Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Fordim

bal: a Cornish dialect word for a collection of mines; usually used in compound with other words (i.e. bal-girl)

rog: a verb of scandinavian origin (from 'rugga') which means to shake, tear or tug at forcibly to the point of breaking...

So rog might be something a terrier might do? There you go. The Balrog is plainly no kind of winged demon, it's a ruddy little yappy dog that lives underground. The Fellowship were obviously fooled like the Orcs in Cirith Ungol were by Sam's shadow. Balrog? Pah, wee dog more like. And one big optical delusion.

Or looking at the word rugga, it could have been a prop forward from the Moria Marauders who got left behind in the mines when they evacuated. Poor bloke had only gone to fetch his ball back from a chasm where it had been thrown during a try, and he came back to find everyone gone. No wonder he was mad.

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

Hey, when one lives where bears are a constant and unrelenting nuisance, garbage collection is a MAJOR issue. And we're talking real Canadian bears here -- big, hungry and wild -- not those silly European bears, no bigger than a puny cougar (which you also don't have in Europe).

I'm telling you, it's a jungle over here.

Yeah, but we've got something far worse than bears. A beast that roams the streets of a night in search of a fix, armed with pyrotechnics and abusive language and easily identifiable by its tracksuit bottoms tucked into its socks and its Burberry baseball cap. Chavvus Brittanicus. The Common Chav. Don't leave your wheelie bin out round here or it will be up-ended.