I wonder if Terry was thinking of the Indian caste system in his choice of the word 'sweeper' to indicate the lowly position of a sweeper.

from Wikipaedia

'The Bhangi are the segment of Indian society that were traditionally relegated to only the dirtiest and most unpleasant jobs. Even within the Dalits, the group once known as "Untouchables", Bhangis were considered to have the lowest status.

Although Bhangis are sometimes referred to as "sweepers", the word does not really convey the extraordinary conditions under which they generally work. Sweeping often involves crawling inside a tiny chamber underneath a so-called "dry toilet", removing the excrement, and carrying it away in a bucket on one's head.

Efforts have been made to improve sanitation systems in India, including laws that ban the construction of dry toilets. However Bhangis continue to work in their traditional roles and they continue to face considerable social barriers.'

I always thought it was just part of the whole tibettan monk humility thing...

Well, PTerry always had a thing for the sidekicks that usually never get much stage time. That's how the Watch became what they are today. There are so many scenes in all movie genre where someone is emptying the dustbins or sweeping the floor and who only has the job of pointing the heroes into the right direction... "There." Being their entire text in the movie. You wonder why none of them has ever seen more...
Not to mention real life.

Also, the sweeping thing reminds me of the "Karate Kid"-movies...
Plus: Somehow, in every cliché monasterypicture in pop culture, there seems to be some monk in the background, sweeping. Or do I only imagine that after reading PTerry?


There's also some kind of tradition of a monk sweeping away your sins for you in Buddhist monasteries, but I have only a vague memory of it.

That reminds me of the beginning of Guards!Guards! where he says something along the lines of "in every movie there are guards who's only job in the movie is to slowly attack the heroe/villain one by one and get killed or beaten up and humiliated"...

That's what I was thinking of! Thanks for the quote, Katcal.

I guess what made think of it was how the monks looked down on sweepers, there is a reference to them kicking sweepers, and then the contrast of how the lowliest in position was also the most respected and feared in the form of Lu-ze.

'Well, PTerry always had a thing for the sidekicks that usually never get much stage time. That's how the Watch became what they are today'

That's true of course

Reminds me of a few of the older Jackie Chan films too - The humble child taken in, watches and learns - then goes on to kick some righteous butt!
'Snake in the Eagles Shadow' I think...

I thought you were gonna mention Lu Tze being mentioned in Nightwatch and (I think) in Small gods...

and in going postal maybe?

Where in Going Postal? I doubt he would appear to Moist.