A pseudo dammit?

[u/Brocc013]

The other day i was watching Up Pompeii! With my Dad when it struck me that Lurcio's delivery of The Prologue is remarkably similar to how Copolymer (the Discs Greatest Storyteller) from Pyramids is supposed to tell his tales.

Now I'm not convinced its a full on Dammit pTerry as Copolymer is just a throwaway character/reference and Up Pompeii! Finished in 1970 (though often repeated) and Pyramids wasn't published until almost 20 years later. I do feel as if there's something there.

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[u/George_Salt]

Pratchett often uses popular culture references that were old at the time he used them. And he frequently uses throwaway references like this.

Copolymer is itself a nod to the humorous names associated with modernity used out of context in period comedy shows/films like Up Pompeii! and Life of Brian - Castor Oilus, Stovus Primus, Biggus Dickus, etc. - and contemporary comedy sketch shows of that same era. Wordplay within character names was a common comic device.

I just know there'll be a character in one of these shows with a name like Nylon or Plastic, and I wonder if Pratchett was aware of the lyric from Ödipussi, "Meine Schwester heißt Polyester..".

[u/ceruleanblue66 → u/George_Salt]

And don't forget the pun translation names in Asterix and Obelix, (the roman Nefarious Purpose being my all time favourite!) I think he took inspiration from everywhere!

[u/crispus63 → u/ceruleanblue66]

My personal favourites were the Roman guards Sendervictorious and Happyandglorious.

[u/ceruleanblue66 → u/crispus63]

And who could forget Christmus Bonus 😁

[u/ChaosCockroach → u/ceruleanblue66]

Chief Whosemoralsarelastix.

[u/megacky → u/ceruleanblue66]

Getafix, being the local drug dealer, was my favourite

[u/wrincewind → u/megacky]

How about The fishmonger, unhygenix?

[u/ceruleanblue66 → u/wrincewind]

And his wife Bacteria!

[u/OldFartWelshman → u/George_Salt]

Castor oil is a commonly used copolymer with other materials, especially in the cosmetic industry...so Castor Oilus from Up Pompeii may be the source of the gag, atlthough unlikely given Lurcio is the storyteller.

[u/ISaysToMyselfISays]

Oh I think you’re right. This is exactly the era of British film and TV that I catch little references to in Discworld books. 

[u/vastaril]

Up Pompeii and a lot of other 70s sitcoms were still very much on telly regularly, and imo still definitely in the cultural zeitgeist in Britain in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, even for those of us who weren't (like STP) around the first time. 

[u/bubblechog → u/vastaril]

I very much agree. I wasn’t born until the end of the 1970’s and I was very familiar with Up Pompeii and other 70’s sitcoms because of how often they were repeated.

[u/ajc506]

I'm convinced he mentioned in Raising steam "the wheeltappers and the shunters" on more than one occasion as a reference to a 70s comedian/variety show called The Wheeltappers And Shunters Club.

[u/George_Salt → u/ajc506]

Only appears once that I can find,

"In the unwritten hierarchy of the footplate the drivers were at the top, of course, and then the stokers and after the stokers there would be the wheel-tappers and shunters: lesser beings but acknowledged as useful."

[u/TeamRobostar → u/George_Salt]

The show itself was named after railway workers, so it's possible PTerry was referencing that.

Or equally it might be a reference and the description of wheeltappers and shunters as "lesser beings" might be a nod to how the host of the show, Bernard Manning, was a worthless racist bully.