SPOILERS Guards! Guards! Discussion Group *Spoilers*

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=Tamar

Lieutenant
May 20, 2012
12,004
2,900
Not lower intelligence, just ignorance. Being deliberately kept ignorant by the ruling class. Learning anything intellectual was deliberately discouraged. The one raised by the ruling class was every bit as "intelligent"-seeming as the people who raised and educated him. It's much the same social-class point that Twain made in The Prince and the Pauper.

To get back to Pratchett, in Guards! Guards! there is some social comment about Vimes's background versus Lady Sybil's, and also Nobby Nobbs. There is more later, whenever Nobby is involved; Sir pTerry appears to have chosen to keep Nobby's family connections ambiguous.
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
16,061
3,400
47
Melbourne, Victoria
=Tamar makes a good point, I think. Being ignorant of something doesn't make you less intelligent. For instance, I know very little about plumbing or electricity, but I educated myself about the ancient Greeks and Romans. I can also read Latin fluently, and translate at least a bit of it.

So, when it comes to plumbing and electricity, I am ignorant. But I wouldn't say I was unintelligent. :) Conversely, it's possible that a plumber or electrician know very little about Latin or the Romans. That doesn't mean they're unintelligent! :) They're smart, just in a different way -- that's all.
 
Apr 10, 2021
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Hi all, reading G!G! again & came across ( p 147 Corgi Uk paperback edition) ‘…. to ter-her-pal-ack-ee’ with my penned in question mark scribbled alongside it. Coz I didn’t understand it then & to this day I’m still clueless as to what it means. The scene describes Vimes coming across a group of ‘hunters’, one of whom is slowly tracing the lettering of a poster offering a reward for obtaining the head of the dragon & reading the above sentence. I scoured APF , nothing. Can anyone enlighten me? Cheers
 
Apr 10, 2021
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:roflmao:!! Of course! I was just trying to make sure you all understood the bit I was referring to.
My Corgi paperback is held together by sellotape & its pages are smirched with coffee & chocolate smudges; luckily no acidic dragon drool stains
 

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