# 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:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [February 15, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/81 "2019-02-15T21:29:32Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Really? So what is _batnum_, then? I read that as not getting the idea of backwards-spelled words being a thing, missed it being about a specific instance. (And _obviously_ Pratchett was a connoisseur of [archaic computer games](https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=14).) ---
**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:** [February 15, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/82 "2019-02-15T22:36:54Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > A man points his stick at another. “There is an idiot at the end of this stick!” “Oh? Which end?” > > My favourite reference I didn’t get until my second reading was in _Maskerade_, where the character of Walter Plinge, the awkward kid who turns out to have a secret identity, is described as being a bit simple and clumsy and always wearing a trenchcoat and beret. I remember trying to imagine how he looked and immediately thought “Oh, he’s a bit like [Frank](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=frank+spencer&num=100&safe=off&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=1hwKOtyCPi8_iM%253A%252CjiMKfbll_UDBeM%252C_&usg=__V7ugESP7491pwO60B4YOmpUvYZM%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZqcb6u-XYAhUBp5QKHa6mCbIQ9QEISTAG&biw=1662&bih=1066#imgrc=1hwKOtyCPi8_iM:) [Spencer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaAFynsoZAs)” and that’s when I realised he was a direct steal of actor [Michael Crawford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crawford), who also famously played [the Phantom of the Opera](http://www.playbill.com/gallery/the-phantom-of-the-opera-production-photos-com-2000?slide=2). It may have been obvious to some, but when it finally hit me I thought it was genius! [The Frank and Walters were also an Irish indie band in the late 80s and early 90s.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frank_and_Walters) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/83 "2019-02-15T22:42:44Z")
> [@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”. Which also ties in to Pterry’s characterization of the gods of the Disc as being in the main provincial, narrow-minded, and rather dull. That’s part of his genius; he didn’t make puns - excuse me, _punes_ - just for the laughs. He used wordplay in service of characterization; “Didactylos” is funny on the face of it, but it also tells you something of the philosopher’s personality and nature. As **Johnny L.A.** pointed out above, Pratchett’s puns are often multivalent and layered. It’s a shame that humor writing and fantasy are not given the respect accorded to quote-unquote “serious literature”; otherwise, I don’t think any critic would hesitate to call Pratchett one of the finest craftsmen of English prose in the last century. It’s what, IMO, prevents scholars from recognizing P.G. Wodehouse as one of the great wordsmiths of English literature. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996/84 "2019-02-16T03:17:02Z")
My favorite pun almost literally had me ROFL. I forget which story it was in, but there was an ant-computer (clearly a reference to Godel, Escher, Bach) and one of the characters noticed a sign on it that said, “Anthill inside”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-puns-you-missed-the-first-time/806996.md?page=4)