Linguistic puns, riddles, and jokes in LotR, etc.

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I think this thread is worth raising from its second-page exile, if only for the airing of my new signature. Again I'm indebted to Professor Shippey for pointing out that the word 'okshen' means 'mess' in the Huddersfield dialect. Hence, he notes, Bilbo returns to Bag End at the conclusion of The Hobbit to find both an auction and a mess.

What I find much more amusing, though, is the description of the prices fetched by various items in said sale:

It was now nearly lunchtime, and most of the things had already been sold, for various prices from next to nothing to old songs (as is not unusual at auctions)

The range in prices could not have been very wide if the most expensive items were 'going for a song'!