No Monkeys at Cuiviénen, by Elleth

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge:
N31: Weapons and Warfare: Guerrilla Warfare
Format: Drabble
Genre: Humor
Rating: General
Warnings: N/A
Characters: Arwen, Éomer
Pairings: N/A
Summary: Beer and the origin of warfare don't mix.

"No, not gorilla," says the queen to Éomer, delicately spooning soup. "It is a style of warfare. The Laiquendi – the Green Elves – favoured it. Small, mobile troops attacking suddenly, then withdrawing – ambushes, and often in forested terrain. It is an ages-old technique, presumably learned from the First Enemy himself, for he would appear, grasp the unfortunate, and speed away. The Elves of Cuiviénen reclaimed it for themselves."

"Then why is it named for monkeys? Were there monkeys at Cuiviénen?" asks Éomer, less preoccupied with history and more with beer, and takes another swig. Arwen rolls her eyes.

Note: I blame GG, entirely. Her, and the English pronunciation. Why are these things homophones? (And yes, I know that gorillas are apes. ;))

Comments

[grey_gazania]

Because this is America and English is a dynamic, growing language, that's why! ;)

In other news - hee! I like it! :D

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

What was that bit about back alleys and spare vocab again? XD

Thank you! ^^

[huinare.livejournal.com]

Haha, clever idea.

"Were there monkeys at Cuiviénen?"
That sounds like the start of a debate on Elves and evolution. X)

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^^

That sounds like the start of a debate on Elves and evolution. X)

Of course! The Awakening totally is not metaphysical sent-by-Eru starlight mumbo-jumbo (sorry! XD), it's the biopsychological emergence of elven consciousness. :D

[huinare.livejournal.com]

Whee =D ...I don't suppose that was one of the prompts on the Controversial Issues card or whatever it was called.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

No, alas! *smacks forehead!* Well. There is the N34 prompt asking about Elves and Men, and G56, about Cuiviénen...

:D

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Just delightful!

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. Poor Arwen! (Though I can sympathize with Eomer, having grown up with visions of Great Apes staging armed battles. :p )

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

*sniggers* I'm not a native English speaker (and German, thankfully, makes a pretty clear phonological distinction between the two), but I can easily imagine the puzzlement. XD Or the visions.

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Guerilla warfare used to puzzle me, too, until I started studying Spanish and finally it got through to me what it was really talking about. Excellent sidestepping here to get the prompt to fit!

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Heh, thank you! I actually had the reverse problem - I knew it was Spanish in origin before I ever heard the English term spoken, so had the Spanish pronunciation very firmly in mind. And then looked it up, and found it was a homophone with the Great Apes. I think I made quite a face at that.

*ducks the cries of 'prescriptive grammarian' and runs*

[engarian.livejournal.com]

An excellent question indeed - LOL.

- Erulisse (one L)
Sent from my NookColor

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Isn't it just? XD *goes looking for etymological notes*

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

hehehehe, that was fun!

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed! It was good to excercise some of the mindboggley-ness that's English pronunciation. ;)