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The article uses the fact that people thought Gandalf was an elf to justify the idea that elves can heave beards, which implies that the author thinks that they

The article uses the fact that people thought Gandalf was an elf to justify the idea that elves can heave beards, which implies that the author thinks that they were correct in their belief.

nicwolff 7y ago
Well, no – if Gandalf had a beard and was mistaken for an elf, then clearly people making that mistake thought that elves can have beards!
- 0xffff2 7y ago
  Yeah, that does indeed make sense now that you point it out. I obviously misunderstood it on the first pass.
mcv 7y ago
Because people think elves can have beard, they are correct to thing Gandalf is an elf? That's some twisted inside-out logic. Obviously they wouldn't think that Gandalf was an elf if they thought elves never had beards, so yeah, they probably thought elves had beards. And they were probably correct about that, considering we know of a real elf who had a beard. But if elves can have beards, that doesn't mean everybody with a beard is an elf. That just makes no sense.
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  > But if elves can have beards, that doesn't mean everybody with a beard is an elf. That just makes no sense. That's not what was said, though. The point is that having a beard is not a show-stopper when suspecting that someone is an elf. People could have suspected that Gandalf was an elf for any number of unmentioned reasons having nothing to do with his beard, it's just that his beard did not get in the way of that, so beards are clearly not considered outside of the elvish phenotype.
  - mcv 7y ago
    Exactly. That's what I'm saying. That's not what 0xffff2 is saying, though. The fact that Gandalf could be an elf because Gandalf's beard doesn't rule it out, on account of some elves having beards, does not imply that Gandalf really is an elf. Elves having beards does in no way imply that the people were correct in their belief that Gandalf is an elf.

The article uses the fact that people thought Gandalf was an elf to justify the idea that elves can heave beards, which implies that the author thinks that they were correct in their belief.

nicwolff 7y ago

Well, no – if Gandalf had a beard and was mistaken for an elf, then clearly people making that mistake thought that elves can have beards!

0xffff2 7y ago
Yeah, that does indeed make sense now that you point it out. I obviously misunderstood it on the first pass.

mcv 7y ago

Because people think elves can have beard, they are correct to thing Gandalf is an elf? That's some twisted inside-out logic. Obviously they wouldn't think that Gandalf was an elf if they thought elves never had beards, so yeah, they probably thought elves had beards. And they were probably correct about that, considering we know of a real elf who had a beard. But if elves can have beards, that doesn't mean everybody with a beard is an elf. That just makes no sense.

hombre_fatal 7y ago
> But if elves can have beards, that doesn't mean everybody with a beard is an elf. That just makes no sense. That's not what was said, though. The point is that having a beard is not a show-stopper when suspecting that someone is an elf. People could have suspected that Gandalf was an elf for any number of unmentioned reasons having nothing to do with his beard, it's just that his beard did not get in the way of that, so beards are clearly not considered outside of the elvish phenotype.
- mcv 7y ago
  Exactly. That's what I'm saying. That's not what 0xffff2 is saying, though. The fact that Gandalf could be an elf because Gandalf's beard doesn't rule it out, on account of some elves having beards, does not imply that Gandalf really is an elf. Elves having beards does in no way imply that the people were correct in their belief that Gandalf is an elf.