Funny you should say that...

[Encaitare]

Did you ever come across a sentence or phrase in Tolkien's works that made you laugh because it brought a funny image to mind? I seem to be running across a lot of these lately... here are some of them:

Legolas and Gimli were to ride again together in the company of Aragorn and Gandalf, who went in the van with the Dunedain and the sons of Elrond.

Hmm.. makes me think of our heroes piling into a dirty, psychedelically painted old hippie van, with bumper stickers on the back: "I brake for half-elves," "Honk if you're a descendent of Numenor," etc.

The Nazgul were abroad.

The Ringwraiths, tired of being slaves to a dark lord, decided to go on vacation to a tropical island. They lounge under beach umbrellas and drink colorful beverages. Occasionally the Witch-King will lean over and hiss, "Hey! Khamul! Would you put sunscreen on my back?"

Any others you've come across?

[Beanamir of Gondor]

Dunno, except that line "And still Meriadoc the hobbit stood, blinking..."
Sort of makes me think of Pippin more than Merry. Of course, that's because I'm picturing that adorably stupid look on Billy Boyd's face when the apple hits him in the forehead...

[tar-ancalime]

OK, you've caught me...

"Tirion on Tuna"... I can't help but think "tuna salad on rye."

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

It's true... Tuna cracks me up every time. Try as I might, I cannot take that name seriously.

But does this thread include movie lines? Because every time I watch The Two Towers and hear Eowyn speak, I see a flaming hobbit named Rick Cottentree running away from orcs.

And I now (thanks to the American Readers thread) picture Smeagol as holding an American tater tot up to the sun going "Eh, what's taters, precious?". I may have to Adobe something for the fun of it...

Fea

[Nimrodel_9]

"Tirion on Tuna"... I can't help but think "tuna salad on rye."

What Feanor said.

In FotR Gandalf says, "If you don't let me in, Frodo, I shall blow your door right down your hole and out through the hill!" I don't mean to be rude, but you know...

By the way, I love you avatar Beanamir.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

[Merry: ][Saruman] has been much occupied.

LR III 8

Because he really is.

[Encaitare]

Behold now Ulmo leapt upon his car before the doorway of his palace below the still waters of the Outer Sea

...and lo! he did drive to the store and as he went he did cruise for the chicks, for the chicks do dig the mighty blue convertible of the Lord of Waters, yea, take it from me, verily it is so.

Note to Lhuna -- Yeah, I think I do need a little more sleep.

[luthien-elvenprincess]

When I first read "Tirion on Tuna", I pictured the city as a cat mecca...

In The Last Debate, ROTK:

And now Legolas fell silent, while the others talked, and he looked out against the sun, and as he gazed he saw white sea-birds beating up the River.

Maybe the River needs to call for the cats from Tirion to help defend itself

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Can you imagine how it would have seemed if Tolkien had kept the name he originally chose for Frodo - Bingo?! Everyone time I'd hear that, I'd be imagining a retirement colony in Florida, hearing that winning number...

[The Saucepan Man]

After having drawn attention to himself by singing a rhyme on the table and then disappearing without trace, Bingo crept to a corner of the Prancing Pony and removed the Ring, only to be confornted by the mysterious hooded Hobbit. Removing his hood, the Hobbit, whose name was Trotter, took a puff on a large cigar and a sipped from a mug of ale curiously adorned with a miniature umbrella. Fixing Bingo with a condescending look, Trotter declared:

"Bingo, you plonker ...!"

[Elennar Starfire]

Oh, Nimmy! *dies*

[Lalwendë]

From Book 4 Chapter 1 (currently the one being discussed in CbC):

We can't get down; and if we did get down, we'd find all that green land a nasty bog, I'll warrant. Phew! Can you smell it?" He sniffed at the wind.

Yes, toilet humour even in the books, which I see was grabbed upon in the film script (something like "Phew, smells like there's a nasty bog 'round here"). I remember that bit, the whole cinema started sniggering like school boys.

[Elennar Starfire]

I'm afraid I don't understand how "a nasty bog" is toilet humour. I thought that "bog" was just another word for "swamp".

~'Leny, feeling ignorant once again

[Lalwendë]

Uh-oh, it's another cross cultural linguistic thing! Bog is slang for 'toilet' over here in the UK, so you can imagine what a smelly one might imply! (sorry if anyone was eating, by the way...)

[Elennar Starfire]

Ah. I see.

The "Bog of Eternal Stench" makes so much more sense now...

[the phantom]

I've found the best one of all.

From The Hobbit, A Short Rest, Bilbo speaking as he descends into the valley of Rivendell-

Hmmm! it smells like elves!

[Oddwen]

My brother was attempting to read "The Hobbit" aloud to us all, and when he came to the part where Gandalf "stuck out his big bushy eyebrows", somehow dear ol' Sam read "stuck out his big bushy tongue". Needless to say, I cannot think of that spot in the books anymore without that image.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

I was just reading Pelennor Fields . . .

It was through the mist that presently [Merry] saw the van of the Men of Gondor approaching.

LR V 6

Imrahil: *beep beep* Hi, guys. Need a lift?

[the guy who be short]

...cos this thread is too good to die.

North amid their noisome pits lay the first of the great heaps and hills of slag and broken rock and blasted earth, the vomit of the maggot-folk of Mordor

I can't help but imagine streams of green-ish looking orcs running out just to puke on the pile, before walking satisfied-ly (ahem) back to Mordor.

[The Elf-warrior]

I read this in the Silmarillion,

... not once did they turn their eyes back to Tirion on the green hill of Túna."

Who would want to look at moldy tuna?

[Meneltarmacil]

Though I must admit that I have never actually read LOTR all the way through from FOTR to ROTK (I have listened to a very good audio adaptation of the whole thing that didn't leave THAT much out, read all of ROTK, along with bits and pieces of FOTR and TTT though) I did like where Frodo threatened to have Gandalf turn Sam into a spotted toad. Imagine if that had actually happened! (I used that idea in a thread called "LOTR Road Trip" once)

[Kitanna]

...Tom was telling an absurd story about badgers and their queer ways...

I know I always tell stories about badgers to my guests.

[the guy who be short]

For a while Arvedui hid in the tunnels of old dwarf-mines near the far end of the Mountains, but he was driven at last by hunger to seek the help of the Lossoth, the Snowmen of Forochel

[Orofarne]

Perhaps you may have heard of Legless? He followed the fellowship in a wheelchair and was a good friend of Gimli's.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I still rather firmly believe that it should come as a surprise to nobody that anybody is the son of Gróin.

[Galadriel55]

its really wierd that hobbits literally mean rabbits:
homo=human (latin)
rabbit (you know what that is)

[narfforc]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

its really wierd that hobbits literally ean rabbits:
homo=human (latin)
rabbit (you know what that is)

Rabbit is Lepus I think, so your human rabbit would be Hopus maybe...... but I can see the thinking behind your Hobbit.

[Aganzir]

I'm just sitting on a lecture about Queer Theory, so this is kind of obvious...

Originally Posted by UT, Gandalf on Bilbo

"He was already growing a bit queer, they said"

We've actually talked about it before on another thread, and also Eönwë and Mith provided quotes.

[Galadriel55]

I've just done some research on Jerusalem, and I've read Kidron Valley as Cirdan Valley. After thinking "what the hell?" and rereading the name a few times I've realised how bad I am at reading.

[Galadriel55]

Imagine a person named Denny Stuart Gordon! Those are all real names, just put into the right combination!

[Galadriel55]

My friend was talking to me on the phone one day and the connection was terrible. She said something about antennas, and I thought she said ann-thenath. That was pretty akward.

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I've just done some research on Jerusalem, and I've read Kidron Valley as Cirdan Valley. After thinking "what the hell?" and rereading the name a few times I've realised how bad I am at reading.

That's very nice for starters, but wait till you start misreading Cirdan as Glirdan (as happened to me with the thread title 'Cirdan's appearance')! Though stuff like this should more properly go into the 'You know you're addicted to Tolkien/the Barrow-Downs when...' threads.

[Galadriel55]

It gets quite annoying, though, when you start writing Beleriand instead of Beryllium on science tests and Indis instead of indice (means "clue") in French tests.

[Galadriel55]

This is a picture of the cover of a copy of "Poems and Stories" (includes Adventures of Tom B., Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, and others). It might be my imagination, but in the roots of the tree (on the right hand side) you can find J.R.R.T's initials. I don't know who drew the picture, ight be JRRT himself. Weird, isn't it?

PS: Sorry for the smudged image. Blame it on the camera.

[Bom Tombadillo]

Ooh! Ooh!

Here are some nice little incongruities to giggle at:

The great shadow descended like a falling cloud. And behold! It was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked . . .

And the second half of the same quote:

. . . and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank.

Also this one from the Silmarillion:

The Ring was unbreakable by any smithcraft less than his own. It was indissoluble in any fire, save the undying subterranean fire where it was made - and that was unapproachable, in Mordor. Also so great was the Ring's power of lust, that anyone who used it was mastered by it; it was beyond the strength of any will (even his own) to injure it, cast it away, or neglect it. So he thought. It was in any case on his finger.