Mathom Thread: Unveiling Modern Gifts of Appreciation

[arildno]

Inspired by Zz's regifting thread, I would like to ask:
What would be the typical mathoms of our time?

 

[Evo]

I hope I'm not the only one that had no clue what you were referring to. The Fraggles have a song about it "Pass it on".

MATHOM

This word is hardly new, since it was used by J R R Tolkien at the beginning of the first volume of the Lord of the Rings, published in 1954. As with so many unfamiliar words in his works, he derived it from Old English, in this case the one usually written maðm, “a precious thing, treasure, valuable gift”, that was current in about the year 1000. Following Tolkien, it has gained significant currency online and in a few printed sources. To define the modern meaning, I can do no better than quote Professor Tolkien’s own words: “Anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort”. It’s a useful little word for which there seems no simple alternative and now that we have come across it, mathom will no doubt become part of our family’s standard vocabulary, since we have an attic full of the stuff.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-mat1.htm

 

[arildno]

It's a nice word, isn't it?
I don't think you ought to discard it from English. Not yet, anyway..

 

[Evo]

I confess to being a packrat. I tie sentimental meanings to everything and can't get rid of anything. Unfortunately the JAWS OF DEATH decided I had way too many collectible items and reduced my inventory. <sniff>

 

[arildno]

Same here, really. I have lots of books I KNOW I won't ever read, or read again, but to throw away a book??
Sacrilege..

 

[zoobyshoe]

What would be the typical mathoms of our time?

Newly educated by Evo's post, I would submit the dreamcatcher as the typical mathom of our time. Here in the US anyway, everyone seems to have one.

 

[Evo]

Same here, really. I have lots of books I KNOW I won't ever read, or read again, but to throw away a book??
Sacrilege..

My best friend in New York recently sent me a care package of old science fiction books he had duplicates of. :!)

Last night he brought up the subject of :!) TEDDY RUXPIN :!), of course it was mostly just to torture me, but I have a feeling a ruxpin might be in my future :!) (either that or a picture of a manatee with a carrot hanging out of it's mouth).

http://www.allposters.com/-st/Manatee-Posters_c17784_p2_.htm

 

[arildno]

Here's a real Icelandic Ruxpin for you, Evo!
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?what=A&obid=24903

 

[turbo]

Newly educated by Evo's post, I would submit the dreamcatcher as the typical mathom of our time. Here in the US anyway, everyone seems to have one.

I have no dreamcatcher (despite Native American blood on both sides of the family), but have acquired tons of rocks over the years. I managed to leave many of them when we sold our old house, but brought the best ones here, including a boulder of jasper that took a friend and myself an hour to lug up out of a stream-bed only 75 feet from my truck and a nice big piece of lepidolite shot through with cleavelandite and tourmaline. They aren't useful, but they're nice to look at now and again and they're not eating anything.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I have no dreamcatcher (despite Native American blood on both sides of the family),

They're easier to make than it seems by looking at them. Instructions on weaving the webbing are prolly online somwhere. I learned from a kit I bought second hand for cheap at the swap meet, and have made tons of them since; all different styles and materials.

...but have acquired tons of rocks over the years. I managed to leave many of them when we sold our old house, but brought the best ones here, including a boulder of jasper that took a friend and myself an hour to lug up out of a stream-bed only 75 feet from my truck and a nice big piece of lepidolite shot through with cleavelandite and tourmaline. They aren't useful, but they're nice to look at now and again and they're not eating anything.

If it weren't for the ubiquitous dreamcatcher I would have named crystals as the typical mathom. Most people seem to have a chunk of amethyst or loose quartz crystal around the place somewhere.

 

[turbo]

If it weren't for the ubiquitous dreamcatcher I would have named crystals as the typical mathom. Most people seem to have a chunk of amethyst or loose quartz crystal around the place somewhere.

Most of my small stuff is gem-quality - if it is not, I give it to visiting children. I have a very nice and precise faceting machine and have faceted stones from the mundane (amethyst, citrine, etc) to the exotic (including tsavorite and colored sapphires from Yogo gulch and elsewhere). The most popular is Maine tourmaline - there is a jeweler in Augusta that has bought every single Maine tourmaline I have offered him. I will willingly sacrifice weight for quality, and always facet to calibrated sizes, making my stones easy to mount with commercially-available settings. Also, since I have mined my own faceting rough, I can tell him exactly where each one came from. Lots of the stuff marketed as "Maine" tourmaline actually came from Brazil, Afghanistan, etc, and it sticks out like a sore thumb when you know what colors Maine tourmalines come in - it varies from location to location.

 

[wolram]

Inspired by Zz's regifting thread, I would like to ask:
What would be the typical mathoms of our time?

Maybe my coin collection or my fossil collection, they are worthless but unchuckable, i also have a stamp album that may or may not have some value i some how doubt it but i will not throw it out just in case, if i remember correctly did you not have a fossil collection also? or was that Evo, any ways i hate to throw enything that has some age to it.

 

[arildno]

Maybe my coin collection or my fossil collection, they are worthless but unchuckable, i also have a stamp album that may or may not have some value i some how doubt it but i will not throw it out just in case, if i remember correctly did you not have a fossil collection also? or was that Evo, any ways i hate to throw enything that has some age to it.

No, I don't have a fossil collection, but when I was about 10, I found a black rock with a trilobite in it right where I lived.

I guess I still have it somewhere, I'm a rather mathomic individual.