2 questions on the Colour of Magic!

[oburton88]

Hi people - brand new to the forum.

I have just read my first of the discworld novels and decided to start at the beginning with the colour of magic.

I thoroughly enjoyed it - but two really buggy questions have been left in my mind....

1) Why is Twoflower referred to as the FIRST tourist on the discworld? Does this mean that before twoflower no-one had ever travelled around whatsoever?

2) As Rincewind and Twoflower are falling through the air, they have the weird parallel universe experience in the aeroplane. Rincewind says during this phase that 'it would have been a different situation has Twoflower been a Magnox Reactor'... what on earth does that mean?!

I know these are really specific questions but they'll play on my mind if I don't get answers!

Many thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

1. I dare say he's the only perosn on the disc who ever traveled for travelling's sake.

2. Wikipedia is your friend

And hello

 

[michelanCello]

Welcome from me too Don't know the second one either, but I agrea with LilM on the first one...

 

[oburton88]

many thanks chaps!

 

[Anonymous]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnox

You silly men never know how to use your wiki *tsktsk*

 

[oburton88]

ok ok - thanks for the link - but i still don't get the reference - am i being stupid?

 

[Tonyblack]

Welcome to the site, oburton88!

I'd agree with LilMaibe on the first question. Lot's of people travel on the Discworld, but no one (it seems) has ever travelled just for the sake of it.

I'm struggling to remember the bit about the Magnox reactor. But there's this bit from the annotations on LSpace.org

- [p. 172/149] "[...] a specialist in the breakaway oxidation phenomena of certain nuclear reactors."

"Breakaway oxidation phenomena" is a reasonably well-known example of doubletalk. Basically, what Terry's saying here is that Dr Rjinswand is an expert on uncontrolled fires in nuclear reactors. And we all know what Terry's job was before he became a Famous Author...

Terry's job, in case you didn't know was Press Officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board in an area which covered three nuclear power stations.

 

[oburton88]

thanks so much!

 

[Tonyblack]

Ok I looked up the quote. Rincewind has become Dr Rjinswand, a specialist in nuclear reactors. Twoflower is unconscious and the flight attendant has approached Rincewind because his name is listed as a doctor. Rincewind says he doesn't know what is wrong with Twoflower, but if he was a Magnox reactor he might be able to help.

 

[raisindot]

Thanks for clarifying Tony. I remember this and never bothered looking it up and completely forgot about it.

One of the flattest and most obscure jokes in any of the DW books and one that demonstrated the influence of Douglas Adams on Pterry's early style. Thank goodness he shed most of these bad habits and found his own voice fairly early in the series.

 

[DaveC]

Welcome and good luck with the rest of the series. I did the same thing 2 years ago and I just have 2 out of all of Pterry's books to go. It's a great feeling!

 

[ChristianBecker]

Hello oburton88.

I quite liked the Magnox reactor reference.
I don't know what it's like in other courtries, but in Germany anyone with a Ph.D. is a Dr. [insertname]; but also every doctor is a doctor, even those who don't have a Ph.D in medicine. Hence it is very common for people to assume that a person who is called Dr. X has medical knowledge. IMO Terry just had a go at that. Not a particularly flat joke.

 

[Tonyblack]

Sharlene has a Ph.D (in English Literature) and therefore is entitled to used Dr. Taylor.

 

[Dotsie]

In the UK, anyone with a PhD is a doctor because they've earned a doctorate. Medics are called doctors as an honorary title, or so I believe. So a PhD is a proper doctor (but medics do have an extraordinary knowledge of their subject).

 

[David Brown]

I believe that in this country, most "doctors" of the medical persuasion hold the degree bachelor of medicine. Genuine MDs are, I believe, quite rare.

I now await correction from the BMC.

 

[WannabeAngua]

I believe that in this country, most "doctors" of the medical persuasion hold the degree bachelor of medicine. Genuine MDs are, I believe, quite rare.

I now await correction from the BMC.

A bachelor is just 3 years studies right. Surely it takes more than 3 years to become a doctor? Our MDs put in 6 years at the least.

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

I believe that in this country, most "doctors" of the medical persuasion hold the degree bachelor of medicine. Genuine MDs are, I believe, quite rare.

I now await correction from the BMC.

A bachelor is just 3 years studies right. Surely it takes more than 3 years to become a doctor? Our MDs put in 6 years at the least.

In the UK it takes 5 or 6 years of university to become a doctor, plus more training after graduation. I think a bachelor's degree basically means you can go straight onto it from A-levels nothing to do with how long it is, it may also have something to do with the amount of research involved?

 

[The Mad Collector]

The number of years is irrelevant, most bachelors degrees in Scotland are 4 years

 

[Dotsie]

Wiki has all the info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Medicine

Basically, someone can be called doctor as little as 4 years after their A-levels in the UK, and they get let loose on patients - but they get a lot of supervision (we all hope).

I used to teach microbiology to doctors wanting to take their consultancy exams, and they were almost without exception extremely intelligent and hard-working.

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

The number of years is irrelevant, most bachelors degrees in Scotland are 4 years

But isn't that because Scottish highers are taken a year earlier than A-levels so students from south of the border skip the first year of some courses?