Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Neithan]

OK Fordim, you are just trying to annoy us no wingers aren't you? I must admit I gritted my teeth when I first saw what you wrote, you know full well the argument about the meaning of that quote so I will not bring it up again.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by Neithan

OK Fordim, you are just trying to annoy us no wingers aren't you? I must admit I gritted my teeth when I first saw what you wrote, you know full well the argument about the meaning of that quote so I will not bring it up again.

I am well aware of the argument indeed:

1) The statement "and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings" conclusively proves that there are no wings, only shadows that look like wings. (This is a common occurence in the English language, in which the following sentence, "That animal looks like a dog" conclusively proves that said creature is a cat.)

2) Having proved incontrovertibly with the above sentence that the great shadowy forms that look like wings are in fact not wings, we can finally interpret the extraordinarily ambiguous claim that "its wings were spread from wall to wall" as meaning "its great wing-like shadows spread out from wall to wall".

How could anyone disagree with such unassailable logic?