# Discworld puns you missed the first time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996 "2018-01-19T20:46:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/21 "2018-01-20T15:29:04Z")
One thing I didn’t get until it was explained to me was the significance of the country Hersheba. I saw it as a version of the ancient land of Sheba, which is true, but it also sounds like Hershey Bar. It was created in response to Americans that didn’t understand the country [Djellibabi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Babies). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/22 "2018-01-20T15:30:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wouldn’t Überwald be “above the forest”, as opposed to Transylvania “across the forest”? Über (over) can mean “across” (cf. “over there”): sie fahren über den Wald. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/23 "2018-01-20T16:31:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Most Americans don’t name our homes. A pity, that. I didn’t name my house. It already had one when I bought it. 😛 (And yes, as a holiday community, a lot of the houses have names.) > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It was created in response to Americans that didn’t understand the country [Djellibabi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Babies). _Who_ doesn’t get _Djellibabi?_ The thought that some people don’t get that one just makes me feel old. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/24 "2018-01-20T16:36:15Z")
I suspect that that’s just a matter of not realizing that there’s something to be gotten. Most readers probably don’t parse that any further than “funny-looking foreign name”, and keep on going. But I expect that anyone reading it aloud would have gotten it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/25 "2018-01-20T16:45:20Z")
I understood that jelly babies aren’t widely known in America. They seem to be mostly British things. Terry Pratchett told a story about how he explained the pun, only to be asked “what’s a jelly baby?” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/26 "2018-01-20T16:50:06Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I understood that jelly babies aren’t widely known in America. In the '80s and '90s, you used to be able to get them at any mall that had a candy store. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/27 "2018-01-20T16:57:11Z")
There are also various brand names and textures (e.g. German gummi bears) , so an American bag may not always be labelled “jelly babies.” Then again, anyone with a sweet tooth probably knows them well, but the sugar-averse may be unsurprisingly unfamiliar with candy variants. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/28 "2018-01-20T17:08:53Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > I don’t know how common this is kind of naming is in the US, but “Dunroamin” would be typically be the name above a [twee old couple’s retirement cottage.](https://www.stayz.com.au/accommodation/sa/yorke-peninsula/moontabay/159973) I think it was a Frank Muir joke that a Vandal’s retirement cottage was called “Done Rome In”. Thanks (and that does sound like Frank Muir). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/29 "2018-01-20T17:21:22Z")
The only ways I know of jelly babies is through Doctor Who and Discworld. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a food item called that in the US. It is the “Ford Prefect”/" Ford Perfect" problem again, where not only did America not have a car model named Prefect, but the vast majority of us have never been exposed to anyone with that job description. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/30 "2018-01-20T20:16:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Thanks (and that does sound like Frank Muir). _Nullus Anxietas_, as they say in Fourecks. _The Last Continent_ needs a _lot_ of footnotes, and a copy of [The Man From Snowy River](https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/paterson-a-b-banjo/the-man-from-snowy-river-0001004) handy. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/31 "2018-01-20T22:00:59Z")
It took me a while to realize that Vetinari was a takeoff of Medici. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/32 "2018-01-20T22:22:52Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American product called “jelly babies”, either, but if you told me that such a product existed, I’d have guessed that it was some sort of candy. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/33 "2018-01-20T22:50:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American product called “jelly babies”, either, but if you told me that such a product existed, I’d have guessed that it was some sort of candy. [Tom Baker’s Doctor Who was well-known for handing them out.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjYZd_hWfRY) Would you like a jelly baby? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/34 "2018-01-20T23:56:50Z")
Unless your species is not able to digest sugar. In that case, just a decoration. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/35 "2018-01-21T02:20:25Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > _Nullus Anxietas_, as they say in Fourecks. In one of those weird little coincidences, around 15 seconds after I read this someone on _Bend it Like Beckham_ (playing in the background) said “no worries.” ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/36 "2018-01-21T02:39:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Most Americans don’t name our homes. A pity, that. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I didn’t name my house. It already had one when I bought it. 😛 (And yes, as a holiday community, a lot of the houses have names.) . . . I remember way back when we visited Idyllwild CA, a lot of the vacation cabins had names. I wonder if it’s a function of vacation houses or a function of areas that maybe don’t have well named and numbered streets. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/37 "2018-01-21T10:33:57Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I got the Rats Chamber _reference historical_ immediately, but it wasn’t until much later I realized that “rats” is “star” backwards. I just thought it was called “rats” because of Vetinari’s friendship with the rats that inhabit the building, along with the mosaic in the ceiling. It’s a multi-layered pun - “Rat” is also German for “Council”, so town councils meet in the Ratsaal (hall) or Rathaus (house) or \*\*Ratskammer \*\*(chamber) The Ratskeller (Council cellar) is a common bar name, for one located in a town council hall basement. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/38 "2018-01-21T11:02:07Z")
On a similar note, Pratchett writes about strong coffee that makes you _knurd_. That is, a state of super-sobriety far beyond the normal sobriety, where all your comfortable illusions are stripped away and all of life’s terrors are exposed. I thought it was just a made up word for ages, until I noticed the backwards spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/39 "2018-01-21T13:12:45Z")
It’s gotten to the point that whenever I see a funny-looking word in fantasy or science fiction, I always check to see if it’s something backwards. It quite often is. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/40 "2018-01-21T15:17:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Unless your species is not able to digest sugar. In that case, just a decoration. But is the Discworld sugar L-sugar or D-sugar? First off, there’s the problem of being unable to determine left/right orientation in another Universe. A topic recently discussed on this board. Then there’s the problem of slow moving Discworld light. Would the polarization test work the same with such emanations? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996.md?page=3)