I'm curious

[serai]

Why do so many hobbit fic writers insist on using the Scottish word bairn, when Tolkien himself said that hobbit babies and children are called fauntlings or faunts? I can see digging up a word if he had never addressed the issue. (Though I'd try to find an English word, or at least one derived from the same sources, rather than something Scots. From what I understand, Tolkien didn't like Scots or Gaelic, just like he didn't like French, and took great care not even to use words that English had appropriated from them.) But in this case, he actually had a word, told us what it was, and people still don't use it.

Can someone explain this? Because it makes no sense to me at all.

Comments

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Depends on how close the focus on one of the characters is, I suppose. Lately I've tended to write third person close focus, and that sort of narrative lends itself to using some terms which would occur to the object of the focus, if that makes any sense at all.

But... of course... depends is a powerful exception!