# The scholarly Tolkien Encyclopedia mentions the SDMB!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257 "2011-07-08T01:23:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 8, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/1 "2011-07-08T01:23:07Z")
I was continuing my perusal of the JRRT Encyclopedia (a very scholarly tome) last night, when I ran across their article entitled **Parody**. And Lo! I found [this](http://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA503&lpg=PA503&dq=encyclopedia:+Scholarship+and+critical+assessment++%22straight+dope+message+board%22+parody&source=bl&ots=hhCz5Kcc_j&sig=r5FauO_hwscnbxN_PqlemOsIOfE&hl=en&ei=vVgWTp71OYXGgAfTmIUu&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false). > [@](#): > > The World Wide Web has afforded the opportunity for the wide distribution of Tolkien parodies, often by many authors collected onto one web page. The composition of short excerpts of Tolkien’s works as they might have been rendered by other authors with highly distinctive literary styles, such as P. G. Wodehouse or Ernest Hemingway, has been a particularly fertile field. A large collection of these is hosted by the **Straight Dope Message Board** Web site. Hey, they mean us, and the famous thread [If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=138905) Hey, I wrote two different excerpts for that thread!! Hey, I’m referenced in the Tolkien Encyclopedia!!! [sub]sort of, a little, but not really, but still…[/sub] But still, SDMB is in the Tolkien Encyclopedia! 😃 I hope **Fingolfin** , the originator of that famous thread, knows. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/2 "2011-07-08T01:49:55Z")
so continue it. LOTR by Joseph Wambaugh. gollum could not believe his luck at having been rescued by friendly goblins away from those nasty elves, or that self-important unwashed, unshaved dunedain. he expected the goblins to bring him to the boss himself for a well-deserved reward. but instead he was brought to a windowless room containing three mountain trolls; the smallest of whom could not have fitted into an elevator, and who had a one-tract mind. the trolls patted him down for hidden objects and found none. the questions were very simple and to the point. “where’s the ring bro?” asked the smallest troll. “where’s sammy? i wanna talk to sammy!” SMACK! “so this ain’t a deal, this is just a rip, huh?” SMACK! “where’s the ring bro?” “i should have known this was just a rip! a fvcking rip!” SMACK! “where’s the ring bro?” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/3 "2011-07-08T03:18:42Z")
Next weekend I will be seeing Michael D. C. Drout, the editor of that encyclopedia. I will also be seeing David Bratman, who wrote that specific article in the encyclopedia. This will be at Mythcon, which is in Albuquerque, New Mexico this year: [http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/42/](http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/42/) I specifically remember mentioning the SDMB thread with the Tolkien parodies at a panel that was at some Mythcon a few years ago. Drout wouldn’t have been there, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve never met him before. Bratman might well have been there. It’s possible that he first heard of the thread at that panel. It’s also possible that he already knew about the thread. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/4 "2011-07-09T00:56:49Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Next weekend I will be seeing Michael D. C. Drout, the editor of that encyclopedia. I will also be seeing David Bratman, who wrote that specific article in the encyclopedia. This will be at Mythcon, which is in Albuquerque, New Mexico this year: > > [http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/42/](http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/42/) > > I specifically remember mentioning the SDMB thread with the Tolkien parodies at a panel that was at some Mythcon a few years ago. Drout wouldn’t have been there, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve never met him before. Bratman might well have been there. It’s possible that he first heard of the thread at that panel. It’s also possible that he already knew about the thread. I am jealous. That sounds fantastic. I’ve been listening to Corey Olsen, aka the Tolkien Professor via his Ipodcasts about LOTR, Hobbit, and SIL for some time now, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten in interactive scholarship. I would love to hit the mythsoc conference some day. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/5 "2011-07-09T01:26:51Z")
That thread is what brought both **Suburban Plankton** and myself to the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/6 "2011-07-09T17:34:31Z")
So, Qadgop the Mercotan, what’s stopping you from coming to Mythcon? The cost of my registration for the convention and the meal plan (including a big banquet) put together is less than the cost of the Drout encyclopedia. The cost of my hotel bill is only somewhat more than the cost of the encyclopedia. The cost of my round-trip airplane ticket is only a little more than twice the cost of the encyclopedia (and you live closer to Albuquerque than I do). And you probably make more per year than I do. For that matter, why haven’t you joined the Mythopoeic Society? (Or have you? I don’t know your real name.) The publications are fairly cheap. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/7 "2011-07-09T17:38:47Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > So, Qadgop the Mercotan, what’s stopping you from coming to Mythcon? Poor planning, and a tendency to wallow in my JRRT stuff by myself. Lots of excuses, no good reasons. Can’t make the current one, got other duties I can’t defer. But I should kick myself in the butt, join the society, and plan for such future events. I’d love to meet other amateur students of Tolkien and Middle Earth in person. If you ever come to Milwaukee to visit the Tolkien collection at Marquette University, let me know! PS: the conference schedule looks awesome! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/8 "2011-07-09T18:11:34Z")
Incidentally, there have already been two Mythcons in Milwaukee: [http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/history/](http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/history/) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scholarly-tolkien-encyclopedia-mentions-the-sdmb/588257/9 "2011-07-17T02:05:25Z")
I’ve just spoken to Michael Drout and David Bratman. Bratman says that he learned of the SDMB thread from reading about it in somebody’s blog. If I understood him correctly, it was the blog of Teresa Nielsen Hayden where he read about it.