History Headscratchers / GoodOmens

** Also because it's not particularly denigrating on account of being funny as hell -- to go along with the painful kind of wordplay for which the authors are notable -- while getting the point across. You're supposed to chuckle at the line itself, then facepalm at the awful wordplay, then laugh because it was so painfully funny.

** The Death of this book definitely isn't as human as Death of the Endless or the Discworld, but he's certainly not evil. If anything, in this case Sir Terry makes the exact opposite point that he makes in ''Discworld'' -- Death is the only one of the four horsemen who has practically ''nothing'' human about him.

* This is entirely a matter of personal opinion. I know it continues the joke about Queen. And yes, ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' is an awesome song. But when I read that book, for that ''one scene,'' I substituted ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' with ''Bat Out of Hell'' and it was '''even better.''' I just wonder why it didn't occur to either Pratchett or Gaiman to use the song that had -- at least -- the obviously more appropriate ''title.''

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*** At the end of the BBC Radio Play, Crowley and Aziraphale actually talk to the duck-feeding figure, and it's Death's same actor, and he glumly notices that all the ducks are now floating upside-down. So, I'd consider that WordOfGod that Death is feeding ducks (and doing a bad job of it).

** This troper has often seen 'camp as a row of tents' used for similar purposes.

* Was this troper the only one disappointed by a villainous Death? I mean, between [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Terry Pratchett]] and [[ComicBook/TheSandman Neil Gaiman]], I was hoping for a good to neutral one, but instead we got the cliched evil death.

** The four kids are analogous to the Horsepeople, and she's the equivalent of War. This troper never needed more explanation than that.

** This is true even in real fights. This Troper went to a school where girls fighting in the halls during break was just as common as boys fighting. When guys fought, people stayed to watch, when girls fought, people ''ran''

*** Except those would be apes, and you never, EVER call an ape a monkey!
*** One dazed and impressed look to you for replying at roughly the speed of freaking LIGHT, and in that case how come the author made it pretty clear he meant the more modern meaning by explaining that angels don't have gender unless they make an effort?? Just screwing around with the words to mess with us?
**** Now that I think of it, I can see it playing on the older meaning of gay as happy, but I also wondered if the nitrous oxide was a reference to a high pitched stereotypical CampGay voice.
**** In a word: yes. It was wordplay - gay meaning both 'happy' and 'homosexual'. Consider [[Creator/TerryPratchett who]] was [[NeilGaiman writing]] that. (Also: I appear to have some sort of editing superpower. You're very welcome.)
**** This troper has often seen 'camp as a row of tents' used for similar purposes.
***** ...I ''like'' that. And not in [[Literature/{{Chrestomanci}} the sarcastic way]]. It's an interesting phrase.
**** Also because it's not particularly denigrating on account of being funny as hell -- to go along with the painful kind of wordplay for which the authors are notable -- while getting the point across. You're supposed to chuckle at the line itself, then facepalm at the awful wordplay, then laugh because it was so painfully funny.
*** When'd I call it denigrating? I just didn't get the simile at the time.
*** In England and Australia it's common to describe a thing by using an alternate definition. For instance if you call someone crazy in Australia they are as "mad as a cut snake" because a cut snake would be angry, angry = mad, and mad = insane. It's sort of like cockney rhyming slang. Of course that's not the best example because "mad as a cut snake" is also used for just being angry as well but I think you get the idea.
**** A cut snake is a dead snake and should therefore have no feelings or mental stability one way or the other. If it is both cut and mad, it's probably undead and should have better adjectives attached to it then mad.
***** Do you die every time you get a paper cut?
*** A more demonstrative example might be "straight as a ruler", when used to describe someone's demeanor (or, indeed, their sexuality).

*** The villainous Death who... compliments a delivery man on his dedication to the job, sticks around to collect the bikers who were stupid enough to try and make an impossible jump, and, confronted with the loss of the other Horsepeople simply states that he is necessary to the functioning of the universe and that the absence of the others means that it simply grinds down in entropy before leaving. ...What?
*** The Death of this book definitely isn't as human as Death of the Endless or the Discworld, but he's certainly not evil. If anything, in this case Sir Terry makes the exact opposite point that he makes in ''Discworld'' -- Death is the only one of the four horsemen who has practically ''nothing'' human about him.
*** Not entirely true, as during the ending, there is a very tall figure in St. James' Park where Aziraphale and Crowly meet who feeds the ducks and [[AC:speaks in allcaps]]. Death is apparently human and friendly enough to enjoy feeding small waterfowl.
**** Honestly, I thought the figure feeding waterfowl was God. It would make sense for me, in this case, to have Death and God speak similarly; both are vaguely ineffable and kind of "Do what you want, que sera," about things. It's suggested multiple times that God is just kind of sitting back and spectating for the hell of it, rather like how Death just does his job and isn't too emotionally invested in whether or not the world ends. Both Crowley and Aziraphale forget their conversation and its implications after the duck-feeder speaks, and Death is never shown to have that kind of power, so I kind of assumed...
*** This is only right at the end, after Adam's tampering with the reality. Before this incident Death doesn't demonstrate any kind of human traits; unlike his colleagues he does nothing but his work, and his interactions with them make it clear that he doesn't understand any concept that isn't related to it.
*** Death doesn't do NOTHING but his job - he did play a Trivia game.

*** I like that idea, and I'd like to add that Aziraphale notes that he looked up the prices on the children's books, implying that he could sell those and buy back the books he lost.
*** Did he actually lose any of his books? I read that more as a call-back to the bit he says about his shirt after being shot with a paintball pellet. You remember? The 'I'd always be able to tell the difference' bit? As in, due to the books Adam added Aziraphale would always be reminded that he basically lost his entire collection in a fire

*** This is true even in real fights. This Troper went to a school where girls fighting in the halls during break was just as common as boys fighting. When guys fought, people stayed to watch, when girls fought, people ''ran''

*** Yes, but doesn't he also say "bugger" when they're drunk at the beginning of the book? And there's still the "What the hell is it?"... [[MST3KMantra Oh well.]] Maybe he decides those don't count for some reason?
*** This might veer into AlternateCharacterInterpretation a little, but I have the impression that Aziraphale thinks he's much more good than he really is (just as Crowley thinks he's more evil than he really is). Him conveniently forgetting all the "minor" times he's cussed "because they don't count" fits neatly into that.
*** It's also possible that he doesn't count damn and hell as vulgarities (since one is a state of being and the other a place, and both are literally very real in this book). Don't know how he dismisses the "buggerall" from earlier, though, except that he was very, very drunk at the time.

*** I think I've only come in contact with one bread knife that didn't have a pronged tip, and I've seen much older exampled of prong-tipped bread knives than I've seen on round-ended bread knives online. However, the prong-tipped bread knives were thin (but strong) and lightweight with ''extremely'' pointy serrations/scallops, which would provide a decent balance between maneuverability and damage ability. The prongs I've seen usually wouldn't go through a good pair of jeans from the angle where it could reach while tucked into a belt, unless you sat on it. The other was solid, unlikely to bend or break and good for a weapon that could bludgeon ''or'' do surface damage, and was the zweihander of kitchen knives. Either way, a bread knife is a decent example knife for someone who wants a bladed weapon that can scare off potential attackers, defend against attackers who aren't scared, and, [[SincerityMode most importantly]], is [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking legally available in Great Britain]].

*** Not entirely true, as during the ending, there is a very tall figure in St. James' Park where Aziraphale and Crowly meet who feeds the ducks and SPEwAKS IN ALL CAPS. Death is apparently human and friendly enough to enjoy feeding small waterfowl.

*** Not entirely true, as during the ending, there is a very tall figure in St. James' Park where Aziraphale and Crowly meet who feeds the ducks and SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS. Death is apparently human and friendly enough to enjoy feeding small waterfowl.

* What's so gay about a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide? Not that there isn't anything ''strange'' about a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide, and not that it isn't fun to say, [[hottip:*: and not that I'm not waiting for someone to say the book sounds "gay" as a derogatory term so I can use that line]], but I don't see anything particularly homosexual about it.

** Adam is an ''insanely'' powerful RealityWarper, and he [[AchievementsInIgnorance doesn't know what the rules are]], which mean they become whatever he thinks they are. The bit with Lucifer is a glorious example of this: he's told that His Father is coming to punish him, and he interpretes that in a way that makes sense to him ... so Mr Young arrives, and he's quite cross.
** As for the Horseperson: It's a blink-and-you-miss-it thing: Early on Crowley muses that the really great good and the heartstopping evil, the 'real McCoy'is found in the minds of humans. Much later in the book War describes the horsepersons as 'the real McCoy'. And finally Azrael states that War, Famine and Pollution have returned to the minds of humans. What Adam and his friends did was not 'warping reality' or 'threatining to replace the horsepersons'. He showed them what they are in the end: A silly child's game. Make-Believe. (That would also be the reason Pestilence 'retired': Humans stopped believing him to be a threat after the discovery of penicillin).

* The shootout at Warlock's birthday party. Pterry and Neil are usually pretty [[IncrediblyLamePun accurate]] with their firearm writings, so how could they have come up with CIA-issue .32 Magnums capable of turning a person into PinkMist? .32 is an ineffective round for anything other than varmint hunting, there's no such thing as a .32 Magnum pistol (although there is a fairly rare .32 H&R Magnum ''revolver'', and CIA, who aren't known for issuing firearms to their field agents at all, would have been much more likely to go with 9mm Parabellum or .45 ACP.

** Newt and Anathema stopped the more mundane circumstances (i.e., the missile launch that was about to commence) while Adam and the Them took care of the more metaphysical aspect (the Horsemen).

** As for the Horseperson: It's a blink-and-you-miss-it thing: Early on Crowley muses that the really great good and the heartstopping evil, the 'real mccoy'is found in the minds of humans. Much later in the book War describes the horsepersons as 'the real mccoy'. And finally Azrael states that War, Famine and Pollution have returned to the minds of humans. What Adam and his friends did was not 'warping reality' or 'threatining to replace the horsepersons'. He showed them what they are in the end: A silly child's game. Make-Believe. (That would also be the reason Pestilence 'retired': Humans stopped believing him to be a threat after the discovery of penicilin)

*** I think I've only come in contact with one bread knife that didn't have a pronged tip, and I've seen much older exampled of prong-tipped bread knives than I've seen on round-ended bread knives online. However, the prong-tipped bread knives were thin (but strong) and lightweight with ''extremely'' pointy serrations/scallops, which would provide a decent balance between maneuverability and damage ability. The prongs I've seen usually wouldn't go through a good pair of jeans from the angle where it could reach while tucked into a belt, unless you sat on it. The other was solid, unlikely to bend or break and good for a weapon that could bludgeon ''or'' do surface damage, and was the zweihander of kitchen knives. Either way, a bread knife is a decent example knife for someone who wants a bladed weapon that can scare off potential attackersm defend against attackers who aren't scared, and, [[SincerityMode most importantly]], is [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking legally available in Great Britain]].