Prof. Tolkien's page

Gandalf the most powerful being on middle-earth ?

That would be forgetting Tom Bombadil...

I've always imagined Tom an avatar of Ilúvatar, so I don't count him among the beings on ME.

Because it's my obsession to notice these things--

There is no such word as 'completionist'...

'Completist' is the correct form.

V/R

The US enjoys a 99% literacy rate, according to government metrics. While I've met many people, even university-educated, who don't read well, and poor spellers are a plague all the way to the post-doc level, I've never actually met anyone under 70 I would consider illiterate.

Not understanding a form of English in excess of 500 years old and out-of-use does not an illiterate make.

the question of why super speedsters dont burn up has been asked and answered countless times. What I want to know is how the heck to they see where they are going and not run into things, yet super sight is not really noted in their powers. So Reed Richards is supposed to be smart right, but consider how fast a super speedster would have to process data just to keep from smashing into stuff as stuff from their optic sensors have to be fed through the optic nerve; get processed by their mental faculties; then that signal has to go to their muscles. Now how the heck do they do that with normal eyes and brains or near normal anyway?

To whom is this question addressed?

Dancey is off his rocker here...First, that wild estimate of 60 copies a day was made weeks after release. Sales for the first month are going to be much higher than that would indicate.

Start with an ad hominem, okay...

Dancey has a massive, double-bladed axe to grind with WotC, and it shows. He is incapable of giving an even-handed assessment of the industry because his unfortunate vitriol clouds it. Just look at the way he refers to WotC's actions in his original post as theft, even though that's been shown to be patently false.

And back to the ad hominem.

Neither comments contain an ad hominem argument.

A fantasy land with no sense of humor seems like a very sucky place to be.

Isn't that the World of Darkness...? [Ducks and runs for cover]

Speak for yourself. It's a very dark sense of humor, with a big dose of Schadenfreude, but a laugh is a laugh }>

I find WoD is more an epicaricactic universe--every adventure there is just another Roman holiday...

Thunderan magic sword.

Readerbreeder wrote:

So, OF-fen or of-TEN? Or (as I've heard it occasionally) OR-fen?

Also, barn and born are NOT interchangeable! (Got this in Utahr a couple of times.)

OF-fen would be correct, but most people pronounce the "t" anyway, so it's pointless for me to care, but...

It just kind of drives me nuts.

Mostly when people try to correct MY pronunciation of "often".

I would never correct you, and I don't pronounce the 't either'--During the 15th century English experienced a widespread loss of certain consonant sounds within consonant clusters, as the (d) in handsome and handkerchief, the (p) in consumption and raspberry, and the (t) in chestnut and often. In this way the consonant clusters were simplified and made easier to articulate. With the rise of public education and literacy and, consequently, people's awareness of spelling in the 19th century, sounds that had become silent sometimes were restored, as is the case with the t in often, which is now frequently pronounced. In other similar words, such as soften and listen, the t generally remains silent.

It's very debatable whether or not it's incorrect to pronounce the 't,' and you're as likely to find an English professor who argues for it as against it, as well as differing dictionaries. Some of it is surely regional, and some of it is surely accent (as in barn/born).

You know, as far as US education goes...

--85% of adult Americans have at least a high school degree today, up from just 25% in 1940. Similarly, 28% have a college degree, a fivefold gain over this period. Today's U.S. workforce is the most educated in the world.

--Americans read more books, per capita per year, than any other nation.

--American universities still graduate more US citizens in the fields of science and engineering than any other country does their own citizens; more US-trained scientists go on to win acclaimed awards and prizes in their respective fields, as well.

It's a shame the media revels in showing us a half-dozen underachievers who can't spell potato, and then we all decry the entire system of education.

Skittles, and Eddy said the pastels were only

Earl Grey and Digestives.

Whoo! It took a $25,000 loan, but I finally got the new Apple Lisa! Now, if only I could figure out this 'mouse' thing...

I'm flagging every single anti-Walking Dude post on the Stephen King Word Game thread, and you can't stop me.

I'm with Flagg...

I'd prefer if people not flag old stuff. The idea isn't to rewrite history and clean up past messes, the idea is to alert us to stuff quickly so it can be dealt with sooner rather than later when it's turned into a thread that needs to be locked...

I think Randall and crew were trying to be clever... Randall Flagg and Martin Broadcloak...Stephen King...

word game. Nonetheless, Father Calahan boarded the bus.

I am the erudite aspect of Andrew Turner's webwork DID (MPD).

Now, you're supposed to give everyone else a gift, remember...?

While I agree with Andrew Turner's esteemed logic (always without fail, is Master Andrew!), I believe Lord Gygax developed the word out of the Gaelic. He chose to pronounce it to rhyme with 'cow,' and so it does.

Sara so pretty--

[gesticulation of disgust] *rolls eyes*[/gesticulation of disgust]

At the Mountains of Madness

Again, I say, again...zyxt!

Zyxt

Yea, verily! And good fortune, nigh barristers!

*hiccough*

Cheese wrote:

I like chocolate milk!

Chocolate milk is not something anyone can logically like. You must like white milk instead.

Please ignore Master Cheese; he is quite lactose-intolerant.

Cowboy Bebop, YEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Um... jazz bebop. You know, like Max Roach. Clifford Brown. About as far from cowboy music as you can get.

I believe Master Jenkins was attempting to draw a pun by juxtaposing the word 'bebop' with Houstonians and capitalizing on the stereotype of Texas cowboys, all against the anime series Cowboy Bebop.

He probably also thought his particular avatar looked appropriately humorous against the exclamation 'yee-ha.'

I'm fairly certain Mr. Jenkins is not altogether...right. In the head, that is.

What's a gandalf?

Where's my hot poker!

Tolkien shall one day be deified. Were he to answer these questions all would obey.

Phonetically,

LITCH

So it is said, so it is done.