I blame Youtube!
Ah. I can accept that. I feel validated. Thank you.
When somebody says “I don’t like you” it’s virtually always intended to mean “You’re not likable” rather than “I lack sufficient capacity for affection.”
OK, now this is stuck in my head. “I do not like you half as well as you deserve” could also intimate [I like you twice as well as you deserve.] i.e., he ciould be saying “I am a generous and caring individual, who could like you less than you deserve, but actually likes you mroe than you deserve.” and the thing is, if you hold Bilbo in high esteem, you will assume well, and therefore be complimented. If you hold Bilbo in low assume, you will assume maliciousness, and be insulted.
It just works on so many levels!
A thought which just occurred to me: Do we necessarily know that the “more than half of you” and “less than half of you” are complementary? Might some folks be in both of those categories, or neither?
As to which hobbit was greatest, or the greatest hero, certainly in the eyes of the Shire that would be Merry and Pippin (I’m not sure which of those two specifically, but they’re close). Not only did they play the most active part in the Battle of Bywater (which is, after all, the most heroic thing most of the Shire-folk would know about), but they were also the closest thing the Shire has to nobility. The Tooks were by far the most important family in the Shire proper, and likewise the Brandybucks in Buckland, and Pippin and Merry were the scions and heirs of those families.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin all lacked the hobbit-sense needed to be a truly great hobbit. They were a disgrace to The Shire!
Being subjective, liking is always a function of the liker, rather than the liked.
Bilbo acknowledges this.
Forget greatest and bravest hobbit. Who is the most famousest hobbit of all?
Smeagal! Smeagal! He’s our Man! (err…)
If he can’t do it, nobody can!
Dude, he totally smoked them! That was a thinly-veiled insult and they said it word-for-word in the movie, it was awesome! 
By the way, I did say this to my guests at my own 33rd birthday party, this past spring. Unfortunately, it was too cold to go barefoot, but I did give out presents.
LOL. I wish I’d written that.
“I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve” is ambiguous.
It could mean “I like less than half of you only half as well as you deserve.” (In other words, there is a small fraction of the crowd who he likes half as much as he should.)
Or it could mean “I like less than half of you even half as well as you deserve.” (In other words, there is a majority of the crowd whom Bilbo should like at least twice as much as he does–but he doesn’t.)
There are several other possible meanings, but those are the two most prominent to my mind.
I think the second one is intended, but I’m having a hard time seeing how to explain why. Parallel constructions are not ending up making it easy to illustrate.
As to whether it’s an insult, I think it is. On both readings, there is a group which Bilbo is saying he doesn’t like very much. Granted he also says he should like them more, but would you feel complimented if someone told you “I ought to like you more, but I just don’t”?
By saying what he said in such a puzzling way, he makes it even more insulting–refusing to treat them with the respect we generally show our interlocutors by being as clear as we can with them.
It’s the standard usage in British English. It didn’t occur to me that any other meaning was used.
It’s what is called a backhanded compliment, that is its both complimentary and insulting at the same time.
I still don’t see that it is necessarily an insult, rather an admission of failure.
If I walked up to you and said “I don’t know you as well as I would like to, and I don’t like you as much as you deserve”, would you consider that a back-handed insult?
Only if you didn’t feed me, give me a present, then disappear.
Some people are so demanding. :rolleyes:
Really? I’ve always thought that if someone made that toast when I was present, I’d stand up and yell, “Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called, and they’re running out of you!”