Ah, the return of the scarily short responses. o.O Way to go,
Eomer and
burra.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim
I don't think Gollum put too much thought into how to properly use the word precious. He just bandied it about rather carelessly, which is precisely the kind of thing that you do if you're having quite tremendous personal and psychological problems as Gollum clearly was.
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That's a very good point. I think it could have become just something he said, with little significance behind it. It could be rather like some people will habitually say "I love you" when terminating a phone call with someone close to them. It becomes a habit; so whether they consciously decide to say it or not, it still comes out.
I do think there may be a difference between "precious" and "The Precious", however. The Precious does seem to be in reference to the Ring. "precious", uncapitalized, seems to just be the habitual term Gollum/Smeagol uses when talking to others or himself. Perhaps it's like an "affectionate" (heh) moniker, such as "dear" or something to that effect. And, as I stated above, Gollum's use of it could be purely subconscious.
~ Saphy ~