Uberwald (PCv1n3)

Why did Sir Terry give the Disc’s version of Transylvania a German name? The issue came up in a discussion on our Discord server, and I’m sharing what I learned from that discussion with our listeners. 

What we learn is that Sir Terry was well-versed in European history and an excellent linguist as well. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s read Monstrous Regiment, or Raising Steam, in particular. I say “in particular” because many of the Lancre books reference Uberwald, and Moist von Lipwig (Going Postal, et al.) hails from there.

There’s a big bilingual pun at the heart of it all, in fact. Great stuff, but as usual if you don’t get the pun it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the book(s). Uberwald is a cool name for a place with vampires, werewolves, and Igors in it, after all.

Many thanks to Bas and Malocaptain, who participated in the above-referenced discussion on Discord, and thus enlightened us about another STP pune, or play on words. 

If you have thoughts about this experiment in three-minute podcasting, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

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