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08-16-2003, 09:08 AM | #41 |
Dread Horseman
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Behind you!
Posts: 2,743
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Indeed, a great letter, Squatter! It's amazing how much Tolkien's love of language, right down to specifics of word choice and grammatical construction, comes through in his work. Virtually everyone I know who is a great lover of language and wordplay is also a Tolkien fan.
Harking back to the Disney references in earlier posts, here's an amusing anecdote - when Walt Disney heard about an imminent Allied invasion of Axis held territory in WWII (yes, Allied security was that bad), he wrote to Washington with an offer to design a logo for the invaders. Can you imagine hitting the beaches under a flag designed by old Walt? |
09-04-2003, 01:35 PM | #42 | |
Spectre of Decay
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Indeed so, Underhill. I can scarcely imagine the horror of charging into battle beneath the banner of the Mouse Rampant. Dreadful thought! I can only paraphrase Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington: I don't know what effect it will have upon the enemy, but by God it terrifies me!
Returning to the subject of Tolkien's letters and gems therefrom, I read the following last night and couldn't resist sharing it. Quote:
Quite aside from the wealth of linguistic information in that one letter, I find the idea of a philologist asking an archaeologist about the difference between harps and baskets most appealing.
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Man kenuva métim' andúne? |
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02-05-2004, 02:51 AM | #43 | |
Brightness of a Blade
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I thought this bit was cute:
From Letter 87 to Christopher Tolkien: Quote:
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And no one was ill, and everyone was pleased, except those who had to mow the grass. |
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02-07-2004, 09:06 AM | #44 | |
Spectre of Decay
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An Unexpected Party
The meetings of the Inklings at the Eagle and Child in Oxford are well known, and a framed testimonial on the wall of the public bar records their having drunk the landlord's health. C.S. Lewis was for a time a fellow at nearby Magdalen College and kept a pair of slippers behind the bar. Here Tolkien recounts a chance gathering of several of his friends there and its aftermath in a letter to his son Christopher, then serving overseas with the R.A.F.
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1: C.S. Lewis and his brother Warren 2: Walter Alexander Raleigh, Chair of English Literature at Oxford, 1904-22. 3: Viva voce (literally 'with the living voice') - an oral examination. 4: Strider was originally a hobbit 5: Sir William Walton (1902-1983) 6: W.R. Childe, a colleague of Tolkien's at Leeds and author of many poems [EDIT: It has come to my attention that the letter framed on the wall of the Eagle and Child is in fact a photocopy taken from a book, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the pub. Clearly I was misled by a clever piece of P.R. trickery. I will update this post this evening with more precise details, since I'm fairly sure that my misconception was based on something I read about the Inklings.
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Man kenuva métim' andúne? Last edited by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh; 04-04-2007 at 04:53 AM. Reason: Removal of HTML code left over from the old forum. Hopefully this is a bit more legible now |
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02-23-2004, 03:51 PM | #45 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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"The original twerp" is priceless! How old is that word?
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02-24-2004, 02:21 AM | #46 |
Deadnight Chanter
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Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
One entry found for twerp. Main Entry: twerp Pronunciation: 'tw&rp Function: noun Etymology: origin unknown : a silly, insignificant, or contemptible person Though it does not answer your question, the link above may be helpful in similar occassions. Welcome to BD , Elf Sisters (BTW, how many of you are there?)
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Egroeg Ihkhsal - Would you believe in the love at first sight? - Yes I'm certain that it happens all the time! |
02-26-2004, 02:29 PM | #47 |
Spectre of Decay
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Twerp
This is the sort of problem that Tolkien loved and would have been better able to solve than I. Since he's no longer with us, though, I've done my best with what I have at my disposal. I've found two dates on the internet for the first use of 'twerp' or 'twirp': 1923 and 1874; but most of the sources suggest that it originated in the 1920s. My concise Oxford doesn't even give the correct definition and follows up what it does give with a question mark, but no dictionary I've found gives anything other than 'etymology obscure'. Perhaps the full Oxford would be more help.
Edit: Temporarily I have free access to the on-line OED, which has yielded the following on 'twerp'. Its first recorded use in a published work is its occurrence in Soldier and Sailor Words by Fraser and Gibbons in 1925. 'Etymology uncertain' is right, though: a quotation from Tolkien's letter appears under the OED entry along with another from R. Campbell in 1957, both of which claim that the term originated in Oxford in reference to T.W. Earp. I would guess that in this case the academics are mistaken, and that this is one of many examples of military slang entering everyday English.
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Man kenuva métim' andúne? Last edited by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh; 07-31-2005 at 02:38 PM. Reason: I now know more about the origin of 'twerp' which could be of interest |
02-27-2004, 01:39 PM | #48 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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That's a good start, Squatter. Thanks!
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03-06-2004, 02:29 PM | #49 | |
Wight
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Valinor
Posts: 215
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One of my favourite gem from the letters, is the one I quote here. It the best and the most poetical explanation I have ever heard of the guardian angels. Whenever I read it, I experience the same joy that Tolkien mentions
Quote:
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But it is said that not until that hour had such cold thoughts ruled Finrod; for indeed she whom he had loved was Amarië of the Vanyar, and she went not with him into exile. |
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06-13-2004, 02:41 PM | #50 | |||
A Shade of Westernesse
Join Date: May 2004
Location: The last wave over Atalantë
Posts: 515
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One of my favourite excerpts from the Letters come from Letter 96, addressed to Christopher Tolkien on the 30th of January, 1945.
Quote:
Quote:
The "heart-racking sense" of loss and decline that Tolkien describes is for me akin if not equal to the "enchantment" which was discussed in Fordim's 'Canonicity' thread. To append my feelings about the above excerpts from the Letters and the emotions which it describes, here is a quote from Davem from the aforementioned 'Canonicity' discussion: Quote:
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"This miserable drizzling afternoon I have been reading up old military lecture-notes again:- and getting bored with them after an hour and a half. I have done some touches to my nonsense fairy language - to its improvement." Last edited by Son of Númenor; 06-13-2004 at 03:22 PM. |
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12-07-2004, 02:03 PM | #51 |
Stormdancer of Doom
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up
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve. |
12-07-2004, 07:45 PM | #52 |
Bittersweet Symphony
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: On the jolly starship Enterprise
Posts: 1,814
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Thanks for bumping that one up, mark. It was a great read... now I'll have to get a copy of Letters for my very own.
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12-08-2004, 12:51 AM | #53 | |
Haunting Spirit
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 92
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I always thought Tolkien's comments on Zimmerman's LotR script(#210) was funny. It makes me wonder what he would have said to Peter Jackson For those of you who don't own Letters:
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05-29-2005, 07:08 AM | #54 | ||
Riveting Ribbiter
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Assigned to Mordor
Posts: 1,767
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Quote:
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People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff. |
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04-04-2007, 02:07 AM | #55 | |
Eagle of the Star
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sarmisegethuza
Posts: 1,058
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I took the liberty of emphasising several ideas.
Quote:
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"May the wicked become good. May the good obtain peace. May the peaceful be freed from bonds. May the freed set others free." |
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04-06-2007, 01:32 PM | #56 | |
Spectre of Decay
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Tolkien on the public domain
Flicking idly through my copy today I found this.
Quote:
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Man kenuva métim' andúne? |
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