the ballad 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad' on _Bat out of Hell_. But in this case both Terry and Meatloaf are simply using a normal English phrase that's been around for ages. There is no connection. - [p. 9/7] "A dark, stormy night." "It was a dark and stormy night" has entered the English language as *the* canonical opening sentence for bad novels. Snoopy in _Peanuts_ traditionally starts his novels that way, and Terry and Neil used it on p. 11/viii of _Good Omens_ as well. I never knew, however, that the phrase actually has its origin in an existing 19th century novel called _Paul Clifford_ by Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton. Someone kindly mailed me the full opening sentence to that novel, and only then did I understand how the phrase came by its bad reputation: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness." There even exists a Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, in which people try to write the worst possible opening sentences for imaginary novels. The entries for the 1983 edition of the contest were compiled by Scott Rice in a book titled, what else, _It Was a Dark and Stormy Night_. I am told that there were at least three such compilations released. - [p. 13/10] "It was always raining in Llamedos." Llamedos is 'sod em all' backwards. This is a reference to the town of Llareggub in Dylan Thomas' short prose piece _Quite Early One Morning_. That story was later expanded into _Under Milk Wood_, a verse play scripted for radio. In that version the name of the town was changed to the slightly less explicit Llaregyb. Apart from that, Llamedos is instantly recognisable to the British as the Discworld version of Wales. The double-l is a consonant peculiar to the Celtic language (from which Welsh is descended), hence also Buddy's habit of doubling all l's when he speaks. - [p. 14/10] "[...] a fizzing fuse and Acme Dynamite Company written on the side." Acme is an often used 'generic' company name in American cartoons. Particularly, most of the ingenious technical and military equipment Wile E. Coyote uses in his attempts to capture the Roadrunnner is purchased from Acme. One of my proofreaders tells me he has a Pink Floyd _Dark Side of the Moon_ t-shirt manufactured by ACME. Make of that what you will. - [p. 14/11] "The harp was fresh and bright and already it sang like a bell." Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' is, with the possible exception of 'Louie, Louie', the greatest rock 'n roll song of all time. It begins: Way down Louisiana close to New Orleans, Way back up in the woods among the evergreens... There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood, Where lived a country boy name of Johnny B. Goode... He never ever learned to read or write so well, But he could play the guitar like ringing a bell. - [p. 17/13] "WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? SERIOUSLY? WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO IT?" This philosophical question was of course first posed by none other than the famous Ephebian philosopher Didactylos, in _Small Gods_. - [p. 20/15] "As far as looks were concerned, Susan had always put people in mind of a dandelion on the point of telling the time." To begin with, in order to understand the dandelion reference, read the annotation for p. 10/10 of _The Light Fantastic_. Next, many people on a.f.p. have been wondering if Susan was perhaps based on somebody specific, especially since Terry describes her appearance in such great detail. Various candidates were suggested, ranging from Neil Gaiman's Death (from his _Sandman_ stories) to Siouxsie Sioux (singer for the Goth band Siouxsie and the Banshees), to Dr Who's granddaughter. Terry replied: "As far as I'm aware, the Death/Dr Who 'coincidences' are in the mind of the beholders :-) Death can move through space and time, yes, but that's built in to the character. I made his house bigger on the inside than the outside so that I could have quiet fun with people's perceptions -- in the same way that humans live in tiny 'conceptual' rooms inside the vastness of the 'real' rooms. Only Death (or those humans who currently have Death-perception) not only sees but even experiences their full size." "I have, er, noticed on signing tours that (somewhere between the age of ten and eighteen) girls with names like Susan or Nicola metamorphose into girls with names like Susi, Suzi, Suzie, Siouxsie, Tsuzi, Zuzi and Niki, Nicci, Nikki and Nikkie (this is in about the same time period as boys with names like Adrian and Robert become boys with names like Crash and Frab). This is fine by me, I merely chronicle the observation. I've always had a soft spot for people who want to redesign their souls. She got the name because it's the one that gets the most variation, and got the hairstyle because it's been a nice weird hairstyle ever since the Bride of Frankenstein. She's not based on anyone, as far as I know -- certainly not Neil's Death, who is supercool and by no means a necronerd." I agree with Terry about Neil's Death. She's a babe. Go read the books. - [p. 25/19] "I REMEMBER EVERYTHING. [...] EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. AS IF IT HAPPENED ONLY YESTERDAY." Jim Steinman is the song-writing and production genius behind rock star Meatloaf. In 1977 he wrote the all-time classic 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light', which opens with the lines: Well, I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday. Parking by the lake And there was not another car in sight In 1981, Steinman recorded the album _Bad For Good_ by himself (he either had a falling out with Meatloaf or the latter had voice problems at the time -- the story is not clear on this point) but in any case Steinman had originally intended the album as a Meatloaf project, but eventually decided to use his own vocals). On that album appeared a song (soliloquy, really), called 'Love and Death and an American Guitar', which begins similar to 'Paradise', but quickly goes off in an *entirely* different direction: I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday. I was barely seventeen and I once killed a boy with a Fender guitar When _Soul Music_ came out, it immediately became a question of utmost importance (no, I don't know why, either) to Pratchett annotators all over the world to find out whether Terry based Death's outburst on the original Meatloaf track, or on the later Steinman song. Eventually, somebody attended a book signing and asked Terry then and there. The answer: Terry's source was Jim Steinman's own version of the song. I suppose I might as well mention the rest of the story while I'm at it, or else my mailbox will start filling up again: in 1993, Steinman and Meatloaf finally teamed up together again and recorded the album _Bat out of Hell II -- Back to Hell_. The track called 'Wasted Youth' turned out to be a re-recording of 'American Guitar', but it is still recited by Jim Steinman himself. - [p. 26/20] "I MAY BE SOME TIME, said Death." Terry *likes* this quote -- it's the third time he's used it. See also the annotations for p. 258/226 of _Reaper Man_ and p. 236/170 of _Small Gods_. - [p. 28/21] "'You know salmon, sarge' said Nobby. 'It is a fish of which I am aware, yes.'" A parody of the History Today sketches by Newman & Baddiel, where two old professors use a discussion on history to insult each other. These often started with a similar style of exchange along the lines of: "Do you know the industrial revolution?" "It is a period of history of which I am aware, yes". - [p. 30/22] "'Are you elvish?'" The way everyone keeps asking Imp if he's elvish resonates with our world's 'are you sure you're not Jewish?', but it's of course also a play on the name 'Elvis', which eventually leads to the joke explained in the annotation for p. 376/284. - [p. 31/23] "'Lias Bluestone,' said the troll [...]" See the annotation for p. 103/86 of _Moving Pictures_. - [p. 31/23] "'Imp y Celyn,' said Imp." This gets pretty much spelled out in the text: "Imp y Celyn" is a Welsh transliteration of 'Bud of the Holly', i.e. Buddy Holly. Terry originally mentioned this name on alt.fan.pratchett without giving the explanation. It took the group quite a while to figure it out, but luckily there are some Welsh people on the Internet... - [p. 31/24] "'Glod Glodsson,' said the dwarf." As his name indicates, Glod Glodsson is the son of the irritable dwarf Glod we learned about earlier in the footnotes for _Witches Abroad_. - [p. 33/25] "[...] what you would get if you extracted fossilized genetic material from something in amber and then gave it a suit." What Terry means is that Mr Clete is a bit reptile-like. The reference is to the blockbuster novel/movie _Jurassic Park_, in which various murderous lizards were brought to life using prehistoric DNA found in amber-fossilized mosquitoes. - [p. 35/27] "'Gimlet? Sounds dwarfish.'" "Gimlet, son of Groin" is a dwarf appearing in the well known Harvard Lampoon parody _Bored of the Rings_ by the famous Dutch author Tolkkeen with four M's and a silent Q. The original dwarf being, um, lampooned here is of course Tolkien's Gimli, son of Gloin. In the Discworld canon, this is the first time Gimlet makes an actual on-stage appearance, though he has been mentioned a number of times before, most notably in _Reaper Man_ (see the annotation for p. 31/30 of that book). - [p. 36/27] "'Give me four fried rats.' [...] 'You mean rat heads or rat legs?' 'No. Four fried rats.'" This is a spoof of the restaurant scene in _The Blues Brothers_. Jake orders "Four fried chickens and a coke", and the waitress (Aretha Franklin) asks him whether he'd like chicken wings or legs, etc. Even the "best damn fried rat in the city" is a direct paraphrase of a Blues Brothers quote. - [p. 36/27] "'And two hard-boilled eggs,' said Imp. The others gave him an odd look." This is partly a continuation of the Blues Brothers reference (after Jake asks for the fried chickens, Elwood asks for two slices of dry toast), and at the same time a nod to the Marx Brothers. In the cabin scene from _A Night at the Opera_, Groucho is giving his order to the steward outside the cabin; Chico is calling out "And two hard boiled eggs!" from inside, Groucho repeats it to the steward, then Harpo honks his horn and Groucho says "Make that three hard boiled eggs." This happens several times, with Groucho ordering a multi-course meal in between. At one point Harpo adds a second honk, in a different pitch, and Groucho adds, "And one duck egg." At the end Harpo produces a long series of honks in assorted tones, and Groucho says to the steward, "Either it's foggy out, or make that a dozen hard boiled eggs." - [p. 38/29] "'I won that at the Eisteddfod,' said Imp." The eisteddfod is a real Welsh concept, originally a contest for poets and harpists. Nowadays, I'm told, it is more of a generic arts and crafts fair/contest, and it has spread as far as Australia, where the annual Rock Eisteddfod, according to one of my correspondents, is one of the most entertaining and highly competitive interschool activities around. + [p. 30] "[...] a thin slice of a face belonging to an old woman." (See also the scene that starts on p. 181.) The attitudes and mannerisms of the old woman owning the pawn shop are very like those of Auntie Wainwright in the BBC sitcom _Last of the Summer Wine_. For quite a number of episodes she ran the funny old antiques shop from which many props and plot devices were available. When people entered the shop, she often appeared holding a double barrelled shotgun and describing herself as a "poor defenseless old lady" or calling from just off the scene to describe the many (non-existant) security devices she has installed. She always charged too much and "It's funny you should say that" is a phrase she used a lot. - [p. 69/52] "The Hogfather is said to have originated in the legend of a local king [...] passing [...] the home of three young women and heard them sobbing because they had no food [...]. He took pity on them and threw a packet of sausages through the window." This recalls the legend of the original (Asiatic) St Nicholas, bishop of Myra in what is now Turkey, who threw a bag of gold (on three separate occasions) through the window of a poor man with three daughters, so the girls would have dowries, saving them from having to enter lives of prostitution. I don't know about other countries, but in the Netherlands we still celebrate St Nicholas' day (on December 5th) rather than Christmas. Let me rephrase that. We *do* celebrate Christmas, but we have no tradition of a fat man in a red suit going ho-ho-ho while delivering presents. Instead, we get St Nicholas ('Sinterklaas'), who also wears red, and comes over from Spain each year (don't ask) to ride a white horse (not named Binky, as far as I know) over the rooftops and drop presents down the chimneys. - [p. 43/33] "Just a stroke of the chalk..." I'm not sure if it warrants an annotation, but I was fairly puzzled by this bit when I first read _Soul Music_. Only on re-reading did it dawn on me that what Terry is trying to tell us here is that chalked on the guitar is the number '1'. This will turn out to be rather significant, later on. - [p. 46/35] "'You're not going to say something like "Oh, my paws and whiskers", are you?' she said quietly." The White Rabbit in _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_: "'The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers!'". Terry doesn't like the Alice books very much, though. See also the _Words From The Master_ section in Chapter 5. - [p. 47/36] "[...] 'Shave and a haircut, two pence' [...] Bam-bam-a-bambam, bamBAM." 'Shave and a haircut, two bits' is a classic rock 'n' roll rhythm (used in just about everything Bo Diddley did, for instance). It was most recently reintroduced to the public as a punchline to a joke in the movie _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_. - [p. 48/37] _A-bam-bop-a-re-bop-a-bim-bam-boom._ A-wap-ba-ba-looba-a-wap-bam-boom, one of rock 'n roll's most famous phrases, from Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti'. - [p. 50/38] "'[...] oh, you're a raven, go on, say the N word...'" The N word is, of course, 'Nevermore' from Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven'. See also the annotation for p. 217/191 of _Reaper Man_. - [p. 55/42] "The wizard who thought he owned him called him Quoth, [...]" The line from 'The Raven' fully goes: "Quoth the raven 'Nevermore'." Quoth the Raven -- get it? - [p. 56/42] "Lunch was Dead Man's Fingers and Eyeball Pudding, [...]" Terry explains that this is "based on the UK tradition of giving horrible names to items on the school menu, such as Snot and Bogey Pie. Eyeball Pudding was usually semolina, Dead Men's Fingers are sausages. At least, they were at my school, and friends confirm the general approach." + [p. 56/42] "Miss Butts [...] practised eurhythmics in the gym." Eurhythmics (literally: "good rhythms") is an existing form of movement therapy that originated in Europe in the late 19th century, which aims to study the rhythmic underpinning of music through movement (it is of course also where pop band The Eurythmics got their name from). In its early years, the more philosophical aspects of Eurhythmics were not always properly recognised, which often led to classes that were, according to one author, "little more than 'the place were the rich girls from the village went to learn dancing'", which of course ties in neatly with the Quirm College for Young Girls. Note that Miss Butts' co-founder of the College is Miss Delcross, and that the Eurhythmics method was created by the Swiss composer Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. - [p. 63/48] "There's a floral clock in Quirm. It's quite a tourist attraction." A flower display common in the more genteel and down-at-heel seaside resorts in the shape of a clock face, with the design of the face picked out in flowering plants of different colours. The more clever ones use flowers which open and close at different times of day, thus in principle allowing the time to be told by looking at the flowers. The less subtle ones just have a clock mechanism buried in the middle, and big hands. - [p. 69/52] "There's a song about him. It begins: You'd Better Watch Out..." The real world equivalent of this song is of course 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'. I just *love* how Terry completely reverses the meaning of that song's opening line, without changing a single word. - [p. 71/54] "Behind it, in the turf, two fiery hoofprints burned for a second or two." I have received I don't know how many emails pointing out that this resonates with the burning tire tracks left by the time-travelling DeLorean in the film _Back to the Future_. - [p. 74/56] "[...] the sky ahead of her erupted blue for a moment. Behind her, unseen because light was standing around red with embarrassment [...]" Binky is obviously going *very* fast, since the visible light in front of him is blue-shifted and behind him red-shifted, something normally only associated with astronomical objects. - [p. 75/57] "The Soul Cake Tuesday Duck didn't apparently have any kind of a home." The Discworld equivalent of the Easter Bunny. See also the annotation for p. 193/139 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 79/59] "[...] C. H. Lavatory & Son [...]" It is a curious but true fact that we owe the modern flush toilet as we know it to a Victorian gentleman by the name of Thomas Crapper. Mr Lavatory is obviously his Discworld counterpart. And before I start getting mail about it: no, Crapper didn't really invent the flush toilet himself, but he made several improvements to the design (shades of James Watt here, see the annotation for p. 175/153 of _Reaper Man_), and he certainly sold a lot of them to the British army. For more information about Thomas Crapper, read Cecil Adams' _More of the Straight Dope_. - [p. 81/61] "'What d'you call this, then, Klatchian mist?'" The British expression this refers to is 'Scotch mist', used to describe things that persist in being present or existing despite statements to the contrary. For example: Worker A: "Someone's buggered off with me three-eighths Gripley!" Worker B: (holding up three-eighths Gripley allegedly buggered-off with by person or persons unknown) "What's this then? Scotch mist?" - [p. 91/69] "'Normal girls didn't get a My Little Binky set on their third birthday!'" My Little Pony is a toy aimed at young girls: a small plastic pony (in bright pink, or blue, etc.) with long hair which you can (allegedly) have endless fun combing. - [p. 98/73] "'You mean like... *Keith* Death?'" I doubt very much if this is a true reference, but when I saw this I couldn't help thinking: Keith Richards always looks like Death. No reason why Death shouldn't look like a Keith, is there? - [p. 103/77] "'Er,' she said, 'ANYONE HERE BEEN KILLED AND CALLED VOLF?'" _Anyone Here Been Raped And Speak English?_ was the British title of a book about newspapers' foreign correspondents by Edward Behr, who also wrote _The Last Emperor_. In the US this book was released under the name _Behrings_. The phrase refers to a story concerning a BBC journalist in a refugee camp in the Belgian Congo. He was investigating some of the atrocities being committed there, and was looking for a victim to interview. Unfortunately he didn't have a translator and the victims only spoke French. Finally in desperation the journalist wandered through the camp calling out "Anyone here been raped and speak English?". - [p. 104/78] "'Hi-jo-to! Ho! Hi-jo-to! Ho!'" This is from Wagner's opera _Die Walkuere_. I don't have to explain what valkyries are, do I? - [p. 109/82] "[...] at war with Hersheba and the D'regs [...]" The name D'regs is not only a pun on 'dregs', but also refers to the Tuaregs, a nomadic Berber tribe in North Africa. The Tuaregs are also the desert marauders who attack Fort Zinderneuf in the movie _Beau Geste_ (based on the book by P. C. Wren). The name 'Hersheba' (a pun on 'Hershey Bar' / 'Beersheba') is something that Terry came up with in 1992 on a.f.p., when he was more or less thinking out loud about the many people who didn't get the Djelibeybi reference (see the annotation for p. 17/17 of _Pyramids_): "[...] say Djelibeybi OUT LOUD -- I must have had twenty letters (and one or two emails) from people who didn't twig until the third time round... oh god... do they have them in the US? Should it have been called Emmenemms, or Hersheba... hmm, Hersheba... could USE that, yes, little country near Ephebe..." - [p. 109/82] "IS THIS THE KLATCHIAN FOREIGN LEGION?" I'll just let Terry himself handle this one: "Just so we don't get a zillion postings about cartoon films and comics and movies that _Soul Music_ has been copied from: the whole Klatchian Foreign Legion bit has its roots in 'Beau Geste', which was *the* Foreign Legion movie. It must be one of the most parodied, echoed and copied movies of all time -- it was so influential that it is probably where most people's ideas of the FFL originate." - [p. 112/84] "There was a riot going on." This line is a fairly cliche rock 'n roll text fragment. It is used in quite a few songs, most notably in 'Riot in Cell Block #9', a song that has been performed by everybody from Dr Feelgood to the Blues Brothers. _There's A Riot Goin' On_ is also the name of a famous 1971 funk album by Sly and the Family Stone. - [p. 116/88] "[...] the Vox Humana, the Vox Dei and the Vox Diabolica." The Vox Humana is an existing organ stop (to be precise: a reed-type stop with a short resonator, common in baroque organs), and so is the Vox Angelicii. But my sources are divided as to whether the Vox Dei actually exists. About the Vox Diabolica everyone is in perfect agreement: ain't no such thing, and never was. - [p. 116/88] "He raised his hands." The Librarian powering up the organ resonates with the scene in which Marty McFly turns on Doc Brown's guitar amplifier in _Back to the Future_. - [p. 117/89] "[...] except the legendary harp of Owen Mwnyy [...]" Owen Mwnyy is pronounced as 'Owing Money' (in Welsh, the 'w' is a vowel, pronounced as a 'u'). Also, Owen Myfanwy was a Welsh folk hero, and of course all Welsh folk heroes are dab hands with the harp, which is the Welsh national musical instrument. - [p. 120/90] "'Cliff? Can't see anyone lasting long in *this* business with a name like *Cliff*'." A reference to Cliff Richard -- see the annotation for p. 48/45 of _Johnny and the Dead_. - [p. 121/91] "'Moving around on your seat like you got a pant full of ant.'" James Brown, the Godfather of Soul: 'I've got Ants in my Pants and I want to Dance.' - [p. 122/92] "They've got one of those new pianofortes [...]' 'But dat sort of thing is for big fat guys in powdered wigs." Johann Sebastian Bach was invited to Potsdam for the very purpose of trying out King Frederic of Prussia's new pianofortes. - [p. 123/93] "... the beat went on ..." 'The Beat Goes On' is a song by Sonny Bono (yes, the dude who used to be married to Cher). - [p. 126/95] "'Hello, hello, hello, what is all this... then?' he said [...]" Stereotypical British policeman's phrase. See the annotation for p. 60/55 of _Guards! Guards!_. - [p. 127/95] "'He can't stop us. We're on a mission from Glod.'" "We're on a mission from God" is perhaps the most famous quote from the _Blues Brothers_ movie. - [p. 131/98] "'As soon as he saw the duck, Elmer knew it was going to be a bad day.'" A nice double reference. To begin with, the cartoons Terry is referring to here are Gary Larson's _Far Side_ cartoons (which I can highly recommend. Just try to avoid the collections published after 1990 or so. They're not that bad, but the earlier ones are significantly better). Second, there are the eternal cartoon conflicts between Elmer Fudd, hunter, and Daffy Duck, duck. Usually, when Elmer meets Daffy, it *will* turn out to be a bad day for him. + [p. 134/101] "Along the Ankh with Bow, Rod and Staff with a Knob on the End" Not a reference to anything specific, but there used to be dozens of travel books with names like "Along the [fill in river] with [gun and camera, rod and line, etc]", usually written by retired Victorian army men. These cliche-ridden travelogues were already being parodied as early as 1930 by George Chappell in his _Through the Alimentary Canal with Gun and Camera_. - [p. 135/101] "'Blert Wheedown's Guitar Primer,' he read." Blert Wheedown puns on Bert Weedon, famous for his many "play in a day" guitar primers, which are mainly bought by doting but slightly out of touch grandmothers for grandsons who'd rather have "The Death Metal book of three chords using less than three fingers". - [p. 140/105] "[...] when Mr Hong opened his takeaway fish bar on the site of the old temple in Dagon street?" For a full explanation of Mr Hong's tragic fate, see the annotation for p. 197/149 of _Men at Arms_. - [p. 142/107] "'We call him Beau Nidle, sir.'" Beau Nidle = Beau Geste + bone idle. - [p. 146/110] "There was a path, though. It led across the fields for half a mile or so, then disappeared abruptly." This would be a good description of _Wheatfield with Crows_ by Van Gogh, who took his own life shortly after finishing this painting. - [p. 151/114] "Her mother's favourite dish had been Genocide by Chocolate." 'Death by Chocolate' is an existing dish, as well as a chain of restaurants in New Zealand and Australia. - [p. 152/114] "MORPHIC RESONANCE, he said, [...]" Another reference to Rupert Sheldrake's theories. See the annotation for p. 54/45 of _Mort_. - [p. 161/121] "The next table was occupied by Satchelmouth Lemon [...]" Louis Armstrong's nickname was Satchmo, which was short for Satchelmouth. The 'Lemon' part of the name also ties in with black artists by way of the legendary bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson. - [p. 162/122] "She was quite attractive in a skinny way, Ridcully thought. What was the tomboy word? Gammon, or something." Gammon is the lower end of a side of bacon. What Ridcully is thinking of is the word 'gamine', which does have the same meaning as tomboy. - [p. 163/123] "'It looks like a spike at the front and a duck's arse, excuse my Klatchian, at the back.'" "Duck's arse" is, in fact, the correct name for the type of fifties' rock 'n roll haircut more politely described as a duck *tail* haircut: one with the hair long in the back. "Excuse my French" is a euphemism, said after swearing. - [p. 169/127] "'A song about Great Fiery Balls. [...] Couldn't really make out the words, the reason bein', the piano exploded.'" Jerry Lee Lewis used to set fire to his piano using gasoline while playing his immortal 'Great balls of Fire'. - [p. 173/130] "[...] much later on, on the day when the music died, [...]" The day of the infamous plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens all in one go is commonly referred to as "the day the music died". Years later, Don McLean would immortalise the phrase even further in his song 'American Pie', but that song is definitely *not* the original source. - [p. 173/130] "Ridcully was going to say, oh, you're a rebel, are you, what are you rebelling against, and he'd say... he'd say something pretty damn memorable, that's what he'd do!" In the 1954 movie _The Wild One_, starring Marlon Brando as Johnny, the following exchange occurs: Girl in a bar: So Johnny, what're you rebelling against? Johnny: What've you got? - [p. 173/130] "'mumblemumblemumble', said the Dean defiantly, a rebel without a pause." The name of the classic movie is _Rebel Without A Cause_. Starring James... Dean. - [p. 174/131] Song Titles. 'Don't Tread On My New Blue Boots' is Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede Shoes', 'Good Gracious Miss Polly' is Little Richard's 'Good Golly Miss Molly' and 'Sto Helit Lace' is the Big Bopper's 'Chantilly Lace'. - [p. 174/131] "'That bit where you said "hello, baby",' he said. 'Why'd you do that?'" 'Chantilly Lace' begins with The Big Bopper treating us to his half of a telephone conversation with the young lady in question. It starts: Helll- (then drop about an octave) -lllllo (then up a little bit) ba- (huge glissando up the scale, beyond where he started) aaaaaaaaaaybeeeee! - [p. 183/138] [...] LIVE FATS DIE YO GNU [...] After James Dean's legendary motto: "Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse." - [p. 184/139] "'Adrian Turnipseed, Archchancellor.'" This is probably just a coincidence, but Donald Turnupseed was the driver of the car that collided with James Dean in the crash that killed him. Donald was only slightly hurt. - [p. 188/141] "It took him and Gibbsson, the apprentice, [...]" That's of course Gibson, of guitar-building fame. - [p. 190/144] "'I'll throw in the space between the strings for free, OK?'" Another Blues Brothers reference. When Elwood and Jake are buying their instruments from 'Ray's Music Exchange', Ray Charles makes the comment about the electric piano that he'll "throw in the black notes for free". - [p. 192/144] "'[...] if anyone comes in and tries to play [...] Pathway to Paradise [...] he's to pull their head off." 'Pathway to Paradise' is the Discworld version of Led Zeppelin's rock anthem 'Stairway to Heaven'. The song's characteristic guitar riff is so often played in music shops that the patrons get really fed up with it, so it's quite common to see "No Stairway" signs, or in the case of one particular shop in Denmark Street, London, a sign saying: "Anyone who uses the instruments here to play 'Stairway To Heaven', 'Paranoid' or 'Smoke On The Water' should seriously consider whether they have a future in rock and roll." - [p. 193/145] "'They say there's a background noise to the universe? A sort of echo of some sound? [...] It wouldn't have to be very loud. It'd just have to be everywhere, all at once.'" What Ponder tries to describe corresponds to our universe's cosmic blackbody microwave radiation, which is indeed a uniform background radiation, spanning all frequencies and coming with the same intensity from every part of the sky at every time of the day in every season. The explanation for this phenomenon is that it is radiation originating with the Big Bang that started our universe. - [p. 196/147] "*This* scene took place in Crash's father's coach house, but it was an echo of a scene evolving all around the city." Placing them in the coach house is a reference to the "garage band" phenomenon. - [p. 198/149] "'The Cavern!'" The Cavern was the name of the night club in Liverpool where the Beatles played their first performance. It is worth noting that in _The Streets of Ankh-Morpork_ we can see that The Cavern is located on Quarry Lane. This not only recalls 'Penny Lane', but before the Beatles became the Beatles, they called themselves the Quarrymen. - [p. 198/149] "Gorlick and Hammerjug were songwriters, [...]" A reference to the musical composers Rogers and Hammerstein, who wrote the songs for _The Sound of Music_ (amongst many other musical scores). Note also that 'stein' is a word the English (not the Germans) use for 'jug'. - [p. 198/150] "Except the one about Hiho." The Hiho song is first mentioned in _Moving Pictures_; see the annotation for p. 88/73 of that book. - [p. 199/150] "'And me an' my friends can walk towards you with our hats on backwards in a menacing way, Yo!'" Rat music = rap music. - [p. 200/151] "Troll gambling is even simpler than Australian gambling. One of the most popular games is One Up, [...]" Two-up is an Australian form of gambling played extensively by Australian soldiers during both World Wars. Although generally illegal outside of licensed casinos, it can now be played in country towns during some local festivals. Professional games are controlled by at least one 'boxer', who collects a 'rake-off' or commission from all winners. Bets may be placed either between players, or to cover the 'centre', representing the 'spinner's' stake. The spinner must back heads, and other players must back tails. Side bets may back either. Two coins are placed on a 'kip' (a flat piece of wood), and the spinner tosses them in the air. If the coins don't spin properly or if they land one head and one tail, it is classed a 'no-throw' and all bets stand. If both coins land heads or both tails, bets are resolved. Players take turns as spinner and may continue to throw so long as they show heads. The spinner begins to collect winnings only after throwing three heads; subsequently, he may retire or place more bets. However, if the spinner 'dooks them' by throwing three *successive* heads, the boxer takes a percentage (usually about 10%). There are a bunch of other conventions, such as calling "Come in, spinner" before each throw, and variations in the betting between casinos. I'm told that although the odds favour the house (as usual), the spinner's odds are better than other players'. - [p. 201/152] "'I hired you a helper. [...] Meet Asphalt.'" In the music scene, the person performing the same tasks for a band as Asphalt does is called a roadie. His name is therefore quite appropriate. - [p. 205/154] "'Bee There Orr Bee A Rectangular Thyng', said Cliff." The phrase is, of course: Be There Or Be Square. - [p. 207/156] "''S called Insanity,' said Asphalt." Puns on the name of the British pop group Madness. - [p. 208/157] "'It says BORN TO RUNE,' said Crash, [...]" A combination of the 'Born to Rule' slogan, and Bruce Springsteen's anthem 'Born to Run'. - [p. 209/157] "'That's a bodacious audience,' said Jimbo." This may well be a reference to the movie _Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure_, where the two protagonists use this word repeatedly. Later on, Crash also says 'Excellent!', another catchphrase from the movie. - [p. 219/165] "'[...] would they remember some felonious monk or shout for Glod Glodsson?'" One of my favourite Pratchett puns ever. Thelonious Monk is one of our world's most highly regarded jazz musicians (though he played the piano, not the horn -- you'd want Miles Davis for that). - [p. 220/166] "'Cavern Deep, Mountain High?' said Glod." 'River Deep Mountain High', by many considered Phil Spector's last Great Production, for Ike and Tina Turner. - [p. 222/167] "'It's the Gritz for *you*!'" That's the Ritz in our world. - [p. 233/175] "Si non confectus, non reficiat." "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." See the annotation for the Discworld mottos in _The Discworld Companion_. - [p. 235/177] "[...] a small, greyish-brown mongrel dog [...] sat peering into the box for a while." A reference to the famous 'His Master's Voice' logo for the RCA records. The dog is probably Gaspode. - [p. 237/178] "'You tellin' me ants can count?' 'Oh, no. Not individual ants...'" An excellent explanation of the anthill as a metaphor for intelligence can be found in Douglas R. Hofstadter's _Goedel, Escher, Bach_. - [p. 239/180] "'I know a golem. Mr Dorfl down in Long Hogmeat.'" See the annotation for p. 234/204 of _Reaper Man_. Incidentally, 'long pig' is a name for human meat (we are supposed to taste like pork). Dorfl will turn up later in _Feet of Clay_. - [p. 242/182] "'Are you the Watch?' Glod bowed. 'No, ma'am. We're musicians.'" The _Blues Brothers_ again. See the annotation for p. 122/107 of _Witches Abroad_. - [p. 243/183] "'And this one?' he said. 'It'll make the world end and the sky fall on me if I give it a tootle, will it?' 'Interesting you should say that,' said the old lady'." In other words, the untarnished trumpet is actually the biblical last trump, which signals the end of the world. - [p. 245/184] "'There were eight of them, led by... um... Cantaloupe.'" That's Calliope. A cantaloupe is a kind of melon. Note that in our world's classical mythology there were *nine* muses. On the Discworld, this of course becomes eight. For another example of this mechanism in action, see the annotation for p. 122/101 of _Eric_. - [p. 252/190] "'That's mexical, that is. They put the worm in to show how strong it is.'" A piece of typical Discworld lexical confusion here: the name of the drink (and of the associated drug) is *mescal*, the country it comes from is Mexico. And yes, mescal is the original drink that has a worm at the bottom of the bottle. - [p. 254/191] "'A-wrong-wrong-wrong-wrong, a-do-wrong-wrong,' said the other two maids." The maids' chorus and the beehives are like those of the girl groups of the sixties; this quote itself is similar to the background vocals in the Crystals' 'Da Doo Ron Ron'. - [p. 258/194] "[...] someone who sat on a wall and required royal assistance to be put together again." Terry means Humpty Dumpty, from the famous children's rhyme ("All the king's horses and all the king's men / Couldn't put Humpty together again."). From the description he gives it is clear that he is specifically referring to Humpty as he was portrayed by Tenniel in the illustrations for Lewis Carroll's _Through The Looking Glass_. - [p. 263/198] "'So you want to be Music With Rocks In stars, do you?' 'Yes, sir!' 'Then listen here to what I say...'" From The Byrds' 'So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star': So you want to be a rock and roll star? Then listen now to what I say. Just get an electric guitar Then take some time And learn how to play. And with your hair swung right, And your pants too tight It's gonna be all right. - [p. 264/199] "'We're Certainly Dwarfs', said Dibbler. 'Yes, that might work.'" Terry is a fan of a fairly obscure band (in Europe at least -- in America they are a bit better known) called They Might Be Giants (he has mentioned on a.f.p. that their 'Where your Eyes don't Go' is the scariest song he's ever heard -- not that scary is a word I'd normally associate with TMBG, mind you, but then I don't know that particular song). Anyway, 'We're Certainly Dwarfs' appears to be the Discworld answer to this group, or at least to their name, and it may be amusing to know that the name was first suggested to Terry by a.f.p. reader Mike Berzonsky, during an early discussion about Discworld popular music. Mike wrote, way back in february 1993: "Totally off the subject, this came to me last night. Terry's covered tons of stuff, but other than metamorphizing tapes in _Good Omens_, little on Rock n Roll. Since he's a fan of TMBG, maybe a dwarvish rock band, 'No, We Really Are Dwarves'. Since rock is so central to dwarf life, it makes sense to me that they'd have a band, although I understand that rich dwarves hire trolls to bang on anvils, so maybe Detritus could be the percussion section. And Dibbler could be their manager. No, better, Gaspode the Wonder Dog. And finding the references to the last forty years of music could be a blast. Just an idea." Was this guy a prophet, or what? Terry replied: "I've occasionally toyed with the Ankh music business. And I can promise you that if it ever happens, there'll be a group called 'We Really Are Dwarfs' :-)" The rest is history. The song mentioned later on in the text, 'Something's gotten into my beard' is not directly traceable to They Might Be Giants, or it would have to be to the track 'Fingertips' on _Apollo 18_, which features the line "Something grabbed a hold of my hand". Most people figure it is simply a reference to an entirely different song: Gene Pitney's 'Something's gotten hold of my Heart'. - [p. 264/199] "'But you've got to spell it with a Z. Trollz." In the sixties it was common for bands to get their names from intentional misspellings of common words. The best-known examples of this trend are probably the Byrds and Led Zeppelin. - [p. 265/199] "'So now we're Suck,' said Crash." Suck --> KISS. - [p. 270/203] "[...] a name like JOE'S LIVERY STABLE, [...]" So what we have here is the Discworld version of Joe's Garage, another well-known rock 'n roll concept. - [p. 270/204] "Buddy sighed. 'You had a great house there, I expect?' said the troll. 'Just a shack,' said Buddy. 'Made of earth and wood. Well, mud and wood really.'" 'Johnny B. Goode' again. See the annotation for p. 14/11. - [p. 272/204] "And the one they called the Duck Man had a duck on his head." In Daniel Pinkwater's book _Lizard Music_ a major character is the Chicken Man, an apparently homeless man who walks around with a chicken perched on his head (under a hat). The Chicken Man is a lot more together than The Duck Man -- he periodically does little street shows featuring the chicken, who does tricks. According to Pinkwater, the Chicken Man was based on a real person who lived in Chicago. - [p. 278/209] "'They follow actors and musicians around,' he said, 'because of, you know, the glamour and everything --'" While it is obvious that Buddy is talking about the phenomenon of groupies, it is also interesting to note that the word 'glamour' is sometimes used to mean magic spell or enchantment, making this sentence tie in nicely with the wizard's earlier beliefs that Music With Rocks In is somehow magical. - [p. 282/212] "'The Surreptitious Fabric', said Jimbo." The Discworld version of the legendary Velvet Underground. - [p. 284/214] "'It's sort of deaf." So, in effect they bought a Def Leppard, get it? - [p. 285/214] More band names. The Whom are The Who, The Blots are The Inkspots, and Lead Balloon are of course Led Zeppelin. - [p. 285/215] "'Yes, but a rolling stone gathers no moss, my father says,' said Crash." Notice how when the opportunity presents itself for the group to pick one of the most influential rock 'n roll group names imaginable, Crash and friends totally and utterly fail to see it. - [p. 285/215] "THANK YOU, said the grateful Death." A straightforward reference to the band The Grateful Dead. I didn't really think this was worth annotating, but people kept sending me mail about it, so... - [p. 290/218] "'Nice curtains, by the way.'" This is a reference to rock bands 'redecorating their hotel rooms', i.e. thrashing it beyond all recognition. Glod interprets the phrase more literally. - [p. 290/218] "'[...] I'm going to put my rock kit on my back and take a long walk, and the first time someone says to me, "What are dem things on your back?" dat's where I'm gonna settle down.'" In Homer's _Odyssey_, Odysseus was told by the spirit of Tiresias that if he ever made it back to Ithaca, he was to put one oar on his shoulder and walk inland, until he reached a people who knew nothing of sailing. There, he was to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, after which he would be allowed to die after a happy old age, far from the sea. - [p. 298/225] "[...] somewhere where no one remembers your name." Since Death has actually gone to the Mended Drum, it's not too far-fetched to assume this is a nod to the theme song of _Cheers_, the bar "where everybody knows your name". - [p. 299/225] "_He built me a swing_, Susan remembered." Death's attempts to build a swing for Susan are a Discworld version of a cartoon that has been doing the rounds in offices all over the world. Usually the cartoon depicts 'swing-building' as an increasingly complex series of 'logical' steps representing an abstract process such as "the software life cycle". The finished item, looking somewhat like Death's completed swing, is typically followed by a final picture showing "what the customer wanted", namely, a tire hanging from a branch by a single rope. - [p. 300/226] "'In like Flint, eh?'" "In like Flynn" is the normal expression, going back to Errol Flynn's sexual transgressions -- at one point he was even charged with statutory rape, arrested and brought to trial, then acquitted. - [p. 306/231] "_I can feel it. Every day. It's getting closer..._" This is part of the lyrics to Buddy Holly's 'Everyday': Everyday, it's a-gettin' closer, Goin' faster than a roller coaster, Love like yours will surely come my way, (hey hey hey) - [p. 306/231] More song names. 'There's A Great Deal Of Shaking Happening' is Jerry Lee Lewis' 'Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On'. 'Give Me That Music With Rocks In' is Leiber and Stoller's 'Rock and Roll Music'. - [p. 307/231] "'Hah. That'll be the day.'" The title of one of Buddy Holly's greatest hits. - [p. 307/232] "'I'd like a quarry,' said the troll. 'Yeah?' 'Yeah. Heart-shaped.'" A reference to the strange-shaped swimming pools rock and movie stars are supposed to have built for themselves. - [p. 313/236] "It was called Hide Park [...]" A 'hide' is in fact an Old English measure of land. The definition varies, but it is usually the amount considered adequate for the support of one free family with its dependants, and at an earlier time this in turn was defined as being as much land as could be tilled with one plough in a year. Hyde park is also the name of a largish open space in the centre of London where, sometime around 1970, the Rolling Stones played a massive free concert. - [p. 314/237] "'Whoever heard of a serious musician with a glove?'" Part of Michael Jackson's image is his always wearing one glove on stage. - [p. 315/237] "'Dwarfs With Altitude'" Reference to the gangster rap group Niggaz With Attitude (NWA), and the general concept of "having an attitude". - [p. 323/244] More band names. Boyz from the Wood are Boyz 'n the Hood (which is a movie, not a band, incidentally), and &U are U2. - [p. 324/244] "'[...] proper music with real words... 'Summer is icumen in, lewdly sing cuckoo,' that sort of thing.'" One of the oldest (if not the oldest) known songs in the English language is the 'Cuckoo Song': "Sumer is icumen in, lhude sing cuccu". 'Lhude' means 'loud', not 'lewd'. - [p. 324/244] "'Well, it's got a beat and you can dance to it,' [...]" This, usually followed by something like "I'll give it a 92", is a cliche made famous by the TV music show _American Bandstand_, hosted by Dick Clark in the 50s and 60s. _American Bandstand_ was televised daily in the afternoon (weekly, in later years) and helped introduce such stars of the era as Chubby Checker, Paul Anka and Frankie Avalon. - [p. 326/245] "'I... won this,' said Buddy, in a small distant world of his own. 'With a song. _Sioni Bod Da_, it was.'" 'Bod Da' is Welsh for 'be good'. Ergo, 'Sioni Bod Da' = 'Johnny B. Goode'. See also the annotation for p. 270/204. - [p. 327/244] "The right kind of name for musicians ought to be something like Blondie and His Merry Troubadours." 'Blondie' was the name of the band fronted by Debbie Harrie in the late seventies and early eighties. Blondel was the name of the troubadour who, according to legend, went around singing at castles in search of King Richard Lionheart. - [p. 327/247] "Anyone else fancy a hot dog? Hot dog? [...] Hot dog? Right. That's three hot d--" Another replaying of a Blues Brothers scene, only they did it with orange whip instead of hot dogs. - [p. 330/249] "'Cwm on?'" See the annotation for p. 117/89. 'Cwm' is Welsh for valley. (Note that the Discworld has a Koom Valley...) - [p. 340/256] "'We *could* do 'Anarchy in Ankh-Morpork',' said Jimbo doubtfully." Puns on the punk anthem 'Anarchy in the UK', by the Sex Pistols. - [p. 348/263] "'It's a masterpiece,' said the Dean. 'A triumph!'" Triumph is a British make of motorcycle, comparable in quality and history to the Harley Davidson. - [p. 350/264] "I NEED YOUR CLOTHES. [...] GIVE ME YOUR COAT." Death is paraphrasing lines made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in his role as the Terminator. Interestingly enough, the music accompanying the scene in question in _Terminator II_ is the song 'Bad to the Bone'... There is an even more subtle reference hidden here, however. After this scene, Death will be riding towards the site of the crash in "a coat he borrowed from [the] Dean", and that is another line from Don McLean's 'American Pie' (see the annotation for p. 173/130). Terry has confirmed on a.f.p. that the reference is indeed intentional. - [p. 350/264] "The flower-bed erupted.'" This is the written counterpart to Josh Kirby's cover painting, and likewise a Discworld version of Meatloaf's _Bat out of Hell_, both the album sleeve and the song. - [p. 352/266] "'He... he had a rose in his teeth, sarge.'" A reference to the Skull and Roses motifs used for many of the Grateful Dead's album covers and concert posters. + [p. 363/274] "He held up a hand. It was transparent." Another resonance with the first _Back to the Future_ movie. When the timelines start to converge, and Marty is also on the verge of being erased from the one he's currently in, his hand becomes transparent, just as he's playing (wait for it)... 'Johnny B. Goode'. + [p. 363/274] "There was a roar like the scream of a camel who has just seen two bricks." See the annotation for p. 221 of _Pyramids_. - [p. 364/275] "A small fingerbone rolled across the stones until it came up against another, slightly larger bone." In light of the earlier Terminator references, most of my correspondents think this scene replays the one in _Terminator II_ where the T-1000 model Terminator, after having been frozen by liquid nitrogen and then shattered, slowly starts to reassemble itself. - [p. 366/276] "'Please!' she shouted. 'Don't fade away!'" 'Not Fade Away' is the title of one of Buddy Holly's songs. + [p. 277] "'This is your brain on drugs...', said Jimbo." An American anti-drugs television campaign in 1987 used the text "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?" voiced over the image of a whole egg followed by one of a scrambled egg sizzling in a frying pan. The phrase immediately entered popular culture and has since been parodied or referred to many, many times. - [p. 376/284] "Gloria sighed. 'Sometimes it's hard to be a woman,' she said." The opening line from Tammy Wynette's torch song 'Stand By Your Man'. - [p. 376/284] "'I'd *swear* he's elvish.'" This paragraph is the culmination of the Elvis running gag (see the annotation for p. 30/22), but in order to appreciate it you have to know that Kirsty MacColl had a big hit a decade or so ago with a song called: "There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis". - [p. 378/285] "So you're a rebel, little Death? Against what? Death thought about it. If there was a snappy answer, he couldn't think of one." See the annotation for p. 173/130. INTERESTING TIMES - [title] _Interesting Times_ One remarkable thing about this book's title is that it changed at least twice since Terry began working on it. It started out as _Unclear Physics_, then became _Imperial Wizard_ for a few days, and finally ended up as _Interesting Times_: "Rincewind and Cohen are having such fun -- that is to say, death and terror attend them at every step -- on the Counterweight Continent and the Forbidden City of the Agatean Empire that it might well end up being called: _Imperial Wizard_ ...which ought to sell well in the US. In some States, anyway." "The editor and my main beta-test reader have raised objections to the title _Unclear Physics_. They think it's a lovely title but they don't think it's a good one for this book. Nor do I, because I've got a better use for it -- I've realised how to utilize the squash court in UU... So it will be the original working title: _Interesting Times_. At least for this week." - [p. 9/7] "'I accuse the High Priest of the Green Robe in the library with the double-handed axe.'" Fate and the other Gods are playing the Discworld variant of the board game _Clue_ (known as _Cluedo_ outside North America). The object of this game is to deduce not only which of several suspects has murdered the unfortunate 'Mr X', but also what weapon was used, and in which room of the mansion the murder took place. Once you think you've figured it out you have to publicly 'accuse' the murderer, just as Fate does, and if you're right you win the game. Although a Reverend Green is one of the suspects, and the Library is one of the possible rooms, the game does not feature a double-handed axe, last time I looked. - [p. 10/8] "Let a game begin,' said the Lady." I'm a bit surprised at having to annotate this, but apparently not everyone recognises just who the Lady is. She is of course none other than Lady Luck, who was first introduced in _The Colour of Magic_, and who has always had a soft spot for Rincewind, possibly because he never relies on her. Note that green is a colour often associated with luck (e.g. Irish leprechauns). - [p. 11/8] "The Hongs, the Sungs, the Tangs, the McSweeneys and the Fangs." The presence of the McSweeney name ("very old established family") in this list is used as a running gag throughout the book. It also reminded me of James Clavell's Hong Kong novels (_Tai-Pan_, _Noble House_ and _Gai-Jin_), which chronicle the Asian business empire founded and headed by various generations of the Scottish Struan family. - [p. 13/10] "[...] the mandelbrot patterns on the wings are of considerable interest." Benoit Mandelbrot is the discoverer of the Mandelbrot Set, a famous 'fractal', first plotted in 1980. Mandelbrot sets are rather difficult to describe in words (actually, they are very simple to describe in words only not in a way that most people will understand...), but what it boils down to is that a picture of the Mandelbrot set is a kind of mathematical painting with many swirling colours interspersed by strange, heart-shaped clusters of black. Most people will probably have seen Mandelbrot sets on computer screens or screensavers or wall posters. If not, all you need to do is catch yourself a Quantum Weather Butterfly and study its wings. - [p. 18/14] The Agatean Empire. There's a nice extra resonance with China here: Agate is a semi-precious gemstone, originally used in the Orient to make dinnerware. - [p. 36/29] "'Curiouser and curiouser,' said the Senior Wrangler." A famous quote from _Alice in Wonderland_. Not surprisingly, it merely confuses the other wizards. - [p. 44/35] "'To answer such questions Hex had been built, [...]'" That a hex is a spell or a curse is well-known, but it may be less obvious to non-computer types that 'hex' is also short for 'hexadecimal', a common number base used by programmers. To belabour the obvious, this conjunction of meanings produces the perfect name for a computer designed to analyse magic. - [p. 44/35] "[...] he was pretty sure no one had designed the Phase of the Moon Generator." The phase of the moon, besides being undoubtedly very handy when it comes to magical calculations, is used in our world's computer jargon to humorously indicate a random parameter on which something is supposed to depend. - [p. 45/36] "[...] the ants rode up and down on a little paternoster [...]" A paternoster (in this context) is a closed-loop elevator of linked carriages, somewhat like the bucket chain principle applied to people -- or in this case, ants. - [p. 45/36] "[...] the aquarium had been lowered on its davits so that the operator would have something to watch during the long hours... [...]" A reference to the screensaver programs often found running on personal computers to prevent phosphor burn-in of the monitor. One popular screensaver module turns the screen into an aquarium of animated, swimming fish. - [p. 47/37] "+++++ Redo From Start +++++" A typically obtuse error message of the type that is thankfully going out of fashion. 'Redo from start' is a bona fide error message for the BASIC programming language, caused by incorrect responses to an INPUT command. - [p. 47/38] "The Unreal Time Clock ticked sideways." All computers have a real time clock, but, one assumes, an unreal time clock measures imaginary time, which explains why it ticks sideways: the imaginary numbers are at 90 degrees to the real numbers on the Complex Plane. + [p. 47/38] '"Out of Cheese Error'" In computing, you regularly encounter "out of memory" or "out of paper" errors. Presumably hex needs the cheese for its mouse. - [p. 49/39] "[...] the Bursar, still happily living in the valley of the dried frogs." The 'dolls' in the movie title _Valley of the Dolls_ refers to the pills to which the starlets were addicted. - [p. 51/41] "'Wardrobe? Er... Er... Isn't this the Magic Kingdom of Scrumptiousness?' [...]" A reference to the Kingdom of Narnia, from C. S. Lewis' series of books. See the annotation for p. 22/22 of _Sourcery_. - [p. 54/43] "'We must storm the Winter Palace! [...] Then we can storm the Summer Palace!'" The Russian Revolutionary army stormed the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, but less well known is that the Summer Palace of the Chinese royal family was indeed pillaged and destroyed by the British and the French during the Taiping Rebellion of 1860. Terry acknowledges: "I had 'storming the winter palace' in mind because, yes, the events of the Russian revolution are more familiar to us -- and then I came across the storming of the summer palace while reading up on Chinese torture. It took me some effort not to find some joke about the Taiping Rebellion, I have to say... and as for the Boxer Rising..." - [p. 56/45] "'Your Wife is a big hippo'" In _Interesting Times_, much is made of similar sounding words having totally different meanings. Languages such as Chinese and Japanese pay great attention to the pitch and intonation of words, and the same word with a different intonation can indeed have radically different meanings. (Of course not all different meanings are due to intonation -- there are other possibilities, such as vowel lengths, and some words just naturally have many different meanings). Just in case you think Terry is overstating things for comic effect, there is an anecdote told by linguist David Moser, who was learning Chinese, and was practising with some Chinese friends. He was tired, and said "I want to go to sleep now", but got the intonation wrong, and what he actually said was "I stand by where the elephant urinates". Similarly, I am told that the Chinese glyph 'sento' can alternatively mean 'public bath', 'residence of a retired emperor', 'first scaling the wall of a besieged castle', 'fighting together' or 'scissors', while the Japanese 'kansen' can mean any of 'main-line', 'warship', 'sweat-gland', 'infection', 'government', 'appointed' and 'witnessing a battle'. - [p. 60/48] "'Be afraid. Be very afraid.'" A famous line from the 1986 remake of _The Fly_, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, also used as a tagline to promote the movie. - [p. 61/48] "... *possibly* the finest lager in the world." In our world, the advertising slogan of Carlsberg is: "Probably the best lager in the world". + [p. 63] "The Art of War was the ultimate basis of diplomacy in the Empire. [...] No one remembered the author. Some said it was One Tzu Sung, some claimed it was Three Sun Sung." In our world, Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_ is the oldest known military treatise (around 400 BC). "Know the enemy, and know yourself" is a straight quote from the chapter on Offensive Strategy. - [p. 88/70] "'The Silver Horde,' said Cohen, with a touch of pride." Derived from the 'Golden Horde', one of the successor states to the Mongol Empire, based in the steppes of Southern Russia and the Ukraine, and ruled by descendants of Genghiz Khan. There was even a movie, _The Golden Horde_, starring John Wayne as Genghiz Khan. As my correspondent puts it: "Disbelief suspended by the neck until dead, dead, dead." + [p. 72] "'And I was very interested in Auriental studies.'" 'Aurum' is Latin for 'gold'. This is also why 'gold' is signified by the symbol 'Au' in the Periodic Table of Elements. - [p. 107/85] "[...] a complicated pile of ivory tiles, playing _Shibo Yangcong-san_." In our world the Chinese game of Mahjongg is played with ivory tiles, and its rules have many similarities to certain types of western card games. It shouldn't come as a big surprise, therefore, that 'Shibo Yangcong-san' is actually Japanese for 'Cripple Mr Onion'. - [p. 111/88] "'Where's the pork?'" In the early 80s there was an American TV commercial for the _Wendy's_ chain of restaurants, featuring an irate old lady looking at her hamburger and ranting "Where's the beef?!". This became a national catchphrase for a while, and then permanently entered the language when it was used in the 1984 Presidential campaign by Vice President Walter Mondale and directed towards Senator Gary Hart as an implication that the latter's promises had no substance. Terry says: "See? This is probably a genuine joke that Americans *will* get and most Europeans won't. Hah! and they said it couldn't be done!" - [p. 120/96] "'Excuse me, what is your name?' Rincewind said. 'Pretty Butterfly.'" Apart from her ability to cause as many problems for Rincewind as the Quantum Weather Butterfly, Pretty Butterfly's name also resonates with that of the operatic Madame Butterfly. - [p. 142/113] "Bruce the Hoon" Hoon is New Zealand/Australian slang for a lout or hooligan. 'Hooning around' describes the act of driving around wildly in one's car, spinning the wheels and so forth. - [p. 156/125] "There was a corral, for the Luggages." It is obvious that Luggages are fairly common in the Agatean Empire, yet in _The Light Fantastic_ Twoflower explains that he got his Luggage from one of those mysterious magic shops. Terry says: "That was a long time ago... think of how it's all progressed. They've got real clocks in Ankh-Morpork now, people wear spectacles... you might as well say home computers were rare and special things in 1980 so how come there were so many of them in 1990? What makes *the* Luggage special is its peculiarly endearing character..." - [p. 172/138] "Then he tugged the sword free and inspected the steaming blade. 'Hmm,' he said. 'Interesting...'" Lord Hong finds the blade interesting because he has just discovered a way to quench red-hot sword blades without oxidising them. I am told that traditional Japanese sword makers did actually use condemned prisoners, but that was for testing purposes only, not for the actual forging process. Apparently, sword quality was sometimes measured in terms of the number of bodies the sword could cut through with a single blow. - [p. 221/177] "History told of a runner who'd run forty miles after a battle to report its successful outcome to those at home." After a successful naval battle at the town of Marathon in Greece, a man reportedly ran all the way to Athens, 42 kilometres away, to inform his leader of the victory. He is also reported to have died on the spot from the strain after announcing their win. This is how the running event of the same name was born. - [p. 230/184] "'Why're their feet so small?' said Cohen." Foot binding was a very common practice in China among women of the upper classes. As young girls, their feet would be wrapped in painfully tight bandages. When the girls grew, their feet did not. By adulthood the feet were barely half their proper length, which was considered attractive. Thankfully the procedure has almost died out. - [p. 236/189] "'So there was only blue left. Well, he'd show them...' [...] He had to simplify it a bit, of course." Three Solid Frogs is inventing the Willow Pattern Plate, the well-known blue oriental picture of a maiden standing on a bridge. - [p. 291/233] "'How lucky do you feel, my lords?'" Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry. See the annotation for p. 136/124 of _Guards! Guards!_. - [p. 296/238] "A seven foot warrior smiled at him." In 1974, thousands of terracotta warriors (no two faces alike!) were discovered around the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi at Mount Li, in the Shaanxi Province. Huangdi was the first emperor of a unified China (221-207 BC), famed for being harsh, autocratic, and intolerant of criticism. - [p. 303/243] "'_Orrrrr! Itiyorshu! Yutimishu!_'" Terry writes: "During WWII Hollywood obviously made a lot of gung-ho war movies. But... who could play the Japanese? The Japanese in the US were banged up in holiday camps in Death Valley or someplace. So the producers roped in anyone who 'looked Japanese' -- mainly Koreans, the story runs. The actors didn't really have lines since their job was, basically, to be shot by John Wayne. In order to give them something 'Japanese sounding' to say, some genius suggested they shout, very fast, "I tie your shoe, you tie my shoe"... I've never dared check by watching the actual movies..." - [p. 307/246] "It was a grainy picture, and it was in shades of green rather than proper colours, [...]" Rincewind is wearing the Discworld equivalent of a Virtual Reality helmet. - [p. 307/246] "[...] a row of little pictures lit up on the wide cuff. They showed soldiers. Soldiers digging, soldiers fighting, soldiers climbing..." The icons for controlling the Red Clay Army are immediately familiar to anyone who has ever played the computer game _Lemmings_, in which you have to use similar controls to guide a group of brainlessly wandering lemmings across intricate and dangerous underground labyrinths. When this was first remarked upon by readers in a.f.p, Terry wrote: "What? Lemmings? Merely because the red army can fight, dig, march and climb and is controlled by little icons? Can't imagine how anyone thought that... Not only did I wipe Lemmings from my hard disc, I overwrote it so's I couldn't get it back." - [p. 329/264] "'Friendly stab', as it is formally known." The Discworld version of our world's military euphemistic language, in which "friendly fire" stands for weaponry accidentally fired at own troops, "permanent pre-hostility" means 'peace', and "collateral damage" refers to civilians killed. - [p. 350/281] "[...] a calendar for the year surmounted by a rather angular picture of a beagle, standing on its hind legs." One of the classic computer programs that circulated in the seventies used ASCII characters to 'draw' a picture of Snoopy from _Peanuts_, followed by the year's calendar. - [p. 351/282] "The old blokes say that sort of thing used to happen all the time, back in the Dream." For an explanation of where exactly Rincewind has landed see the annotation for p. 149/132 of _Reaper Man_ (just in case the significance of the word "kangaroo" escaped your attention). The Dream is a reference to the Aboriginal Dreamtime religion. MASKERADE - _Maskerade_, as a parody of _The Phantom of the Opera_, is based largely upon the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but makes the events and characters more realistic. Hence, in _Phantom_, Christine is the beautiful, slim, new star, with a good voice that needs training, holding back and reluctant to take her rightful place in the opera. Carlotta is the jealous prima donna, with a classical voice on the verge of decreptitude, and large lungs. The Phantom wants Christine to sing, and the owners would be happy to oblige, but for the need to keep Carlotta's ego assuaged. In _Maskerade_, Christine can't sing, but looks pretty, so both the owners and the Phantom fall for her. Agnes, with the voice, is merely utilised. - [p. 11] "'We're going to have to get Mr Cripslock to engrave page 11 again,' he said mournfully. 'He's spelt "famine" with seven letters --'" A reference to the celebrated 'famine' error in the Corgi paperback edition of _Good Omens_. See the annotation for p. 154/98 of _Good Omens_. - [p. 12] "'Well, my old granny used to make Spotted Dick --'" See the annotation for p. 88/77 of _Witches Abroad_. - [p. 28] "'_Cosi fan Hita_,' she read. '_Die Meistersinger von Scrote_.'" I am almost completely ignorant on the subject of operas, but the titles Terry parodies in _Maskerade_ are so well-known that even I had no problem figuring out the originals. With that in mind I really didn't intend to annotate them, but so far nearly everybody who has sent in annotations for _Maskerade_ has mentioned the opera titles, and I fear very much that if I don't include them now I will continue to get tons of mail about it. So: _Cosi fan Hita_ is Mozart's _Cosi fan tutte_, and _Die Meistersinger von Scrote_ is Richard Wagner's _Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg_. - [p. 32] "She at least respected anyone's right to recreate themselves." As does Terry himself -- see the annotation for p. 20/15 of _Soul Music_. - [p. 36] "'_The Joye of Snacks_,' she read out loud." The pun on _The Joy of Sex_ is obvious, but what not everybody may know is that the title of *that* book, in turn, was inspired by an earlier popular book called _The Joy of Cooking_. - [p. 42] "'That's why they never sell tickets for Box Eight, didn't you know?!'" In the _Phantom_, the Phantom's box is Box Five, and it's out of fear that they don't sell tickets for it. On the Discworld we have seen before that important numbers tend to gravitate towards 8, and it's luck (far more appropriate in opera) that prevents the sale of tickets. - [p. 43] "'That looks like an accident waiting to happen if I ever saw one,' she mumbled." In the _Phantom_, one of the most spectacular and well-publicised special effects is the crashing of the chandelier onto the stage, at the end of act 1. This occurs when Christine and Raoul secretly pledge their love for each other, which the Phantom overhears. - [p. 47] "'It's white bone! He has no nose!' [...] 'Then how does he --' Agnes began." From the old joke, made famous by Monty Python's "The funniest joke in the world" sketch: -- My dog has no nose. -- How does he smell? -- Terrible. And yes, I know this joke isn't the one that the sketch is named after. The funniest joke in the world (which, in the German translation, eventually enabled the British to win World War II) goes: "Wenn ist das Nunstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!" - [p. 56] "'_Schneide meinen eigenen Hals_ --'" German for: "Cut My Own Throat". - [p. 92] "'At least stand on tiptoe!' he shouted. 'You probably cost me a dollar just running up here!'" It is precisely standing on tiptoe that wears out ballet shoes so quickly. + [p. 93] "'[...] flush him out, chase him through the city, catch him and beat him to a pulp, and then throw what's left into the river. It's the only way to be sure.'" Resonates with the famous murder of Rasputin, as well as with the scene in the movie _Aliens_, where Ripley says: "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." - [p. 97] "[...] tonight's production of _La Triviata_." Verdi's _La Traviata_. - [p. 97] "'What in fact we would like you to do... Perdita... is *sing* the role, indeed, but not, in fact... *play* the role.'" This will sound familiar to anyone who has ever seen _Singing in the Rain_, or knows any of the many other stories where this plot device is used. Terry says: "The idea of an understudy doing all the work for the star is probably a common film cliche. I don't recall it in any film about music, but now I come to think of it there was a Fred Astaire film where he *dances* instead of the star of the show (wearing a mask... I didn't say it was a good movie). But the basis of the Agnes/Christine thing lies not in any movie but in real life. It has happened. My sources tell me that stars have gone on stage jetlagged or stricken with a sore throat and someone has been put behind them in the chorus to sing the role. I believe there has even been at least one case where the prompter (in the box in front of the stage) has tried to jump-start the dumbstruck star with the first few words of the song and ended up singing it all the way through. It's not a big step to go from that to the setup in _Maskerade_." - [p. 98] "[...] a revival of _The Ring of the Nibelungingung_" Wagner's opera is called 'The Ring of the Nibelung', or in German: 'Der Ring des Nibelungen'. - [p. 99] "'Hello Colette,' said Granny. 'What fascinatin' earrings you are wearing.'" Now this is an annotation that is going to need some explaining. The short version of the story is as follows: Colette is Colette Reap, a long-time a.f.p. regular, who impressed Terry by attending a book signing wearing earrings made out of Clarecraft's anorankhs. The longer version goes as follows: Clarecraft is a company that sells highly popular handcrafted Discworld miniatures and jewellery. Information on Clarecraft can be found in the _Discworld Merchandise FAQ_, available from the Pratchett Archives. One particular item of jewellery they sell is the _anorankh_, a small model of an Egyptian cross wearing an anorak. (Don't ask -- but in case you think you want to know: the precise story of how the anorankh came into existence can be found in the _Holy Anorankh_ file, also available from the Pratchett Archives.) Meanwhile, over on alt.fan.pratchett, it became, for some reason, standard practice for the male readers of the group to propose marriage (often all of them at the same time) to female readers. Colette, our resident net.goddess and therefore one of the most 'visible' females on the group, was one of the most popular proposal targets. (For more detailed information about marriage proposals and other characteristic a.f.p. habits, see the _A.f.p. Timeline_ file, also available from -- you guessed it -- the Pratchett Archives.) With all this background information in mind, I'll let Colette herself tell the rest of the story: "The interesting earrings thing comes from when I went to the _Discworld Companion_ signing in central London in May 1994. The signing was at lunch-time on a weekday and I was going to see our main computer supplier in the afternoon so I was fairly smartly dressed, but I was wearing my anorankh earrings, which Terry suddenly noticed while I was standing in front of him getting my book signed, and it was the first time he'd seen them made into earrings. On 31st December 1994, completely out of the blue, I got an email from Terry. In it he said he was doing the polishing draft of _Maskerade_ and which of the following two characters would I like to be called Colette -- the make-up girl at the Opera House, or one of the 'young ladies' at Mrs. Palm's and that mention might be made of her interesting earrings. When I had picked myself up off the floor, and being the mischievous soul that I am, I wrote back to Terry and asked if Colette could be one of the 'young ladies' at Mrs. Palm's, explaining that I felt that such a 'young lady' would be much more likely not only to wear interesting earrings, but also to receive lots of marriage proposals from men she hardly knew. When I got my copy of _Maskerade_ signed, Terry wrote in it 'What's a nice girl like you doing in a book like this?' -- a dedication in the same league as that which he wrote when he signed my Discworld game booklet, which was 'To Colette, Will you marry me?'" - [p. 99] "'What? You've been here before?' said Nanny, [...]" Granny met Mrs Palm during her earlier stay in Ankh-Morpork. See the annotation for p. 121/119 in _Equal Rites_. - [p. 123] "'They beat him to death!' [...] 'And they throw him into the river!'" This is how the silent movie version of _The Phantom of the Opera_ ends. + [p. 126] "'Walter's your son?' said Granny. 'Wears a beret?'" A nice bit of foreshadowing here: 'Walter Plinge' is a generic pseudonym often used in the theatre world by an actor who has two different roles in the same play. Many people have also spotted that the description Terry gives of Walter Plinge -- beret, brown coat, nervousness, clumsy -- is very similar to that of Frank Spencer, the lead character in the British television comedy _Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em_. Frank Spencer was played by Michael Crawford, who went on to become truly famous as the original... Phantom of the Opera in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. When asked about this, Terry said: "I certainly wanted Walter to be a superficially Frank Spencer character, although he's a lot sadder and clearly a few bricks short of a shilling, as Nanny Ogg would say. I was just amused at the way Michael Crawford, a man known to the UK as someone who played a hapless berk in a black beret, suddenly emerged as the suave Phantom." - [p. 138] Grand Guignol See the annotation for p. 239/172 of _Lords and Ladies_. - [p. 149] "Let us examine the role of Laura in _Il Truccatore_ -- "The Master Of Disguise", also sometimes vulgarly known as "The Man with a Thousand Faces"...'" The Man with a Thousand Faces was the nickname given to Lon Chaney, the actor who played the Phantom of the Opera in the original silent Hollywood production. - [p. 165] "'Madam has *marvellous* hair,' said the hairdresser. 'What is the secret?' 'You've got to make sure there's no newts in the water,' said Granny." This echoes back to the quote in _Reaper Man_: "People have believed for hundreds of years that newts in a well mean that the water's fresh and drinkable, and *in all that time* never asked themselves whether the newts got out to go to the lavatory." - [p. 225] "[...] while muttering, 'Rhubarb, rhubarb.'" Apparently, this is something actors traditionally mutter on stage when they are meant to appear to be talking amongst themselves in the background. - [p. 231] "'Well *I* think,' said Nobby, 'that when you have ruled out the impossible, what is left, however improbable, ain't worth hanging around on a cold night wonderin' about when you could be getting on the outside of a big drink.'" Sherlock Holmes. See the annotation for p. 118/108 of _Guards! Guards!_. - [p. 232] Opera names. The Barber of Pseudopolis = The Barber of Seville The Enchanted Piccolo = The Magic Flute - [p. 233] Musical names. 'Guys and Trolls' is 'Guys and Dolls', 'Hubwards Side Story' is 'West Side Story', 'Miserable Les' is 'Les Miserables', and 'Seven Dwarfs for Seven Other Dwarfs' is 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'. Note how the last name harks back to Terry's earlier comments on the difficulties of dwarf mating. - [p. 247] "'Says here "Cable Street Particulars"...'" A reference to Conan Doyle's Baker Street Irregulars. See also the entry for the City Watch in _The Discworld Companion_. - [p. 257] "[...] as the opening bars of the duet began, opened her mouth -- 'Stop right there!'" A strong resonance with Ellen Foley's character refusing to continue the duet 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' with Meatloaf halfway through the song: Stop right there! I gotta know right now Before we go any further Do you love me? Will you love me forever? - [p. 270] "'Don't cry for me, Genua.'" 'Don't cry for me, Argentina', is the famous ballad from the musical _Evita_. + [p. 276] "Nanny grinned. 'Ah,' she said, '*Now* the opera's over.'" Because, as the saying goes, the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings... + [p. 276] "He wore red: a red suit with red lace, a red cloak, [...]" Death dressing up for Salzella makes a nice finishing touch to the whole 'masquerade' theme of the book. It resonates with the _Phantom of the Opera_ musical where the Phantom gatecrashes a party "dressed all in crimson, with a death's head visible inside the hood of his robe", and both scenes in turn evoke Edgar Allan Poe's _The Masque of the Red Death_ (see also the annotation for p. 26/26 of _The Light Fantastic_). FEET OF CLAY + [title] _Feet of Clay_ The original working title for this book was _Words in the Head_. "Feet of Clay" is a biblical reference. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which he saw a statue whose head was made of gold, but lower down the statue the materials got progressively more base, until the feet were "part of iron, part of clay"; the statue was shattered and destroyed by being struck on the feet, its weakest point. Hence, colloquially, the expression "feet of clay" has come to mean that someone regarded as an idol has a hidden weakness. + [frontispiece] The mottoes and crests are mostly explained in the book, but for completeness they are: Edward St John de Nobbes: "capite omnia" -- "take it all" Gerhardt Sock (butcher): "futurus meus est in visceris" -- "my future is in the entrails" Vetinari: "si non confectus non reficiat" -- "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" (a saying popularised by Lyndon B Johnson, though possibly older) Assassins Guild: "nil mortifice sine lucre" -- "no killing without payment" Rudolph Potts (baker): "quod subigo farinam" -- "because I knead the dough" Thieves' Guild: "acutus id verberat" -- "sharp's the word" Vimes family: "protego et servio" -- "I protect and serve". In the centre of the crest is the number 177, which -- we learnt in _Men at Arms_ -- is Vimes' own badge number. + [p. 7] "WE HEAR YOU WANT A GOLEM." The font used by the golems in the UK editions is clearly designed to look like Hebrew lettering. For some reason, the font used in the American editions is not. The golem itself is a creature from Jewish mythology, a man made of clay and animated by Kabbalistic magic. The one thing it cannot do is speak, because only God can grant the power of speech. There is a brief summary of the legend at + [p. 8] "'Yeah, right, but you hear stories ... Going mad and making too many things, and that.'" One episode in the life of the golem of Prague -- the best known of the mythical creatures -- tells that the golem was ordered to fetch water, but never told to stop, thus causing a flood. This is very similar to (and may be borrowed from) the classic children's story _The Sorcerer's Apprentice_ (_Der Zauberlehrling_, a German poem by Goethe), also used in Disney's classic animated film _Fantasia_. A spell used to animate a broom to speed housework gets out of control, leading to a frightening procession of hundreds of brooms bringing water from the well. The French composer Paul Dukas based the music on Goethe's poem. A more direct reference appears on p. 99, and elsewhere as a sort of running joke. + [p. 17] "[...], he says Mrs Colon wants him to buy a farm, [...]" 'Buy the farm' is military slang for 'die' + [p. 17] "[...] I am sure I have told you about the Cable Street Particulars, [...]" See the annotation for p. 247 of _Maskerade_. + [p. 19] "I AM DEATH, NOT TAXES." It is said (after Benjamin Franklin) that in life only two things are certain: Death and taxes. However, the line before this kicks off a running gag that demonstrates than this is really one certainty too many. + [p. 22] "'Cheery, eh? Good to see the old naming traditions kept up.'" 'Cheery' would fit in very well with the names of the Seven Dwarfs in the Disney Snow White film. Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful, Happy, Doc and Sneezy. + [p. 23] "'I want someone who can look at the ashtray and tell me what kind of cigars I smoke.'" One of the first things Sherlock Holmes tells Watson, when they first meet, is that he has written a treatise on this subject. This contrasts oddly with Vimes' distrust of 'clues' in general (see the annotation for p. 142). + [p. 24] "'Where the sun doesn't shine'" A running gag from _Lords and Ladies_: the place where the sun does not shine, on the Discworld, is a valley in Slice, near Lancre. + [p. 25] "Clinkerbell" Tinkerbell via 'clinker', which is one type of mining by-product. + [p. 26] "Slab: Jus' say 'AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH" Echoes the anti-drugs campaign slogan 'Just say no', championed most famously by Nancy Reagan in America. + [p. 26] "T'Bread Wi' T'Edge" A long-running series of British commercials for a certain brand of bread emphasised the Yorkshire origins of the manufacturer. This slogan is in a parody of a Yorkshire accent, presumably for similar reasons. + [p. 30] The shield design described is the Ankh-Morpork coat of arms, not shown in the front of the book (but on the cover of _Streets of Ankh-Morpork_). + [p. 27] "'[...] he's got a loaded wolf.'" Possibly a reference to the Australian story of _The Loaded Dog_. + [p. 29] 'Daphne's ancestors came all the way from some islands on the other side of the Hub.' See the annotation for p. 9/9 of _The Colour Of Magic_, but specifically referring to the brown owls of New Zealand, which, to a British viewpoint, are 'some islands on the other side of the world'. Thus the morpork could be compared to the New Zealand brown owl. + [p. 30] "'Croissant Rouge Pursuivant'" The names of the heralds are adapted from terms used in English heraldry. 'Pursuivant' is simply the title for an assistant herald. English pursuivants include the Rouge Croix (cf. Terry's Croissant Rouge) and Bluemantle (Terry gives us the 'Pardessus Chatain' or 'Brown Overcoat'). Senior to the pursuivants are the kings of arms, although none really corresponds to 'Dragon'. This has been linked with 'Dracula' -- the most famous vampire of all -- which is itself a title meaning 'little dragon'. It also harks back to _Guards! Guards!_, in which a dragon actually *became* king of Ankh-Morpork, albeit briefly. + [p. 35] "'There are plenty of kosher butchers down in Long Hogmeat.'" Kosher butchering involves a special method of bleeding the animal, which would ensure that there was plenty of spare blood around. The name 'Long Hogmeat', however, is a bit more disturbing: apart from the question of how 'hogmeat' could be kosher, it also sounds suspiciously like 'long pig', which is pidgin for 'human flesh'. (See also the annotation for p. 239/180 of _Soul Music_. + [p. 36] "Commander of the City Watch in 1688" 1688 AD in England was the date of the 'Glorious [bloodless] Revolution' when the Catholic James II was deposed in favour of the Protestant Willem van Oranje, Stadholder of the Netherlands. He married Mary Stuart and became William III. "Old Stoneface", on the other hand, is clearly modelled on Oliver Cromwell, who ruled the Commonwealth (Republic) of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland from 1652 to 1658, at one point refusing Parliament's offer of the crown. Among his many reforms, he championed religious freedom and tolerance, extending even to Jews, who were welcome in England for the first time since 1290. + [p. 36] More Latatian. "Excretus Est Ex Altitudine" -- Shat On From a Great Height; "Depositatum De Latrina" -- Chucked Down The Toilet. + [p. 38] "'The butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker.'" From an old nursery rhyme: Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub And who do you think they were? The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker... + [p. 41] "Commander Vimes, on the other hand, was all for giving criminals a short, sharp shock." "Short sharp shock" was coined in Gilbert & Sullivan's _The Mikado_ as a euphemism for 'execution'. In 1980s Britain, Tory home secretaries used the phrase to refer to the brief-but-harsh imprisonment of young offenders. + [p. 44] "'Delphine Angua von Uberwald,' read the Dragon aloud." Uberwald (on _The Discworld Mapp_ spelled with an umlaut over the U) is 'Over/beyond the forest' in German. In Latin, that's "Transylvania" -- a part of Romania traditionally associated with the undead (most prominently, Count Dracula). + [p. 45] "Men said things like 'peace in our time' or 'an empire that will last a thousand years,' [...]" "peace in our time" -- Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, in 1938. "an empire that will last a thousand years" -- Adolf Hitler, on the Third Reich. + [p. 46] "Constable Visit was an Omnian, [...]" Read _Small Gods_ for much more information about Omnia. Brutha seems to have taken a religion devoted to violent conquest and turned it into something closely akin to modern evangelical Christianity. + [p. 54] "'Oh, well, if you prefer, I can recognize handwriting,' said the imp proudly." The original Apple Newton was the first PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) capable of doing this, and was even supposed to improve its recognition of the individual owner's writing with practice. In practice, it didn't work too well. Hence the joke: Q. How many Newton users does it take to change a lightbulb? A. Foux! There to eat lemons, axe gravy soup. + [p. 55] "Lord Vetinari had always said that punctuality was the politeness of princes." In our world, the _Oxford Dictionary of Quotations_ attributes this saying to Louis XVIII. + [p. 55] "It is a pervasive and beguiling myth that the people who design instruments of death end up being killed by them." This myth may have been started by William Makepeace Thackery, who asked in his novel _The Adventures of Philip on His Way Through the World_: "Was not good Dr Guillotin executed by his own neat invention?". As Terry notes, he was not. + [p. 56] "'Can you paint a picture of his eye, Sydney?' [...] 'As big as you can.'" This idea has been used in many detective stories, but most famously in _Blade Runner_, where the main character is able to blow up a reflection in a photograph far beyond plausible limits. + [p. 63] "[...], or dribble some in their ear while they slept." A curious method of administering poison, most famously mentioned in _Hamlet_. + [p. 64] "'Crushed diamonds used to be in vogue for hundreds of years, despite the fact that they never worked.'" Crushed glass would theoretically work as a means of killing someone, because it forms jagged edges, but in practice the pieces are always either too big to go unnoticed or too small to have any effect. Aqua fortis is nitric acid, a *very* fast-acting poison if ingested... Cantharides is Spanish Fly, better known as an aphrodisiac, but quite poisonous in large doses. + [p. 65] "And that seemed about it, short of stripping the wallpaper off the wall." The most obvious red herring. One of the most popular theories regarding Napoleon Bonaparte's death is that he suffered arsenic poisoning from the green colouration in the wallpaper of the bedroom of the place in which he was being held. It has been suggested that microbes, present in the humid conditions of St Helena, could absorb the poison from the wallpaper, then be inhaled by the prisoner, giving him a small dose every day. The wallpaper is green, and the pigment involved is copper arsenite, known in Napoleon's day as "Paris Green". + [p. 68] "'But... you know I'm in the Peeled Nuts, sir...'" The equivalent in England today is called the Sealed Knot. + [p. 70] "Vimes's Ironheads *won*." A conflation of "Roundheads" and "Ironsides", two names for the Parliamentarian soldiers of Oliver Cromwell, clearly the model for Suffer-Not-Injustice Vimes. + [p. 71] "_Twurp's Peerage_" See the annotation for p. 191/138 of _Lords and Ladies_. + [p. 72] "But kill one wretched king and everyone calls you a regicide." There's an old joke about Abdul, who builds roads, raises cities, conquers nations, but is forever remembered as Abdul the Goat Fucker as a result of a youthful indiscretion. + [p. 73] "Vimes put the disorganized organizer back in his pocket." Posts made to USENET have a header field labelled 'Organization:'. Terry Pratchett's own posts give this as 'Disorganized'. + [p. 75] "... when I took you to see the Boomerang Biscuit exhibition." Curiously, Carrot seems to have taken Vimes to the Dwarf Bread museum before treating Angua to it. + [p. 77] "'Ah, h'druk g'har dWatch, Sh'rt'azs!' said Carrot." Littlebottom, in dwarfish, is "Sh'rt'azs". In British slang, 'shortarse' is a vaguely affectionate term for the vertically challenged. + [p. 81] "Igneous the troll backed away until he was up against his potter's wheel." Igneous' shop has several parallels with a shop in the Sherlock Holmes story of _The Six Napoleons_. Holmes encounters a pottery/stonework shop staffed mainly by Italians, who were also hiding out from the law and various other enemies, and is eventually asked to leave by the back door to avoid bothering the staff, which is locked with a large padlock. The figurines were also being used to conceal contraband. Terry comments: "My flabber is ghasted. I really did think I made that one up. I mean... I had the pottery already in existence from previous books, and I knew I'd want to bring it in later so I needed a pottery scene now to introduce it, and Igneous already had a rep as an 'ask no questions' type of merchant, and I needed somewhere clay could be stolen and the golems would have had to break in, the padlock replacing the lock they'd busted. And I knew that I'd need a way for the Watch to put pressure on Igneous; 'hollow items' for drugs and other contraband is a cliche, which ought to mean that his staff are somewhat outside the law. In other words the scene is quite a complex little jigsaw piece which slots into this plot and the ongoing DW saga in various places. I'll just have to pretend I knew what I was doing..." + [p. 84] "'It hasn't really got a name', said Angua, 'but sometimes we call it Biers.'" The perfect name for an undead bar. Puns on "beer", which you would normally associate with a tavern, and on "bier", which you would normally associate with being dead. Also puns on _Cheers_, the fictional Boston tavern in the long-running US TV comedy of the same name. + [p. 85] "'But sometimes it's good to go where everybody knows your shape.'" The theme song of _Cheers_ contains the line "sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name". See the annotation for p. 84, and the annotation for p. 298/225 of _Soul Music_. + [p. 86] "'That's Old Man Trouble,' said Angua. 'If you know what's good for you, you *don't* mind him.'" From the Gershwin song 'I Got Rhythm': "Old Man Trouble, I don't mind him". + [p. 89] "'[...] sunglasses tester for Argus Opticians... [...]'" A very appropriate name. Argus "the all-seeing" was the name of the many-eyed watchman from Greek mythology, who was tasked by Hera to keep an eye (so to speak) on Io, a human priestess who, after her seduction by Zeus, had been transformed into a cow in an attempt to keep Hera from getting suspicious. No such luck. + [p. 90] "'*These* words are from the Cenotine _Book of Truth_, [...]'" There have been a number of suggestions for the derivation of this name. The root "ken" in Hebrew means "honest, truthful, correct". "Cenogenesis" is a biological term meaning the development of an individual that is notably different from its group (such as happens to Dorfl in the book). Alternatively, for the atheists, there's the "ceno" in "cenotaph", from the Greek "kenos", meaning "empty". + [p. 91] Magazine titles. _Unadorned Facts_ and _Battle Call_ are plays on _The Plain Truth_, published by the Worldwide Church of God, and _War Cry_, published by the Salvation Army. + [p. 92] "'[...] Mr Dorfl.'" All he golems' names are Yiddish, and Dorfl is no exception, although I'm not too sure what his means. It could be a pun on "Stedtl", which means "ghetto" -- Stadt is German for "town", Dorf for "village". In Austria, 'Dorfl' is indeed a word used to denote a small village. + [p. 93] "'Feeding the yudasgoat?'" Or in English, 'Judas goat', named after the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Judas goats are used by slaughterhouses to lead sheep to the killing floor. The sheep cannot easily be driven, but the herding instinct will make them follow the goat. + [p. 94] "'I'm going to read your chem, Dorfl.'" "Chem", pronounced "shem", is Hebrew for "name". One common euphemism used by Orthodox Jews for "God" is "Ha-Shem", literally: "The Name", which ties in to that part of the Golem legend which involves writing the name of God on the Golem's forehead (the other variant has the vivifying word being "Emet" (Truth)). + [p. 95] "NOW THREE HUNDRED DAYS ALREADY. [...] WHAT WOULD I DO WITH TIME OFF?" Ending sentences with "already" is a common mannerism among Yiddish-speaking Jews in Anglophone countries. Rhetorical questions are another mainstay of Yiddish conversational style. + [p. 99] "HOLY DAY STARTS AT SUNSET." Jewish holy days do, indeed, run from sunset to sunset. Cf. Genesis 1:5: "The evening and the morning were the first day." + [p. 109] "_The Rites of Man_" Thomas Paine wrote a justification of the French Revolution entitled _The Rights of Man_ + [p. 110] "[...], licking his fingers delicately to turn the thin pages." Another red herring. Putting poison on the pages of a book, so that it is self-administered to the reader in this way, is an idea famously used in Umberto Eco's medieval mystery _The Name of the Rose_. + [p. 115] "You came with me when they had that course at the YMPA.'" See the annotation for p. 88/88 of _The Light Fantastic_. The YMCA runs summer courses for children, and presumably for adults as well. + [p. 120] "'*Nobblyesse obligay*,' [...]" See the annotation for p. 235/206 of _Reaper Man_. + [p. 123] "'It's "a mess of pottage", [...]'" Another Old Testament reference. Esau sold his status as Abraham's firstborn son to his brother Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34) for a bowl of stew (pottage). Hence, a mess of pottage is the proverbial price of a birthright. This phrase was parodied by CS Lewis, who accused H. G. Wells of selling his birthright for "a pot of message" (that is, abandoning the purely imaginative books he did so well to push his political ideas). + [p. 123] "'Who streals my prurse streals trasph, right?'" Iago would rather be robbed than slandered in _Othello_, act 3, scene 3: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands: But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed. + [p. 124] "[...] he had got only six weeks to retirement [...]" The copper within days or hours of retirement has become a police movie cliche; traditionally, anyone who starts talking like this is likely to die within the short time left. Two examples occur in the films _Lethal Weapon 2_ and _Falling Down_. + [p. 129] "'[...] ole Zhlob just used to plod along, [...]'" Another golem name: "Zhlob" is Yiddish for "boorish glutton" (or gluttonous boor). Probably Slavic in origin. + [p. 130] "As her tutors had said, there were two signs of a good alchemist: the Athletic and the Intellectual." Terry used this joke in a talk at the Australian National University in Canberra in 1994, but he was talking about a shift charge engineer in a nuclear power plant... The standard analytical technique to prove arsenic in chemical mixtures involves mixing the sample with zinc and adding sulphuric acid. If arsenic is present, this produces arsenic hydride as a gas; burning the gas, and holding the flame against a cool porcelain surface, leaves a black precipitation of metallic arsenic. + [p. 132] "'It's nine of the clock,' said the organizer, poking its head out of Vimes's pocket. '"I was unhappy because I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet."'" Refers to the regrettable trend among software producers to inflict a happy Thought For The Day on their users each time they open the software. + [p. 135] "One had a duck on his head, [...]" See the annotation for p. 272/204 of _Soul Music_. + [p. 136] "'Buggrit, millennium hand and shrimp!'" See the annotation for p. 324/233 of _Lords and Ladies_. + [p. 138] "'Dibbuk? Where the hell are you?'" A dybbuk, in Jewish mythology, is a demonic spirit that possess the body of someone living. + [p. 140] "'We're all lyin' in the gutter, Fred. But some of us're lookin' at the stars...'" From Oscar Wilde, _Lady Windermere's Fan_, Act 3. Although it can't be easy to see the stars through all that fog. + [p. 142] "He distrusted the kind of person who'd take one look at another man and say in a lordly voice to his companion..." Terry is challenging the Sherlock Holmes school of detection as being "an insult to the glorious variety of human life." P G Wodehouse does the same in one of his PSmith stories, in which Psmith observes the local plumber sitting in his garden, dressed well because it's Sunday and reading Shakespeare because he likes it, while Psmith is studying the "How To Detect" booklet that says a plumber is unlikely to dress well/read Shakespeare. + [p. 143] "It wasn't by eliminating the impossible that you got at the truth, however improbable..." Another dig at Holmes, who said precisely this. + [p. 145] The description of Vetinari's drawing matches the cover of the original publication of Thomas Hobbes' _Leviathan_, possibly *the* most influential work of mainstream political theory. The book argues that for people to come together in a society, they cannot help but create a structure larger than themselves, which must have a controlling intelligence of its own, i.e. some sort of governing body. Hence, although political power derives from the common people, it must be superior to them. + [p. 147] "[...] you might as well accuse the wallpaper of driving him mad. Mind you, that horrible green colour would drive anyone insane..." See the annotation for p. 65. A number of people also wrote to say that they were reminded of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story _The Yellow Wallpaper_ (1892), about a woman who is indeed driven mad by wallpaper. + [p. 148] "'We're known for rings, sir.'" Alberich the dwarf forges the Ring that is the centrepiece of Wagner's interminable Ring Cycle, based on Norse legend. Tolkien uses the same source, and his One Ring is not unlike Alberich's. + [p. 150] "Drumknott delicately licked his finger and turned a page." See the note for p. 110. + [p. 153] "It was called the Rats Chamber." This is another multidirectional pun. First, in German, the word for 'council chamber' is Ratskammer. Second, it's an anagram of Star Chamber, a special civil and criminal court in England. Created by Henry VII in 1487, abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641 following abuses under James I and Charles I. The court took its name from a star-shaped decoration in the ceiling. The decoration in the ceiling of the Rats Chamber -- a group of rats with their tails tied together -- is called a rat king. According to Maarten 't Hart, in _Rats_ (translated from the Dutch), some 57 rat kings have been found since the 17th century, although several are of dubious authenticity. They are often found alive, and can contain as few as three or as many as 32 members, although seven is the commonest number. Members are of both sexes, and almost always of the same age group, which may be young or adult. Rat kings are generally formed of black rats (Rattus rattus), although there is one occurrence of field rats (found in Java) and several of squirrels. No-one knows quite why they form, although one theory is that black rats (which have longer and more pliable tails than other breeds) get something sticky on their tails, and get tangled up when they groom each other, or while playing or fighting. Apparently, a modern artist decided to make a work of art depicting a rat-king, and even put it on the internet. See Katharina Fritsch: Rat-King (Rattenkoenig), 1993 (which also has an essay on the rat king through history). + [p. ???] "[...] Mrs Rosemary Palm, head of the Guild of Seamstresses [...]" See the annotation for p. 121/119 of _Equal Rites_. + [p. 155] "'Remember when he made his horse a city councillor?'" Caligula, Emperor of Rome from 37 to 41 AD, famously appointed his horse Incitatus as Consul to show his contempt for the Senate. + [p. 158] "'Genua wrote to Ankh-Morpork and asked to be sent one of our generals to be their king [...] The history books say that we sent our loyal General Tacticus, whose first act after obtaining the crown was to declare war on Ankh-Morpork.'" Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, 1763-1844, was a French general who became King Karl XIV John of Sweden and Norway. The youngest son of a French lawyer, Bernadotte joined the French army in 1780, becoming an officer in 1792, during the French Revolution. Recognising his brilliance in the field, the Emperor Napoleon eventually elevated him to the rank of prince. In Sweden, where Gustav IV had abdicated (1809) and been succeeded by the childless Karl XIII, Napoleon supported Bernadotte as heir to the throne. In August 1810, he was elected crown prince as Karl John. In 1813 he joined the allies against Napoleon. + [p. 162] "Constable Visit had told him the meek would inherit [the world], [...]" Another parallel between Omnianism and Christianity. See Matthew 5:5. + [p. 165] "'you've got to have the noses poking through the pastry...'" Similar to Stargazy pie, a Cornish dish that has fish heads poking through the pastry all around the edge of the dish. + [p. 177] "'... push off back to the Yard, job done and dusted.'" This phrase relates to the act of distempering a wall -- another oblique hint at the wallpaper theory. + [p. 181] "'*Now* we're cooking with charcoal!'" The expression "cooking with gas" dates back to an advertising campaign designed to persuade people of the advantages of gas over electricity. + [p. 189] "*'She feels the need,' [...] 'Yeah, the need to feed.'*" In the movie _Top Gun_, the pilots boast that they 'feel the need; the need for speed.' + [p. 190] "That horrible green wallpaper." By the time Vimes has this idea (see the annotation for p. 65), he already knows enough to dismiss it in fairly short order. + [p. 195] "'Then there's this one about the Klatchian who walks into a pub with a tiny piano -- '" The joke as adapted by thee goode folkes of alt.fan.pratchett goes like this: This Klatchian walked into a pub carrying a small piano. He puts in on the bar and has a few drinks. When it comes time to pay up he says to the publican, "I bet you double or nothing I can show you the most amazing thing you ever saw." "Okay, but I warn you, I've seen some weird stuff." The Klatchian takes out a tiny stool, which he sits in front of the piano. He then reaches into his robes and pulls out a box, about a foot long, with tiny air-holes in it. He takes off the lid and inside is a tiny man, fast asleep. As the lid opens he wakes up. Instantly he jumps to the piano and plays a perfect rendition of 'The Shades of Ankh-Morpork'! Then, as everyone in the bar is clapping, he jumps back into the box and closes the lid. "Wow!" The publican says, and wipes the slate clean. "If I give you another drink, could you do it again?" The Klatchian agrees. This time the little man plays the Hedgehog song, to thunderous applause. "I gotta ask, where did you get that?" "Well, a few months ago I was travelling across the deserts of Klatch, when I suddenly came across a glass bottle. I picked it up and rubbed it and lo and behold, out popped a Genie. For some reason it was holding a curved bone to his ear and talking to it." "'Genie,' I said to him, 'I have freed you, and in return I ask only three wishes.'" "'Huh?' The genie said, looking at me for the first time. 'Oh, OK, three, whatever.' He then started talking to the bone again." "'Genie, I would like a million bucks!' I said to him." "Did you get it?" "Not exactly. The genie kept talking to the bone and he waved one of his hands. Instantly, I was surrounded by a million ducks. Then they flew away." "What was your second wish?" "I said to him: 'I want to be the ruler the world!' the Genie was still talking to his bone, but he waved his free hand and a piece of wood appeared, with inches marked on it." "Oh, a ruler. It sounds like the genie wasn't paying much attention. Did you get your third wish?" "Let me put it like this: do you really think I asked for a twelve-inch pianist?" + [p. 196] "'Send Meshugah after him, ah-ha.'" Another Yiddish name, from Hebrew, meaning 'crazy'. + [p. 196] "[...] sometimes people inconsiderately throw their enemies into rooms entirely bereft of nails, handy bits of sharp stone, sharp-edged shards of glass or even, in extreme cases, enough pieces of old junk and tools to make a fully functional armoured car." Most correspondent feel that the "extreme cases" are exactly the kind that the heroes of the television series _The A-Team_ for years encountered on an almost weekly basis. + [p. 203] "[...] the crowd opened up like a watercourse in front of the better class of prophet." Moses parted the sea to allow the Israelites to escape the pursuing Egyptian army, who were then all killed when the seas collapsed on top of them... (Exodus 14:21-30) + [p. 217] "'"My name is Sam and I'm a really suspicious bastard."'" Parodies how people introduce themselves at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. + [p. 222] "'I thought the damn thing smashed up...' [...] 'Well, it's putting itself together.'" The monster breaking into pieces and then reassembling itself is probably best known from _Terminator 2_ (see also the annotation for p. 364/275 of _Soul Music_), but there are earlier references. In _The Iron Man_ by Ted Hughes (1968) the iron man/robot falls over the edge of a cliff and breaks into many pieces. The fingers put the hands together then they pick up an eye and start putting the rest of the body together. + [p. 226] "It is not a good idea to spray finest brandy across the room, especially when your lighted cigar is in the way." ...unless, of course, you *want* a small fireball. This trick is used in the 1959 film _The League of Gentlemen_. + [p. 230] "'I wanted to buy a farm!' moaned Colon. 'Could be,' said Arthur." See the annotation for p. 17. + [p. 234] "'This candle even weighs slightly more than the other candles!" Although there are a few fictional uses of this method of poisoning, Terry himself explains that his source was an "attempt on the life of Leopold I, Emperor of Austria, in 1671, which was foiled when the alchemist Francesco Borri checked up on the candles. He found the candles in the bedchamber were heavier than similar candles elsewhere and found that two and a half pounds of arsenic has been added to the batch." + [p. 236] "'Hello hello hello, what's all this, then?'" Catchphrase from the _Dixon of Dock Green_ TV series. See the annotation for p. 60/55 of _Guards! Guards!_. + [p. 245] "'That's Mr Catterail, sir." ... whose letter Carrot read way back on p. 108, where he gives his address as Park Lane. Kings Down is a short walk away along Long Wall. Presumably they are on the same beat. + [p. 252] "'"Today Is A Good Day For Someone Else To Die!"'" Contrary to popular belief, the saying "Today is a good day to die!" was not invented by Klingons. It's a traditional Siouxan/Lacotah battle-cry. + [p. 258] "He landed on the king's back, flung one arm around its neck, and began to pound on its head with the hilt of his sword. It staggered and tried to reach up to pull him off." In _Robocop 2_, our hero (Robo) jumped on the back of the 'Robocop 2' and tried to open its head. + [p. 260] "'They gave their own golem too many, I can see that." The way the king golem is driven mad by the number of rules in its head reminded many people of a scene in _Robocop 2_, where Robocop is rendered useless by programming with several, partly conflicting rules. This slightly tenuous connection is reinforced by several further similarities between Dorfl and Robocop. Never mind Robocop, however: one correspondent has posited that the entire candle factory sequence is a clever amalgam of the endings to *both* _Terminator_ movies. I will let him explain this to you in his own words -- I couldn't bring myself to paraphrase or edit it down: "The candle factory itself, with all the candle production lines is reminiscent of the robotics in the automated factory that Reese activates to confuse the Terminator. Throughout the candle factory scene, Carrot is Reese, Angua is Sarah Connor, the king switches between the original T-800 when fighting Carrot and the T-1000 from T2 when fighting Dorfl, who is the 'good' Terminator from T2. Carrot is shot early on and has to be dragged around initially by Angua, much like the injured Reese has to be supported by Sarah. The following fight between Dorfl and the king is similar to the big T2 confrontation between the two Terminators, in which one of the combatants is able to 'repair' himself and thus has an advantage. When Dorfl is 'killed', his red eyes fade out just like a T-800s, but he is later able to come back to life. The T-800 achieves this by rerouting power through undamaged circuitry; Dorfl does it by getting the words from elsewhere (heart as opposed to head). In T1, Reese finds a metal bar and tries to fight an opponent he can't possibly beat -- exactly as Carrot does. When Angua finds herself facing the injured king, it is similar to the scene in T1 after Reese's death, when the torso of the Terminator pulls itself along after the injured Sarah, grabbing at her legs (which the king also does to Angua). Then, Detritus' shot at the king, which has no effect, is like Sarah's last stand against the T-1000, when she runs out of ammo just at the crucial point. When it appears that the seemingly invincible king has survived everything and is about to finish the job and kill Carrot, the thought-to-be-dead Dorfl makes a last-gasp interjection which finally kills the king -- much like the resurrected Arnie appears just in time to kill the T-1000 in T2. Oh, and finally, the molten tallow that Cheery almost falls into is, of course, the molten metal at the end of T2." + [p. 260] "'We can rebuild him,' said Carrot hoarsely. 'We have the pottery.'" From the 70s TV series _The Six Million Dollar Man_: "We can rebuild him. We have the technology." + [p. 272] "'Undead Or Alive, You Are Coming With Me!'" Another echo of Robocop. + [p. 278] "'He's just made of clay, Vimes.' 'Aren't we all, sir? According to them pamphlets Constable Visit keeps handing out.'" Another parallel between Omnianism and Christianity. See Genesis 2:7. (In fact, the idea of God as a potter and humans as clay is a recurring metaphor in the Bible. See, e.g., Job 33:6, Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 18:6.) + [p. 279] "'The thought occurs, sir, that if Commander Vimes did not exist you would have had to invent him.'" Parallels a famous saying of Voltaire (1694-1778): "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." + [p. 280] "'To Serve The Public Trust, Protect The Innocent, And Seriously Prod Buttock.'" The first two of these were also the first two of Robocop's prime directives. + [p. 283] Dorfl's plan to liberate his fellow golems seems to take a lot for granted (e.g. that they will all decide, once free, to join him). Terry himself describes what he envisages happening next: "While I wasn't planning to feature this in another book, I suspect the sequence of events, given Dorfl's character, would run like this: 1 Dorfl saves up to buy the next golem 2 Golems suddenly become very pricey 3 Dorfl does extra shifts and go on saving 4 Price of golems goes up 5 Several merchants recieved a friendly visit from the Commander of the Watch to discuss matters of common interest 6 Golems available to Dorfl at very reasonable prices. I want more golems on the city payroll. How else can they resurrect the fire service?" The names of the golems, again, are Yiddish. "Klutz" -- a clumsy clod or bungler (from German); "Bobkes" -- beans, but only metaphorically; something worthless or nonsensical (from Russian); "Shmata" -- a rag, or piece of cloth; used both literally and to describe a person of weak character (from Polish). + [p. 285] "'*Not* a problem, me old china,' he said." Rhyming slang: china plate -- mate, friend. + [p. 285] "'Somewhere, A Crime Is Happening,' said Dorfl." Another Robocop line. + [p. 285] "'But When I Am Off Duty I Will Gladly Dispute With The Priest Of The Most Worthy God.'" However, Dorfl has just told Vimes that he will never *be* off duty... HOGFATHER + [dedication] "To the guerilla bookshop manager known to friends as 'ppint' [...]" The bookshop in question is _Interstellar Master Traders_ in Lancaster. ppint is a longtime contributor to alt.fan.pratchett, well-known for, amongst many other things, maintaining a number of that group's "Frequently Asked Questions" documents. + [dedication] "[...] the question Susan asks in this book." Many people have found it difficult to determine just what this question is. Perhaps this is because the Oh God of Hangovers asks it first, on p. 153, after which Susan turns to the Death of Raths and relays the question to him: "'Actually... where *do* [the Tooth Fairies] take the teeth?'" + When _Hogfather_ was being written, Terry answered the question what it was going to be about as follows: "Let's see, now...in _Hogfather_ there are a number of stabbings, someone's killed by a man made of knives, someone's killed by the dark, and someone just been killed by a wardrobe. It's a book about the magic of childhood. You can tell." + [p. 7] "Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree." Most physicists believe the universe started with a 'big bang.' The contrary view is that the universe is essentially a 'steady state' system, though this is difficult to reconcile with the available evidence. See also the annotation for p. 8/8 of _The Colour of Magic_. + [p. 8] "[...] the Verruca Gnome is running around [...]" A verruca is a large wart that appears on the sole of the foot, also called a plantar wart. Apparently the word is not commonly used in America. + [p. 13] "'[...] a stiff brandy before bedtime quite does away with the need for the Sandman.'" The Sandman supposedly sends children to sleep by throwing sand in their eyes, although we have found out (in _Soul Music_) that, on the Discworld, he doesn't bother to take the sand out of the sack first. + [p. 13] "'And, since I can carry a tune quite well, I suspect I'm not likely to attract the attention of Old Man Trouble.'" A character from the Gershwin song 'I've Got Rhythm'. See also the annotation for p. 86 of _Feet of Clay_. + [p. 16] "'Let us call him the Fat Man.'" This nickname has an honourable history, dating back at least as far as the 1941 classic film _The Maltese Falcon_. It was also the codename of the second (and, so far, the last) atomic bomb ever used in war, which was dropped on Nagasaki in August 1945. + [p. 24] "She'd got Gawain on the military campaigns of General Tacticus, [...]" We learn a lot more about this character in _Jingo_. The name seems to be a conflation of the word 'tactics' with the Roman historian Tacitus. + [p. 25] "[...] if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps [...]" A famous scene from the 1964 film _Mary Poppins_. Miss Poppins used her umbrella as a sort of magic wand to grant wishes for the children in her charge. See also the annotation for p. 56. + [p. 26] "[...] the hope that some god or other would take their soul if they died while they were asleep [...]" Susan is thinking of an 18th-century prayer still popular in parts of America: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. + [p. 26] "'[...] *yes*, Twyla: there *is* a Hogfather.'" Susan's response to Twyla's question loosely parodies a delightfully sentimental editorial that first appeared in _The New York Sun_ in December 1897. The editorial _Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus_, appropriately enough, uses the ideas of 'deeper truths' and 'values' to demonstrate that Santa *must* exist. + [p. 28] Medium Dave and Banjo Lilywhite. From the Trad. song 'Green grow the rushes, O': "Two, two the Lilywhite boys, clothed all in green, O". + [p. 34] "Deaths's destination was a slight rise in the trench floor." The environment Death visits is called "Black Smokes". It is a lifeform that is not based on photosynthesis in any way. + [p. 35] "The omnipotent eyesight of various supernatural entities is often remarked upon. It is said they can see the fall of every sparrow." Matthew 10:29, for instance: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." + [p. 39-40] "'"Oh, there might be some temp'ry inconvenience now, my good man, but just come back in fifty thousand years."'" There is very often a clear parallel between Discworld magic and our world's nuclear power. This is the sort of timescale it takes for plutonium waste to decay to a 'harmless' state. Given Terry's background in the nuclear industry, and his comments since, there's no doubt that these parallels are intended. + [p. 42] "'Give me a child until he seven and he is mine for life.'" A Jesuit maxim. See the annotation for p. 12/10 of _Small Gods_. + [p. 44] "It was the night before Hogwatch. All through the house... ...one creature stirred. It was a mouse." In Clement Clarke Moore's poem _The Night Before Christmas_, "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse". + [p. 47] "[...] the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, 'Possibly the gods exist and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?'" This is a rephrasing of Pascal's Wager: "If you believe in God and turn out to be incorrect, you have lost nothing -- but if you don't believe in God and turn out to be incorrect, you will go to hell. Therefore it is foolish to be an atheist." (Formulation quoted from the alt.atheism "Common Arguments" webpage, ) + [p. 47] "'You could try "Pig-hooey!"'" In P. G. Wodehouse's _Blandings Castle_, this cry was recommended to Clarence, Earl of Emsworth, as an all-purpose call to food, and used in the enforced absence of his pig man to get the mighty Empress back to the trough. As such it is perhaps not surprising that Gouger, Rooter, Tusker and Snouter did not accelerate away at the sound -- they were presumably waiting for Albert to produce the nosebags. + [p. 48] "'Look at robins, now. [...] all they got to do is go bob-bob-bobbing along [...]'" From the song "When the red, red robin comes bob-bob-bobbing along..." + [p. 49] "In Biers no one took any notice." The bar "Cheers", from the TV show of the same name, has often been parodied as "Beers". See also the annotation for p. 84 of _Feet of Clay_. + [p. 50] "'Now then, Shlimazel'" "Shlimazel" is a Yiddish word meaning someone who always has bad luck, a sad sack, a terminally unsuccessful person. (From German "schlimm", meaning "bad", and the Hebrew "mazal", meaning "luck" -- or "constellation", as in "ill-starred".) + [p. 54] "'Did you check the list?' YES, TWICE. ARE YOU SURE THAT'S ENOUGH?" This is the first of many references to the song 'Santa Claus is coming to town'. "He's making a list, he's checking it twice, he's gonna find out who's naughty and nice..." Other references are on p. 60 and p. 84. + [p. 54] "Here we are, here we are," said Albert. "James Riddle, aged eight." Jimmy Riddle is rhyming slang for "piddle". + [p. 56] "the window opened into the branches of a cherry tree." Possibly another echo of _Mary Poppins_ (see the annotation for p. 25), who lived at 10 Cherry Tree Road. The raven's constant harping on about robins also echoes the movie. + [p. 60] "'The rat says: you'd better watch out...'" The song "Santa Claus is coming to town" takes on a whole new meaning on the Discworld. See also the annotation for p. 69/52 of _Soul Music_. + [p. 66] "She'd never looked for eggs laid by the Soul Cake Duck." The Discworld equivalent of the Easter Bunny. See also the annotation for p. 193/139 of _Lords and Ladies_. + [p. 67] "'I happen to like fern patterns,' said Jack Frost coldly." A Tom Swiftie, followed by another one on the next page: "'I don't sleep,' said Frost icily, [...]". See the annotation for p. 26/26 of _The Light Fantastic_. + [p. 73] "In general outline, at least. But with more of a PG rating." PG = Parental Guidance suggested -- a film classification used in the USA and the UK, meaning that "some material may not be suitable for children". + [p. 74] "Between every rational moment were a billion irrational ones." In mathematics, between every rational number there are an infinite number of irrational numbers. A rational number is a number that can be expressed in the form of _p/q_ where _p_ and _q_ are integers. Irrational numbers are ones that can't, such as _pi_ or the square root of 2. + [p. 77] "A man might spend his life peering at the private life of elementary particles and then find he either knew who he was or where he was, but not both." A lovely reference to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle (see the annotation for p. 178/171 of _Pyramids_). Also plays on the stereotype of the absent-minded old scientist. + [p. 79] "'Archchancellor Weatherwax only used it once [...]'" Archchancellor Weatherwax was in charge of UU in the time of _The Light Fantastic_, estimated (by some deeply contorted calculation) to be set about 25 years before the time of _Hogfather_. See also the annotation for p. 8/8 of _The Light Fantastic_. + [p. 82] 'Old Faithful' is the name of the famous big regular geyser in Yellowstone Park. No wonder Ridcully feels 'clean'. + [p. 83] "*On the second day of Hogswatch I... sent my true love back A nasty little letter, hah, yes, indeed, and a partridge in a pear tree.*" Clearly the Discworld version of "The twelve days of Christmas" is rather less, umm, unilateral. + [p. 83] "'*-- the rising of the sun, and the running of the deer --*'" The song is 'The Holly and the Ivy': The Holly and the Ivy, when they are both full grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown. Oh, the rising of the sun, and the running of the deer, The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir. The Holly bears a berry, as red as any blood, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good... etc. + [p. 84] "I KNOW IF THEY ARE PEEPING, Death added proudly." Another echo of 'Santa Claus is coming to town': "He sees you when you're peeping". See the annotations for p. 54 and p. 60. + [p. 86] "'I mean, tooth fairies, yes, and them little buggers that live in flowers, [...]'" Flower fairies are a Victorian invention, often illustrated in sickeningly cute pictures and still widely popular in America. See also _Witches Abroad_. + [p. 86] "Oh, how the money was coming in." This has been tentatively linked to a famous parody song, to the tune of of 'My Bonnie lies over the ocean': "My father makes counterfeit money, my mother brews synthetic gin, my sister makes loves to the sailors: my God, how the money rolls in!" + [p. 92] "Many people are aware of the Weak and Strong Anthropic Principles." Physicists have discovered that there are a large number of 'coincidences' inherent in the fundamental laws and constants of nature, seemingly *designed* or 'tuned' to lead to the development of intelligent life. Every one of these coincidences or specific relationships between fundamental physical parameters is needed, or the evolution of life and consciousness as we know it could not have happened. This set of coincidences is known collectively as the "Anthropic Principle." The 'Weak Anthropic Principle' states, roughly, that "since we are here, the universe must have the properties that make it possible for us to exist, so the coincidences are not surprising". The 'Strong Anthropic Principle' says that "the universe *can* only exist at all because it has these properties -- it would be impossible for it to develop any other way." In some quarters, the idea has re-ignited the old 'argument-from-design' for the existence of God. + [p. 94] "'Sufficiently *advanced* magic.'" A perfect inversion of Arthur C. Clarke's dictum that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." + [p. 94] "'Interesting. Saves all that punching holes in bits of card and hitting keys you lads are forever doing, then --'" Holes punched in cards were used to input programs and data to computers up until roughly the early 1970s, when keyboards became standard. + [p. 95] "+++ Why Do You Think You Are A Tickler? +++" The conversation between the Bursar and Hex is reminiscent of the _Eliza_ program. _Eliza_ is a program written in the dark ages of computer science by Joseph Weizenbaum to simulate an indirect psychiatrist. It works by transforming whatever the human says into a question using a few very simple rules. To his grave concern, Weizenbaum discovered that people took his simple program for real and demanded to be left alone while 'conversing' with it. + [p. 95] "[...] Hex's 'Anthill Inside' sticker [...]" Refers to a marketing campaign launched by semiconductor manufacturer Intel in the 1990s. Intel's problem was that, although it has almost all of the market for personal computer chips, its lawyers couldn't stop rival manufacturers from making chips that were technically identical -- or, very often, better and cheaper. Its response was to launch the 'Intel Inside' sticker, to attach to a computer's case in the hope of persuading end customers that this made it better. + [p. 99] "You know there's some people up on the Ramtops who kill a wren at Hogswatch and walk around from house to house singing about it?" There is a folksong about the hunting of the wren: Oh where are you going, says Milder to Maulder Oh we may not tell you, says Festle to Fose We're off to the woods, says John the red nose We're off to the woods, says John the red nose And what will you do there... We'll hunt the cutty wren... In Ireland until quite recently, the hunting of the wren on St. Stephen's day -- Dec. 26th -- was a very real tradition. People did kill a wren and hang it on a branch of a holly tree, taking it from house to house rather like children trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en. + [p. 100] "Blind Io the Thunder God used to have these myffic ravens that flew anywhere and told him everything that was going on." The main Viking god Odin, although not a thunder god, had two ravens, Hugin and Munin, who did this. He also had only one eye. + [p. 100] "'[...] he'd go to the Castle of Bones.'" King Arthur visited this place of horror with a bunch (24? 49? 144?) of his trusted knights and re-emerged with only seven left alive. No one ever told what they had encountered there. I believe it was a faerie castle. + [p. 104] "The Aurora Corealis" See the annotation for p. 85/69 of _Mort_. + [p. 118] "YES INDEED, HELLO, SMALL CHILD CALLED VERRUCA LUMPY, [...]" Confirms Ridcully's remark on p. 86 that the word can be used as a name. + [p. 119] "'Willow bark', said the Bursar." Willow bark contains aspirin. + [p. 121] "'[...] that drink, you know, there's a worm in the bottle...'" Mescal. See also the annotation for p. 252/190 of _Soul Music_. + [p. 121] "'[...] surrounded by naked maenads.'" Maenads are from Greek mythology and were tied up with Dionysus, God of Wine. They were beautiful, nude and indeed maniacal, possessed of an unfortunate tendency to tear apart anyone they met, especially if it was male. + [p. 123] TINKLE. TINKLE. *FIZZ*. An old advertising campaign for Alka-Seltzer (a medicine often used as a hangover cure), used the line "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz" to describe the sound of the pills dropping into water and dissolving. + [p. 126] "'*I saw this in _Bows and Ammo_!*'" See the annotation for p. 328/236 of _Lords and Ladies_. + [p. 132] "While evidence says that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, [...]" This is confirmed by the eyewitness testimony of Rincewind and Eric (in _Eric_). + [p. 134] "'Sarah the little match girl, [...]'" The little match girl dying of hypothermia on Christmas eve is a traditional fairy tale, best known in the version written by Hans Christian Anderson. + [p. 135] "'You're for life, not just for Hogswatch,' prompted Albert." Plays on an old advertising slogan intended to discourage giving puppies as Christmas presents without thinking about how they'll be cared for the rest of their lives. Compare also the motto for Lady Sybil's Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons: "Remember, A Dragon is For Life, Not Just for Hogswatchnight". + [p. 139] "Hex worried Ponder Stibbons." The present incarnation of Hex has a lot of in-jokes about modern (mid-90s) personal computers. The computer business is littered with TLAs (three-letter abbreviations), such as CPU, RAM, VDU, FTP; Hex has its CWL (clothes wringer from the laundry), FTB (fluffy teddy bear), GBL (great big lever). "Small religious pictures" are icons, and they are used with a mouse. Ram skulls are an echo of RAM (random-access memory). The beehive long-term storage is a little more obscure, but in the 1980s some mainframes had a mass storage system that involved data stored on tapes wound onto cylinders. The cylinders of tape were stored in a set of hexagonal pigeon holes, and retrieved automatically by the computer as needed; systems diagrams always depicted this part of the computer as a honeycomb pattern. And then there's of course the fact that 'beehive' rhymes with 'B-drive', which is how one usually refers to the secondary floppy drive in a personal computer. Interestingly, Douglas R. Hofstader's _Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid_ contains a chapter in which one of the characters (the Anteater) describes how an anthill can be viewed as a brain, in which the movements of ants are the thoughts of the heap. + [p. 141] "+++ Error at Address:14, Treacle Mine Road, Ankh-Morpork +++" A common error message on many types of computer tells you that there is an error at a certain memory address, expressed as a number. This information is completely useless to anyone except a programmer. Based on _The Streets of Ankh-Morpork_, it has been suggested that this may be the address of CMOT Dibbler's cellar, mentioned in _Reaper Man_. + [p. 141] "'I know it sounds stupid, Archchancellor, but we think it might have caught something off the Bursar.'" Possibly Hex has caught a virus. On the Discworld, there's no obvious reason why a virus shouldn't be transmittable from human to computer or vice-versa. In the early 1970s there appeared a sort of proto-virus called the 'Cookie Monster', which cropped up on a number of computers -- notably Multics-based machines. What would happen is that unsuspecting users would suddenly find messages demanding cookies on their terminals, and they would not be able to proceed until they typed 'COOKIE' or 'HAVECOOKIE', etc. -- in much the same way as Hex is 'cured' by typing 'DRYDFRORGPILLS'. For more details see: + [p. 143] "'You don't have to shout, Archchancellor,' said Ponder." In on-line conversations, a common error among newcomers is typing everything in block capital letters, known colloquially as 'shouting'. This causes varying degrees of irritation among readers. There are also some people with vision impairments who use software that purposely uses capital letters, as they are easier to read, but fortunately this software is improving. + [p. 143] "Then it wrote: +++ Good Evening, Archchancellor. I Am Fully Recovered And Enthusiastic About My Tasks +++" Hex's polite phrasing here parodies that of the famous computer HAL from Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's movie _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (and the sequel _2010_), who said things like: "Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer" and "I am completely operational and all my systems are functioning perfectly". + [p. 144] "What does 'divide by cucumber' mean?" "Oh, Hex just says that if it comes up with an answer that it knows can't possibly be real." The real-world version of this is is known as a "Divide by Zero" error. Dividing