Dear WotC - You suck at names.

[Clavis]

In is other writings, Tolkien makes numerous references to his dislike for Celtic style.

That's an Anglo-Saxon for you, I suppose.

Now I can put my finger on why I always kind of disliked Tolkien. Besides the racist subtext of the tall, Aryan-looking elves versus the Orcs, who were "squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types".

Oh, and the LOTR movies were WAY more fun than the snooze-inducing books.

 

[Gloombunny]

I'd love to see someone call a place Wetspot sometime.

They already did. It's in Seattle. Fun place to spend an evening, if you're into that sort of thing. ^_-

 

[Kunimatyu]

Reviving the thread -- "Dragon's Tail Cut"?

Guys, get help now.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Reviving the thread -- "Dragon's Tail Cut"?

That's right. Fear it, Fish-Boy.

 

[Kunimatyu]

That's right. Fear it, Fish-Boy.

Hey, I'd be all about a "Trenchant Salmon Slam".

 

[JohnSnow]

Tolkien specifically called out King Arthur as a hybrid of Celtic legends and much later Norman French influences, and therefore not English at all.

But by English, he specifically meant Anglo-Saxon. I think Tolkien believed that William of Orange winning the battle of Hastings in 1066 was one of the greatest tragedies of Western history.

Slight nitpick...

William (of Normandy) the Conqueror won the battle of Hastings in 1066. He won it through subterfuge and deceit. His victory was pretty short-lived, since the English were still called "English" and still speaking "English," (with the primary tie to France being that they owned half of it) 300 years later.

By contrast, the only William of Orange with a strong connection to England was a Prince of Orange (in the Netherlands) who became King of England (as William III) in the 17th-century.

 

[Ourph]

It WotC would just rip off names wholesale from Jack Vance for 4e the world would be a better place.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

They already did. It's in Seattle. Fun place to spend an evening, if you're into that sort of thing. ^_-

Into membership by the ton?

Here I go again, into the breach, on my own:

I submit "Coverdale:"

 

[BASHMAN]

WotC,

You're great guys. I love all the changes I've heard about 4e so far, from encounter design, cosmology, points of light, PC mechanics -- the whole works.

However.

You are TERRIBLE at coming up with names. "Emerald Frost"? "Feywild"? "Shadowfell"? WTF?

Those are horrid, lame, pathetic names. Please find someone who can make non-terrible names. Or, if that's not possible, put up submission contests to come up with better ones.

All the best,
Kuni

You forgot "Dragon's Tail Cut"

 

[TwinBahamut]

Slight nitpick...

William (of Normandy) the Conqueror won the battle of Hastings in 1066. He won it through subterfuge and deceit. His victory was pretty short-lived, since the English were still called "English" and still speaking "English," (with the primary tie to France being that they owned half of it) 300 years later.

By contrast, the only William of Orange with a strong connection to England was a Prince of Orange (in the Netherlands) who became King of England (as William III) in the 17th-century.

Huh... Pretty big cultural bias here... So much stuff that is wrong.

Regardless, while they called it "English" before and after, people today call the languages before and after the Norman enforcement of the French language "Old English" and "Middle English". Besides, the "frenchness" of William the Conquerer is rather unimportant, considering Normandy has both a British and Viking heritage...