dentistshatehim

dentistshatehim t1_j21ohnp wrote

Nobby was a common nickname for law enforcement types, it came from British Soldiers who served in India in offices/admin. Nobi is Hindu for clerk.

Those officers would come back and get jobs in law enforcement and so the nickname transferred over. I’m not saying Pratchett didn’t name the character after Piltcher, but there was precedent already for police, particularly those more interested in bureaucracy and formality being called Nobby.

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