# Bored of the Rings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth\ **Created:** [February 13, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888 "2020-02-13T18:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/1 "2020-02-13T18:40:16Z")
Anyone else here ever read the 1969 Harvard Lampoon parody? I last read it as a teen around 40 years ago and thought it was gut-splitting funny back then. I wonder how well this parody has aged. When did you last read it? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/2 "2020-02-13T18:47:34Z")
It hasn’t aged well, IMO. But then neither have I. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/3 "2020-02-13T18:53:33Z")
Two years ago. I still love it. “Tim, Tim, Benzedrine! Hash, boo, valvoline Clean, clean, clean for Gene First, second, neutral, park! Hie thee hence you leafy narc!” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/4 "2020-02-13T18:59:14Z")
"Off in the distance, you may hear a merry tinkle. It’s us, sucker! Ka-ching!" ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/5 "2020-02-13T19:05:19Z")
I still have a copy, I’m pretty sure. I haven’t read it since sometime in the late 80s. First read it either 79 or 80. I think silenus summed it up perfectly. Dirty Scrabble jokes, Tim Benzedrino the dirty hippy and Arrowroot pining for the blonde viking lady Ear Ache. Notably Bored of the Rings was written by the creator of Animal House & Caddy Shack. I think that is about all I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/6 "2020-02-13T19:07:47Z")
“…and several bowls of artificial fruit which couldn’t have been mistaken for the real thing at fifty meters. These Pepsi and Moxie immediately ate.” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/7 "2020-02-13T19:15:26Z")
I still own my copy that I bought nearly 40 years ago. It’s kind of funny but also kind of a slog at times, just like it was 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/8 "2020-02-13T19:20:44Z")
I still have a 30ish year old copy as well. I reread it every 5 years or so. Usually as a break when I’m rereading LOTR. “most boggie villages looked as though some very large and untidy creature, perhaps a dragon, had quite recently suffered a series of disappointing bowel movements in the vicinity.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/9 "2020-02-13T19:41:11Z")
“Five nine is your height and 180’s your weight You’ll cash in your chips around page 88.” A classic. Haven’t read it in awhile (I lost two copies of it), but it was the one thing that got me to slog through the trilogy, so i could appreciate it better. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/10 "2020-02-13T19:49:51Z")
We boggies are a hairy folk who like to eat until we choke loving all like friend and brother hardly ever eat each other ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/11 "2020-02-13T19:55:33Z")
Twas pity stayed his hand. “It’s a pity I’ve run out of bullets” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/12 "2020-02-13T19:58:41Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Twas pity stayed his hand. “It’s a pity I’ve run out of bullets” Possibly the best line in all of literature. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/13 "2020-02-13T20:10:54Z")
I’ve read it a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/14 "2020-02-13T20:12:26Z")
For me it’s nostalgic, associated with when and where I first read it in 1980. I overlook its flaws with fondness. For a new reader I don’t think it would hold up well at all - too many outdated proprietary names and topical jokes and weak puns. It might have pleased us in comparison with a fat original text, but for someone who had seen the Peter Jackson films? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/15 "2020-02-13T20:43:20Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Twas pity stayed his hand. “It’s a pity I’ve run out of bullets” > [@beowulff](#): > > Possibly the best line in all of literature. Beat me to it. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/16 "2020-02-13T21:01:41Z")
We’ve discussed it many times on this Board. I own two copies (with the original cover), first read it in 1970, and have chunks of it memorized. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/17 "2020-02-13T21:05:31Z")
[Paraphrase]Frito wondered how long the writers were going to get away with this tripe. He wasn’t the only one.[/Paraphrase] ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/18 "2020-02-13T21:12:23Z")
I’m sure I’m misquoting here… “Boogies are a solitary folk, who do not like machines more complicated than a garrote or a Luger…” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/19 "2020-02-13T21:27:05Z")
At my daughter’s wedding, she had Bilbo’s poem read:\* “I sit beside the fire and think \* - Of all that I have seen\* - Of meadow flowers and butterflies\* - In summers that have been" \*Lovely. What’s going through _my_ head? _“I sit on the floor and pick my nose and think of dirty things Of deviant dwarves who suck their toes and elves who drub their dings.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888/20 "2020-02-13T21:29:30Z")
I read it like 45 years ago and didn’t think it was terribly funny then. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bored-of-the-rings/847888.md?page=2)