Recent content by Lincoln Alpern

I agree, that is superb wordplay on the Gaffer's part, and it deserves recognition and applause.

Thanks for the examples, @Flammifer! I agree with @Rob Harding that all the examples you cite feel like very British forms of humor, and I concur with you that Ted Sandyman's dialogue in his debate with Sam is meant to be bantering, and not just contradiction. I must point out again, however...

I'm sure you're right that Cleese's main object in that anecdote was humor, and historical accuracy was, at most, a secondary consideration for him. If we're talking about "banter," that goes at least as far back as Shakespeare and such plays as Much Ado About Nothing, and I would be shocked if...

Thanks for your perspectives. Cleese premises his observation with "If you go back a few years," which I infer to mean "generations," which would roughly match up with the milieu Tolkien himself grew up in. Does it seem plausible that this is a custom that was begun by the English upper classes...

Follow-up thought: Cleese identifies this specifically as an English upper-class phenomenon, and we've already noted how the Hobbit gentry characters - Bilbo, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin - apply Hobbitry differently among themselves and with their social superiors such as Gandalf, Elrond, and...

Okay, I'm being a little facetious with that thread title, as Cleese wasn't specifically referencing Tolkien at all. Still, this observation he makes, in conversation with Iain McGilchrist at a recent How to Academy talk, resonates so much with discussions we've had that I must share it. If...

Huh. I'm not sure whether I buy that interpretation or not, but it certainly thought-provoking, and worth consideration. Thanks for sharing it.

Perusing this discussion again, I've had a thought about why the material of the blade doesn't interest me more. Does the text show any interest in the material composition of weapons, armor, or for that matter fabrics or textiles? Not that I recall. There's Mithril, but the text doesn't dwell...

This was broadly my interpretation of Legolas' knife being described as "white," as well, and I'm sure it's no accident all of those adjectives you quote also serve quite well to describe Legolas himself and the elves of Mirkwood.

Again, I can't comment on Roma peoples, either here in North America or in Europe. I know a bit more about Black Americans and Indigenous Americans, and perhaps there are some useful parallels to draw, at least as far as other marginalized groups in North America go. (Again, I understand the...

That question may remain, but once again, I'm afraid I'm not the one to help you answer it, because I don't care. I care about the ethics of cultural artifacts which may be offensive to peoples who have been traditionally persecuted. And I care about some aspects of copyright that I find...

Oh, yeah, I'm sure they would. I was just struck by the idea of the Rangers as a militia operating under the state authority of of men whose state's existence is not formally recognized except in a few places. I wondered what would happen if I, as a common human or hobbit, or even dwarf perhaps...

@Odola I'm afraid I'm not at all the right person to ask that question. The answer would have to come primarily from Romani peoples themselves (I acknowledge and respect your reasons for eschewing this word, due to its lack of clarity. Unfortunately, it's the only term I know, apart from the "g"...

And wouldn't it be fun to watch them try?

Ha-ha, yes, I'm aware of the fact that my country tends to export its attitudes and mores to other countries, whether or not they're beneficial or even make sense, and that this is often a one-way process, which is certainly troubling. (I could expound my thoughts on this phenomenon, but again...