Okay, so you know at the Doors of Moria, when the fellowship is trying to figure out the password to get in, Gandalf all of a sudden gets it and then says that Merry had the answer? Well, WHEN does Merry say anything? I've never found anywhere where Merry says anything about the elvish word for friend! And I've read LotR 8 times! Anybody want to enlighten me?

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I was looking at that part today and was thinking the same thing, maybe he said something about the poem giving the answer? I am not sure but he never does talk about the elvish word...

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The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

Merry asks something along the lines of, "What do you suppose it means by <i>Speak friend, and enter</i>?
And then Gandalf says, "Merry, of all people was on the right track."

I'm not quite sure. lol

But how does that mean he's on the right track? ANY of the fellowship could have asked that question!

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It was the way he said it. It gave Gandalf the idea that the password was the Elvish equivalent of 'friend'. Emphasis counts for a lot you know

I'd totally forgotten about this part in the book. Wasn't it Frodo who said Merry's line in the movie?

No, Frodo says,"What's the elvish word for friend?" in the movie, which isn't a line from the book, but it is Frodo who figures it out in the movie, not Merry. So yes and no

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But in the movie Merry does say, "What do you suppose that means?" So it's like a shortened version of the book line.

In fact it's really strange that Frodo solves the riddle in the movie. Maybe it was just to simple for Gandalf?

Yes, I think Gandalf was just overanalysing it.

Yes, and if you've watched the audio cast commentary (which I have) Dominic Monaghan mentions that he asked the script people why it was Frodo who gets the answer and not Merry, who does it in the book, and they said they just needed to focus more on Frodo, because he was the main character. I don't think it's strange at all; Frodo was familiar with elvish to a certain degree and he wasn't in the habit of solving difficult riddles all the time, like Gandalf. I think they made a good choice to do it like that in the film.

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If all of you remember The Hobbit, it does seem like Hobbits are quite good at riddles. Well, if they weren't, Bilbo would have been eaten and the ring would have remained with Gollum!

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Thanks Haldir and Gil!
"You said: I know that this will hurt, but if I don't break your heart then things will just get worse..."

I think that Gandalf, who is very wise and old and all that stuff, was looking too far for that riddle. Maybe he was looking for a far more complicated answer, and he didn't realise that the answer could also be 'easy'...

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Yup, as I said, he overanalysed it. Happens to me all the time. I'll be trying to figure out an answer and it will be right there in my face.

Yeah, Gandalf says after the doors open that it was "too simple for learned lore-master in these suspicious times."
I think it's in the way Merry says it.

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going on a journey through my old claims

Yes, but he doesn't know the Elvish word for friend!