Frodo’s Self Introduction to Butterburr

[Matt DeForrest]

I wanted to add one thought about Frodo dropping the Mister from his traveling name during his introductions at the Prancing Pony. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, you did not address people by their first names unless you were particularly close — the kind of closeness shared by the TCB and by Frodo, Merry, and Pippin. If you knew someone well enough, but not on that level of familiarity, you used their last name without title. So, something like:

Servant or someone of a lower order: “Good afternoon, Colonel Pickering. What can I do for you?”

Someone who belongs to the same club: “I say, Pickering: What do you make of Professor Higgins’ Claims?”

An easy example for many will be the way that Holmes and Watson refer to one another by those names in the texts while they go by Sherlock and John in the recent BBC series set in contemporary London.

Frodo dropping the “Mister” is a positive act of condescension or a recognition that Butterburr is an important enough person to treat with him as an equal. That invitation would not be the kind of thing he should offer on behalf of Merry and Pippin.

 

[JJ48]

Would you say your own title when introducing yourself in such a situation, though? I know in Japanese culture, you don't add an honorific after your own name when introducing yourself, as that is viewed as elevating yourself (even though everyone else will add the honorific when they address you). I guess I had more or less assumed that Frodo was doing something similar here, and leaving off his title when introducing himself, while keeping it for his friends. His introduction by only his last name and his position as spokesman for the party would still mark him as a Mister.

Then again, I tend to study Japanese culture far more than English culture, so it's entirely possible that I'm misinterpreting things.

 

[Matt DeForrest]

The formulation is similar here, in terms of order. Your title (Mister, Doctor, Professor, Lord, etc.), which proceeds the name, is used. Things that appear after the name (Esquire, Ph.D., KBE, etc.) generally do not, unless it is a very formal introduction. That said, it is less likely for someone today to include the initial title unless it is appropriate within the context (e.g., a business introduction rather than a social introduction).

Regardless, it is, as you say, a question of elevation. Within the situation, Frodo has access to the title Mister but not using it signals a different level of interaction -- significantly different from when Merry pulls rank and introduces himself as Mr. Brandybuck to Harry Goatleaf at the gate. Frodo is specifically leveling rank in his interaction with Butterburr.

 

[NotACat]

Omitting the title also adds a nice bit of ambiguity to the whole thing: he's not saying he is a "Mister" but he's not saying he isn't either…