Hi all

First post, so be kind :-)

I need you to settle an argument. I dont have access to my 'library' at the moment so i have a question:

There is one character in the Watch that delivers religious material. What is his name?

My mate and I both remember him but neither of us can remember his full name and his shortened name.

Help please

Full name is "Constable Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets" (he's an Omnian - remind anyone of a certain religion?) although sometimes "Infidel" is replaced by "Ungodly" - also known as "Washpot" by Nobby, for some unknown reason (don't ask me why - I'm not Terry Pratchett!)

Pixel

Oh - and Merry Christmas one and all - except those of you who don't celebrate it, in which case save the greetings for when you do celebrate something!

Second edit - the "short name" is simply "Visit" - which he always objects to.

Thankyou very much indeed. You have saved my sanity.

Eats shoots and leaves.

Head of the international outcry against poor grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Following your footnote, do you have a vacancy for a deputy to keep an eye out for people who think "presently" means "at presenr", "decimate" means "totally wipe out" rather than "kill one tenth of the population" and (although we might have to be careful with this one, as the Patrician puts his personal spin on this) the interpretation of the word "momentarily"?

My personal pet hate is the unecessary use of the word 'so', and those people that dont know the difference between 'to' and 'too' or 'stationary' and 'stationery'. As well as there, they're and their!

The excessive use of inverted commas annoys me too but in this case I will make an exception.

Is it my imagination or do the young of today not get taught reading and writing?

Sorry to rant.

M

Eats shoots and leaves.

Head of the international outcry against poor grammar, punctuation and spelling.

I don't know how authoritative this is, but the Wikipedia entry on the City Watch says:

He is generally just called 'Constable Visit', or occasionally by his nickname 'Washpot'. The term comes from the line "Moab is my washpot. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe." in Psalm 60.

Being referred to as just "Constable Visit" (sorry about the quotes) always annoys him and has to be corrected before the conversation can continue. However it is good to know the derivation of "Washpot" (sorry again) - Nobby must be a secret reader!

I think teaching of children has now gone beyond Susan Sto Helit's discarded theory (your pardon, milady, for not using the proper form of address) of old-fashioned teaching of children to be children, which they are naturally good at, but has taken a wrong turning and is teaching them to be young thugs (not her fault) and even proper speaking has got lost along the way - how many young thugs need to read and write? If they can understand "Ouch" (sorry again) do they need to understand "Please don't hit me again" (I'm going to stop saying sorry fot the inverted commas - they are my natural style of writing). What modern education needs is a few Susans in charge and a good supply of canes and teachers who are not afraid to use them! I am 59 years old, and know the old style of teaching - it may not have been politcally correct, but by all the gods it worked!

Hi Monster, I'm a Technical Author (when I have time) and also deplore the general mis-use of language. Though I am as guilty as anyone else. Nice to see you on the board. R.

Pixel - Agreed grade and comments.

Q. How do you write?
A. One word at a time.