One of my favorite quotes is from this book, its the bit that goes: [quote:206f87f4b7]People said there had to be a Supreme Being because otherwise how could the universe exist, eh? And of course there clearly had to be, said Koomi, a Supreme Being. But since the universe was a bit of a mess, it was obvious that the Supreme Being hadn't in fact made it. If he had made it he would, being Supreme, have made a much better job of it, with far better thought given, taking an example at random, to things like the design of the common nostril. Or, to put it another way, the existence of a badly put-together watch proved the existence of a blind watchmaker. You only had to look around to see that there was room for improvement practically everywhere. This suggested that the Universe had probably been put together in a bit of a rush by an underling while the Supreme Being wasn't looking, in the same way that Boy Scouts' Association minutes are done on office photocopies all over the country. [/quote:206f87f4b7] I was looking up this quote on the internet to try and find the full text, and I ran across this version, which is decidedly different" [quote:206f87f4b7]People said there had to be a Supreme Being because otherwise, how could the universe exist? And of course, there clearly had to be, a Supreme Being. But since the universe is a bit of a mess, it is obvious that the Supreme Being hadn't in fact, made it. If he HAD made it, he would, being Supreme, have made a much better job of it, with far better thought given, taking an example at random, to things like the design of the common nostril, or malays, or vegetables. Or, put it another way, the existence of a badly staged play only proves the existence of a humor-and-drama impaired director. You only have to look around to see that there is room for improvement almost everywhere. This suggests that the universe had probably been put together in a bit of a hurry by an underling, or possibly authorized agents, while the Supreme Being wasn't looking, just like how incompetent SAF clerks do Enron-style paper gymnastics when the officer asks for something. So, this goes to reason that it is generally not a good idea to address any prayers to a Supreme Being. It would only attract his attention and only cause trouble.[/quote:206f87f4b7] Does anyone know if there are two version of the book, or if someone just took the quote and mangled it? It was from a chunk of text, but this was the only bit I sort of know by heart Also, if anyone has the full text of the quote (the bit with the Spotter's Guide) I would be eternally grateful if they could post it/send it to me, not having any Pratchett books here at school is killing me.
I would have said mangled, but Buzzfloyds idea actually makes more sense. It seems not to have been a translation though... Only the worst kind of translator adds jokes of his own where a good translation would have worked. I know jokes basing on wordplay have to be re-invented, but this has an "lets make this even funnier, I can do it better"- touch... no matter if it's a re-translation or a mangled version.
