The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[The Judge]

The place is right, I give you that
But not, alas, the quote exact.
No kind of viola here is found
To heal or, may be, salve a wound.
Try again, I beg you P,
To solve a herbal mystery.
(And "rue" is such a clever word
Did you know it is a herb?)

 

[HareBrain]

Do we get to vote at the end of the month here too?

 

[The Judge]

It's pyan leading all the way, then...

 

[HareBrain]

It's pretty close, but your last one has the edge because it reminds me of those old Rupert the Bear annuals.

 

[Grimward]

I'm definitely a spectator for this one....you've seen my attempts at verse, and...well...

I think the correct descriptive phrase in today's vernacular is "No he didn't."

 

[Clansman]

The place is right, I give you that
But not, alas, the quote exact.
No kind of viola here is found
To heal or, may be, salve a wound.
Try again, I beg you P,
To solve a herbal mystery.
(And "rue" is such a clever word
Did you know it is a herb?)

Is it "a herbal" or "an herbal" mystery that needs solving? I suppose it depends on how you treat your "aitches"?

Herbal or 'erbal, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous grammar,
or to take up pens against a sea of errors
And, by opposing, end them...

 

[The Judge]

Is it "a herbal" or "an herbal" mystery that needs solving? I suppose it depends on how you treat your "aitches"?

Going wholly off-topic here, I would always say "a herb" with the "h" sounded (?huffed?), but I am aware that some of our transatlantic cousins drop the "h" altogether and call them "erbs" and I'm pretty sure I've seen written "An Herbal".

To quote my dictionary:

There is still some divergence of opinion over the form of the indefinite article to use preceding certain words beginning with h- when the first syllable is unstressed: "a historical document" or "an historical document"; "a hotel" or "an hotel". The form depends on whether the initial h is sounded or not: an was common in the 18th and 19th centuries, because the initial h was commonly not pronounced for these words. In standard modern English the norm is for the h to be pronounced and therefore the indefinite article a is used.

I mostly say -- and write -- "an" for both historical and hotel. I'm clearly living out of my time.

 

[goldhawk]

Going wholly off-topic here, I would always say "a herb" with the "h" sounded (?huffed?), but I am aware that some of our transatlantic cousins drop the "h" altogether and call them "erbs" and I'm pretty sure I've seen written "An Herbal".

To quote my dictionary:
I mostly say -- and write -- "an" for both historical and hotel. I'm clearly living out of my time.

On this side of the Atlantic, 'erb means a plant and Herb is a name. We use 'a' if the 'h' is pronounced, 'an' if it's not.

an herb (a plant)
a hotel

PS: just don't ask about words starting in 'u'.

 

[Pyan]

(And "rue" is such a clever word
Did you know it is a herb?)

On that you wouldn't have to muse, er...
Just look at my Profile, User...

 

[The Judge]

Your profile was unread by me
Until just now -- and there I see
The reason for your knowledge great.
I rue I raised that question lame
I only have myself to blame.
Moral: must learn not to prate...

 

[Clansman]

Sorry for the thread jack. I was just having some fun.

 

[HareBrain]

This poetic conversation
Causes me great consternation
For I cannot join in
My rhyming skills are next to none
My assonances all would shun
And blank verse is a sin

 

[The Judge]

Methinks a clue is called for
If the answer 'scapes your powers.
Think viola tricolor
But not among the flowers.

A name, a balm,
And happy calm.

 

[pdurrant]

There's a place where plants a-plenty grow
But sweet and purple violets? No.
Yet Sam, no doubt his senses reeling
A kind of viola is feeling.

A bell is yours of floral note
If where you tell, and with a quote.

North Ithilien.

The travellers turned their backs on the road and went downhill. As they walked, brushing their way through bush and herb, sweet odours rose about them. Gollum coughed and retched; but the hobbits breathed deep, and suddenly Sam laughed, for heart’s ease not for jest. They followed a stream that went quickly down before them. Presently it brought them to a small clear lake in a shallow dell: it lay in the broken ruins of an ancient stone basin, the carven rim of which was almost wholly covered with mosses and rose-brambles; iris-swords stood in ranks about it, and water-lily leaves floated on its dark gently-rippling surface; but it was deep and fresh, and spilled ever softly out over a stony lip at the far end.

— OF HERBS AND STEWED RABBIT

 

[The Judge]

Oh dear, I'm in a fix so tight.
Who gets the bell of floral note?
For pyan had first the answer right
But not the quote.

What should win? Some guidance please.
"North Ithilien"? Or Sam's "heart's ease"?

 

[Pyan]

By rights, pd should get the vote
He got "viola" in his quote.
I got "Ithilien", it's true,
But didn't get the flower clue.

So pd gets the bell this time.
(I wonder: will his question rhyme?)...

 

[The Judge]

So pd, you've won with ease.
A little bell I send,
Though campanula medium.
A question can you set us please,
And call an end
To poetic tedium.

 

[pdurrant]

A question can you set us please,
And call an end

There once was a poet named Paul
Whose limericks never would rhyme
They sometimes would scan
at least the first lines
But then he'd try to fit in as many words on the last line as he possibly could.

And now I'll try to think up a question....

 

[Pyan]

Or:

There was a old man from St Bees
Who was stung on the arm by a wasp.
When they asked "Does it hurt?"
He said "Not a bit!
I'm so glad it wasn't a hornet..."

Sorry to go OT - Carry on, pd...

 

[pdurrant]

Eagles, singly and in groups, frequently save the day in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

But they also come en-mass to the rescue in one notable battle of the First Age. Which event? And a quote please.