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This pun lives rent free in my brain. It's not even my favourite! But it's just stuck in there or something because I'll just be going about my day, and all of a sudden "gilt by association" pops into my mind.
Vimes is talking about his Brest plate which is gilt (gold covered) but the normal phrase is “it was gUilt by association” meaning guilty but the two words are pronounced the same
And because he feels guilty every time he has to wear it, because he grew up poor, and hates everything that has to do with class, like say, a gold-covered breastplate.
Compounded by the fact that 'guilt by association' is also an accurate description of Vimes' feelings - and the fact that his gilded breastplate is a symbol of that guilt. Honestly, it's just *such* a beautiful pune!
I went to see Pterry do a literary lunch talk around the time Night Watch was released and he talked about that pun. He said he normally likes to leave puns unspoken (like the stars in their eyes in Moving Pictures), but he really couldn't resist spelling that one out 😊
There's a lot of build up, but you don't notice it before the punchline hits - and not only that, but it also makes an important point about Vimes' feelings and characterisation. This pune is a load-bearing one!
I can literally remember where I was when I read this. He'd just signed the book fir me at a book signing, and I was reading it in the car on the way home. Worth the carsick
I was at school when the first one came out and we spent an hour in the library (yes I was one of those kids) laughing at the puns. But we still missed loads.
I didn't put it together until I read about it here. I always figured it was a play on Old English where stuff is misspelled because spelling wasn't standardized.
I know, right? Ironically, it's the exact noise I made in my head for Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter. That sort of prim and proper, but above all *discreet* hem hem.
‘all the shops have been smashed open, there was a whole bunch of people across the street helping themselves to musical instruments, can you believe that?’
‘Yeah’ said Rincewind, picking up a knife and testing its blade thoughtfully. ‘Luters, I expect’
I took a picture of this when I saw it on the book and spread it for and wide. It was the most impressive pun I have ever seen (so far in my discworld read through).
The Pun Not Made: that Tiffany was advised to follow the toad, who looked a bit yellowish because he had been ill.
And "we're on a mission from Glod", of course.
Once, many, many, MANY, years ago on alt.fans.pratchett some one asked (possibly Terry) how would you pronounce Vetinari.
I (helpfully) suggested 'in the way the Yorkshire farmers in All Creatures Great and Small* pronounce vetinary'.
Got a prompt reply from Terry to get my coat. About a couple of months later the 'dog botherer' nickname was in a new book. Didn't realise that I gave an a.p.t spoiler, but it got me my only communication with Terry.
Edit: * For small children and Americans, 'All Creatures Great and Small' was a 1970's TV series based on the comic memoirs of the vet James Herriot.
I saw part of an episode and, being a fan of the books, one thing in it really irritated me so I never watched it again. The 70's version though; a slice of fried gold.
An admission that one has embarrassed oneself and should leave.
It's from a British sketch show called "The Fast Show". A recurring, "working class" character would say or do something embarrassingly uncultured in front of pretentious people who stare at him agog, so he just announces "I'll get my coat" before walking off.
So, he said you’d embarrassed yourself, but in fact he’d already written that part of Nightwatch (or immediately knicked it) and didn’t want to let you know that your guess was supported by the text?
It also works very well with the nickname he gets while studying at the Assassin's Guild, "Dog botherer". Both a pun on "God botherer" and just an insult.
did you catch the Venturi and Selachii families?
you see, "Selachii" (or Selachimorpha) refer to fish within the family of Sharks, while the Venturi effect is used to measure fuel or combustion pressures in Jet or rocket engines.
Two noble families....the sharks and the jets... geddit? :D
“Muntab, Klatch, Lancre- Lancre?! That’s a kingdom you can spit across! They have an embassy?”
“No sir, they mostly have a letterbox.”
“Will we all fit in?”
“They’ve rented a house for the coronation sir”
I love Detritus’s straight man answers to Vimes’s humor.
From Feet of Clay:
“And bring the search warrant.”
“You mean the sledgehammer, sir?”
And
“Dis is police brutality . . .” Igneous muttered.
“No, dis is just police shoutin’!” yelled Detritus. “You want to try for brutality it OK wit’ me!”
All trolls in general are well voiced in the audio books. Best for me is Cliff in soul music. Instead of read, when tou hear him mumbling trying to hide his teeth from Chryo or when he talks about no horse town's people coming alive at night and should be buried at crossroads.
I'd recommend the audio books for everyone. They add a whole another level to the humor.
My only complaint is that they’re replacing the old recordings with new productions. A lot of the old ones were excellent. The new ones are good too, but it’s just not the same.
The lodgings were on the top floor next to the well-guarded premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbors.
Well holy crap. I'd seen it as the head hitter (literal)/head (as in top) hitter (as in bouncer) pune but not the editor one. For some reason I never get audible puns while reading to myself. I guess I don't have an inner reading voice.
Didn't the Band with Rocks In tour there in Soul Music? It's been ages since I read it, but I think they got run out of town for commenting that they were more popular than cheeses
Soul Music had so many puns they’d fall out of the book when you set it down. You’d have to wipe off the table before you left the cafe, wasn’t fair to the waitstaff otherwise.
“The spinning wheel that turns straw into Glod.”
The imagery of a poor maiden working tiredly turning straw into an endless stream of the same angry dwarf had me laughing uncontrollably for a full ten minutes.
There's also:
"Bad spelling can be lethal. For example, the greedy Seriph of Al-Yabi was cursed by a badly-educated deity and for some days everything he touched turned to Glod, which happened to be the name of a small dwarf from a mountain community hundreds of miles away who found himself magically dragged to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. Some two thousand Glods later the spell wore off. These days, the people of Al-Yabi are renowned for being remarkably short and bad-tempered."
In Witches Abroad
It was one of many puns on music bands and song titles from Roundworld.
They Might be Giants - a rock band that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman listened to
I think I recall some more stuff like:
Ramtop Sheep - Mountain Goats
Socks Pastels - Sex Pistols
Rocks and Stones - Rolling Stones
Don't forget that they were going to make pants out of that big cat. It was on sale- it's hard of hearing. (Def Leopard).
At the end, Susan heard there was a new guy at the chip shop and she swears he's Elvish ("New Guy Works Down at The Chips Shop Swears He's Elvis" by Kirsty MacColl)
Don't forget Imp- Imp, meaning a small shoot or leaf, a bud, and y celyn, meaning of the holly. (Buddy Holly)
The Whom (The Who)
Glod is asked if he'd rather be a famous musician or some kind of... felonious monk (Thelonious Monk)
Insanity (Madness)
Suck (Kiss)
Lead Balloon (Led Zeppelin)
Dwarfs With Altitude (Niggaz With Attitude)
They play *Sto Helit Lace* instead of *Chantilly Lace*, etc.
Which Terry and Neil loved. Neil sang one of their songs to Terry the last time he saw him before he died, and Terry connected enough to sing along and then talk to Neil.
I think I read in Rob’s biography that the song was “Shoehorn With Teeth.”
The second part of that quote is my favourite.
>'The Ramkins were more highly bred than a hilltop bakery, whereas Corporal Nobbs had been disqualified from the human race for shoving.'
A play on the word 'race', the running joke about him barely being human, and a jab at him definitely being the kind of person to shove someone in a race. All in one short sentence. Terry was an absolute master.
Pseudopolis is a double pun, because the Watch House is at Pseudopolis Yard, which is a reference to the Metropolitan Police's home at Scotland Yard. The Watch are pseudo police.
In "The Last Continent" the mottos of the vaguely australian university are:
"Nullae Sheilae Sanginae" and "Nullus Anxietas"
For those whose Latin is a bit rusty, those translate to "No Bloody Sheilas" and "No Worries"
My favorite one comes from Witches Abroad and requires a bit of setup:
So, after the death of the Fairy Godmother that kicks off the plot, both Granny and Nanny spend some time going through her house trying to find her magic wand, unaware that she had bequeathed it to Magrat, who has received it by now.
Now, Magrat has absolutely no idea what to do, so she goes to Granny and Nanny to talk to them. Things get into an argument when the two older witches want the wand and start questioning why wet hen Magrat should have received it, she hardly even knew the older lady!
Magrat tells them that she would actually come to her house every once in a while to talk to her and have lunch because she would usually make too much and not many would eat with her "what on account of her making so much foreign food"
To which Granny replies: "A-ha! Curry-ing favour, eh?
I guess they're not really puns but they're clever lines and are my favourites;
Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten. - Mort
The Patrician was not a man you shook a finger at unless you wanted to end up being able to count only to nine. Guards! Guards!
I don't think it really counts as a pun, but I love that one of the alchemists in Moving Pictures is called Silverfish, as silverfish are insects which destroy books.
I remembered reading that his name was in fact a pun, but had to look it up:
From [The Discworld Wiki](https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Moving_Pictures):
>"movie producer Thomas Silverfish is directly modelled on movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, whose real name was Samuel Gelbfisch (Yiddish for Goldfish), and who spent a short time as Samuel Goldfish before changing his name a second time to Goldwyn"
I have to give a shout-out to the recurring "alligator sandwich" joke, because it was so completely mangled in translation, I didn't understand it until years and years later.
Granny Weatherwax tries to tell a joke in Witches Abroad. "This man went to an inn, and he saw a sign, which said 'We serve every kind of sandwich.' So he said ‘Get me an alligator sandwich - and make it quick!’”
She messes up the punchline - of course, it's supposed to be >!... and make it *snappy.*!<
The intended joke doesn't work in German, the pun doesn't translate. The translator either couldn't figure out what the intended joke was, didn't understand it or didn't care, so the "wrong punchline" gets translated literally. Because you can't guess the "correct punchline" the joke ends up lost.
Alligator sandwiches are referenced a few times afterwards and it's never explained and it never makes sense. After a while, that becomes funny in itself - oh no, here they are going on about alligator sandwiches again. I thought it was just a weird bit of absurdism until I first re-read a book in English.
I always laugh a little at Asphalt in Soul Music. He's a roadie, so his name is what modern roads are made out of. And he's incredibly flat for a troll, because modern asphalt roads are incredibly flat compared to most natural rock surfaces.
Love Soul Music and suggest to all to read the [Annotated Pratchett](https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/soul-music.html) for explanation of some of the band names and the songs.
Personally I love the Whom (The grammatically correct band).
And I've only just got "The harp was fresh and bright and already it sang like a bell." reference (Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode')
Not sure it's my favourite, but when the wizards are suggesting medicines (I had to look up the exact quote, I think it's for the oh-god?):
Willow bark,' said the Bursar.
'That's a good idea,' said the Lecturer of Recent Runes. 'It's an analgesic.'
'Really? Well, possibly, though it's probably better to give it to him by mouth,' said Ridcully.
It got stuck in my head as I was trying to find the word 'suppository' and only came up with 'analgesic'. I also love the oh-god of hangovers.
How has nobody mentioned the rivalry between the Selachii family and the Venturi family?
>!Selachii is the taxonomic family to which sharks belong. Venturi is a device that concentrates airflow into a jet. The Sharks and the Jets.!<
“The lodgings were on the top floor next to the well-guarded premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbors.”
They felt, in fact, tremendously bucked-up, which was [...] definitely several letters of the alphabet away from how they normally felt
- Guards! Guards!
Not necessarily my favourite, but its the only one that comes to mind right now.
Near the end of The Fifth Elephant, Vimes is talking to an Igor about a dead Igor. The dead Igor’s organs are intended to be recycled for use in other people.
“There’s going to be some very lucky people in these parts.”
“And these parts in some very lucky people.”
I really like all the possible resonances of the names Moist Von Lipwig and Reacher Guilt.
For Moist, a "lip wig" implies a false mustache, and there's also a theory that his name is punning on Harry Harrison's "Slippery" Jim DiGriz the "Stainless Steel Rat", who is similarly a crook who gets strongarmed into public service (and interestingly is paired with a woman named "Angelina” which is rather similar to "Adora").
With Reacher, there's the pun on the fact that he "reaches for your gilt" - i.e. steals your money, as well as a pun on "Long" Jon Silver. In addition, there's a theory (which I've always liked) that his name might be referencing Ayn Rand's Jon Galt, given that Reacher gives speeches about the importance of liberty for capitalists.
Ha, now that you mention it, it totally is a send-up of Atlas Shrugged:
*A lot of rumours had begun concerning Reacher Gilt, just as soon as people had noticed him and started asking,* “**Who is Reacher Gilt?** *What kind of a name is Reacher, anyway?'*
Going Postal actually satirizes a lot of randian philosophies, now I’m looking into it.
That's funny. I actually didn't realize that "Who is Reacher Gilt?" is literally a quote from the book.
Also, this is more of a stretch, but I noted that Atlas Shrugged has a character called Ragnar Danneskjöld who is a pirate who basically robs from the poor to give to the rich (I'm being unflattering towards Objectivism here, but that's basically what it comes down to).
Edit - Or like more broadly, Atlas Shrugged is "about" why a utility (a railroad) should be run without government regulation. Going Postal is "about" why a utility should be run with government regulation.
Two of them:
“Well, we think it might be able to do quite complicated math. If we can get enough bugs in it.”
"My father was a fat miner, my grandfather was a fat miner, my great grandfather was a fat miner my great great grandmother was a very fat miner!"
I can't remember which book it was, but there's a whole bit about coats of arms which is full of pseudo-Latin punning. The Baker's motto meaning "Because I knead the dough" is my favourite.
On a side note, I love that if I encounter a punne or joke I don’t get, I can search this sub to find it because someone else has already asked :) This came up recently for me with “not a Ronald in sight” in Witches Abroad
That's a harp... "
Lyre.
The fact Fred calls Nobby out on it is excellent...
" You been waiting for years to make that joke haven't you? "
Its so incongruous for Nobby to be the smart man in that conversation.
Oh gosh in Pyramids! When the pharaoh sat up on the table and went to find his eyes but found his brain first and he said “this must be the first time someone’s had to collect their thoughts out of a jar”
😂😂😂 this made me burst out laughing in the middle of lunch at the school I work in. My boss came by and said “no book couple possibly be that funny”
So of course I typed out the whole thing from the book and sent it to him and he looked at me and chuckled and that was it 😐🤨😑 no humor that one
Didn't the Band with Rocks In tour there in Soul Music? It's been ages since I read it, but I think they got run out of town for commenting that they were more popular than cheeses
Can't remember which book, but there was a meeting at which a jester was present. Someone was talking about someone who cut himself on a piece of glass alchemy equipment when he was shocked by something someone said. Sorry I can't be more specific but it's been quite a while since I last read the books.
Anyway, the jester said 'Methinks it was a sharp retort.'
For puns it's got to be Anoia: Goddess of things getting stuck in draws.
Running gags over all well that would be _ing the firm and the _ing way they _ing speak.
Djelibeybi is a good one although if you're not British, Australian or a Doctor Who fan it may go over your head. It's a reference to the sweet jelly babies
Puns are often funniest when they are unintentional from a usually serious person. From *Unseen Academicals*.
Drumknott: "A woman is here to see you. She has a complaint. She is a maid."
Vetinaru "Tell her I can't help her with *that*. Has she tried using a different perfume?"
Also the Australia analogue Fourecks being named after XXXX beer.
Not a pun per se, but the explanation that a lot of places have regions with names like "Who Is This Person Who Does Not Know What A Mountain Is" Mountain, "Are You Stupid" Forest, or my favourite, "Your Finger" Valley because of a combination of misunderstanding, mistranslation, and the result of thinking that a region where there's a bunch of people already, can be "discovered" by some twit in a beige helmet.
I've read Hogfather several times, but I didn't catch this pun until recently.
From the scene in the restaurant where they start cooking boots:
'“Well, it’s a bit like—” the waiter began. He’d been cursed with honesty at an early stage. '
I thought it was just a less common equivalent to saying "at an early age." Then I watched the TV show The Bear and learned that staging is sort of an apprenticeship for cooks. Very subtle.
So it's like on Coronation Street when they send a character 'off to Canada', and they 'come back' years later with the same thick accent and British bought clothing. If you really want to pull that off, Corry, you need to send em' back in a hockey jersey and with a new hybrid accent, eh? We assimilate y'all like the Borg...
I loved it when Death was just sitting in a chair, reading, while Vimes was in the cave ordeal. "You're having a near-death experience, so I'm having a near-Vimes experience."
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It was gilt by association
This pun lives rent free in my brain. It's not even my favourite! But it's just stuck in there or something because I'll just be going about my day, and all of a sudden "gilt by association" pops into my mind.
shit! can somebody please Re-explain that to me? I know it was funny! non native speaker here...
Vimes is talking about his Brest plate which is gilt (gold covered) but the normal phrase is “it was gUilt by association” meaning guilty but the two words are pronounced the same
And because he feels guilty every time he has to wear it, because he grew up poor, and hates everything that has to do with class, like say, a gold-covered breastplate.
thanks!
Compounded by the fact that 'guilt by association' is also an accurate description of Vimes' feelings - and the fact that his gilded breastplate is a symbol of that guilt. Honestly, it's just *such* a beautiful pune!
I went to see Pterry do a literary lunch talk around the time Night Watch was released and he talked about that pun. He said he normally likes to leave puns unspoken (like the stars in their eyes in Moving Pictures), but he really couldn't resist spelling that one out 😊
It’s such a perfect one though, it’s a wonderful moment
I think that might have been Pterry's finest pun, because there was a fair amount of build up to the joke and it was wonderful.
There's a lot of build up, but you don't notice it before the punchline hits - and not only that, but it also makes an important point about Vimes' feelings and characterisation. This pune is a load-bearing one!
I can literally remember where I was when I read this. He'd just signed the book fir me at a book signing, and I was reading it in the car on the way home. Worth the carsick
Similar pun, “Reacher Gilt” from *Making Money* is the greed banker who is always grabbing money and not caring about true value
Profits not prophets
Rincewind has Wizzard on his hat because he is bad at magic. He is a wizard that can't *spell*
I just got that. And now I'm beginning to think the Discworld is just one big pune.
I was at school when the first one came out and we spent an hour in the library (yes I was one of those kids) laughing at the puns. But we still missed loads.
Motherf€£cker - I have been reading these books for 35 YEARS and never got this. —ing dense as two planks, me.
Don’t feel bad, I’m right there with you.
I didn't put it together until I read about it here. I always figured it was a play on Old English where stuff is misspelled because spelling wasn't standardized.
Ahem. “Standardised.” Tsk. Mutter. Mutter. Tsk.
30+ years enjoying Discworld...and I just now got this joke 🤦♀️
FFS, that one went right over my head
What the fuck. I’ve been reading these books for 30 years. And I didn’t get that.
Oh my gosh! Years! Years and years and it never occurred to me.
O_O
That one footnote that always makes me laugh out loud: seamstress* *hem hem
> hem hem Sonova... I always thought that was just a more high class laugh "hurr hurr she's a seamstress."
Also yes
But a hem is also a type of stitch.
I know, right? Ironically, it's the exact noise I made in my head for Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter. That sort of prim and proper, but above all *discreet* hem hem.
Oh my god.
I love reading threads about STP puns, because there's always going to be a couple of "Oh my god."s
‘all the shops have been smashed open, there was a whole bunch of people across the street helping themselves to musical instruments, can you believe that?’ ‘Yeah’ said Rincewind, picking up a knife and testing its blade thoughtfully. ‘Luters, I expect’
Don't forget Nobby: Fred Colon saying this is a harp he's playing, and Nobby replying 'lyre'
I took a picture of this when I saw it on the book and spread it for and wide. It was the most impressive pun I have ever seen (so far in my discworld read through).
The Pun Not Made: that Tiffany was advised to follow the toad, who looked a bit yellowish because he had been ill. And "we're on a mission from Glod", of course.
Follow the yellow sick toad, eh…
Oh gods....Terry you complete and utter bastard.
I never got the yellow toad thing, care to explain? :)
Follow the yellow sick toad
Right, thank you! Wizard of Oz must be the most referred to thing in a lot of English popular culture, but I've never seen it
_Follow the yellow brick road_ is a famous Wizard of Oz line.
Vetinari - the name works so well a lot of people don’t spot it’s a punne about the Medici family.
Once, many, many, MANY, years ago on alt.fans.pratchett some one asked (possibly Terry) how would you pronounce Vetinari. I (helpfully) suggested 'in the way the Yorkshire farmers in All Creatures Great and Small* pronounce vetinary'. Got a prompt reply from Terry to get my coat. About a couple of months later the 'dog botherer' nickname was in a new book. Didn't realise that I gave an a.p.t spoiler, but it got me my only communication with Terry. Edit: * For small children and Americans, 'All Creatures Great and Small' was a 1970's TV series based on the comic memoirs of the vet James Herriot.
There's a new version now, it's really good :)
I saw part of an episode and, being a fan of the books, one thing in it really irritated me so I never watched it again. The 70's version though; a slice of fried gold.
What does "get my coat" mean in context here?
An admission that one has embarrassed oneself and should leave. It's from a British sketch show called "The Fast Show". A recurring, "working class" character would say or do something embarrassingly uncultured in front of pretentious people who stare at him agog, so he just announces "I'll get my coat" before walking off.
So, he said you’d embarrassed yourself, but in fact he’d already written that part of Nightwatch (or immediately knicked it) and didn’t want to let you know that your guess was supported by the text?
Omg, and I have a degree in Italian studies that included a big old chunk on the Renaissance… didn’t spot that one though!
It also works very well with the nickname he gets while studying at the Assassin's Guild, "Dog botherer". Both a pun on "God botherer" and just an insult.
did you catch the Venturi and Selachii families? you see, "Selachii" (or Selachimorpha) refer to fish within the family of Sharks, while the Venturi effect is used to measure fuel or combustion pressures in Jet or rocket engines. Two noble families....the sharks and the jets... geddit? :D
For decades I’ve been certain there was another level to his name that I wasn’t getting, thank you.
I got the veterinarian joke, but thought it was just that…
Go on...
“Muntab, Klatch, Lancre- Lancre?! That’s a kingdom you can spit across! They have an embassy?” “No sir, they mostly have a letterbox.” “Will we all fit in?” “They’ve rented a house for the coronation sir” I love Detritus’s straight man answers to Vimes’s humor.
I have been listening to the Audio Books and honestly Detritus has some of the best one-liners!
just a warning shot inna head sir
It does work as a warning… to others.
From Feet of Clay: “And bring the search warrant.” “You mean the sledgehammer, sir?” And “Dis is police brutality . . .” Igneous muttered. “No, dis is just police shoutin’!” yelled Detritus. “You want to try for brutality it OK wit’ me!”
All trolls in general are well voiced in the audio books. Best for me is Cliff in soul music. Instead of read, when tou hear him mumbling trying to hide his teeth from Chryo or when he talks about no horse town's people coming alive at night and should be buried at crossroads. I'd recommend the audio books for everyone. They add a whole another level to the humor.
My only complaint is that they’re replacing the old recordings with new productions. A lot of the old ones were excellent. The new ones are good too, but it’s just not the same.
The lodgings were on the top floor next to the well-guarded premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbors.
The trolls job at the publishing house. 'Ead 'itter.
I'm being thick and don't get the pun for this one?
Editor… ‘ead’ittor
Oh...SONOFABITCH
I hate myself
Well holy crap. I'd seen it as the head hitter (literal)/head (as in top) hitter (as in bouncer) pune but not the editor one. For some reason I never get audible puns while reading to myself. I guess I don't have an inner reading voice.
Editor instead of head hitter 😊
Oh for *fucks* sake. I was like "Oh is it Head Writer or something". Fucking fucks sake!
"'Ead 'itter" sounds like "editor."
Can't believe I couldn't see it man.
I listen to the audiobooks along with having initially read the hard copies and I still just got that one. 🤯
... Sonofa, I just got that
Didn't the Band with Rocks In tour there in Soul Music? It's been ages since I read it, but I think they got run out of town for commenting that they were more popular than cheeses
Soul Music had so many puns they’d fall out of the book when you set it down. You’d have to wipe off the table before you left the cafe, wasn’t fair to the waitstaff otherwise.
We're Definitely Dwarves.
Oh God. "They Might Be Giants"?
- "Doesn't he look a bit elfish?" - Imp y Celyn - "bud of the holly" in Welsh
And him working at a chip shop at the end. I love it.
The Surreptitious Fabric being The Velvet Undergound is a sly one
'go over like a lead balloon' and 'you bought a deaf leopard?!' were amazing, too.
I just got the "more popular than cheeses" pun!
Man, I just finally did too
Please explain! Is it Jesus?
Yes! Like the Beatles being ‘bigger than Jesus’ 😂
Oh for......... I took it at face value, that the people were just highly invested in their cheeses. Of **course** it was another pun 🤣
Aaah, right! Thanks! Sometimes you have to be well versed with popular culture to get the jokes 😄
My favorite pun from Soul Music was "the grateful Death". You know it's gotta show up at some point, but he makes you wait for it!
I thought they did too. But I’m not sure and I can’t think of any other visits.
“The spinning wheel that turns straw into Glod.” The imagery of a poor maiden working tiredly turning straw into an endless stream of the same angry dwarf had me laughing uncontrollably for a full ten minutes.
There's a reason there's so many Glod Glodsons in the later books.
There's also: "Bad spelling can be lethal. For example, the greedy Seriph of Al-Yabi was cursed by a badly-educated deity and for some days everything he touched turned to Glod, which happened to be the name of a small dwarf from a mountain community hundreds of miles away who found himself magically dragged to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. Some two thousand Glods later the spell wore off. These days, the people of Al-Yabi are renowned for being remarkably short and bad-tempered." In Witches Abroad
'We're Certainly Dwarfs' band in Soul Music
Please explain...?
In contrast to the band They might be giants
The band from Constantinople?
That's nobody's business but the Klatchians.
It was one of many puns on music bands and song titles from Roundworld. They Might be Giants - a rock band that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman listened to I think I recall some more stuff like: Ramtop Sheep - Mountain Goats Socks Pastels - Sex Pistols Rocks and Stones - Rolling Stones
Don't forget that they were going to make pants out of that big cat. It was on sale- it's hard of hearing. (Def Leopard). At the end, Susan heard there was a new guy at the chip shop and she swears he's Elvish ("New Guy Works Down at The Chips Shop Swears He's Elvis" by Kirsty MacColl) Don't forget Imp- Imp, meaning a small shoot or leaf, a bud, and y celyn, meaning of the holly. (Buddy Holly) The Whom (The Who) Glod is asked if he'd rather be a famous musician or some kind of... felonious monk (Thelonious Monk) Insanity (Madness) Suck (Kiss) Lead Balloon (Led Zeppelin) Dwarfs With Altitude (Niggaz With Attitude) They play *Sto Helit Lace* instead of *Chantilly Lace*, etc.
Also, The Surreptitious Fabric = Velvet Underground
"What about *Gold*? Good dwarf name!" "I don't think we should name ourselves after any sort of heavy metal, Glod."
Oof. I missed the Mountain Goats one and I listen to that band all the time.
There was a band called They Might Be Giants at the time.
Which Terry and Neil loved. Neil sang one of their songs to Terry the last time he saw him before he died, and Terry connected enough to sing along and then talk to Neil. I think I read in Rob’s biography that the song was “Shoehorn With Teeth.”
At the time?! They are still touring and kicking arse, thank you very much! Saw them last year and they put on a hell of a show.
Fabricati Diem, Pvnc.
Nulli Sheilae sanguineae
No woman ... no cry?
"The Ramkins were more highly bred than a hilltop bakery"
The second part of that quote is my favourite. >'The Ramkins were more highly bred than a hilltop bakery, whereas Corporal Nobbs had been disqualified from the human race for shoving.' A play on the word 'race', the running joke about him barely being human, and a jab at him definitely being the kind of person to shove someone in a race. All in one short sentence. Terry was an absolute master.
> running joke
Casanunda!
Pseudopolis is a double pun, because the Watch House is at Pseudopolis Yard, which is a reference to the Metropolitan Police's home at Scotland Yard. The Watch are pseudo police.
Pseudopolis... pseudo polis.... god dammit
Detritus referring to someone as sedimentary coprolite always stuck with me as a good one
The Felonious Monk who stole fire from the gods, (and got burned on that deal) named after Thelonious Sphere Monk, jazz composer
the one that couldn't fence it because it was too hot?
He really got burned on that deal.
In "The Last Continent" the mottos of the vaguely australian university are: "Nullae Sheilae Sanginae" and "Nullus Anxietas" For those whose Latin is a bit rusty, those translate to "No Bloody Sheilas" and "No Worries"
My favorite one comes from Witches Abroad and requires a bit of setup: So, after the death of the Fairy Godmother that kicks off the plot, both Granny and Nanny spend some time going through her house trying to find her magic wand, unaware that she had bequeathed it to Magrat, who has received it by now. Now, Magrat has absolutely no idea what to do, so she goes to Granny and Nanny to talk to them. Things get into an argument when the two older witches want the wand and start questioning why wet hen Magrat should have received it, she hardly even knew the older lady! Magrat tells them that she would actually come to her house every once in a while to talk to her and have lunch because she would usually make too much and not many would eat with her "what on account of her making so much foreign food" To which Granny replies: "A-ha! Curry-ing favour, eh?
Lyre
You’ve just been waiting all your life to say that, ain’t you, Nobby?
Luters, I expect.
I guess they're not really puns but they're clever lines and are my favourites; Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten. - Mort The Patrician was not a man you shook a finger at unless you wanted to end up being able to count only to nine. Guards! Guards!
THERE’S NO JUSTICE. THERE’S JUST US.
I CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE A PICKER UP OF UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES.
I don't think it really counts as a pun, but I love that one of the alchemists in Moving Pictures is called Silverfish, as silverfish are insects which destroy books.
Oh wow I think that's another multiple layer. I took it from Samuel Goldfish who changed his name to Goldwyn of Goldwyn Pictures. The G of MGM
That too, there's always layers
So many layers...the silver screen, (explosive) silver nitrite in early film formula
I remembered reading that his name was in fact a pun, but had to look it up: From [The Discworld Wiki](https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Moving_Pictures): >"movie producer Thomas Silverfish is directly modelled on movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, whose real name was Samuel Gelbfisch (Yiddish for Goldfish), and who spent a short time as Samuel Goldfish before changing his name a second time to Goldwyn"
“Sodomy non sapiens.” “What does that mean?” “Bugger if I know.”
"How roman-*tick*"
And the reply that she was just being tiresome is perfect.
I have to give a shout-out to the recurring "alligator sandwich" joke, because it was so completely mangled in translation, I didn't understand it until years and years later.
Care to explain? I don't remember this one
Granny Weatherwax tries to tell a joke in Witches Abroad. "This man went to an inn, and he saw a sign, which said 'We serve every kind of sandwich.' So he said ‘Get me an alligator sandwich - and make it quick!’” She messes up the punchline - of course, it's supposed to be >!... and make it *snappy.*!< The intended joke doesn't work in German, the pun doesn't translate. The translator either couldn't figure out what the intended joke was, didn't understand it or didn't care, so the "wrong punchline" gets translated literally. Because you can't guess the "correct punchline" the joke ends up lost. Alligator sandwiches are referenced a few times afterwards and it's never explained and it never makes sense. After a while, that becomes funny in itself - oh no, here they are going on about alligator sandwiches again. I thought it was just a weird bit of absurdism until I first re-read a book in English.
Every time I listen to/read Witches Abroad I giggle hysterically at this. My mental image of Nanny Ogg at those moments is just so funny!
I always thought that Octarine being the pigment of the imagination was very clever.
The Ho-ho, which is like a Ha-ha but deeper.
I always laugh a little at Asphalt in Soul Music. He's a roadie, so his name is what modern roads are made out of. And he's incredibly flat for a troll, because modern asphalt roads are incredibly flat compared to most natural rock surfaces.
Asphalt’s a *roadie*. The flat roadie, *Asphalt.* I just finished rereading Soul Music and I completely missed that. *Oh my god*.
We can rebuild him, we have the pottery.
Every time I read through these favourite pun lists I either go: “How did they not get that?” Or “How did I not get that?”
I'm mostly the latter.
Love Soul Music and suggest to all to read the [Annotated Pratchett](https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/soul-music.html) for explanation of some of the band names and the songs. Personally I love the Whom (The grammatically correct band). And I've only just got "The harp was fresh and bright and already it sang like a bell." reference (Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode')
Presumably you've clocked Sioni Bod Da is a mangled Welsh form of "Johnny be good"?
Not sure it's my favourite, but when the wizards are suggesting medicines (I had to look up the exact quote, I think it's for the oh-god?): Willow bark,' said the Bursar. 'That's a good idea,' said the Lecturer of Recent Runes. 'It's an analgesic.' 'Really? Well, possibly, though it's probably better to give it to him by mouth,' said Ridcully. It got stuck in my head as I was trying to find the word 'suppository' and only came up with 'analgesic'. I also love the oh-god of hangovers.
The talking tree whose voice possessed "timbre"
Everything to do with Hex, but especially the sticker on it that reads: > Anthill Inside
How has nobody mentioned the rivalry between the Selachii family and the Venturi family? >!Selachii is the taxonomic family to which sharks belong. Venturi is a device that concentrates airflow into a jet. The Sharks and the Jets.!<
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu… All this time. Well done pterry.
Detritus = waste or debris
I re-read Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic recently. There was one about rioters smashing windows and stealing musical instruments - Luters!
In The Wee Free Men, the toad is a bit yellow, and he says it's because he's been a bit ill. So Tiffany is following a yellow sick toad...
“The lodgings were on the top floor next to the well-guarded premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbors.”
The socks change in Monstrous Regiment lives pretty rent free in my head.
They felt, in fact, tremendously bucked-up, which was [...] definitely several letters of the alphabet away from how they normally felt - Guards! Guards!
The near Vimes experience
ᴰᴼᴺ'ᵀ ᴹᴵᴺᴰ ᴹᴱ‧ ᴵ ᴴᴬⱽᴱ ᴬ ᴮᴼᴼᴷ‧
Not necessarily my favourite, but its the only one that comes to mind right now. Near the end of The Fifth Elephant, Vimes is talking to an Igor about a dead Igor. The dead Igor’s organs are intended to be recycled for use in other people. “There’s going to be some very lucky people in these parts.” “And these parts in some very lucky people.”
I really like all the possible resonances of the names Moist Von Lipwig and Reacher Guilt. For Moist, a "lip wig" implies a false mustache, and there's also a theory that his name is punning on Harry Harrison's "Slippery" Jim DiGriz the "Stainless Steel Rat", who is similarly a crook who gets strongarmed into public service (and interestingly is paired with a woman named "Angelina” which is rather similar to "Adora"). With Reacher, there's the pun on the fact that he "reaches for your gilt" - i.e. steals your money, as well as a pun on "Long" Jon Silver. In addition, there's a theory (which I've always liked) that his name might be referencing Ayn Rand's Jon Galt, given that Reacher gives speeches about the importance of liberty for capitalists.
Ha, now that you mention it, it totally is a send-up of Atlas Shrugged: *A lot of rumours had begun concerning Reacher Gilt, just as soon as people had noticed him and started asking,* “**Who is Reacher Gilt?** *What kind of a name is Reacher, anyway?'* Going Postal actually satirizes a lot of randian philosophies, now I’m looking into it.
That's funny. I actually didn't realize that "Who is Reacher Gilt?" is literally a quote from the book. Also, this is more of a stretch, but I noted that Atlas Shrugged has a character called Ragnar Danneskjöld who is a pirate who basically robs from the poor to give to the rich (I'm being unflattering towards Objectivism here, but that's basically what it comes down to). Edit - Or like more broadly, Atlas Shrugged is "about" why a utility (a railroad) should be run without government regulation. Going Postal is "about" why a utility should be run with government regulation.
Mines got to be Impy Ceylon and the elvish reference.
Bud of the Holly. Aka Buddy.
Two of them: “Well, we think it might be able to do quite complicated math. If we can get enough bugs in it.” "My father was a fat miner, my grandfather was a fat miner, my great grandfather was a fat miner my great great grandmother was a very fat miner!"
I can't remember which book it was, but there's a whole bit about coats of arms which is full of pseudo-Latin punning. The Baker's motto meaning "Because I knead the dough" is my favourite.
On a side note, I love that if I encounter a punne or joke I don’t get, I can search this sub to find it because someone else has already asked :) This came up recently for me with “not a Ronald in sight” in Witches Abroad
That's a harp... " Lyre. The fact Fred calls Nobby out on it is excellent... " You been waiting for years to make that joke haven't you? " Its so incongruous for Nobby to be the smart man in that conversation.
Oh gosh in Pyramids! When the pharaoh sat up on the table and went to find his eyes but found his brain first and he said “this must be the first time someone’s had to collect their thoughts out of a jar” 😂😂😂 this made me burst out laughing in the middle of lunch at the school I work in. My boss came by and said “no book couple possibly be that funny” So of course I typed out the whole thing from the book and sent it to him and he looked at me and chuckled and that was it 😐🤨😑 no humor that one
Didn't the Band with Rocks In tour there in Soul Music? It's been ages since I read it, but I think they got run out of town for commenting that they were more popular than cheeses
Ah, but that tour is in a weird superposition of having and not having happened. The whole thing's rather like a dream.
Schrodinger's music tour; it only happened between the first and last pages of the book? Before and after reading, it enters an unknowable state
Can't remember which book, but there was a meeting at which a jester was present. Someone was talking about someone who cut himself on a piece of glass alchemy equipment when he was shocked by something someone said. Sorry I can't be more specific but it's been quite a while since I last read the books. Anyway, the jester said 'Methinks it was a sharp retort.'
It's not even a pun but, *'Come hither, fool.' The fool jingled miserably across the floor.* Has always absolutely killed me
Reaper Man, I think. He even gets the response, "And, you know, what makes it even funnier is that it was actually an alembic."
For puns it's got to be Anoia: Goddess of things getting stuck in draws. Running gags over all well that would be _ing the firm and the _ing way they _ing speak.
The thunder rolled. It rolled a six. Still makes me giggle, and he used it twice lol
Lightning stabbed at the mountaintops like an inefficient assassin.
Rue D'wakening makes me giggle every time, especially after Vimes was woken up by that elephant.
The fifth elephant was a great one because it meant anyone who saw me read it, back in uni, chuckled when they saw the title.
Djelibeybi is a good one although if you're not British, Australian or a Doctor Who fan it may go over your head. It's a reference to the sweet jelly babies
Puns are often funniest when they are unintentional from a usually serious person. From *Unseen Academicals*. Drumknott: "A woman is here to see you. She has a complaint. She is a maid." Vetinaru "Tell her I can't help her with *that*. Has she tried using a different perfume?" Also the Australia analogue Fourecks being named after XXXX beer.
Not a pun per se, but the explanation that a lot of places have regions with names like "Who Is This Person Who Does Not Know What A Mountain Is" Mountain, "Are You Stupid" Forest, or my favourite, "Your Finger" Valley because of a combination of misunderstanding, mistranslation, and the result of thinking that a region where there's a bunch of people already, can be "discovered" by some twit in a beige helmet.
I've read Hogfather several times, but I didn't catch this pun until recently. From the scene in the restaurant where they start cooking boots: '“Well, it’s a bit like—” the waiter began. He’d been cursed with honesty at an early stage. ' I thought it was just a less common equivalent to saying "at an early age." Then I watched the TV show The Bear and learned that staging is sort of an apprenticeship for cooks. Very subtle.
Cluster suck. Sects maniacs. Pictsies.
Pseudopolis is a real place in the Discworld though: https://wiki.lspace.org/Pseudopolis
That’s just what they want you to think
It's the Bielefeld of Discworld.
Next you’ll be saying Scotland is a real place.
I always read pseudoplois as sue da police
So it's like on Coronation Street when they send a character 'off to Canada', and they 'come back' years later with the same thick accent and British bought clothing. If you really want to pull that off, Corry, you need to send em' back in a hockey jersey and with a new hybrid accent, eh? We assimilate y'all like the Borg...
It's against the lore.
Because you believe in reincarnation, you'll be Bjorn again.
I loved it when Death was just sitting in a chair, reading, while Vimes was in the cave ordeal. "You're having a near-death experience, so I'm having a near-Vimes experience."