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Friday, August 8, 2014

J.R.R. Tolkien on Foul Language—Orc Speech!

"Orcs and trolls spoke as they would,
Without any love of words or things;
And their language was actually more degraded and filthy than I have shown it.
I do not suppose that any will wish for a closer rendering, though models are easy to find.
Much of the same sort of talk can still be heard among the orc-minded:
Dreary and repetitive with hatred and contempt,
Too long removed from good to retain even verbal vigour,
Save in the ears of those to whom only the squalid sounds strong."

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