# Pratchett and Cecil
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 20, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748 "2007-06-20T18:22:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/1 "2007-06-20T18:22:10Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/2 "2007-06-20T18:38:50Z")
How are those two examples specifically tied to the Straight Dope?
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### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/3 "2007-06-20T19:13:49Z")
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](http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/good-omens.html):
> [@](#):
>
> Terry uses the Straight Dope books as reference works.
Another sample: in the book _Light Fantastic_:
> [@](#):
>
> …the only forest in the whole universe to be called – in the local language – Your Finger You Fool.
Bears a striking resemblance to another Cecil column.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/4 "2007-06-21T02:39:17Z")
I think **Miller** is asking about your examples in the OP. Link for the first one: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_039.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_039.html)
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/5 "2007-06-21T02:44:20Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/6 "2007-06-21T02:46:12Z")
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:
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### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/7 "2007-06-21T05:27:56Z")
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. 🙂
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/8 "2007-06-21T11:19:11Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/9 "2007-06-21T11:19:34Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/10 "2007-06-21T11:22:14Z")
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
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### Author:  [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pratchett-and-cecil/408748/11 "2007-06-21T14:06:43Z")
[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.