Eragon

[The Jade Knight]

Do you know what a lantern is and does?

(Are you also aware that flashlights were highly uncommon when Tolkien was growing up, and he would not have likely taken them for granted?)

[mtlhddoc2]

Yes, the "old world lantern" would come on when you clicked a button and eventually die out. what else could it be? bilbo used one extensively in the caves.

[The Jade Knight]

Mind providing a page reference mentioning "clicking a button"?

Any candle-based "Old World" lantern would involve lighting a candle inside of an enclosed structure (generally glass and metal, later on, but before that they were simply metal with openings, or of other various designs and constructions depending on time and place).  Alternatively, at some point (I've been unable to discover when) oil lanterns became common—these were essentially the same as the candle ones, but using an oil lamp (technology thousands of years old) in a lantern encasing (another technology thousands of years old).  In both cases, you light the lamp, it gives you light, and eventually dies out when the candle is used up or the oil runs out.  These are things which were used hundreds of years ago.

What about a lantern strikes you as terribly anachronistic?

[mtlhddoc2]

As I said, it has been 25 years since I read them. But there was no "lighting" going on there. And an oil/candle lamp would not have been considered old world since they used both.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Some lanterns had a built-in spark striker which could conceivably be activated using a button, plus a knob for adjusting the flame height.

I can find no google results for old-world-lantern tolkien.

[Reaves]

Really though, you are going to have to support that with some kind of evidence or a quote.

[The Jade Knight]

Yeah; it's a pretty bold claim to make, and as far as I can tell, not terribly substantial.

BTW, Tolkien never mentions someone peeing once in his many, many writings, but you can guarantee it happened over the course of his stories and he's aware of it.  Not mentioning something in a book doesn't imply that it doesn't occur.

[Reaves]

Yeah; it's a pretty bold claim to make, and as far as I can tell, not terribly substantial.

BTW, Tolkien never mentions someone peeing once in his many, many writings, but you can guarantee it happened over the course of his stories and he's aware of it.  Not mentioning something in a book doesn't imply that it doesn't occur.

I was reading something somewhere. (descriptive, I know.) I believe it was a post by Patrick Rothfuss. He was saying that Tolkien never really brought money or currency into his books. Characters are assumed to have bought what they need and that's the end of it. It just wasn't one of the things he focused on, while if you read The Name of the Wind by Rothfuss money is a major part of the character's struggles.

[mtlhddoc2]

Really though, you are going to have to support that with some kind of evidence or a quote.

Well, I am not about to read the books again, and really could care less to "look for evidence" I was just going from memory, and my memory is pretty darn good. but whatever, since you seem rather adamant about evidence, you can read the book again and come back and tell me I was wrong, thats fine. but I am not really concerned about it either way. You people really need to lighten up.

[Reaves]

Yeah, I wrote that right after I got out of my debate class so I was in "evidence" mode. I just don't really think that you will have been the first person to notice this if it is true. I would have been just as happy with a web site.

[Shaggy]

I don't think anyone's comin' down on you; it's a reasonable enough request to ask you to supply evidence for your claim. Pretty standard, actually.

[The Jade Knight]

The fact of the matter is that people in the world make all sorts of baseless claims right and left.  Just think of all the irritating spam you get in your mailbox from people who clearly haven't bothered checking at snopes.com.  I make it a habit to challenge unreasonable claims.  Part of this comes from my training in History—it's very important to me to analyze claims about history (or literature, or science, etc.)

As someone deeply appreciative of Tolkien's work, I am particularly sensitive to baseless criticisms of him.

Now, if you meant to simply tell a joke, and weren't intending to make any sort of criticism, then indeed everyone else seems to have missed the punchline.  Perhaps this is because we all need to lighten up?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Amazon's search inside feature reveals three mentions of the word "lantern" in The Hobbit, and no mentions of the phrase "old world." The word "button" appears nine times, but it always refers to buttons on clothing (often, falling off clothing).

I discovered no evidence supporting mtlhddoc2's claim. I suspect he may be thinking of an entirely different book. (Also, the Silmarillion has one lantern, no buttons, and no old worlds.)

However, I'm also not sure what you mean by "baseless criticism," Jade. He's just reporting what he remembers and doesn't seem to  be passing judgment based on that.

[mtlhddoc2]

I don't think anyone's comin' down on you; it's a reasonable enough request to ask you to supply evidence for your claim. Pretty standard, actually.

Standard in what? A college class? This is a discussion board. I discussed what I remembered and what I thought about the book. But you are right about one thing, this is standard across the "interweb" - rude and demanding people who are quick to trash someone because they do not agree.

PS: Thans Ookla - that is EXACTLY what i was doing. I come here for fuin and discussion. If i wanted to do research, I would continue to work instead of taking a break and surfing the net.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Anyway, Eragon sucks, right?

I have not read it due to the testimony of many who have whose judgment I trust.