If Tolkien was still alive, I would...

[Eorl of Rohan]

If Tolkien was still alive, I would...

Dream of displacing his wife and marrying him.

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Eorl of Rohan

Dream of displacing his wife and marrying him.

[Eorl of Rohan]

Well, a girl can dream, can't she?

[Mnemosyne]

Yes, and a woman who appreciates the effect that Edith had on Tolkien's mythos can find said dreaming disrespectful to the dead.

Honestly, if Tolkien were still alive, I'd leave him alone. He'd have enough rabid fans to deal with at this point.

[Eorl of Rohan]

Huh. I was obviously joking, Memo, as was evidenced by the grinning smiley.
Like "Lalaith is a Warg" or "Tolkien had pointy ears", y'know, no one actually means a joke for real.
Apparently you took my words a lot more seriously than I intended.
If you took my words as a desecration to Tolkien's memory and took umbrage, then I apologize.

It's not that I don't have a respect for Tolkien or Edith, I was trying to be funny.
Which I seem to have miserably failed, judging from your hostile reaction to my well-meant joke.
.

[Blind Guardian]

I would hope he writes more great books! Then I would try to meet him :P

[Eorl of Rohan]

And I think I'm making myself seem even more a fool by trying to explain why exactly my joke was not meant seriously
Eeeeh.... I hate it when I am misunderstood and I hate it even more when I offend someone and I can't believe both happened at the same time.

[Mnemosyne]

Eorl, communicating by text is always imperfect and the smiley system can often complicate perceived intent rather than elucidate it. Additionally, I hardly know you, so I don't know what constitutes a "joke" for you or not.

As it is, jokes work solely on perception, a lot of which is based on context. "Lalaith is a Warg" is funny when Eomer of the Rohirrim says it because he's obsessed with Wargs. If I came fresh into the forum with that comment, I wouldn't go, "Funny!" so much as I'd go, "Huh?" Similarly, without any context, "Tolkien had pointy ears" is not funny to me; it's just goofy. (And by the way, the best jokes succeed when there is the tiniest element of truth to them.)

At any rate, even jokes can be disrespectful, and the fact that it's a joke doesn't excuse it entirely. I've always had issues with people fancying 1). people they don't know personally, 2). people in the public eye, 3). dead people, and 4). people who are married. Tolkien happens to fit in all four categories, and it really doesn't help that when I think of him I think of the old guy in tweed. You just happened to hit my squick button.

I am sorry for bruising your feelings--I know that you're still trying to feel your way around the forum, and so I should not have been so "hostile" as you aptly put it.

Yours,
Mnemosyne