Yes, but everything else was also measured in some kind of funny units at some point in the past, but everything except for horses and Americans have since moved to the sensible metric system. Explain that (the horses, not the Americans; nothing can explain the Americans; well, okay, it can, but that would require a debate about the folly of starting with "United" and going stubbornly from there).
Alright, so I'm probably inviting a lot of ire with this opinion, but I don't agree with the ridiculous suggestion that I should avoid some linguistic constructs just because of the colour of my skin (especially since, as a Slav, I would not have even been "white" even a little over a century ago). Of course, I am not going to use that word, because I believe in something called treating my fellow human beings with dignity (both theirs and mine) - but if you don't mind, I am going to be applying that principle to everyone, not just a narrow and arbitrarily selected group of people who, yes, have been treated appallingly throughout modern history. (I still reserve the right to call individual people idiots if they prove to be so, because they so often prove to be so.)
Aah, Soul Music (or Heavy Musicalness in the Czech translation, referencing in name the Czech title of Light Fantastic (a.k.a. the unfortunate translation, since until I read it in English I had no idea it was in fact referring to a light which is fantastic, rather than a state of fantastic-ness which is light...)). I first read this on a choir trip in primary school - when everyone else was running amok in the town we were visiting, I was running amok in the nearest bookshop (this... hasn't really changed) and then spent the rest of the week reading it whenever there was free time. Definitely one of the best DW books IMPO. It's also one of the more heavily translator-footnoted books of the series (frrvat nf vg'f cerggl urnivyl ersrerapr-bireqbfrq).
I thought that sentence would end with Joss Whedon. Now I feel old.
Well, they're not human, for a start.
Clowns build on the same uncanny valley reaction as vampires and zombies do - something that looks human but doesn't quite fit (it's the makeup). Of course, clowns build on it to make people laugh at them, but it's pretty easy for it to slip from humour to horror (there is a reason why the Monster Clown trope exists).
If I remember correctly, Ankh-Morpork was based on equal parts Edinburgh, Talinn, and Prague (yay Prague!), as well as numerous little bits of other historical European cities, so it's quite possible that was what Pterry was going for.
Jryy, rirelbar xabjf gung n pbc jvyy bayl fbyir n pevzr nsgre uvf obff beqref uvz gb yrnir vg or.
Noo, that was meant to be rot13d! Curse you, laptop!
And no apostrophe, either.
Vg'f irel irel uvagrq-ng bayl, fvapr Gvssnal gbbx bire nf gur lbhat jvgpu bs gur frevrf naq Ntarf zber-be-yrff qvfnccrnerq.
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Creation