Why did Gandalf say this....

[Birdland]

Doug. Are you sure the words 'Man' and 'Woman' are used in reference to Hobbits?

While Gandalf is technically correct, in that Tolkien states that Hobbits are related to Men, Halfling's themselves don't seem to be too fond of the comparison.

Tolkien seems to avoid the issue of common gender nouns for adult Halflings by using Old English colloquialisms. He refers to Hobbits as "gaffers" and "gammers", "lads" and "lasses", "gentlehobbits", etc. As to what the Hobbits called themselves, I would imagine that they had their own unique words.

Since there are so many distinct humanoid races in Middle Earth, calling oneself "a man" when you are actually a Halfing would get rather confusing. It's probably for the best that the Good professor deftly avoids making any references to it.

[ February 27, 2003: Message edited by: Birdland ]