American Readers(and others too)

[Shelob]

Morsul The Dark

when Reading TH for the first time I was amazed at how many "cakes" the dwarves ate because I pictured a cake as a birthday cake not a (as Im assuming was meant) a biscuit

I assumed that by 'cake' it ment something which was easy to pack, lasted long, and was generally usefull in that sense (I can picture it but not describe it, sorry...though I guess an american biscuit would be close...maybe more of a scone in terms of texture) I just kind of ruled out stuff like birthday cakes because it would be really crumbly and therefore not much use for traveling or anything as well as being rather a strange thing to eat on a regular basis...

Lalwendë

I thought a biscuit in the US was something you poured gravy on (we pour it on chips, but then your chips aren't big chunky greasy yet strangely tasty things are they?....).

After much thought, and trying to sort out in my ever-confused-mind the american definition of 'biscuit' yes, american biscuits are something eaten with a meal (I'm used to eating them with soups and stews but one could easily pour gravy on them). As to the chip thing British Chips are like American French Fries (not thin little McDonalds ones, but thicker like steak fries...) and an American Chips are like British Crisps (though we've nothing nearly as cool as Walkers Crisps).

Morsul The Dark

did anyone else due to dialects misinterpret something as funny or unusual?

I can't say that I ever have, I mean I probably have, I just can't think of it now. I do have to Thank You though Morsul the Dark, Now I'll forever have the image of the Dwarves sitting around eating birthday cake after birthday cake in my mind.

[mark12_30]

Well, maybe not birthday cakes, but you know, pound cakes or so. Yeah, great big things. I just figured Tolkien was showing what massive appetites dwarves had. They ate Bilbo out of house and home.

But that was a good thing, becaues if they hadn't, hen while Bilbo was away the Bag End pantries would have sat and festered for two YEARS eeeeeewwwwww.

[Nimrodel_9]

What the dwarves ate would I suppose be equivalent to cup cakes in the US? Like birthday cake, but about small enough to put in your mouth all in one go. (I hasten to add, you would only put them in your mouth in one go if you were trying to snaffle them before your mother catches you stealing from the pantry.)

Me, steal a cupcake before my mother catches me? Never....

Can't say that I thought of it being a whole birthday cake! More of a cupcake. Let us hope so! Ouch! My tummy would hurt if I ate a whole cake! Hmmm... I'll have to add that to my to do list.

[AbercrombieOfRohan]

maybe it was a wedding cake.... (even more enjoyable to think about dwarves carrying around)

[Lalwendë]

I keep laughing thinking of a Dwarf scoffing a huge birthday cake, which is not entirely without the realms of possibility; it certainly wouldn't be for a particularly greedy Hobbit. No, but cake definitely means a sweet, small and very tasty cake indeed. If a little sponge cake, they often go by the name of buns or fairy cakes, and are possibly closest to cup cakes, but they come in infinite varieties; some have cream in them, some custard, some are in fact made with pastry, but to a man (or rather, to a cake) they are all sweet and exceedingly good.

A biscuit is also sweet and incredibly nice, especially the Chocolate Hob Nob. I suppose the closest American equivalent is the Cookie, which in the UK usually describes a type of biscut, usually a very sweet one stuffed with chunks of chocolate and nuts, the kind of biscuits which make people exclaim when you produce them with a pot of tea. Some also like to dunk biscuits in their tea, an odious habit which means you get sludge at the bottom of the cup. Blee. Though I have comitted treason in saying it.

The closest things to American biscuits I suppose might be crackers , which we tend to have with cheese or smoked salmon or other savoury things on top. But if it's something which accompanies a meal then the closest thing might be Yorkshire Pudding, commonly served slathered in gravy with roast beef on Sundays. But this must not be confused with Bakewell Pudding, obtainable fifteen miles from Yorkshire, and which like most things with the word 'pudding' in them is sweet. The only other savoury pudding is Steak & Kidney Pudding.

It is actually quite funny, because I'm sure Tolkien was not playing with his words in this instance and trying to confuse matters linguistically. But by happy accident it does conjour up images of dwarves and Hobbits gorging on vast portions of food. Was anyone in America confused by the idea of eating fish with chips then?

[Rimbaud]

Black pudding, Lal. But that's fairly grim stuff. Just to confuse the issue, Jaffa Cakes resemble UK biscuits, but are probably really cakes. I suggest going to a Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit-down for a full and frank discussion of such matters.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Thanks ever so much. Before, I'd pictured Bilbo's cakes as being scones (*drools*)... now they are forever birthday cakes. Actually, besides scones, I also pictured such things as coffee cakes, banana nut bread, and the "lembas" that I found [and subsequently lost] the recipe for one day online. Tasty stuff, if a bit rich and filling. But then that is the point, isn't it... Fea