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Alhazred posted:Emus are arguably more deadly than velociraptors was. Now imagine trying that with hippos.
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Mar 26, 2023 13:13
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sebmojo posted:Djelibeybi and Ptracey are top tier Just finished Pyramids today. Think it was my fourth book. It was really great. Hope to see the characters again sometime. Started on Eric immediately afterwards.
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Mar 26, 2023 14:54
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Angry Lobster posted:Now imagine trying that with hippos. And then ask Louisiana how that went
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Mar 27, 2023 02:00
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KellHound posted:And then ask Louisiana how that went Well it never actually happened.
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Mar 27, 2023 06:06
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Beachcomber posted:Well it never actually happened. But, if you'd like to imagine how it might have gone... https://www.amazon.com/River-Teeth-Sarah-Gailey/dp/0765395231
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Mar 28, 2023 14:31
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ulmont posted:But, if you'd like to imagine how it might have gone... https://www.amazon.com/River-Teeth-Sarah-Gailey/dp/0765395231 It was not a great read.
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Mar 29, 2023 01:01
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hadji murad posted:Just finished Pyramids today. Think it was my fourth book. It was really great. Hope to see the characters again sometime. A fun fact about Pyramids: at one point it is mentioned that Djelibeybi is so poor that it could only afford a Plague of Frog. This is more than just a Bible joke; due to the way in which the Hebrew was written, it's not clear whether the Biblical plague was frogs plural or frog singular. So for centuries Talmudic scholars have had a hilarious running argument about whether Egypt was beset by a horde of frogs or just one really big frog.
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Apr 12, 2023 19:33
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Jedit posted:A fun fact about Pyramids: at one point it is mentioned that Djelibeybi is so poor that it could only afford a Plague of Frog. This is more than just a Bible joke; due to the way in which the Hebrew was written, it's not clear whether the Biblical plague was frogs plural or frog singular. So for centuries Talmudic scholars have had a hilarious running argument about whether Egypt was beset by a horde of frogs or just one really big frog. Current consensus is apparently a single large frog later spewing smaller frogs: https://twitter.com/Arithmomaniac/status/1514160196834271236 
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Apr 12, 2023 19:47
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I guess the English equivalent would be a Plague of Sheep.
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Apr 14, 2023 19:00
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Jedit posted:A fun fact about Pyramids: at one point it is mentioned that Djelibeybi is so poor that it could only afford a Plague of Frog. This is more than just a Bible joke; due to the way in which the Hebrew was written, it's not clear whether the Biblical plague was frogs plural or frog singular. So for centuries Talmudic scholars have had a hilarious running argument about whether Egypt was beset by a horde of frogs or just one really big frog. Jewish Twitter celebrates the Plague of Spaniard in honor of one guy who insisted Tzfarda was the same word as Sefardi because they sound similar. SixFigureSandwich posted:I guess the English equivalent would be a Plague of Sheep. That's where it gets weird, because Hebrew DOES have a plural for frog and it wasn't used. There are other places where "they used this word for a reason" is a critical part of analysis, so the arguments are kinda tongue in cheek but also not.
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Apr 14, 2023 22:37
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Bruceski posted:
I am ready to believe that Egypt was attacked by Frogzilla, and in fact find it more pleasant a thought than the alternatives.
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Apr 15, 2023 11:21
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Last time I looked at this there were a bunch of theories out there, although I don't know which one currently has primacy: - one big frog - one big frog that explodes into shower of normal frogs when struck - one big frog that recursively splits in two when struck - one big frog that vomits out huge numbers of normal frogs, then leaves - one small frog that is so loud it summons swarms of frogs from all over the world Also, shout-out to the rabbinical scholar who addressed the problem of "what if the Egyptians just hide from the frogs inside stone buildings" with "the frog will command the stone in the name of God to move aside that it might do the will of the maker, and the stone will do so, and the frog will enter the house by way of the tunnel thus revealed, and then the frog will find the Egyptians and bite their dicks off".
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Apr 15, 2023 15:13
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ToxicFrog posted:Last time I looked at this there were a bunch of theories out there, although I don't know which one currently has primacy: Username/post combo
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Apr 15, 2023 17:12
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ToxicFrog posted:Last time I looked at this there were a bunch of theories out there, although I don't know which one currently has primacy: I passed this on to my mother, who is amused by such things. She asked if it might also have been a literal plague: a disease spread by a frog. Feel free to pass this suggestion on to the nearest rabbi.
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Apr 15, 2023 18:00
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A lot of people croaked.
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Apr 15, 2023 18:15
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it was actually supposed to be a storm of swords but there was an angelic mishap and they were cut to ribbits instead probably the same entity at fault that was messing about in the Bugger Alle This printing of the bible
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Apr 15, 2023 18:32
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It's a beautiful day in Egypt, and you are a horrible frog. Alternatively: 
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Apr 15, 2023 19:01
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YggiDee posted:Alternatively: In Norway a really popular song is called "plague of the country", so this tracks.
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Apr 15, 2023 19:42
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dervival posted:it was actually supposed to be a storm of swords but there was an angelic mishap and they were cut to ribbits instead while i appreciate the punnes, or plays on words, i suspect it's more likely this is basically the quasi-oral-tradition version of a typo
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Apr 16, 2023 02:29
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oh no most definitely, I was just messing about
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Apr 16, 2023 02:32
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The Shepherd's Crown is 99p on Kindle, today only. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shepherds-Crown-Discworld-Novels-Book-ebook/dp/B00VRTCHMW/
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Apr 16, 2023 09:21
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Rob has won the BSFA Non-Fiction Award for Once More With Footnotes.
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Apr 20, 2023 12:03
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And rightly so, it's a really unique book.
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Apr 21, 2023 20:55
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Today is May Day, and as I and other Morris dancers were doing the heavy lifting of dancing the Sun up so you lot can have Summer it crossed my mind that today there are probably other Morris dancers in the southern hemisphere who are doing their Dark Morris. It's a little weird to think that Pratchett accidentally created an entire folk tradition when he wrote Reaper Man. Several Morris dancing sides also have a Stick and Bucket Dance, my own included, but that feels a little less profound to me than the existence of the Dark Morris, presumably because the Dark Morris as a concept is extremely simple. What we see of the Stick and Bucket Dance in Lords and Ladies isn't detailed enough to put an entire dance together, so most of us make something up involving sticks and buckets.
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May 2, 2023 01:36
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It was absolutely bloody lovely yesterday, like someone had flicked a big switch that says “SUMMER!”, so thanks for your sterling work.
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May 2, 2023 11:54
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I picked up the audiobook version of A Life with Footnotes and was honestly super impressed that Rob did the narration himself, he does a great job, it’s not necessarily as difficult as a dramatic reading with numerous roles and all but he has a good voice and sounds engaging and natural throughout, absolutely could’ve passed for a professional recording artist.
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May 2, 2023 15:59
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My favorite part of that is learning that terry constantly fired him then he just turned up anyway
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May 3, 2023 09:53
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I am reading Pyramids right now for the first and am having a blast with it so far. Quick question, to see if I am missing a reference or am overthinking a reference. Spoilers for a book called We Have Always Lived in the Castle: The test administrator for Teppic is named Mericet and he has an affinity for poison. Is this a reference to Merricat having poisoned her family?? It feels like maybe just too far, a bit of a stretch, but I also immediately saw Djelibeybi as Jellybaby and can never tell how clever Pterry is.
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May 4, 2023 21:04
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I would guess no because Terry's references are rarely that obscure, it's normally clever wordplay or a reference to common knowledge or unusual irl facts? Idk though.
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May 4, 2023 21:11
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Yeah it feels like just a bridge too far and that name is probably pronounced “Merry-set” rather than “Merri-ket” too but you never know!
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May 5, 2023 07:38
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I've been reading through this thread over the last few weeks after doing a cross-country drive mostly listening to a podcast about Discworld books. From pun chat a while back, I want to mention one of my absolute favorite self-contained puns, though I don't remember which book it's from in particular (probably Thud or Fifth Elephant?). "Dwarfs are famously argumentative, although many would disagree."
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May 7, 2023 23:42
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Wingnut Ninja posted:
There's gotta be some German word that describes the pleasure you get from that sort of prose.
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May 8, 2023 04:24
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I have to confess that I was a bit disappointed with Making Money back in the day. I had hoped that Pterry would focus more on the illusory nature of money, and maybe play around with financial bubbles. These would, in my opinion, fit perfectly into the Discworld setting. CMOT Dibbler could easily had been at the center of some bitcoin-like scheme, where people go nuts over the chance of making money. That would also have fit with the themes of the previous Moist von Lipwig book. Moist could have been trying to ride the bubble’s wave and keep the whole economic system from crashing, or something. One reason I hoped for something like that is that I know that Terry enjoyed the book “Extraordinary Popular delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (1841) by Charles Mackay, which contains many passages that sound very Discworld-like. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the south-sea bubble, where people went bananas over investing in all kinds of schemes due to the success of the South Sea Company. In one story, people were very excited by the prospect of investing in what the founder described as “A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.” Mackay writes: quote:“Were not the fact stated by scores of credible witnesses, it would be impossible to believe that any person could have been duped by such a project. The man of genius who essayed this bold and successful inroad upon public credulity, merely stated in his prospectus that the required capital was half a million, in five thousand shares of 100£ each, deposit 2£ per share. Each subscriber, paying his deposit, would be entitled to 100£ per annum per share. How this immense profit was to be obtained, he did not condescend to inform them at that time, but promised that in a month full particulars should be duly announced, and a call made for the remaining 98£ of the subscription. Next morning, at nine o’clock, this great man opened an office in Cornhill. Crowds of people beset his door, and when he shut up at three o’clock, he found that no less than one thousand shares had been subscribed for, and the deposits paid. He was thus, in five hours, the winner of 2000£. He was philosopher enough to be contented with his venture, and set off the same evening for the Continent. He was never heard of again.”
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May 8, 2023 18:34
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Tac Dibar posted:I have to confess that I was a bit disappointed with Making Money back in the day. I had hoped that Pterry would focus more on the illusory nature of money, and maybe play around with financial bubbles. These would, in my opinion, fit perfectly into the Discworld setting. CMOT Dibbler could easily had been at the center of some bitcoin-like scheme, where people go nuts over the chance of making money. That would also have fit with the themes of the previous Moist von Lipwig book. Moist could have been trying to ride the bubble’s wave and keep the whole economic system from crashing, or something. I had the exact same reaction to Making Money.
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May 8, 2023 18:52
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I don't think Dibbler would be the one running a Thaumcoin scam, but he would absolutely get hosed by one. His style is to overpromise and underdeliver, overcharge and cut corners wherever he can, but at the end of the day he's always selling some actual thing. It may be a band t-shirt that will dissolve in the next heavy rain, or a dragon-killing sword with a lifetime guarantee, or the hope that this time the sausage will taste as good as it smells, but outright theft isn't his deal. Now for some reason I could see Nobby getting into crypto and making a terrifying amount of money off it.
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May 8, 2023 21:38
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Dibbler would absolutely sell NFTs
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May 9, 2023 11:15
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Yeah, isn't Dibblers whole deal selling you the idea of a sausage, rather than the sausage itself? Sounds familiar. But to me, money and the economy are very Pratchettian concepts. They only exist and have value as long as people believe in them. The minute people stop, they vanish. That's why I feel that a book about people's dreams of getting rich quick and the (un)realities of the economic system would have been right up Pterry's alley.
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May 9, 2023 12:17
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Tac Dibar posted:Yeah, isn't Dibblers whole deal selling you the idea of a sausage, rather than the sausage itself? Sounds familiar. Sounds like the gag about sacrificing sausages to Offler.
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May 9, 2023 12:29
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:Dibbler would absolutely sell NFTs Yeah, NFTs would definitely be his thing. Actually, I'd love to see Dibbler discover the modern EULA and software licensing models. "So instead of owning the thing, it's more that you... don't own the thing. But you still give me money for it."
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May 9, 2023 13:29
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Wingnut Ninja posted:Yeah, NFTs would definitely be his thing. Sausage rental.
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