# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/41 "2018-01-21T17:07:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > 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. Same. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/42 "2018-01-21T18:20:48Z")
I didn’t even realize Discworld had puns. I read it as straight fantasy. ---
**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, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/43 "2018-01-21T21:38:52Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I didn’t even realize Discworld had puns. It doesn’t. It has _[punes](https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Pune)_. ---
**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 21, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/44 "2018-01-21T22:55:32Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It doesn’t. It has _[punes](https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Pune)_. Damn, I was just going to post that link and suggest the thread title should have used that word! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/45 "2018-01-22T05:27:07Z")
I’ll never get over the feeling that there’s a pun in “Ankh-Morpork” that I’m missing. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/46 "2018-01-22T08:31:33Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I’ll never get over the feeling that there’s a pun in “Ankh-Morpork” that I’m missing. I came in here to post this. ---
**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 22, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/47 "2018-01-22T09:14:29Z")
I don’t think it’s a pun as such, but it’s inspired by Budapest, originally two cities Buda and Pest. ---
**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 22, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/48 "2018-01-22T09:31:56Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I’ll never get over the feeling that there’s a pun in “Ankh-Morpork” that I’m missing. Well, this is a [morepork](http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/morepork) - we have one nesting in the garden - and it does seem to be featured on the [city’s crest](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/64/f3/92/64f3924481be4218db06d978d714ceb2.png), clutching an ankh, but what the connection is I couldn’t say. ---
**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 22, 2018, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/49 "2018-01-22T10:02:05Z")
Note that the “ankh” syllable also occurs in L_ **ankh** _mar. Not a conscious thing on Pterry’s part, apparently, although Fafhrd and Grey Mouser do cameo in _CoM_. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/50 "2018-01-22T10:42:27Z")
I looked for one a long time too, but from what I remember Terry said there’s no pun in Ankh-Morpork. The river is the Ankh, with a twinned-city of Morpork on the opposite bank, like St Paul and Minneapolis, amongst many other examples. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/51 "2018-01-22T12:39:27Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Note that the “ankh” syllable also occurs in L_ **ankh** _mar. Not a conscious thing on Pterry’s part, apparently, although Fafhrd and Grey Mouser do cameo in _CoM_. How could it not have been deliberate? We meet the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser expies even before we meet Rincewind. The Colour of Magic stories were simple parodies of established fantasy stories and Pterry might have initially intended for the Barbarian and the Their to be the observer characters rather than the Wizzard and the Tourist. (I consider CoM and TLF to be in canon but not actual Diskworld books.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/52 "2018-01-22T12:56:58Z")
> [@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. There are no American :jelly babies", but you can buy British Jelly Babies at stores specializing in British food imports. I got a couple of packages a few years ago when I was the Tom Baker /Doctor for Halloween. (I transferred them to small paper bags, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/53 "2018-01-22T14:24:12Z")
A truly excellent resource is the [Annotated Pratchett File](https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html). It’s a crowdsourced repository of Discworld jokes, though it hasn’t been updated in years beyond making note of his later works. For the entries that _do_ have lots of annotations, it’s worth one’s time to give the book a re-read and reference the site every chapter or two. It’s a great way to appreciate the breadth of Pratchett’s jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/54 "2018-01-22T14:27:38Z")
In _Thief of Time_ we have [Jeremy Clockson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Clarkson) and [Lobsang Ludd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud). I got the first one upon first reading but the second one had to be pointed out to me. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/55 "2018-01-22T17:27:52Z")
Not being a huge star wars fan, I struggled with Ankh Morpork being a pun an the legendary hive of villiany, but that turned out to be Anchorhead, not Anchorport. Pity. ---
**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 22, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/56 "2018-01-22T19:58:36Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > In _Thief of Time_ we have […] [Lobsang Ludd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud). I got the first one upon first reading but the second one had to be pointed out to me. That’s not the only[fictional person](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa) it’s referencing. ---
**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 22, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/57 "2018-01-22T20:33:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That’s not the only[fictional person](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa) it’s referencing. One of my favourite Judge Dredd jokes was a street gang named Lobsang Rampant. ---
**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 22, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/58 "2018-01-22T22:15:14Z")
Wasn’t there a character named Lobsang in _Moving Pictures_, too? A brother of C. M. O. T. Dibbler, if I remember correctly. ---
**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 23, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/59 "2018-01-23T02:21:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wasn’t there a character named Lobsang in _Moving Pictures_, too? A brother of C. M. O. T. Dibbler, if I remember correctly. Same guy, he was just calling himself Grand Master Lobsang Dibbler to sell dodgy martial arts courses in _Witches Abroad_. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/60 "2018-01-23T02:28:50Z")
There’s also Rosy Palm, who runs a brothel where she employs what Carrot thought were her five “daughters”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996.md?page=4)