[ninlaith]

Ok here's what I think...even if it is a little mixed up. Isildur called the ring precious. Or it was precious truly more like it. I think when Gollum acquired the ring the essence of Isildur sort of stuck to the ring and Gollum started calling the ring his precious. Then as the ring started to consume his mind, the precious started consuming him and becoming a part of him. The part of him that he called my precious when he was talking to himself. If you remeber Smeagol used pet names while he was still a Hobbit. Give that to us Deagol my love. So i guess Gollum just really likes pet names. I don't really know. That's just always been the way I've percieved it.