Bill Door was impressed. Miss Flitworth could actually give the word "revenue", which had two vowels and one diphthong, all the peremptoriness of the word "scum.
Interpretation
This quote humorously highlights the contrast between the serious nature of financial terms and the dismissive tone towards less respectable words.
In this quote, Terry Pratchett illustrates how Miss Flitworth possesses the ability to infuse a seemingly mundane financial term like 'revenue' with a level of disdain comparable to that directed at the word 'scum'. This reflects not only on her character but also on the nuances of language and perception, where certain words can evoke powerful emotions and attitudes depending on the context in which they are used.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about the power of language in daily communication.
And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions.
They've got something they do it with, I think it's called a mocracy, and it means everyone in the whole country can say who the new Tyrant is. One man ... one vet. ... Everyone has ... the vet. Except for women, of course. And children. And criminals. And slaves. And stupid people. And people of foreign extraction. And people disapproved of for, er, various reasons. And lots of other people. But everyone apart from them. It's a very enlightened civilization.
Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.
You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.
Any fool could be a witch with a runic knife, but it took skill to be one with an apple corer.
People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, and not only because they're standing on one and being soaked by the other. They don't look quite like real science. But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity. And summer isn't a time. It's a place as well. Summer is a moving creature and likes to go south for the winter.
Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.
Macduff: What three things does drink especially provoke? Porter: Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine.
Our comedies are not to be laughed at.
Comediennes are the lucky ones, because if you're funny, you can be 125 years old and they will still accept you.
Laughter is a celebration of our failings. That's what clowns are for. And that's what I am.
An interim government was set up in Afghanistan. It included two women, one of whom was Minister of Women's Affairs. Man, who'd she have to show here ankles to to get that job?
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