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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage

Is "staggerment" a word?

Tolkien apparently coined the word "staggerment" in the Hobbit, and now it's in the OED. Does this mean the word can be used with impunity now? Somehow I would feel a little funny using this word in a formal paper, but I don't really see what's wrong with it.

When Bilbo sees Smaug: "To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful."
-Chris
  

Top answer

[/nq] Did they really? Have you seen this with your own eyes? Because a moment's Googling shows it being used by a Scottish minister in 1917.

— Usenet

  • [/nq] Did they really?
  • Have you seen this with your own eyes?
  • Because a moment's Googling shows it being used by a Scottish minister in 1917.
  • [/nq] What does it mean, to use a word with impunity?
  • " Whether you mean, will you escape all comment or question, well...
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4 Answers
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[nq:1]Tolkien apparently coined the word "staggerment" in the Hobbit, and now it's in the OED.[/nq]
Did they really? Have you seen this with your own eyes? Because a moment's Googling shows it being used by a Scottish minister in 1917. http://www.christiandigest.com/abantogo.htm
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[nq:2]Tolkien apparently coined the word "staggerment" in the Hobbit, and now it's in the OED.[/nq]
[nq:1]Did they really? Have you seen this with your own eyes? Because a moment's Googling shows it being used by a Scottish minister in 1917. http://www.christiandigest.com/abantogo.htm
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[nq:1]Tolkien apparently coined the word "staggerment" in the Hobbit, and now it's in the OED. Does this mean the word ... feel a little funny using this word in a formal paper, but I don't really see what's wrong with it.[/nq]
Faulkner coined "mileconsuming" as in "the wagon beginning to fall into its slow and mileconsuming clatter". According to a Google search, no one has picked up on it. I
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[nq:1]Tolkien apparently coined the word "staggerment" in the Hobbit, and now it's in the OED. Does this mean the word ... since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful." -Chris[/nq]
It sounds like one of Dubbya's.
Edward

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