Clinton,

you're wrong about Tolkien's languages. The common language of men and Hobbits, or Westron, is represented by English throughout Tolkien's writings so that we can understand it. Therefore, an older form of Westron, the language spoken in Rohan, is represented by Anglo-Saxon; thus we find out that Hobbit derives from "Hol-Bytlan," or "hole-builders." This was, in a sense, Tolkien's little private joke, for as a scholar of Anglo-Saxon he was back-deriving a word he had really invented spontaneously, with no thought of its etymology. In my book, this makes him more brilliant and clever and, yes, humorous, not less.

Fair enough about Anglo-Saxon, but the main language invented by Tolkien is not Westron (which you rarely glimpse in any case, because as I said it is represented by English). The main language invented by Tolkien is Elvish. And although he used some elements of Welsh and Finnish (both of which he could read) as models, the vocabulary and grammar of this language (or three languages, actually: Quenya, Sindarin, and the Black Speech of Mordor) are mainly original. In other words, he DID invent them. Beyond that, he also invented a language for the Dwarves. So to attack his credibility as a creator of languages reveals your own ignorance, not that of his admirers.

I think it's funny that you object to his not having invented the names of his characters. Almost all authors use real names that they did not invent themselves. Otherwise we'd have books filled with characters called "Rominghot Snarnomy" and the like. Why not instead use names that exist, like "Bob Cratchit" or "Elizabeth Bennett"? Is this a sin?

Then having observed this, didn't Tolkien invent some of his names? Is Aragorn a character in some country's folklore? I know the Dwarves' names and "Gandalf" come from Norse Eddas, and Eomer is mentioned in Beowulf, but I believe Eowyn is original, and Saruman, and Glorfindel, and Legolas, and Denethor. I may of course be wrong about some of these, but I have a wide knowledge of folklore and literature and doubt that I am wrong about all of them. So why this odd complaint about Tolkien?

I'll finish by saying, I absolutely understand that Tolkien's style can be hard to take, and do not suggest that anyone is dumb because they don't want to read it. But to dislike it and then complain about issues like "he didn't really invent languages" or "he took the names of characters from mythology" is petty. If you're going to not like it, don't like it for real reasons!