Talking of Unseen Academicals...

[daibhidc]

The most common criticism I've seen of the book is that it breaks people's suspension of disbelief that foot-the-ball's been a huge spectator sport in Ankh-Morpork all the time, but has never been mentioned before.

Um, yeah. That was my reaction to the Cracker episode "To Be A Somebody". Suddenly there was this thing called Premier League Football, full of teams with names like "Liverpool FC" and "Manchester United", which was supposed to be a big deal, but had never been mentioned in the Crackerverse before. Sloppy worldbuilding, I call it.

The difference, of course, is that Cracker's set in the real world, and we therefore assume all the elements of the real world are there, waiting to be used. Discworld is a fantasy world, where we can't assume anything exists until we're told about it. But it's a mistake to slip from that to assuming it doesn't.

Comments

[rhiannon-s.livejournal.com]

I can buy the Foot-the-ball thing, since carrot was using it at the start of Jingo...and the end of Jingo too. Plus A-M has been described as a giant crowd of spectators floating around between public spectacles, they have to be doing something while waiting for Fred Colon to do something Humorous after all.

My criticism of UA is that it involves that it involves football, and then uses *that* phrase. You know the one, it is the same one the BBC feels constitutionally obliged to reference a minimum of once a week.

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there is that.

From Mitch Benn's World Cup song:

This time,
Can we teach ourselves some brand new tricks,
And never mention '66

[shriker-tam.livejournal.com]

Very big Huh?? from the non-brits in the audience...

[silly-swordsman.livejournal.com]

"They think it's all over". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_think_it's_all_over)
"It is now!"

Sort of like "Japaner, japaner, japaner!" (http://youtu.be/0yZLBg1nyXY) but more modern and with winning and glory and pride and triumph and whatnot.

[rob-t-firefly.livejournal.com]

When I was wee, I remember having a bit of a crisis when I realized that people in, for example, Superman films never stop in the middle of the action, look around, and say to each other "hey, isn't this just like a Superman film?"

[silly-swordsman.livejournal.com]

My greatest criticism are 1) The ball nobody remarked upon in Jingo has suddenly not been invented yet, and 2) the awesome physical and intellectual powers of youknowwho.

But I re-read it not long ago, and liked much more than the first time.

[rhiannon-s.livejournal.com]

The ball nobody remarked upon in Jingo has suddenly not been invented yet

History Monks! Since eventually all those football matches blend together in the memory and popular imagination it must mean no one would notice if they nicked a couple from the future to patch a couple of holes in the past. They gave it their best shot ;o)

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Ah, but is it the ball from Jingo? That just says an inflated bladder of some description; nothing about a stitched leather casing.

I would assume that this ball is okay for a kids' kickabout, but if used by serious foot-the-ball players, would usually end the match by exploding. It's also entirely possible it doesn't fly or go "gloing!" (Nutt compares the internal bladder of the football to a balloon. I've tried playing football with a balloon.) It's main advantage would seem to be that it deflates neatly to be stored in Carrot's backpack.

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Although it's now occured to me that if a ball which flies and goes gloing is a novelty, that doesn't explain how Gloria can play basketball in Soul Music...