Plagerism from Discworld Books

[raisindot]

Not plagiarism at all. Just really, really derivative and lousy writing heavily influenced by Pterry's conception of Death. I'd even say the seafood line is the author's feeble parody tribute to Pterry. This particular rephrase is no different than the way Pterry pays tribute to classic movies by rephrasing many movie lines (he's parodied the "Are you feeling lucky, punk" dialogue from Dirty Harry it at least two different DW books--can't remember which ones off the bat).

[Tonyblack]

"Make My Day Punk" in Dog Latin is the Watch motto (FABRICATI DIEM, PVNCTI AGVNT CELERITER).

And you could also argue that Christopher Frayling's adopted motto when he received his knighhood: "PERGE SCELUS MIHI DIEM PERFICIAS", which can be translated as "Proceed, varlet, and let the day be rendered perfect for my benefit" is also a salute to popular culture.

[Who's Wee Dug]

You can get some of them in The Annotated Pratchett File on L Space.

[cabbagehead]

(he's parodied the "Are you feeling lucky, punk" dialogue from Dirty Harry it at least two different DW books--can't remember which ones off the bat).

In G!G! Vimes does it with a swamp-dragon in place of a gun.

[barrie]

And of course what about Eric? The cover clearly says Faust which is crossed out.

A fair number of Terry's books follow a recognisable pattern. During a pub lunch with Rob one time, I mentioned how much I enjoyed Moving Pictures with all the film references, seeing as I spent sometime in Hollywood in the 80's. Rob said that Terry reads everything and misses nothing, squirrelling away little snippets of information to be used later when the plot needs it.

Wyrd Sisters is a filtered mix of a few Shakespeare plays. It borrows themes and sayings from Macbeth, including the "dagger of the mind" and the three witches; from Hamlet, including the ghost of the dead King and the play-within-a-play; and from King Lear, with Duke Felmet descending into madness in the company of his Fool. In addition, the company of actors includes a playwright by the name of "Hwel", or "Will". The adult Tomjon wants to build a theatre called "The Disc" in Ankh-Morpork, a reference to the Globe Theatre in London. (borrowed from Wikipedia)

Knowing this and other stuff wot I ain't never going to tell, makes Terry's books worth reading ten or more times, with the exception of the books I don't like I keep finding new gems that I missed on earlier readings.

As long as people don't try to pass someone else's work off as their own (and I'm sure that on occasion people have borrowed without knowing about it) I think it all adds to the diversity of work available.

[Tonyblack]

Indeed barrie! One of the joys of Terry's writing is when you make a discovery elsewhere and realise that it may have been the source of Terry's inspiration. He truly has a mind like a sponge that soaks up so many facts.

[Jinx]

I usually steal that line from the Night Watch and use on my kids when they want something they can't have. One of my favourites. I also use "Oh wailey wailey" on my wife too. It usually gets me out of hot water. Usually.

Speaking of my wife, she told me about an assignment she had when she was still in school in English class. To write a story based on the Vermicious Knids (from the Glass Elevator). She basically took part of the plot from Spaceballs to explain that the Knids had squandered their own oxygen and needed the Earth's. She hadn't intended to steal the idea, she assumed it was obvious were it came from, but was shocked when her English teacher gave her so much credit for coming up with the idea for the plot. She had to then explain to him where the idea came from.
The point being that had he seen the film first it might've seemed so obvious that he would've seen it for what it was. As he hadn't then if (assuming it hadn't been explained to him) saw the film after he might've seen it differently. It all falls to perspective.

Another example is that when reading any of the Wiz(z)ard books, I understood were the 8th son of an 8th son thing came from. A former colleague of mine didn't. When I introduced her to a book that mentioned 7th son of a 7th son, she couldn't get her head around it. Her first reaction was to call it a "poor man's Pratchett" even though there was no comparison to TP.

[Tonyblack]

And of course, seventh son, of a seventh son, predates Discworld books by a long way.

[=Tamar]

OK, then the seafood line is originally about cake, and it's from Nightwatch

I always got the feeling that line was a reference to something else, but never worked out what.

Me, too, and it's been driving me nuts. When I read, I "hear" lines, in the voice of the person who spoke them, and I don't hear that line in a Discworld voice - I hear it in a voice I associate with the annoying little man in "The Princess Bride" (the one who kept saying things were "inconceivable").

[Dotsie]

Vizzini! But it doesn't ring a bell for me, and I've seen that film a lot