One other difference between the “normal” Discworld books and those for younger audiences that you may have missed as a native speaker is that the latter tend to use fewer “obscure” words (i.e. words that are infrequently used). I’d forgotten about the names of the rats! Pratchett used a similar approach in the Bromeliad trilogy, in which many characters have a name that’s some kind of mispronunciation or misspelling of things/words in the Store or their home. Masklin probably comes from “masculine”, there’s Gurder, Angalo de Haberdasheri, … And of course the Thing, and the JCB they call “Jekub” - at least in the UK edition of the book; in the US version it’s a CAT and the nomes think it’s a cat… 😄
I found this book delightful, and so have both my nieces, who both first read it around the age of 7 or 8. (They're 10 and 13 now, and the 10 yr old still adores this book, along with Pratchett's "World of Poo", which I gave her for Christmas last year. Her parents were less thrilled than she was. ;)
Trust me, it is! I tutor ESL students. I always encourage them to read English language books, both to improve their vocabulary and to give them a sense of the pattern of the language. Sir Terry is always at the top of my recommendation list. Not only is he a superb story teller, he enjoys the language and joyfully plays with it. You can't go wrong with a Terry Pratchett book!
@@TheBookThingThat would be me I think 😊 Yes, one of the things I enjoy most about Pratchett is his excellent use of “pune or play on words”. I’ve read the whole series twice and noticed that the second time around I got more of the puns (e.g. I was completely oblivious of “Miss Tick” the first time), because my English had improved in the meantime, and I’d learned more about English culture and thus got more of the references.
@@TheBookThing Yeah it is. I'll be recommending it to a friend on Friday. It skips some of my favourite bits from the book but of course movies always do that.
![Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett [SPOILER] Discussion | Discworld](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jWM85jSkIKg/mqdefault.jpg)
One other difference between the “normal” Discworld books and those for younger audiences that you may have missed as a native speaker is that the latter tend to use fewer “obscure” words (i.e. words that are infrequently used).
I’d forgotten about the names of the rats! Pratchett used a similar approach in the Bromeliad trilogy, in which many characters have a name that’s some kind of mispronunciation or misspelling of things/words in the Store or their home. Masklin probably comes from “masculine”, there’s Gurder, Angalo de Haberdasheri, … And of course the Thing, and the JCB they call “Jekub” - at least in the UK edition of the book; in the US version it’s a CAT and the nomes think it’s a cat… 😄
@@RUclipsrino thanks for the insight from the non-native speaker 😁
Great review. I totally agree, this one is a delight for Pratchett fans of any age.
Thanks Ally, it really is, isn’t it
I found this book delightful, and so have both my nieces, who both first read it around the age of 7 or 8. (They're 10 and 13 now, and the 10 yr old still adores this book, along with Pratchett's "World of Poo", which I gave her for Christmas last year. Her parents were less thrilled than she was. ;)
Best uncle ever
@@TheBookThing Aww, thanks!
It's my job to keep the awesome little gremlins reading the good stuff!
Thank you, this sounds like it could be a fun read.
Trust me, it is! I tutor ESL students. I always encourage them to read English language books, both to improve their vocabulary and to give them a sense of the pattern of the language. Sir Terry is always at the top of my recommendation list. Not only is he a superb story teller, he enjoys the language and joyfully plays with it. You can't go wrong with a Terry Pratchett book!
It certainly is
A close friend of mine is Dutch (with exceptional English) and he says something very similar
@@TheBookThingThat would be me I think 😊 Yes, one of the things I enjoy most about Pratchett is his excellent use of “pune or play on words”. I’ve read the whole series twice and noticed that the second time around I got more of the puns (e.g. I was completely oblivious of “Miss Tick” the first time), because my English had improved in the meantime, and I’d learned more about English culture and thus got more of the references.
@ that was indeed you 😁
Just watched the movie last night on tubi and will be recommending it to a fellow discworld fan when I see her in a couple of days.
@@daletrecartin1563 I haven’t seen the movie yet. Worth a watch?
@@TheBookThing Yeah it is. I'll be recommending it to a friend on Friday. It skips some of my favourite bits from the book but of course movies always do that.