alt.fan.tolkien Google Group

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

jon.lennart.beck.its.my.n...@mail.its.in.danmark (Raven) — Sat, 11 Nov 2009 02:41:36 UT

"Julian Bradfield" <j...@inf.ed.ac.uk> skrev i meddelelsen
The winner of a 20 questions round has won the right to host the next
one. Presumably that is what he meant. If you don't want to avail yourself
of that right say so, and someone else will take over. I waived my hosting
of the next round last I won.

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

j...@inf.ed.ac.uk (Julian Bradfield) — Sat, 11 Nov 2009 02:13:15 UT

I'm sorry, I don't understand this, either as a piece of English -
what does "up for" mean: it's not in my dialect, and in the only
dialects I know it from it means "ready and willing to do" (as in "up
for anything") - or as a comment upon the quoted posting.
My best guess is that you're telling me that the winner of one 20

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

cc-mar...@earthdink.net (Clams Canino) — Fri, 11 Nov 2009 20:20:06 UT

Julian - you're up for the 20 questions.
-W

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

j...@inf.ed.ac.uk (Julian Bradfield) — Fri, 11 Nov 2009 20:01:17 UT

[ big snip ]
The OED has only managed to trace "parenthesis" (meaning an inserted
remark) back to 1547 in English. The meaning of "()" is traced back to
1582 - so they're pretty much contemporaneous.
Going back to 1905 in the OED.
Unicode uses "parenthesis" (or rather "PARENTHESIS").
(And since when did Unicode give names to glyphs?)

Re: Middle-earth is Not the Muppet Show!

ojevind.l...@bredband.net (Öjevind Lång) — Fri, 11 Nov 2009 19:54:09 UT

On 25 Nov, 15:43, "Pseudonymus al-Faqha'ter III"
[snip]
I agree that there are similarities between Gwaihir and Jay Leno. I
also think Glenn Beck is a very wicked caricature of Lobelia Sackville-
Baggins.
Öjevind

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

rima...@toast.net (Steve Morrison) — Fri, 11 Nov 2009 19:48:36 UT

Doesn't look like it:
[link]
[link]
And for what it's worth, I was taught in school that these:
() are called "parentheses", these: [] "brackets", and these:
{} "braces". That would have been in the early 1970s and in

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

psper...@ix.netscom.com.invalid (Paul S. Person) — Fri, 11 Nov 2009 17:46:25 UT

On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:22:10 -0400, Derek Broughton
Well, yes, but that doesn't mean it's definition doesn't show that
"parentheses" can refer to the brackets themselves. (The "respectable
languages" referred to are, of course, all programming languages.)
It also, IIRC, defines a closed file as "safe", which is certainly

Re: How long are hobits?

liddlelel...@yahoo.com (Tamf Moo) — Fri, 11 Nov 2009 11:34:02 UT

[Prai Jei]
but they still can't tell us the precise length of a piece of string.

Re: Middle-earth is Not the Muppet Show!

pseudony...@fats.teunc.org (Pseudonymus al-Faqha'ter III) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 21:00:36 UT

On Nov 26, 3:38 am, "Noel Q. von Schneiffel"
Yes. The name "Baggins" referred originally to "getting them in the
bag."
In related news, the High Hay was originally meant to be rolled in.

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

de...@pointerstop.ca (Derek Broughton) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 18:22:10 UT

...
...
You _were_ quoting from a satirical work.
I actually understood Steve's point. A parenthesis, or as I was taught, a
"parenthetical expression", is grammatically what's inside round brackets
(or commas, etcetera). It doesn't mean that usage isn't different, but a
grammarian will often come at odds with usage...

Re: 20 Questions (Clams I)

cc-mar...@earthdink.net (Clams Canino) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 17:51:42 UT

[snip]
I think the problem is: Most of those here have an almost encyclopedic
knowledge of at least the Hobbit and LotR. The fear I had when posing a
question was that it would be answered in under 15 (too easy) or over 25
(too hard). I would not have used the low place in the hedge had it not
been called to my attention a 2nd time by the author when Frodo and co left

Re: 20 Questions (Clams I)

ojevind.l...@bredband.net (Öjevind Lång) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 17:10:01 UT

[snip]
I think it was, in common with several of the other questions asked
here, but that's just my personal opinion.
Öjevind

Re: Middle-earth is Not the Muppet Show!

psper...@ix.netscom.com.invalid (Paul S. Person) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 17:09:13 UT

On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:08:25 -0400, Derek Broughton
An article in the current /Science News/ (on invisibility cloaks, of
all things) not only appears to confuse Harry Potter with Science
Fiction (although, since magic is taught, has laws, and can be
researched in the reality of Harry Potter I suppose an argument could

Re: The Forger Tolkien Library

psper...@ix.netscom.com.invalid (Paul S. Person) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 17:03:46 UT

On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:39:28 +0200, Steve Hayes
While that may be so in some dialects, "parenthesis" also refers to
")" or "(" in English.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that "paren" was used by
printers (who need, or needed, a name for every thing, however
obscure, that they might need to use) and then adopted by programmers.

Re: 20 Questions (Clams I)

cc-mar...@earthdink.net (Clams Canino) — Thu, 11 Nov 2009 14:56:56 UT

Agreed. Especially since Nautilus missed entirely.
I was at first concerned that Nautilus' hedge could be the same hedge. But
I can now say (without hedging) that Julian has it hands down.
Congratz to Julian.
-W
( PS Was my hedge too obscure??)