Jingo is the twenty-first novel by Terry Pratchett, one of his Discworld series. It was published in 1997. The title can be related to the word jingoism, meaning an attitude of belligerent nationalism.
Plot:
The book deals with a war between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch over the island of Leshp, which unexpectedly rises from the sea after centuries of submersion. When Samuel Vimes uncovers signs of a conspiracy, he and the members of the City Watch, with the assistance of the mysterious 71-Hour Ahmed, try to bring a stop to the oncoming conflict. Meanwhile, Fred Colon and Nobby Nobbs find themselves drafted by The Patrician into using an experimental Going-Under-the-Water-Safely Device to travel to Klatch and do some reconnaissance.
Popular References:
A similar real life incident happened in 1831 off the coast of Sicily when an underwater volcano produced the island of Ferdinandea. As in the book several nations contested for the new land and while they were arguing it eroded back into the sea by 1832.
There are also parallels to the Britain vs Iceland cod wars of the 1970s where fishing vessels from both nations sabotaged each other's nets and a collision between opposing naval vessels led to the death of an Icelandic Engineer.
Vimes says to Detritus, "'His ship is the Milka, I believe.'" - This is a pun on an old British milk-marketing ad campaign from the 1980s - 'Drinka pinta milka day'. One of Christopher Columbus' ships was named the Pinta.
Johnny Klatchian - In WWI the British press referred to the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire as "Johnny Turk" and Johnny Foreigner is a common British perjorativ for any undesirable foreigner.
The line "...the long and the short and the tall!" refers to a popular WWII song first recorded by George Formby in 1940. It was written in by either Fred Godfrey or Jimmy Hughes in 1917 to music composed by Robert Kewley. The Formby version says "
Bless 'em all, bless 'em all! Bless the long and the short and the tall! Bless all the sergeants and double-you o-ones, Bless all the corporals and their blinkin' sons."
The version sung in the barracks of the Allies substituted F**k for Bless.
Lord Downy says, "'Unfortunately, the right words are more readily listened to if you also have a sharp stick.'"which is a reference to Theodore Roosevelt famous quote: "Speak softly, and carry a big stick."
"it is even better than Ironcrufts ('T'Bread Wi' T'Edge') - This is a take off on a long-running series of British commercials for a certain brand of bread which emphasized the Yorkshire origins of the manufacturer. The slogan is in a parody of a Yorkshire accent, presumably for similar reasons. Crufts are something that is left over and unnecessary (particularly coding in computer software) and Dwarf bread is always baked rock hard so Ironcrufts is an appropriate name for the makers of this bread.
Pratchett says, "There was a tradition of soap-box speaking in Sator Square." which is a parallel to Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park. Satyrs are also lustful drunken Greek woodland gods - appropriate given the type of person a place like Sator Square seems to attract both as speakers and audience.
The trio of Gulli, Gulli, and Betti is an allusion to Wilson, Keppel and Betty, popular English music hall performers in the mid 20th Century.
The Patrician mentions that Ankh-Morpork hasn't had a war ship for four hundred years since the sinking of the Mary-Jane, a reference to the English carrack style naval vessel the Mary Rose part of Henry VIII's fleet and also a reference to a slang term for marijuana.
The Artful Nudger is a play on Dicken's Artful Dodger.
When Carrot forms Ankh-Morpork's first Cub troop with the two rival gangs (reminiscent of the Bloods and the Cripps or any other rival gangs) they say "Wib, Wib, Wib, Wob Wob Wob" a parody of the traditional scouting salute of Dyb, Dyb,Dyb (Do your best), to which the repy is Dob, Dob, Dob (Do Our Best).
The line, "'Oh, Lord Venturi says it'll all be over by Hogswatch, sir.'" is an ironic reference to the common WWI saw from summer of 1944 where the political pundits said that "It'll all be over by Christmas" .
There are several disparaging references to Klatchian invention such as "'They invented all the words starting with al '" which in Arabic is the definite article and is joined to the word that it defines. They also say that the "Klatchians invented nothing. [...] they came up with zero." which is a reference to the fact that western mathematics adopted the concept of the number zero from the Arabs.
Sweeney Jones, the Barber of Gleam Street is a reference to Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who made his customers into meat pies and is immortalized in Steven Sondheim's musical of the same name. He was supposedly based on a real character but this is doubtful.
There are many references to the assassination of John F Kennedy, US President. The Klatchian dignitary is shot from the University likely the library building,'" Lee Harvey Oswald is supposed to have shot John F. Kennedy from the Texas Schools Book Depository. The Klatchian dignitary has been "shot in the back by a man in front of him who could not possibly have used the bow that he didn't shoot him with from the wrong direction...'" This line pokes fun at the inconsistencies in the official account of the Kennedy assassination. The second crossbow man killer is a reference to the second gunman on the grassy knoll in the Kennedy shooting. The line about "he thinks it'll magically improve his shot.'"is a reference to the official Kennedy assassination report that describes how the bullet moved in some very strange ways through his body which the conspiracy theorists referred to as the "magic bullet theory". In addition there is the very bad pun of Stoolie (who is a stool pigeon or informer) who is a gnoll covered in vegetation (ie a grassy knoll) a very obvious reference to the Kennedy assassination.
The description of Stoolie also has parallels to the depictions of the lower levels in society from medieval times to Victorian England: The rag and bone men, the night soil collectors and the body collectors in the plague years depicted by everyone from Dickens to Monty Pythons in the movie, The Holy Grail.
Captain Carrot disguises himself as another vegetable; "Mr Spuddy Face" which is a take off on the child's toy Mr Potato Head.
Translations
- Jingo (Swedish)
- Шовинист (Bulgarian)