The JRR Tolkien Pronunciation Poll

[Umbran]

That's the joke he was making!

If you have to explain that to the audience, the joke wasn't well done. Plain text is not a great medium for deadpan humor.

 

[Morrus]

If you have to explain that to the audience, the joke wasn't well done. Plain text is not a great medium for deadpan humor.

I laughed.

 

[Voadam]

Let's not start a row about it.

 

[Mark Hope]

"Bow" to rhyme with "row" and "sow".

Outstanding

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Apparently penned by one of his Dartmouth colleagues:

"You are wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn't rejoice
If you're calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice."

The real poll is how do you pronounce "Dr. Seuss"?
1. Soos
2. Zoice

Hint: It's #2, per he and his family directly.

As an aside, one thing I heard on the Appendix N Book Club podcast that stuck with me is that you can pronounce fantasy names however you want, because they're all made up anyway. I'm sure the good Professor would disagree, but there's something freeing about the idea.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

you can pronounce fantasy names however you want, because they're all made up anyway.

Hmm. But so is every word in the human language "made up".

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Heh, true. Though I daresay there's a difference between words with a clear etymology, like how "altitude" in English comes from the word "alta" in Latin, and words created by Terry Brooks like Ellcrys, because it sounded cool.

Hmm. But so is every word in the human language "made up".

 

[GrahamWills]

Hmm. But so is every word in the human language "made up".

um, well, that's a long topic. But in English, most oft them are borrowed or assembled from outer languages. An example is "tele-vision" which is made up run the sense of being coined, but it's not made up from nothing; there are rules that dictate how good words are assembled.

For me, one reason I ditched on the the Wheels of Time series was that he didn't follow those rules well and mixed roots from different languages in odd ways. It sufficiently annoyed me that I quit reading the series after book one. This could suggest (1) it's important to pay attention to the rules, or (2) I am overly picky, or -- most likely -- (3) both of the previous.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

um, well, that's a long topic. But in English, most oft them are borrowed or assembled from outer languages. An example is "tele-vision" which is made up run the sense of being coined, but it's not made up from nothing; there are rules that dictate how good words are assembled.

For me, one reason I ditched on the the Wheels of Time series was that he didn't follow those rules well and mixed roots from different languages in odd ways. It sufficiently annoyed me that I quit reading the series after book one. This could suggest (1) it's important to pay attention to the rules, or (2) I am overly picky, or -- most likely -- (3) both of the previous.

Thus Sauron, a Fantasy name, with roots in Saurian, et al. The list goes on, but the point I responded to is that one could ignore all Fantasy words as made-up. Also no distinction as to whether they are derived, or whatever. Thus, your point, first paragraph affirms; the rest is based on proclivity and I side with what came first, the chicken or the egg? in word origination, that is if one goes all the way to superseding at its origin point "the grunt."

 

[aramis erak]

Wait a minute....

Secret C S Lewis biopic?

Tribute, not biopic.