*SIGH*

[serai]

I am so damned tired of people misusing the word "mathom". Here Professor Tolkien goes and invents a wonderful word - a name for a thing that never had a name before - and folks just decide "To hell with the definition, I'm just gonna use it any old way I feel like."

This ticks me off. It's rare enough that a really original, useful word gets coined, a word that really feels like it's developed on its own. To see people taking the route of using that specific term for a broad general category just makes me tired.

Gift is a perfectly servicable word, as is present. When that's what meant, why not use it? Leave mathom for the specific use for which it was intended - a gift that gets passed from hand to hand because no one can think of a good use for it. Professor Tolkien saw something that never had a name and gave it one. Why can't folks respect his craft and use the word correctly?

And don't come back with "But a mathom is a gift!" No shit, Sherlock. But it's a particular sort of gift. Take a look at LOTR - the words "gift" and "present" are used many times, interchangably. The word "mathom" is used very specifically, and only in the chapters about the Shire. Were it meant as a general term, Tolkien would not have hesitated to use it that way. Do you see him being shy about any other words, whether they're generally known or whether he made them up? No. So why not give the guy a break and use the word correctly?

Comments

Mathoms and whatnot...

[(Anonymous)]

This put me in mind of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins' "Code of the Brandybucks," in one chapter of which she uses the term "mathom" most delightfully, and in the original sense of the word. It is in the chapter where Pippin sneaks into Frodo's room in the middle of the night seeking comfort. He offers to get Frodo whatever he wants most in the world as a thank you for his help, impulsively saying "I'll get you Sam!" And Frodo replies something to the effect of "Sam! You can't "get" me Sam! He's a person, not a mathom!"
I just love it! Anyhow, I had to share, given the topic.

[mariole.livejournal.com]

The Grammar Nazi so agrees with you. Personal pet peeve from a *cough*twenty-eight year*cough* Tolkien admirer. I love that man!

[fyrdrakken]

Actually, there is a term that means the same as "mathom," methinks: "White elephant." (A term on my mind due to next week's "White Elephant gift exchange" at work, for which I have not yet selected a suitable mathom.)