Hobbitfic grumbles
Nov. 27th, 2013 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartNaturally, I was prepared to all sorts of badfic hitting cyberspace as soon as the first film hit the air. I've bitched about it extensively. Now that the worst seems to be over (until the next film comes out, that is), I've been daring to read Hobbitfic again. Even found some decent stuff.
But. There's one phenomenon that drives me crazy, even in many of the decent stories: te gratutious use of Neo-Khuzdul. The fact that almost everyone seems to use Dwarrow instead of Dwarves is annoying enough. Yes, I know that Tolkien considered that form, but in the end he didn'r use it, save for the name of Moria, so why are people trying to outdo him?
I know, I'm nor entirely innocent in this, either; I like us the expression Dwarrow-dam sometimes, because it's so much more expressive than just Dwarf-woman. But that's about the extent of my nerdiness.
I really get bored to the death when in almost any given Hobbitfic I follow one third of each chapter is made up of the translations of neo-Khuzdul words and phrases. It's the same show-offish thing people did with the Elven language(s) when the LOTR-films were still new. I mean, Dwarves either speak Khuzdul among each other, in which case it makes no sense to pepper the English text with chosen words - want to be authentic? Well, write the whole ruddy dialogue in Khuzdul! Or they speak Westron, for whatever reason, but in that case why the Khuzdul stuff? It's as if Dwarves were like the worst snobs of the 19th century who kept mixing their own language with French, just to appear more refined.
Okay, I feel better now. I wanted to get this off my chest for a while, but never got around to write it down.
But. There's one phenomenon that drives me crazy, even in many of the decent stories: te gratutious use of Neo-Khuzdul. The fact that almost everyone seems to use Dwarrow instead of Dwarves is annoying enough. Yes, I know that Tolkien considered that form, but in the end he didn'r use it, save for the name of Moria, so why are people trying to outdo him?
I know, I'm nor entirely innocent in this, either; I like us the expression Dwarrow-dam sometimes, because it's so much more expressive than just Dwarf-woman. But that's about the extent of my nerdiness.
I really get bored to the death when in almost any given Hobbitfic I follow one third of each chapter is made up of the translations of neo-Khuzdul words and phrases. It's the same show-offish thing people did with the Elven language(s) when the LOTR-films were still new. I mean, Dwarves either speak Khuzdul among each other, in which case it makes no sense to pepper the English text with chosen words - want to be authentic? Well, write the whole ruddy dialogue in Khuzdul! Or they speak Westron, for whatever reason, but in that case why the Khuzdul stuff? It's as if Dwarves were like the worst snobs of the 19th century who kept mixing their own language with French, just to appear more refined.
Okay, I feel better now. I wanted to get this off my chest for a while, but never got around to write it down.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-28 01:02 pm (UTC)Or c) if the Khuzdul/Quenya/Sindarin phrase is such that the characters (as native speakers) would stumble over it as well.