Excerpt from 'Men at Arms'
"...And give me some more coffee. Black as midnight on a moonless night."
Harga looked surprised. That wasn't like Vimes.
"How black's that, then?" he said.
"Oh, pretty damn black, I should think."
"Not necessarily."
"What?"
"You get more stars on a moonless night. Stands to reason. They show up more. It can be quite bright on a moonless night."
Vimes sighed.
"An overcast moonless night?" he said.
Harga looked carefully at his coffee pot.
"Cumulus or cirro-nimbus?"
"I'm sorry? What did you say?"
"You gets city lights reflected off cumulus, because it's low lying, see. Mind you, you can get high-altitude scatter off the ice crystals in-"
"A moonless night," said Vimes, in a hollow voice, "that is as black as that coffee."
... I can feel nothing but sympathy for Harga, here- as I have a very, very, VERY similar conversation with a customer, on what type of mud she was used to, as she wanted enough cream in her coffee to look like 'mud'. My house is built on an old river bottom- the dirt here is black sediment. What are you talking about? Silt? Clay? Volcanic Ash? "Like Mud" tells me nothing. *shifty eyes* Same as a moonless night, apparently.
(And obviously, the above excerpt is by Terry Pratchet.)
Harga looked surprised. That wasn't like Vimes.
"How black's that, then?" he said.
"Oh, pretty damn black, I should think."
"Not necessarily."
"What?"
"You get more stars on a moonless night. Stands to reason. They show up more. It can be quite bright on a moonless night."
Vimes sighed.
"An overcast moonless night?" he said.
Harga looked carefully at his coffee pot.
"Cumulus or cirro-nimbus?"
"I'm sorry? What did you say?"
"You gets city lights reflected off cumulus, because it's low lying, see. Mind you, you can get high-altitude scatter off the ice crystals in-"
"A moonless night," said Vimes, in a hollow voice, "that is as black as that coffee."
... I can feel nothing but sympathy for Harga, here- as I have a very, very, VERY similar conversation with a customer, on what type of mud she was used to, as she wanted enough cream in her coffee to look like 'mud'. My house is built on an old river bottom- the dirt here is black sediment. What are you talking about? Silt? Clay? Volcanic Ash? "Like Mud" tells me nothing. *shifty eyes* Same as a moonless night, apparently.
(And obviously, the above excerpt is by Terry Pratchet.)