Orcrist, which is translated for The dwarves and Bilbo in the Hobbit by Elrond as "the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin." Krist is defined in the

Etymologies of the 30's as "

cut ... N(oldorin)

a cleaver, sword" leaving Orc to be translated here as Goblin. Elrond then goes on to say that "

They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars." The only time the Armies of Gondolin ever left the city to do battle was during the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which

every contemporary account mentions "Orcs", not "Goblins" as the primary foe.

Mostly that in the Silmarillion, in addition to ever other book, they are referred to as Orcs. The only place where they are extensively referred to as Goblins is in The Hobbit. This backs up what Tolkien says in a note at the start of The Hobbit that "Goblin" is the Hobbit word for "Orc".A clear illustration that Tolkien considered goblins and orcs to be the same thing, is that in(the only one of Tolkien's works in which he usually refers to orcs as) Gandalf asks Thorin if he remembers "Azog the Goblin" who killed his grandfather Thror, while in all his other writings (Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings) Tolkien describes Azog as a "great Orc."Another can be found in the name of the swordcristThe best argument as to why this is slightly confusing can be found here: tolkien.cro.net/orcs/goblins.h… Basically it seems that Tolkien changed his mind after some of his books were already published about Orcs and Goblins being the same or different, primarily to stop people thinking of fairytale goblins and getting the wrong idea.Going back to Zog's original point. Frodo and Sam (and occasionally Smeagol/Gollum) wander through Mordor, the definite "home" of many orcs and see no major signs of culture, habitation or ... well, anything. I think this goes a long way to showing that Tolkien's orcs have no real culture of their own and exist mostly as feral bands when not guided to a greater purpose by a commanding power such as Sauron or one of The Nine.