tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post4945015938564183034..comments2024-03-28T14:05:25.134-07:00Comments on Sacnoth's Scriptorium: Trivia, but Possibly not TrivialJohn D. Rateliffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-8040933636413703892013-01-03T20:17:58.900-08:002013-01-03T20:17:58.900-08:00Dear Alanajoli
That's certainly possible -- I...Dear Alanajoli<br /><br />That's certainly possible -- I've seen search-and-replace errors that were amusing and dismaying all at the same time. Indeed, a co-worker of mine once committed the egregious blunder of typing in Search/Replace for "mage" to "wizard". Unfortunately, this was for a TSR D&D project, a compilation book of magic items or spells, in which every occurrence of the word "damage" suddenly became "dawizard".<br /><br />That sounds like a made-up story, but alas it really happened.<br /><br />I suppose in perspective, "dwarve" is relatively mild, since it's so obviously an error. <br /><br />--John R.John D. Rateliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-62853960972020711912013-01-03T06:28:28.159-08:002013-01-03T06:28:28.159-08:00A suspicion on the dwarves/dwarve thing -- if he u...A suspicion on the <i>dwarves/dwarve</i> thing -- if he used <i>dwarfs/dwarf</i> in the original edition, and someone used a spell check to "fix" all instances of dwarfs to dwarves, but instead changed all dwarf to dwarve, that would do it. Having been on the receiving end of some awful find and replace errors during the typesetting process, I have a sneaky suspicion. :)alanajolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04987179031266452035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-72328695496235724982012-12-31T11:56:45.285-08:002012-12-31T11:56:45.285-08:00Dear Ronald: I've set aside the book for you a...Dear Ronald: I've set aside the book for you and sent an email to confirm.<br /><br />Dear Troels: yes, certainly it can be argued that Dwarves precede Elves. But it can hardly be maintained that Men predate Ents. So if we were going to go with MacKay's logic, the correct answer shd have been Dwarves, Ents, Elves. The reason I place Ents before Elves is Treebeard's comment that the Ents existed in the dawn of the world, but only learned speech when the elves arrived. I believe this suggests the Elves' awakening, not just their migration into ent-lands<br /><br />Of course, we cd include Eagles in that (cf. SILM.45-46), but then the sequence wd be Dwarves, Elves, Ents, Eagles, Men, Hobbits. So once again 'Men" wd not be among the 'elder' races, as MacKay believed.<br /><br /><br />I must say I'm currently working my way thr another Tolkien trivia book, this time by Nick Hurwitch. Which, if not without its problems, is nonetheless much to be preferred to MacKay's effort.<br /><br />--JDR<br /><br /><br />John D. Rateliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-78891180387012608252012-12-28T17:41:09.001-08:002012-12-28T17:41:09.001-08:00Thank you for the warning — MacKay will join the e...Thank you for the warning — MacKay will join the expanding list of people whose writings about Tolkien I will stay away from. <br /><br />I think one of the points raised might be debatable: <br /><br />A good argument can certainly be made that Dwarves as a race is older than the Ents, if we follow the story of Aulë constructing the Dwarves prior to the awakening of the Children of Ilúvatar. <br /><br />As a concept, the Ents are older if we accept the story that Yavanna had included them in the Music.<br /><br />As for who awoke first, the Fathers of the Dwarves or the Ents, that is impossible to say — both awoke after the Elves, but I know of no text that gives any hint of the order. <br /><br />Celeborn calling Treebeard "Eldest" doesn't tell us anything of whether Treebeard awoke before Durin as Durin is no longer alive. <br /><br />All of this doesn't justify the inclusion of the question since that would require complete certainty rather than legitimate interpretation: the question could be corrected to four races (without capitalisation) and all of them can be included. <br /><br /><br />As for "Ennor" I suppose it may be a misspelling of <i>Endor</i> (which I am not entirely sure whether is Quenya or Sindarin?) — not that it helps much.Troelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07515711722551393026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-29364218681568522372012-12-28T03:24:52.331-08:002012-12-28T03:24:52.331-08:00I surely would like the book you so generously off...I surely would like the book you so generously offer, but ONLY if dedicated to me by you in writing ;-) But that would surely be asking too much, since I live in Brasil. My chief claim to Tolkienian fame is having either translated or acted as a consultant for all of JRRT's works on the Brasilian market... and I am currently working on the translation (alliterative, no less) of "The Fall of Arthur", all the while reading - belatedly! - your Hobbit history. No, not my main occupation, but one that understandably gives me much pleasure. Keep up the good work, which I follow via your exceedingly interesting blog.<br />Ronald Kyrmse<br />kyrmse@gmail.comRonald Kyrmsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12376317432359978341noreply@blogger.com