Quote:
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Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor amongst the dogs?
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No, that's my neighbour. He looks like a cross between Zach Dingle and Bob Carolgees and has all the manners of a Gorilla in a rage. Actually, that bit of invective from Saruman makes me think of something a Norman might have said about one of the saxon lords.
Anyway. I once got told by my dad that during the war when there was no toilet paper they used newspaper, but when there was none of that they had to use a rag and rinse it out in a bucket. I apologise if anyone is in another time zone and having thier tea.
And there are umbrellas in Jane Austen books so even if the Shire was set in the 18th century (if we can say such a thing) they wouldn't be out of place.
I did have high hopes at one time that as Tolkien had spent a lot of time in Lancashire at Stonyhurst he'd have come across the word Petty, but I think i was getting high hopes thinking that he'd hear that in the rarified atmosphere of the Ribble Valley college, which is
frightfully posh.