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Some PTerry quotes that feel especially salient at the moment:

"He asked you to shoot at people who weren’t shooting back,” growled Vimes, striding forward, “That makes him insane, wouldn’t you say?”

“They are throwing stones, Sarge,” said Colon.

“So? Stay out of range. They’ll get tired before we do."

- Night Watch

Odd thing, ain't it... you meet people one at a time, they seem decent, they got brains that work, and then they get together and you hear the voice of the people. And it snarls.

- Jingo

It always embarrassed Samuel Vimes when civilians tried to speak to him in what they thought was “policeman.” If it came to that, he hated thinking of them as civilians. What was a policeman, if not a civilian with a uniform and a badge? But they tended to use the term these days as a way of describing people who were not policemen. It was a dangerous habit: once policemen stopped being civilians the only other thing they could be was soldiers.

- Snuff

The poor devils. They thought a king would make them free.

- Feet of Clay

Beating people up in little rooms…he knew where that led. And if you did it for a good reason, you’d do it for a bad one. You couldn’t say “we’re the good guys” and do bad-guy things. Sometimes the watching watchman inside every good copper’s head could use an extra pair of eyes.

- Thud!

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Car Trunk vs Car Boot: A clear win for US English, trunk was already a thing in which you stored items, frequently for transport.

Crisps vs Chips: I gotta admit, the Brits have this one. They're thin slices of potato that have been made crispy. No chipping of any materials involved.

Car Park vs Parking Lot: Equally matched. What's a car park? A place to park cars. What's a parking lot? An otherwise empty lot where you can park.

Elevator vs Lift: Both equally fail to address that the damn thing also goes down.

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To Explain the Glorious 25th of May

For those of my followers who are confused, here’s a brief explanation.

In the Discworld book Night Watch, the 25th of May is the anniversary of the Revolution of Treacle Mine Road, otherwise known as the Glorious 25th of May. This was a relatively minor skirmish in the city’s great history, a struggle for power, a liberation that removed a madman from the throne to replace him with a different madman. But it was the city fighting back against oppression and cruelty and torture.

And in the fighting seven men died. Seven graves in the cemetery. And those who were there wear the lilac to remember them.

Discworld fans use this date as a convenient date to honour Sir Terry Pratchett and to remember his work.

Because there truly are no books like them. They are so amazing, with Pratchett having an amazing insight into fantasy, as well as the depths of the human condition.

Night Watch especially shows this. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s grim, it’s silly. It’s a book about inevitably, it’s a book about change. It’s terrifying, it’s bleak, it’s hopeful, it’s warm! It’s about a man reliving the worst days of his past, but he still strives to protect those he knows are lost. Because they’re not lost yet. They’re in front of him and he does the job in front of him.

Where, as civilians riot against the cruelty of the law, a man defends his watch house by sitting out front with a cup of lukewarm cocoa in one hand and a cigar in the other, telling the rioters he’s on break.

A book where a man must mentor his own child self. A book where he must walk his own past through the horrors he witnessed.

Where he gets so close to changing fate, before fate spins round with a haymaker.

And it’s also a book where the chant of the revolution is “Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hardboiled Egg.”

Where there is an old soldiers song about angels sticking their arses in the air, that just might make you weep.

We love you, Sir Terry Pratchett.

How do they rise up?

GNU Sir Pterry.

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And it all meant this: that there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett

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The problem is that we think the opposite of funny is serious. It is not. In fact, as G. K. Chesterton pointed out, the opposite of funny is not funny, and the opposite of serious is not serious. Benny Hill was funny and not serious; Rory Bremner is funny and serious; most politicians are serious but, unfortunately, not funny. Humour has its uses. Laughter can get through the keyhole while seriousness is still hammering on the door. New ideas can ride in on the back of a joke, old ideas can be given an added edge.

-- Terry Pratchett - A Slip Of The Keyboard: Collected Non-fiction

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Rincewind is the exception. He's fighting his urge to flee. Well maybe he's not fighting too passionately but oh well

*through gritted teeth* every day i choose to be kind *barely restraining myself from violence* i choose to have compassion *tamping down the vicious bloodlust inside me* i choose to care and to be kind and to love

[akboro]

obsessed with the Helena and Irving parallel and what it says about the aspects of our identity we think are fundamental (but aren't)...

Like Outie Irving assumes his Innie is just as radically anti-Lumon as he is. He assumes his hatred of Lumon is something ingrained in his personality! That's why he stays up at night drinking coffee and making paintings, because he hopes that when his innie dreams about the testing floor, he'll say "okay bet" and start exploring. That's what Outie Irving would do, after all. But he miscalculated! His hatred of Lumon isn't inherent--- his desire for meaning and art and spirituality is inherent. That's what his hatred for Lumon is built on. But in a world where there's no meaning outside of Lumon propaganda, of COURSE his innie would become ridiculously devoted to the company.

And Helena!! She is the corporation, that's her whole identity. She presumably assumed that Helly would be just as pro-Lumon as she is. But she miscalculated too! Her devotion to the company isn't inherent, her headstrong and entitled nature is what's inherent! And in a world where she's denied any agency whatsoever, that manifests as rebellion.

It's the same dynamic flipped on its head. They both sent their innies in there with opposite intentions--- one to take down the company, one feed the company's expansion--- only to realize that rebellion and devotion aren't inherent characteristics. Their innies have become the exact opposite of their outie selves, while still being exactly the same!! Because even though your personality is inherent, the values you hold are determined circumstantially. OUGH IT'S SO GOOD.

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I like how in Night Watch Vimes has to face his younger self and has the universal experience of cringing at his younger self but realizes you need to start somewhere. You start out naive and ignorant then life bites you in the ass and you learn, unless you're Vetinari then you've always been cool.

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Stone faced and barely moving in the club.

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— DERRY GIRLS 2.03 — FLEABAG 2.03

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Intro to the 1989 reprint of The Color of Magic the first Discworld book by Terry Pratchett.

“At least ten.” Lmao

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"People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn’t measure up."

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I've seen the theory that Vimes, Vetinari, and Moist are a coven. Makes sense. So much of Vimes' character seems to reflect a lot of the 'headology' we see from Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching. But I don't think I've seen anyone talking about how witches form covens to keep other witches in check; to 'keep them from cackling' and going mad with power.

Time and time again, we see how important it is that Vimes, Moist, and Vetinari need other people to keep them in line. If it wasn't for Vetinari, Moist would revert back to his con-artist ways. And Vimes? How many books revolve around Vimes wanting to use his authority in ways he knows are unjust in order to solve a problem? Like with witches, being a police officer comes with knowing when not to exert power unnecessarily. Then there's Vetinari. Omg. Vetinari is sort of fascinating-- in some ways, you'd think he'd be the most likely to cackling. The man is a literal tyrant. But he and Vimes are always keeping the other in check-- basically always reminding the other not to step out of line.

I know that most of this boils down to Pratchett's own philosophies about human interaction. But, idk. I think with the coven theories it's just a cool idea I haven't seen discussed too much.

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'What? That can't be right! When she's wolf-shaped she's just like a wolf!'

'So? When she's human-shaped she's just like a human. And what's that got to do with anything? Humans don't like werewolves. Wolves don't like werewolves. People don't like wolves that can think like people, an' people don't like people who can act like wolves. Which just shows you that people are the same everywhere,' said Gaspode. He assessed this sentence and added, 'Even when they're wolves.'

Terry Pratchett - The Fifth Elephant