Probably have to do a bit of research before giving you any definitive answers. But for most of the words there are "official" pronunciations, barring regional differences. The films actually do a good job. As far as I know, they spent some time to try and get that right.

[b:r8qhgfjy]GB[/b:r8qhgfjy]

Whoah! Off topic--I love the Tintin Avatar J Dwarf. I'm a huge fan from waaaaaay back .

[b:3nx83x0w]GB[/b:3nx83x0w]

Sauron was always [i:pu6neoh9]Sore[/i:pu6neoh9]-ron for me, but then I had to adjust to [i:pu6neoh9]Sow[/i:pu6neoh9]-ron: [i:pu6neoh9]sow[/i:pu6neoh9] to rhyme with [i:pu6neoh9]cow[/i:pu6neoh9], same as in the film, and Tolkien's pronunciation I believe. Or should that be [i:pu6neoh9]Sour-[/i:pu6neoh9]ron, with the [i:pu6neoh9]sour [/i:pu6neoh9]not enunciated too strongly? Mostly I still call him [i:pu6neoh9]Sore[/i:pu6neoh9]-ron, which I still prefer.

NB If he had come to Australia we probably would have called him Ron, Ronny, or Bruce. (Less confusion about pronunciation. We keep things simple down here).

Sounds better though, don't you think?

I think you're right with [i:12hln50j]Sour[/i:12hln50j]on Odo, don't know what you guys were thinking when pronouncing it [i:12hln50j]Saw[/i:12hln50j]ron, doesn't really sound right to me but I suppose it's all a matter of opinion...

Is Faramir Fara[i:12hln50j]mer[/i:12hln50j] or is it Fara[i:12hln50j]meer[/i:12hln50j] (same go's for Palantir and Boromir, and so on)

Btw GB, I agree Herg’ is pretty cool , the books are great fun , but they do mirror a kind of racist viewpoint don't they? Whereas the illustration can't be beaten, the stories are good but only to a certain extent because of the countless uses of racial stereotypes, typical of mid 20th century Europe, so they're hard to fully appreciate for me, in that kind of sense.

Tintin in the Congo is a very good example of these views coming through as you probably know, for example one of the African character's is nicknamed Coco . Don't get me wrong though, I still love Herge's work and I still love Tintin .

[img:12hln50j]http://serieland.dk/wp-content/uploads/tintinicongo_1b.jpg[/img:12hln50j]

Sorry I found the image on Google so I don't know what language that's in or what they're saying exactly.

[b:12hln50j]JD[/b:12hln50j]

Perhaps i just like annoying pedantry minds'. They tend to mistake precision in a set of rules for knowledge! Or perhaps I should get a series of handy internet lists to refer to in future

Tintin in the Congo was originally written and published in 1930 (though redrawn in 1946--and reworked again in 1975), when Herge was young and Naive. He reflected the Colonial views of his time and his employer who felt the comic should promote such views. Herge later came to regret his depiction of African peoples and cruelty to animals and would come to describe it as the "sin of his youth".

Another work written in 1932 was Tintin in America which also had depicted African Americans in a similar fashion. He later reworked panels to reflect his more mature views. A number of people unfairly criticize Herge for his early work, and mistakenly believed him to be a supporter of Fascism because he continued working for the same newspaper when it was taken over by Nazis when they occupied Belgium. However, his own brother was a resistance fighter, who he based Tintin on (and who he concealed from the Nazis). And another resistance fighter hired him after WW2. These facts tend to put to rest such claims.

A lot of his works were originally written and drawn in the 30s and 40s and did reflect some of the racism of that period. Herge reworked a lot of them to reflect his own more center/liberal views in the post-war period. His works feature a fair bit of political satire that targeted both Fascism and Communism (I think a bit naively, by focusing on their authoritarianism rather than their ideologies) as mirror images of each other. But Tintin in America has a segment that is one of the finest satires of Capitalist exploitation of Native Americans as I've ever seen.

If I'm not mistaken, the language in that particular panel is Danish, though there is a slight chance it may be Swedish and/or Norwegian as they are all part of the Scandinavian Languge group. Herge originally published in French, one of the three main languages spoken in Belgium.

Now back to Tolkien .

[b:og14i7a2]GB[/b:og14i7a2]

GB, how come the threads always get messy when you're involved? Do you do it deliberately?

Ah...um.... GB, how come when threads get messy, you're always involved?

Noticed the same thing myself. I must experiment. The time right now is 2.09am

Trying to talk about Tolkien again , I use the -eer pronunciation JD mentioned.

Another interesting note is that there are no "soft Cs" in Middle-earth. They're all pronounced like Keleborn, Kelduin, etc.

Not Frito, either?

"Oh wife, will you be a dear and pass the [i:185nq9qb]scownes[/i:185nq9qb], please. I would surely adore one of those [i:185nq9qb]scownes[/i:185nq9qb] with my tea!"

What a lot of blarney. You'll have the Irish kissin the blarney [i:185nq9qb]scowne[/i:185nq9qb], next!

[i:185nq9qb]Sconn[/i:185nq9qb], mate! It's [i:185nq9qb]sconn[/i:185nq9qb]! And no cream, mate - it's vegemite orthaway, you packa mincin nancies!

Ah ! Tolkiens languages ! Joy !
It's always been 'meer' for me. I'm sure I used to say 'sou-ron' when I was very young but changed later to 'saw-ron'.
Now that I think of it, this occured when I discovered Morgoth ! It seemed more apt somehow from then.

Interesting aside : My English teacher used to say 'yomer' for Eomer, and 'yowen' for Eowyn ! He used the word yo like
some do today: Yo ! a-la-Fonzie from happy days ! (this was in the 80's)! They were his favourite characters.

Of course the Sauron point becomes more pertinent now that we are discussing Smaug. I wonder how Del-Toro etc
will do it ? 'Smowg' like cow or 'Smog' like.... Smog ?

Anymore for anymore ?

Hail !!

(btw wise Odo, it's 1 am !

Question: What was Sauron's great great great... grandfather called?

Answer: Dinosauron

(Surpisingly that one was mine...)

[b:31jer4i0]JD[/b:31jer4i0]

Why do I feel like I'm in a scene from the first Jurassic Park film?

[b:3dug9czg]GB[/b:3dug9czg]

I believe Tolkien once said in a letter that the "fell beasts" might have been the last surviving descendants of pterosaurs or other flying dinosaurs.

Probably should discuss this on the Origins thread.

[b:3hxj5pws]GB[/b:3hxj5pws]

See response on Origins thread. We can speculate further on it there.

[b:1bhsniob]GB[/b:1bhsniob]

Just wondering is Th’oden pronounced the same as his sister, Th’odwyn? If so that would be very confusing for their parents

I read Sauron exactly the same way, as Sawron Galadriel.
The one I love to hear Tolkien say is Mordor, the way he rolls the r in it- I always used to read it with a single 'r' sound, but since hearing Tolkien I now when I'm reading hear it as he pronounces it, Morrrdor.

Here you go Galadriel;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s59oDfD ... re=related

there's quite a few other bit and bobs there of Tolkien readin g extracts- well worth a listen if you are interested in how he pronounces words.

[quote="Galadriel2911":2vcspvo7]I've always pronounced Sauron as Sawron & was quite surprised when watching the films that it was pronounced Souron, lol.. And quite a few other words were said differently.. I say Grima & not Greema, Boromeer & not Boromer.. I think they sound better (to me anyway) than the way Tolkien meant them to be..
Also, ive always pronounced Tolkien as Tolk-i-en & not Tolkeen.. Please, no one laugh at me for that, lol..

ps.. On the subject of Tintin - I still have my beloved Tintin school pencil case - with the fab picture of Tintin & the Pyramids.. [/quote:2vcspvo7]



OH EM GEEE!!!!

My fave character was snowy or perhaps the twins!
By god they never failed to make me chuckle!!!!

xxx

Hail !! anklegones !

If you do mean ' flabbergasted', It's sort of how you feel sometimes when you're looking at (or maybe reading/hearing) something and your thinking...
...'what is going on!!'

Or perhaps...

[quote="anklegones":178w2p2a]My fave character was snowy or perhaps the twins!
By god they never failed to make me chuckle!!!![/quote:178w2p2a]

... What are you talking about ??

Nor I, although I recognised the names but.....