History Headscratchers / GoingPostal

* In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', there is a very short scene where Moist von Lipwig meets Carrot and Angua [[ItMakesSenseInContext after rescuing a cat]]. Moist ''immediately'' recognises the {{Werewolf}} is '''not''' a "very pretty dog", by some obscure details ([[ChekhovsSkill his grandfather spent Moist´s]] ''[[ChekhovsSkill entire childhood]]'' [[ChekhovsSkill talking about beer and dogs as well as breeding dogs]]), but [[IdiotBall fails to notice]] such "minor" thing as '''[[SweetPollyOliver gender]]'''.

-->‘Under the previous management the system shut down for an hour every day. That was for maintenance. Now the towers run until they break down. What do you think you are doing, gentlemen?’
-->‘That, my lord, and with respect, is none of your business.’
-->Lord Vetinari smiled. For the first time that morning, it was a smile of genuine pleasure.
-->‘Ah, Mr Reacher Gilt, I was wondering when we’d hear from you. You have been so uncharacteristically silent. I read your recent article in the Times with great interest. You are passionate about freedom, I gather. You used the word “tyranny” three times and the word “tyrant” once.’

** This is alluded to in their first meeting, when Vetinari brings up the opinion piece Gilt wrote in the Times defending personal freedom and accusing him of tyranny. If he moves against the Trunk openly, it'll be spun as the Big Government seizing private property without evidence. It's the same reason the Times has free speech, and Grag Hamcrusher was allowed to rabble-rouse.

Lord Vetinari smiled. For the first time that morning, it was a smile of genuine pleasure.

-->‘Don’t patronize me, my lord,’ said Gilt. ‘We own the Trunk. It is our property. You understand that? Property is the foundation of freedom. Oh, customers complain about the service and the cost, but customers always complain about such things. We have no shortage of customers at whatever cost. Before the semaphore, news from Genua took months to get here, now it takes less than a day. It is affordable magic. We are answerable to our shareholders, my lord. Not, with respect, to you. It is not your business. It is our business, and we will run it according to the market. I hope there are no tyrannies here. This is, with respect, a free city.’

* In ''Discworld/GoingPostal'', there is a very short scene where Moist von Lipwig meets Carrot and Angua [[ItMakesSenseInContext after rescuing a cat]]. Moist ''immediately'' recognises the {{Werewolf}} is '''not''' a "very pretty dog", by some obscure details ([[ChekhovsSkill his grandfather spent Moist´s]] ''[[ChekhovsSkill entire childhood]]'' [[ChekhovsSkill talking about beer and dogs as well as breeding dogs]]), but [[IdiotBall fails to notice]] such "minor" thing as '''[[SweetPollyOliver gender]]'''.

** Moist was never sure Nobby was the werewolf: near the start of ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' the narration simply notes that it's "widely rumoured" to be Nobby. Moist doesn't seem to have given the identity of the werewolf any real thought until he realises it's Angua.

* Once, it's revealed that Golems can "Speak With All The Voices Of Men" (and don't [[PaintingTheMedium capitalize every word]] when doing so). Imagine what someone like Moist would be able to do with that small tidbit of information, because that's all you're able to do, imagine. It doesn't come back later in the book, or in ''Discworld/MakingMoney''. Anyone know why?

** It's not punching holes in paper that's an innovation of Moist's, it's punching holes in paper that ''line up evenly and tightly for easy tearing''. The display cards sold at Dave's Pin Emporium wouldn't have their holes close enough together to do that, because it wouldn't leave enough space to properly view the individual pins to bunch them up so tightly.

** (S)he may have been mistaking Moist for William de Worde from The Truth who knew about the rumour of a werewolf in the Watch, and is damn certain it's Nobby - he says so to Vimes and - if I remember correctly - to Angua herself.
** Not to mention his knowledge is of ''dogs'', not werewolves. He knows a lot about dogs, so he knows she's not one. He doesn't know about werewolves, so he doesn't know she's a she.

** A little knowledge and a lot of cowardice, that is what Horsefry had and why Gilt had him killed. Crispin knew too much, not everything, but enough so that he could start everything unravelling if he cracked. And Vetinari was applying the pressure. Worse still, he'd written everything down in a little book which he gave to Gilt for safekeeping, once Gilt had the book all he had to do to shut down that line of enquiry was shut down the only other possible outlet. Which was of course Horsefry himself.
** Also, being a good liar and machinator he could have been considering Horsefry as much less honest that he appeared, even by projection alone. So, having no warranty that the books were the only copies and Horsefry didn't hold copies hidden to use them for blackmail, Gilt decided to solve the matter in the most straightforward way possible.

** Because the books after this, barring Making Money, haven't had Golems as an integral part of the plot. As for Making Money itself, Gladys had no reason to use it. As for the Ancient Golems, there was no telling if they could do that or not, and Adora, and anyone else barring Moist who tried talking to them, couldn't get though to them as is and Moist was flying by the seat of his pants as usual. It was also a pre-recorded message, so theres no telling if Golems can even do that at will or not.

* During the "job interview" at the beginning of the book, Vetinari points out Lipwig's option to walk out the door, and Lipwig decides to investigate the door and notes the lack of floor beyond it. Less than one page later, going by lines, Lipwig has accepted the job and Vetinari has wondered why he hasn't left yet. (Admittedly in character for Vetinari.) Less than one page after that, Lipwig has left the room without description. While there are a number of ways one could design the exitway to make this feasible, it seems like a waste to simply drop the subject like that ([[BrickJoke for this scene, anyway]]), not even allowing Lipwig the opportunity to ruminate on the now-solid flooring.

** Agreed. Also, Moist had to come into the room by some means. Even Vetinari had to and it is highly doubtful there would be a one-way entrance to the room. The Patrician doesn't seem the type to have a slide-entrance. It's just the door referred to as the exit that has the hole in it.

*** I'm guessing the difference it would have made would have been when Moist was sure that Nobby was the werewolf.
*** Moist was never sure Nobby was the werewolf: near the start of ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' the narration simply notes that it's "widely rumoured" to be Nobby. Moist doesn't seem to have given the identity of the werewolf any real thought until he realises it's Angua.
**** (S)he may have been mistaking Moist for William de Worde from The Truth who knew about the rumour of a werewolf in the Watch, and is damn certain it's Nobby - he says so to Vimes and - if I remember correctly - to Angua herself.

** Agreed. Also, Moist had to come into the room by some means. Even Vetinari had to and it is highly doubtful there would be a one-way entrance to the room. The Patrician doesn't seem the type to have a slide-entrance. It's just the door referred to as the exit that has the hole in it.

*** {{Knights and Knaves}}?

*** Besides, when it comes down to it, he cheerfully uses that power in both ''Going Postal'' and ''Making Money''.

** It is also important that he had a precedent to do it at the end of the book and not the beginning. It would be immensely costly in terms of political capital to do it, and there was no way to be sure that he could force an audit deep enough to uncover the tracks leading to the actual evidence of crimes; failing to find that evidence would mean that such an audit would be very damaging to Vetinari's future endeavors. On the other hand, after Moist pulled his shenanigans with the Genua race and successfully passed it off as originating from within the company itself, Vetinari had plenty of pretext and nobody in the city was going to argue when he stripped the company bare down to the core and started "disappearing" bad spots.

** He also, like Moist, knew that shutting down the clacks was a bad idea. He needed someone reliable to take over and knew better than to just leave it with the Dearhearts.

*** [[KnightsAndKnaves]]?

*** Besides, when it comes down to it, he cheerfully uses that power in both ''Going Postal'' and ''Making Money''.