# Need help with Terry Pratchett "pun." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563 "2007-03-26T16:43:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/1 "2007-03-26T16:43:03Z")
At least, I think pun is the right word. Having recently journeyed to the world(s) of Terry Pratchett, I have found a number of his puns and plays on words to be quite amusing. Of course, since I’m sitting down and writing this, I can’t think of most of them. But, the _Scone of Stone_ comes to mind, it being a play on the _Stone of Scone_ the piece of rock upon which Scottish kings are supposed to place their feet while being crowned. The name of one of the most significant places in the Discworld has been preying on my mind ever since I started reading Pterry’s works. Ankh-Morpork. Something is lurking in the shadowy places around the edges of my consciousness, and telling me that I should be recognizing this name as a pun on something, but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out. Am I wrong? Am I dense? Is it maybe a very English pun that a Yank wouldn’t be expected to get? Can anyone help me out here? ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/2 "2007-03-26T16:47:21Z")
Don’t think there’s any particular joke under the surface there. Here’s the relevant section on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh_Morpork) > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Many details of Ankh-Morpork appear to have been inspired by Fritz Leiber’s fictional city Lankhmar (although Pratchett has said “I didn’t – at least consciously, I suppose I must say – create Ankh-Morpork as a takeoff of Lankhmar”[3]). > > The most obvious similarities include the names of the two cities, the similar-sounding titles afforded to the respective rulers (a Patrician for Ankh-Morpork, a Patriarch for Lankhmar), the browned-iron equipment that characterises both sets of city guards, some conspicuous buildings (Tower of Art, Rats Tower), the similar names of associated countries (in particular; Klatch and Klesh) and what may be termed a certain general atmosphere. This resemblance is most marked in the earliest Discworld books, and becomes increasing diluted as the series moves away from parody into satire. ---
**Author:** ![Elsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@Elsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elsie)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/3 "2007-03-26T16:56:14Z")
The phrase ‘wank (as in masturbate) my pork’ came to mind reading your post, but not to the mind of the people who wrote the Wiki . So I’m probably being unnecessarily crude, and I can’t help despite being a compatriot of the Pratchett. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/4 "2007-03-26T17:35:22Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] Don’t think there’s any particular joke under the surface there. Here’s the relevant section on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh_Morpork) [/QUOTE] Since two characters very much resembling Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser show up in the beginning of _The Colour of Magic_ he must have been at least thinking of it. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/5 "2007-03-26T18:33:51Z")
Wow, and I thought it was just a pun on [anthropomorphic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphic). ---
**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:** [March 26, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/6 "2007-03-26T23:01:02Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Since two characters very much resembling Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser show up in the beginning of _The Colour of Magic_ he must have been at least thinking of it. [/QUOTE] It had always seemed to me that if Pterry has any idea of making a series out of the story at the start, the central characters would not have been Rincewind and Twoflower, but Bravd and Weasel. I could imagine the two wandering swordsmen (great fantasy cliches that they are) arriving at different places to pick up the pieces and hear a story parodying some famous fantasy tale. BUT, having the central characters being the instigating agents of chaos in the fantasy world worked out much better than just being observers. And, of course, the Diskworld grew and transmogrified itself into a much greater story cycles than just a series of in-jokes for geeks. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/7 "2007-03-27T00:25:38Z")
Many people know what an [ankh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh) is; fewer probably know that a [morepork](http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/ruru.html) is a New Zealand owl. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/8 "2007-03-27T00:29:43Z")
Both of which feature prominantly on the [City Seal](http://www.discworldstamps.co.uk/images/stamp_twopenceblue.jpg). ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/9 "2007-03-27T01:02:31Z")
Ankh-Morepork, a city made up of two smaller cities, Ankh and Morepork seperated by a river. Based partly on Budapest, a city made up of two smaller cities, Buda and Pest, seperated by a river. All kinds of jokes you may have missed explained here: [The Annotated Pratchett File v9.0 - Index](http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/10 "2007-03-27T17:17:20Z")
Thanks, everyone. Looks like the answer is, “No, no specific joke there.” It still bugs me, but I guess I’ll just have to let it go. On the other hand, maybe some day my mind will connect that last dot, and I’ll discover a joke even Mr. Pratchett didn’t realize he’d made. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/11 "2007-03-27T17:39:33Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] It had always seemed to me that if Pterry has any idea of making a series out of the story at the start, the central characters would not have been Rincewind and Twoflower, but Bravd and Weasel. I could imagine the two wandering swordsmen (great fantasy cliches that they are) arriving at different places to pick up the pieces and hear a story parodying some famous fantasy tale. [/QUOTE] I certainly agree. Anyhow, parodies of fantasy heroes (in particular Conan) have been done. Poul Anderson did one, called _The Barbarian_ and John Jakes did a novel-length Conan parody. And I’m not forgetting pTerry’s Conan version either. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-terry-pratchett-pun/397563/12 "2007-03-27T17:46:15Z")
If it matters, the only synapse tingled in my head is [Angkor Wat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat) and that was after saying _Ankh-Morpork_ aloud several times. It also comes from not having many sci-fi/fantasy associations to draw from.