Annoying Amateurs

[Orominuialwen]

The other day I got into this conversation with a good friend of mine about the pronunciation of Sméagol. The're quite intelligent and having studied French for 2 years was in the process of saying to someone else that it is 3 sylablles and not 2.

Having heard that (I have this ability to detect anything LOTR related in an instant, anyone else have this uncanny ability? ) I promptly proceeded to tell them that they were mistaken and that it was only 2. They kept insisting that because there was an accent mark, there were 3 syllables.

After a few minutes of my trying to explane the basis of his name in terms of its Old English roots and her still insisting there were 3 syllables she finally said, "I shouldn't be arguing with you, you know more about LOTR than I do."

I pronounce it with 3 syllables, like smay-uh-goll, but whatever.

I once had an obnoxious girl who didn't even like LotR tell me that she couldn't remember Legolas' name, but she though he was hot, so she just called him "Arrow-Man."

I still consider myself an amateur, although hopefully not an annoying one. I hadn't read any of the books before I saw FotR, but I started reading them shortly after that, so I've only been a fan of LotR for a little more than two years. I've only been on the 'Downs for a bit less than a year, and I've only read some scattered bits of HoME. I think that it's perfectly fine to be an amateur, so long as you don't think you know everything.