h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Woah! Pratchett names here: First Albert (death's servant, Alberto Malich to give him his full name) now Eric (definitely not Faust, despite similarities). My rat had a discworld name too: Dibbler. Nobody actually wanted to hear that did they? Oh well, once more unto the ether.........

yes, yes, bring on teh Pratchett stuff.

and of course, Erice Idle provided the voice of Rincewind in the first two computer games..... and Rincewind has Carrot hair..... i'm clutching at straws now aren't I?

Sorry, I'm a bit lost here.Does Rincewind really have ginger hair? Is this why he gets into so many dangerous situations? What is the significance of Carrot? Was it just an attempt to bring in yet another character? Why not clutch at more straws and say:

The band Pavement do a song called Carrot Rope......
The Monty Python crew once did a brilliant sketch where there was a British team struggling to climb along a high street somewhere, before they slipped and fell back down it (it doesn't translate well into words, but it was good)......
The best place to go climbing in the Discworld would be the Ramtops......
Where Slice is......
And you can just about cut a slice of vodka jelly.......
Too many slices and you'd be singing the Hedgehog Song. Has anyone ever written all the words down?

Stop here - it's too silly.....

I've seen one version, but it was a while ago it was something along teh lines of:

Beastiality is a hell of a thing
(something about a giraffe?)
But there's one thing that you can be sure
A hedgehog can't be buggered at all.

As for the Carrot bit, In Aus, ppl with red hair are generally called carrot tops. And yes, Rincewind really has red hair.

I never realised he had red hair. Learn something new everyday.... Over here (or possibly up, or even down, here) people with carrotty hair are either gingas or just freaks. Not that that is in anyway interesting. Sorry for wasting your time..... Have you ever read anything by an author called Tom Holt? He's sort of like Pratchett except that he hasn't got bogged down with characters who have got past their sell by date.

NZ On Air, the rippoff TV broadcast fee people in NZ, use Eric The Goldfish in their TV commercials. Spooky

NZ On Air has a lot to answer for - they are responsible for Oscar and Friends...

What do mean about Pratchett being bogged down with characters past their use by?

Well, certain characters, such as the whole watch, have become less interesting as we now know too much about them. A lot of Pratchett's humour is good because it is unexpected. Once you know roughly how a character will respond to a given situation there isn't that shock, and it doesn't work so well. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I'd rather read about somewhere, and someone, new. Pratchett has also moved away from out and out humour to more plot driven books. That's fine, but I always read the Discworld to get away into something that sent up the more serious stuff I was reading. Now that it doesn't I can't really see the point. The older books still make me laugh though, even though I've read them loads of times and could recite parts by heart. Maybe I'm a freak.

By the way, is the Goldfish really called Eric, or is it a nom de tank? I can't really see the advertisers sitting down with a list of names for a goldfish. Mind you, Levi's gave us Flat Eric so maybe Eric is the name of the year?

Ahhh, found the Hedgehog Song!!!!

Bestiality sure is a fun thing to do
But I have to say this as a warning to you:
With almost all animals, you can have ball
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.

so there ya go

But aren't there 17 verses? Hello again, by the way. I'm back from my spell of being dead. It was quite restful really.

The immortality of Albert etc can be looked at and discussed on the website http://www.co.uk.lspace.org

It even includes the words to 'A Wizard's Staff has a Knob on the End' & the complete rules to Cripple Mister Onion.

Just don't play it with the big boys...

Not a plug, just the best Discworld site by a long stretch IMHO.

Thankyou thankyou thankyou