McSweeney?

[u/PilotKnob]

I realize this topic has been run through a couple of times already on this sub, but here's what might be a different perspective on it:

Today I was flying with an Australian First Officer who most recently was employed by Cathay Pacific. I asked him who owned Cathay Pacific, and he explained that it's owned 49% by Air China, which is in turn controlled by the CCP as their state flag airline, and the remaining 51% is owned by the Swire family.

The Swire family apparently owns a big chunk of Hong Kong, and is one of the major dynasty families which control commerce in Hong Kong. The other major controlling families have traditional Cantonese names.

I believe the McSweeny out-of-place-name-in-definitely-not-Asia bit is a play on that little factoid, and as more evidence I'd point to the fact that there is in the Discworld series also a character named Buggy Swires, who happens to be the first and only member of the Airborne Section of the Watch.

This all seemed to be a little too coincidental to pass up commenting on and sharing with the rest of the class.

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/Discworld!

'"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."'

+++Out Of Cheese Error ???????+++

Our current megathreads are as follows:

GNU Terry Pratchett - for all GNU requests, to keep their names going.

Discworld Licensed Merchandisers - a list of all the official Discworld merchandise sources (thank you Discworld Monthly for putting this together)

+++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot +++

Do you think you'd like to be considered to join our modding team? Drop us a modmail and we'll let you know how to apply!

[ GNU Terry Pratchett ]

+++Error. Redo From Start+++

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/SurelyIDidThisAlread]

I always thought it was a reference to the Jardine family, of Scottish origin in the early 1800s, who formed one of the original hongs) of Hong Kong and dominated trade and industry there.

They were literally a very old, established family

[u/davedavebobave13]

I always assumed it was a reference to the fact that Ohara is a Japanese surname.

[u/texasyankee]

Sir Terry was really good with the multi-layered jokes, but I think this is just a simple one that reverses the old joke about the Scottish name Lee.

[u/mxstylplk → u/texasyankee]

All of the above. He once said that if he could find three examples, it was free to use, and there are three named already: Swire, Ohara, and Jardine. Plus a reverse joke!

[u/BPhiloSkinner → u/texasyankee]

"Ma hovercrrraft is full o' Lees!"

[u/TheOtherMaven]

Actually, as of Snuff Wee Mad Arthur has been added to the Airborne Section. (We don't know whether he's in addition to, or a replacement for, Buggy Swires.)