# 3Jan03: JRR Tolkien's eleventy-first birthday **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446 "2003-01-03T17:27:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/1 "2003-01-03T17:27:15Z")
I checked MPSIMS and The Cafe Society for word on this event, and found none. Just in case it really isn’t on the board yet, here’s what’s going on: The [Tolkien Society](http://www.tolkiensociety.org/toast/) is proposing a toast for 9 pm local time. You can enter your comments with the [Eleventy-one Birthday Toast Entry Form](http://www.tolkiensociety.org/toast/toast_form.html). :: _raises glass_ :: The Professor! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/2 "2003-01-03T17:56:01Z")
(quaffing Entwater) - may his hair ever curl! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/3 "2003-01-03T18:22:46Z")
Tolkien? Cafe Society - Second tower on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/4 "2003-01-03T18:23:24Z")
ewwww Entwater! Now Ent-draught… Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/5 "2003-01-03T18:40:45Z")
May the hair on his toes grow ever long and never fall out! ~Ferry, toasting ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/6 "2003-01-03T19:11:31Z")
I think I’d prefer a glass of Old Winyards, myself. To our dear Professor’s one-hundred and eleventieth birthday! May his works continue to bring people joy for another one hundred and eleven years, and more! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/7 "2003-01-03T19:20:21Z")
::Raises mug of beer at The Green Dragon:: A very happy birthday to you, Professor Tolkien. Thank you for your marvelous books, your “mad hobby” of language invention that made it all possible, and your stubborn, prickly refusal of editing attempts on your masterpiece. Thanks for your environmentalism and your humanity. I wish I had been around to take a class in middle old English from you. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/8 "2003-01-03T19:46:13Z")
Ah yes sir! Mr. Tolkien Sir! I tip my hat at you! I’ll give my draught a knock, and say thank you, thank you, thank you for your wonderful books… One Question though my dear ol’chap ol’boy, how much time did you spend studying the Kalevala? It’s a tough Finnish text to begin with, but to base an entire language on it, is simply genius…I just love your multisyllabic names in the books…Good show! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/9 "2003-01-03T20:11:22Z")
Kalevala! Finnish epic! Written in trochaic Tetrameter (Well, I never Said I could work in strange meters!) Works like this sound to 'Mer’cans Like they deal with noble savages Amerinds and suchlike peoples. Fault for this is Henry Wadworth’s. Well he knew of Kalevala Stole he from it this noble metre Used he it for his first epic Based on life of Iroquoian Hiawatha of Five Nations So if this rhyme sounds like dog’rel Put the blame on that Longfellow! ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/10 "2003-01-03T20:25:22Z")
🙂 You amaze me **Poly**. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/11 "2003-01-03T20:25:49Z")
The happiest of all days to you in Fantasy Writers Heaven, High Priest Tolkien! I bow before your altar and ask that you bless this, my pen, that I may do justice to your genre! I name my next rat “Nimrodel” in your honor. A flight of angels sing you to your cake! _raises pint at the Prancing Pony Inn_ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/12 "2003-01-03T21:29:02Z")
> [@](#): > > A flight of angels sing you to your cake! P’shaw. Shakespeare-- what a panty-waist. The worlds he created aren’t even _consistent_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/13 "2003-01-03T21:29:22Z")
May the wind under his wings carry him to where the sun sets and the stars sail. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/14 "2003-01-03T21:34:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode, > atheling-born, a band of twelve, > lament to make, to mourn their king, > chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor. > They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess > worthily witnessed: and well it is > that men their master-friend mightily laud, > heartily love, when hence he goes > from life in the body forlorn away. To the Professor, from the poem whose study he revolutionized for generations to come. ---
**Author:** ![Spooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Spooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spooky)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/15 "2003-01-03T22:15:17Z")
To Professor Tolkien! Thank you for writing my favorite book! ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/16 "2003-01-03T22:46:05Z")
Alas, Professor… we knew ye half as well as we should have liked. To the Professor! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/17 "2003-01-04T00:12:06Z")
To the Professor! May the wind at your back always be your own! ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/18 "2003-01-04T02:56:49Z")
To The Professor! May Your Journey Go Ever Onwards! ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/19 "2003-01-04T02:58:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avalonian \* > \*\*Alas, Professor… we knew ye half as well as we should have liked. > > To the Professor! \*\* Well said! _clinck_ ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446/20 "2003-01-04T03:05:47Z")
Alas, JRRT! If The Hobbit had taken off the way Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone did, you could have retired in 1938 and spent _all_ your time fleshing out Middle-Earth. Ilu JRRT carnë Eldain ar Fírimain Ilu ná vanya, fanya, ëari, i cemen, ar ilya i ëa tessen. JRRT made the World for Elves and Mortals The World is fair, the sky, the seas, the earth, and all that is in them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3jan03-jrr-tolkiens-eleventy-first-birthday/146446.md?page=2)