Honest John's Dealership: Difference between revisions

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[[File:used-car-salesman 7541.gif|frame|Is this the face of a man who would lie to you?]]
 
{{quote|''Vimes looked into the grinning, cadaverous face of Cut-me-own-Throat Dibbler, purveyor of absolutely anything that could be'' ''[[Coat Full of Contraband|sold hurriedly from an open suitcase in a busy street]]'' ''and was guaranteed to have'' ''[[Fell Off the Back of a Truck|fallen off the back of an oxcart.]]''
|''[[Guards! Guards!]]''}}
 
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** Point-Me-Own-Bone Dibbjla
*** This has been described by the author as parallel evolution; he writes in ''The Discworld Companion'' that "Wherever people are prepared to eat terrible food, there will be someone there to sell it to them."
*** In fact, in ''[[Discworld/Making Money|Making Money]]'', Dibbler's proper name is cited as Claude Maximillian Overton Transpire Dibbler, meaning that it's not just a nickname based on his catchphrase, he really ''is'' CMOTC.M.O.T. Dibbler.
**** Alternatively, his name could have come out of the catchphrase, and was created to make his application for a loan more... legitimate, shall we say. Back in ''[[Discworld/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', before the infamous catchphrase had crossed his mind, his cart was simply marked "Dibbler Enterprises, est". It's entirely possible he doesn't even HAVE a first name.
*** Rincewind once observed that if CMOT Dibbler ever shook hands with one of his international doppelgangers, there would probably be some sort of explosion.
** While unrelated to the Dibblers, Heme Krona, proprietor of Camels-R-Us, in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]'' also qualifies.
** Mention should also be made of Hobson's Livery Stable, which employs an [[The Igor|Igor]] as a vet, but is rumoured to use his extreme surgery skills as a horse "chop-shop".
* Mr. Wormwood in [[Roald Dahl]]'s ''[[Matilda (novel)|Matilda]]''. The tinkering with the cars differs between the book and movie. Maybe because the books is several decades older, and the Honest Johns had to update their methods meanwhile.
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* Honest Ed from ''[[Garfield (Comic Strip)|Garfield]]''. As Garfield observes, his office is in a pickup truck with the engine running.
* Private Cosmo in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''; basically Ernie Bilko with a reduction in rank.
* ''[[Ziggy]]'': In one cartoon, the protagonist walks past Honest John's Used Autos and sees Honest John being arrested. The next day's strip sees him walking past [[Spoonerism|Honest Otto's Used Johns]], which sells ''toilets''.
 
== [[Puppet Shows]] ==
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* In the city of Genava, Illinois, there are two stores that actually have "Honest John's" in the title: Honest John's Emporium, and Honest John's trading post. They're not really rip-offs, just filled with a lot of cheap useless crap you'll never need but will have a compulsion to buy.
* There was once also an "Honest Ed's" [[Toronto]], Ontario discount store. It's now gone, although former proprietor Edwin Mirvish (24 July 1914 – 11 July 2007) still has his name on a [https://mirvish.com live theatre venue].
 
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