tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 25 09:10:19 1997
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Terry Pratchett, Klingon, and shrimp
- From: Mark Mandel <[email protected]>
- Subject: Terry Pratchett, Klingon, and shrimp
- Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 12:02:48 -0500
A friend sent this to me. It originated in alt.fan.pratchett, a newsgroup
devoted to the (very funny) works of Terry Pratchett, notably the
Discworld ("DW") series. The man is incredibly prolific AND good... as
opposed to some other authors who apparently manage to be prolific by
publishing everything they write and never editing. (I won't name names,
but I'm thinking of the initials Piers Anthony.)
Pratchett watches the group and sometimes participates. Apparently he
used the phrase "millennium hand and shrimp" in some context. We rejoin
our story, edited for brevity and legibility:
------- Start of forwarded messages -------
In article ... , D. Robertson <[email protected]> writes
>
>"Milennium hand and shrimp", a nonsense phrase? Perhaps, but I have a
>feeling that the milenium hand is borrowed (OK, ripped off wholesale)
>from a They Might Be Giants song.
From: Terry Pratchett <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 00:19:07 +0100
In article ..., [email protected] writes
> [email protected] writes:
>>> No, but I got the 'shrimp' from Star Trek. It's a Klingon word.
>>> --
>>> Terry Pratchett
>>
>>Ah, shot down by the highest athourity. Pardon my ignorance but what
the
>>bloody hell does shrimp mean in Klingon? Something like "Please, take
>
>Did you know that there's no Klingon word for "gullible"?
[NOTE from marqem: if you're confused by the levels
of quoting, especially if my mailer has decided to
reformat everything, from here on we are reading
Pratchett.]
Let me assist this gentleman...
There was a time, a year or so ago, when if ever I used a quote in a DW
book, be it 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' or 'Four score and seven
years ago...' or 'Today is a good day to die' someone would say I've
pinched it from Trek, where a Klingon said it -- being unaware that Trek is
written by writers quite as predatory as myself when it comes to history.
So now I just confess to stealing everything from Trek, because it saves
time :-)
- -- Terry Pratchett
------- End of forwarded message -------
marqem, tlhIngan veQbeq la'Hom -- Heghbej ghIHmoHwI'pu'!
Subcmdr. Markemm, Klingon Sanitation Corps -- Death to Litterbugs!
** Mark A. Mandel : [email protected] **
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