They're actually not, any more, Sai; originally, yes, in 1st edition they were literally called hobbits, and the Tolkien estate even got involved with some legal smackdown... But since then, each edition, they've worked to differentiate them and move them away from Tolkien hobbits, and make them their own thing. They still retain a lot of that, sure, they absolutely do, but they're very much differentiated now. For example: no, they don't have hairy feet, and they wear shoes like anyone else. Halflings average at a height of 3 feet, while Tolkiens hobbits actually average at 4 feet, for another physical detail. Halflings are much more involved and integrated into their world space than hobbits are in Middle Earth, and they have a wide variety of distinct cultures depending on where in the world they come from, or which realm space.
