There's just one thing I'd like to know (maybe JenB can help me out on this.) If LOTR takes place in a time before a "formal religion" exists, why does Sam keep saying "Lor bless you" and "Lor bless me"?
Remember, Tolkien was writing as though he was merely the "translator" into English of the material contained in the Red Book of Westmarch. As such he uses occasional English dialects or sayings which are meant to remind us of something equivalent but untranslateable from the "original material". For instance, the trolls in the Hobbit didn't really talk like a bunch of Cockney hoodlums; Tolkien simply used that kind of language to suggest to the reader what kinds of creatures these trolls were - nasty, quarrelsome, not too bright, etc.
Sounds good to me a lot better than that I had too many pints! :)
Does that VBWC come with blue cheese dressing?