Did JRRT encourage new ME stories?

[Bêthberry]

Drigel, I must apologize for anouncing that deletion of your post. You were/are of course absolutely free to delete as you choose. Most members have, I suspect, deleted posts and I hardly think we are required to give reasons, despite what that little blank box says. What prompted me to comment upon it was the timing. Literally, I read it, hit the reply button, and the reply screen came up blank. I still think it is extraordinary timing.

No doubt with all Tolkien's talk of pipeweed, you folks have entirely the wrong opinion about "snorting." The verb derives from Middle English and only later--going by the OED--do the slang uses of the word appear. It has a completely legitimate use to suggest human contempt or indignation. I recall that (and of course my memory at the end of long, hot day battling the elements in the garden is as liable to tricks as anyone's) the OED records uses by Dickens and Walter Scott to describe characters' reactions of scorn or ridicule to a statement, so the word quite legitimately is not limited to animal breathing noises only .

Besides, my quick perusal of the third part of Mithadan's story, shows that it is Gandalf who is described as snorting, in indigation to being called "father."

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Ælfwine sat with Olórin and drained yet another cup. "Fine ale," he said. "And a fine night also! Your arrival was timely, father."

Olórin sipped carefully at his cup taking care not to wet his beard. "Father?" he snorted. "You may call me Gandalf. And yes the beer is good, but I have had better. But that was long ago.

I do believe this context is entirely in keeping with that meaning of indignation, especially for a Gandalf the Grey and his wit. I could, of course, have missed the line of 'Pengolodh snorted'--it could even be in one of the stories I haven't read, as I am not generally a reader of fanfiction and have never written any, althhough I have participated in RPGs--but even if I had, as I recall, there are some elves in Tolkien who do feel indignation, great indignation, particularly because of their own sense of their self-dignity, and who would, I suspect, again because of that lack of distance and self-deprecation, lack the wit of a Gandalf. I suppose it all comes down to context and how forgiving a reader is. After all, I seem to recall there are some historical whoopers in LotR like umbrellas.