Talk:Burleigh & Stronginthearm

I don't know how much info there ought to be in this Wiki! but I can't help asking: the entry on Burleigh & StrongintheArm doesn't note the cryptonym it creates.

To me, the ampersand is significant, because it allows Burleigh & StrongintheArm to be abbreviated to "BSA" - and purely by coincidence, of course, on this world there is an armaments and motorcycle manufacturer called "Birmingham Small Arms" or "BSA"...

Is this a spoiler? or can someone add it as a curiosity note?

Guy

BSA made small arms for the British armed forces for most of the 19th century (the Martini-Henry rifle of "Zulu!" fame was made by BSA, as was the Webley officers' pistol) so this could be a valid reference, given they supply the Watch and the Regiments in Victorian-feeling Ankh-Morpork... of course, Birmingham declined in importance as an arms manufacturing centre in the 20th century, when the British Army adopted the Lee-Enfield rifles, made (as the name suggests)in Enfield, London. --AgProv 12:57, 1 September 2008 (UTC) (definitely mad as a bagful of weasels for bothering to know all this useless stuff)

BSA also made over a million Enfields during WWII. I did a lot of target shooting with their "Super Sporter" .22 some ages ago. As usual, I'm not so convinced of the connection to B&S (Stronginthearm is all one word for a start.) --Old Dickens 14:34, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

There's also a British shotgun maker called Purley, I've often wondered if that's where the Burleigh part of the name came from. (unsigned comment by The Grumpy Iconographer, 25 Jan 2018}

Purdey's has been famous for shotguns for 200 years; I can't find Purley in competition. --Old Dickens (talk) 19:09, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

Relevance?

I'm not sure what Dirty Harry has to do with it. --Old Dickens (talk) 16:39, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

There are plenty of Dirty Harry references, especially in Guards! Guards!, and it seems clear that Harry's Magnum being a Smith & Wesson was an influence on Pratchett coming up with B&S as the name of the crossbow manufacturer (so some of the more direct dialogue references would work). I missed it when I first wrote this comment, but the specific Dirty Harry quote is clearly the source for the joke from Night Watch quoted near the end of this article. I'd put both in the Night Watch annotations, though. -- Guybrush (talk) 01:22, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

Mmm. I hate annotations. --Old Dickens (talk) 05:04, 8 March 2023 (UTC)