Pratchett and Cecil

Cafe Society
1

Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, is admittedly a big fan of the Straight Dope.

In fact, in retrospect, it seems rather obvious that some of his material is indeed based on material printed in Cecil’s columns:

In Carpe Jugulum, the jokes about the variety of ways to kill a vampire.

In Thud!, the dispute about dwarf mining law below ground, and human law above.

Any other conspicuous examples? It seems every time I read a Discworld book, I think to myself: didn’t Cecil do a column on that?

2

How are those two examples specifically tied to the Straight Dope?

3

Do you mean, do I have a quote from Pterry where he says, yes, I read that in the Straight Dope and thought I’d put it in a book? No — I don’t follow the L-Space website chatter or alt.fan.whatever.

But from here:

Another sample: in the book Light Fantastic:

Bears a striking resemblance to another Cecil column.

4

I think Miller is asking about your examples in the OP. Link for the first one: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_039.html

5

If Ankh-Morpork ever gets a suburb called Weokahatchee (that’s wiped out by a 1920s Style Death Ray that smells like cat food) I am so suing his ass.

6

And certainly those in the f&sf community haven’t spent the last fifty years making jokes about the different ways they’ve invented for killing their imaginary creatures to fit their plots. You obviously have to look to an outside source for that. :smack:

7

A single isolated joke would be one thing, Exapno. Pratchett makes many jokes that appear to be derived from information from the Straight Dope, and furthermore he admits he reads it.

I just find it curious. :slight_smile:

8

Terry Pratchett is incredibly widely read, and a world traveller. He unearths these gems of information from all manner of sources, and I dare say Cecil and team use similar sources many times. I don’t think you can say anything that is in any Discworld novel is specifically and definitively from Straight Dope columns.

9

I’ve heard/read Pterry speak/write about this sort of thing more than once - he doesn’t just like the Straight Dope, he likes (and collects) all sorts of weird facts/reference books. Unless one can point to something being specifically and only from the SD books, they could as easily come from the Reader’s Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts (where I’ve seen the various vampire myths collected)

I don’t know what the underground/above ground law thing is in reference to, anyway.

10

I know a lot of pTerry’s seemingly bizarre offhand inventions are sourced straight from real life - for instance, I have a strong recollection of seeing, a number of years ago, a scanned copy of a newspaper from about 1977 discussing an English girl who could sing in thirds with herself (and apparently her younger sister could too). Does that ring any bells with anyone? It seems like the sort of thing Cecil might have covered, although I’m pretty sure my own reference to it didn’t come from here.

Of course, given that Pratchett has borrowed extensively from such diverse sources as Andrew Lloyd Weber and Quentin Tarantino (just to name the first two that leap to the top of my head), the thesis of the OP doesn’t seem that outrageous to me

11

[QUOTE=MrDibble]
Unless one can point to something being specifically and only from the SD books, they could as easily come from the Reader’s Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts (where I’ve seen the various vampire myths collected)

[QUOTE]

Slight Hijack, but when I was a kid, I LOVED this book. I must have read and re-read it dozens of times. I still read it when I’m home visiting the parental units.

End Hijack.