I was first introduced to Terry Pratchett's work at the age of 9.
Much has changed over the years, but not the power of his books to bring forth a conspiratorial giggle as I read them. Consistently confusing bystanders then and today.
Sir Terry Pratchett has died
211–220 of 234 posts
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#212‘Goodbye,’ Mort said, and was surprised to find a lump in his throat. ‘It’s such an unpleasant word, isn’t it?’ QUITE SO. Death grinned because, as has so often been remarked, he didn’t have much option. But possibly he meant it, this time. I PREFER AU REVOIR, he said. So, goodbye, Sir Terry; or at least let's hope it's just au revoir.
Interesting, etymologically. "Good bye" is a contraction of "God be with ye (you)", which isn't quite so abrupt. "Au revoir", literally, "until (we) see again". Similar to "Hasta manyana" (until later), or "bis später" (same), Spanish and German, or "zài jiàn" ("see (you) again", Mandarin Chinese) . Farewells (literally, "fare thee well", be well) in many languages share similar attributes.
In contrast to "au revoir", the French expression for a final parting is "adieu". This is a shortening of of "a Dieu vous comant" ("I commend you to God"). In a sense, this is the opposite of "goodbye", at least in the implied direction of divine intercession.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#213Perhaps of interest to the hacker community is that Terry experimented with computer-generated text in some of his work.
I don't know to what extent these experiments were involved in his books, the one concrete example we have is "Millennium hand and shrimp," apparently a combination of a They Might Be Giants song and part of a Chinese take out menu [1]
[1]http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/lords-and-ladies.html#p32423...
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#214Life long Pratchett fan. Only thing comes to mind is a quote that I don't know who to credit for
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"
:/
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know, I'm pretty sure he was referring to himself as the third type of person when he wrote that: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/24/terry-pratchett...
I think the quote does miss the point, its almost a call for more wall street banker style behavior. As mentioned abovce though thats not really in keeping with his books, and the quote is misleading as it omits the last part.
It's the sort of thing Pratchett offers as a sour reflection on the world as it is, rather than the world as it ought to be.
The last part, as you note, is:
"And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carelessly knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass) or who had no glass at all, because he was at the back of the crowd and had failed to catch the barman's eye."
...and both quotes are offered in The Truth, which offers more than a few critical comments around the glass-should-be-bigger set.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#216Life long Pratchett fan. Only thing comes to mind is a quote that I don't know who to credit for "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" :/
I've always heard that attributed to Dr. Seuss, but it looks like that's disputed: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Disputed
I like to think it was Seuss, but to be honest it doesn't sound very Seuss-ian.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#217The 25th of May is Towel Day, to commemorate Douglas Adams.
If we keep the 8th of April as Terry Pratchett day, perhaps we could all wear wide-brimmed fedoras?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day
http://www.sfwa.org/2014/04/international-sir-terry-pratchet...
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#218Death finally catches Rincewind.
R.I.P. Greatly missed
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#219Read http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/24/terry-pratchett... if you want to understand him. Read http://www.lspace.org/books/pqf/ if you want a quick reminder of what we have lost. Goodbye Terry, you will be remembered fondly.
I don't think we have lost anything. I think we gained something incredible over a short time. Nobody lives forever. What Terry Pratchett has given to us will live longer than any person. I'm not sad that he has died. Everyone who is born dies, and there's an infinite number of potential people who are never born. What is important is that we live, and while we live some of us do extraordinary things. I'm reading Gua…
> She likes to pretend she's a dragon. She will say "dragon needs her socks on".
You are raising this girl properly.
(I may be biased: I'm a forty-three year old woman with dragon wings tattooed across the backs of her arms.)
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#220‘Goodbye,’ Mort said, and was surprised to find a lump in his throat. ‘It’s such an unpleasant word, isn’t it?’ QUITE SO. Death grinned because, as has so often been remarked, he didn’t have much option. But possibly he meant it, this time. I PREFER AU REVOIR, he said. So, goodbye, Sir Terry; or at least let's hope it's just au revoir.
Well, I wasn't planing on crying this morning, but today I can make an exception. ;_;7 Au revoir, Sir Pratchett, you magnificent human.
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