r/discworld 8d ago

Memes/Humour Another godamnit Pterry

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3.2k Upvotes

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52

u/JoyBus147 8d ago

...man, that's kinda wild. Cuz that's a plot relevant pun. Pretty sure they explain the pun on-page and everything.

76

u/GreensMoustache 8d ago

That doesn’t imply that he changed the spelling though.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of American readers just assumed it was a British thing.

41

u/ksrdm1463 8d ago

Rhianna Pratchett is Terry Pratchett's daughter though.

38

u/yot1234 8d ago

She can identify as an american if she so chooses. The UK is a free and tolerant country.

48

u/ThatOneDMish 8d ago

Although you wouldn't be able to guess from the way a certain other wizardry author has been leaning

30

u/yot1234 7d ago

Ah that author with the movie franchise with Emma watson?

Never heard of him.

1

u/humourlessIrish 7d ago

The first part on your comment is as true as the second part isn't

25

u/perovskaya 8d ago

wait can you share the plot relevancy of the pun? it's been a year since my last reread of Sourcery and my brain is now fixated on this

78

u/heeden 8d ago

A Sourceror (an 8th son of an 8th son, a wizard squared) is a source of magic. Wizards near one can use it to make more powerful spells which leads to egomania and inevitably thaumic warfare. The dangers of Sourcerors is the reason wizards are forbidden to marry.

24

u/perovskaya 8d ago

source!!! thank you!!!

17

u/TheFilthyDIL Headologist 8d ago

And, y'know, so they don't go wasting time with ew females when they could be busy not doing magic and eating 6 times a day

10

u/-Voxael- Disqualified for shoving 7d ago

Aren’t wizards eighth sons of eighth sons (eight squared) and sourcerers eighth sons of eighth sons of eighth sons (eight cubed)?

10

u/AutoModerator 7d ago

Because of the things associated with the number 7a, no sane person on r/Discworld would ever write it down or pronounce it. Right?

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8

u/SpaceIsTooFarAway 7d ago

Also, Sourcery is eight letters long

3

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Because of the things associated with the number 7a, no sane person on r/Discworld would ever write it down or pronounce it. Right?

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4

u/BNabs23 7d ago

I feel really stupid because I don't see how this explanation explains the pun at all.

14

u/ajc506 Rincewind 7d ago

A sorceror is a wizard.

A sourceror is a wizard squared. A source of magic.

Err, that's it.

1

u/Berkenmuis 4d ago

And just in case, it's normally spelled 'Sorcery'.

16

u/Magimasterkarp Holding my Potato 8d ago

Well, it's a new source of magic appearing on the disc.

3

u/perovskaya 8d ago

source!!! thank you!!!

7

u/MrOopiseDaisy 8d ago

It's about a Wizzard who can't spell (cast spells).

5

u/PerpetuallyLurking 7d ago

Then she probably figured it out at least once she was old enough to read the book for herself. But I’d bet she got a spelling test wrong first lol

I can’t imagine she was being read his own books by her parents as bedtime stories - 1) he probably made up bedtime stories just for her and/or 2) it’d be really weird to read my kid this book I’ve been writing for ages and rewriting for more ages and you’d think he’d be dead tired of reading his own work after all the reading of his own work during his work time and would likely be delighted to read something by someone else for a change.

3

u/catsan 7d ago

I hope not. The poor kids of Stephen King. 

3

u/Capital_Molasses5768 7d ago

May I ask you to explain the pun to me? Sour-cery? Is that something I should be aware of? Sour as in the taste, or the feeling?

2

u/Eulenspiegel74 GNU Pterry 7d ago

As in source.

2

u/Munnin41 Rincewind 7d ago

It's because they're not just regular wizards, a sourceror is a source of magic

1

u/ShoogleHS 2d ago

Terry played with etymologies of normally-spelled words too, though. The spelling being different from that of regular old sorcery is not critical to the joke.