Hi. I haven't finished WOLP yet, but I had to ask this question. Did anyone else feel that Thursday, as an outlander (i.e. not text-based), should have been immune to the mispeling vyrus?

Nicky.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but that is a possibility. Buy maybe the fact that she'd been round literature almost all her life sort of blended the barriers between the Outland and fiction, hmmm?



"What I need is a strong drink and a peer-group." -Ford Prefect

I'm deeply impressed. I never thought of that, Nicky. One for the great Pan-whatsit himself... ... Although I suppose being on an exchange with a book character, it could well be as ILS says. Still, as they say, good thinking, batman (ummm ... or something)

it didn't cross my mind at the time... and after a bit of thought I still don't think so... she can use the footnoterphone, and various other literary devices, and I don't remember it being sugested that she is imune from any other book stuff.

rob, who could, of course, be wrong

In reference to the question in the header, I'm not sure a vaccine would work - languages evolve far faster than genes, which suggests a higher mutation rate and/or generation time. In either case it would make a vaccine based upon exposing people to weakened doses futile, as new strains would be arising too fast. Looks like a layer of dictionaries is still the best way to do it...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Still, she does have a lot of physiologic differences from the fictional characters: sense of smell, ability to distinguish voices. Infectious diseases are my job, so the vyrus caught my attention.

Nicky.

Re the vaccine...another reason it wouldn't work is that you would have to vaccinate the entire text, not just the characters, as inanimate objects are equally affected.

Nicky.

Also it's highly contagious. That's why small-pox was wiped out but measles, rubella etc. hasn't been. Only 80% of the population needs to be vaccinated for small-pox to disappear but 98+% for the others.

Mispeling vyrus is far too contagious...

Finished the book, FINALLY! Gosh, I'm usually not this slow. The bit about the BookWorld gun turning into marmalade, as opposed to an Outland gun which would not have, makes me think that Thursday is somewhat immune to BookWorld hazards. So maybe the mispeling vyrus would just mispel her, but not kill her the way it did Snell. Any thoughts?

Nicky.

Two thoughts occur to me:

1) Maybe Jasper is having a bit of fun with us, and Thursday's not immune because she is, after all, a fictional character -- well she is isn't she?

2) Conversely, he's just being practical, as if she were immune it would mess up the plot of TWOLP no end



Jesus saves; Buddha does incremental backup.

Hmmm... I think #1 (or maybe both...) - Jasper mentioned in Glasgow that Thursday ends up in an unpublished book by her own author at the end of WOLP.

(for anyone who doesn't know, Jasper's written a couple of Nursery Crime books)



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