Men at Arms: A Discworld Novel:15

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All right, the short of it is I really liked the book. The long of it is, I’m very annoyed at Terry. Owning a hundred slum properties wasn’t a crime, although living in one was, almost. Being an Assassin — the Guild never actually said so, but an important qualification was being the son or daughter of a gentleman — wasn’t a crime.

Keep the Reward: The reward scene seems to be repeating the scene in Guards! Guards!, until it turns out Carrot is just warming up. The new dartboard is just the first and cheapest of Carrot's long list of requests, but he knows that Vetinari will grant them. What's so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? The real work's already been done. You ought to make yourself useful and find the man who put the sword in the stone in the first place.' Dr. Cruces asks Vimes what makes him think he can come in like he owns the place. Vimes's reply is to produce the document that shows that in fact he does own the place.Sergeant Colon was lost in admiration. He had seen someone bluff on a bad hand, but he'd never seen anyone bluff with no cards. Another contains a Stealth Pun. He shows the "bust" of a past noblewoman, presumably meaning a statue of her head and shoulders, but the man who made the slides got confused. "More of her face, however, would have enabled us to be certain of the likeness..." Clearly Carrot realizes that, while Vetinari is a 'tyrant', he has the good of Ankh-Morpork as his main focus so why would he say no to making the city safer. The word "police" comes from Middle French police "organized government, civil administration" (late 15c.), from Latin politia "civil administration," from Greek polis "city". The Greek politeia, meaning government, which came to mean its civil administration. So 'policeman' does in fact mean man of the city. Abel, Jennifer (2013-11-14). "Fingerhut boots and the Vimes' Boots paradox". ConsumerAffairs. Archived from the original on 2022-02-08 . Retrieved 2022-02-08. A cohort is not an item of clothing or armour but a division of the old Roman Army: the tenth part of a legion, 300 to 600 men.

While discussing the merits of kings, Colon and Nobby chat about how if you make yourself useful to a king, he makes you a Knight. At the end of the book, Vetinari knights Vimes at Carrot's "request".If you had enough money, you could hardly commit crimes at all. You just perpetrated amusing little peccadilloes.” Take That!: Quirke's thoughtless level of stupid evil is noted to be less like actual evil, and more something that merely tarnishes the soul of all who comes near, "like British Rail." There’s a thematic echo here, where Pratchett reuses a line that we last heard coming from Granny Weatherwax, this time giving it to Carrot after Vimes asks about his desire for revenge against Cruces for killing Angua: “But personal isn’t the same as important.” And it’s beautiful because both Carrot and Granny are good people—but really Good with a capital ‘G’—yet they’re different in how they go about their goodness. Being good is innate for Carrot; he doesn’t know any other way to be. Being good is hard for Granny Weatherwax, but she manages it, even when she’d rather not. But they both arrive at the same conclusion. Apothecary Alligator: The billiards lab in the Alchemist's Guild features a stuffed one in the corner, seemingly for no reason. Cool Chair: The "golden" throne of Ankh-Morpork. Subverted in that it's made of gold foil over wood, and so rotten and woodwormy that it would immediately fall apart if sat on.

The City Watch needs MEN! But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman... most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving). Colon worries that, as ranking officer once Vimes retires, he's "well and truly up the Ankh without a paddle". The fact that they see eye to eye on this particular point as Good People is meaningful in the worldview provided by these stories; repetition that’s not for the sake of comedy is never something that Pratchett does lightly. We’re meant to note it and keep it in mind. Asides and little thoughts:Inner Monologue: Parodied. After Carrot chases Angua out of his bedroom, his inner voice chews him out for driving away the one he loves. No, wait, it's Gaspode. Entertainingly Wrong: The book pulls one of these on the reader (and Corporal Carrot). We're introduced to Angua, a new female recruit to the Night Watch, very much a Boy's Club. Both Vimes and Colon complain about her being the worst of the new recruits brought in to diversify the Watch, because she's "a w—" before being interrupted by an explosion. As it turns out, they're complaining about her being a werewolf. Death Glare: Mr Cheese the bartender insists that a drunken Vimes has to pay his bar bill. Angua and Carrot merely look at Cheese and he immediately changes his mind. More or less. It was hard to tell. Even a prisoner in a cell manages to stamp his personality on it somewhere, but Angua had never seen such an unlived-in room.