[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: nuD

[jaSwa']

If you were reviewing a cartoon or something that featured talking animals as main characters, would you refer to the turtle family as la'SIvpu' or la'SIvmey?

Generally, when referring to beings in fantasy which have the ability to speak, I use -pu'. For example, my translation of "Dungeons & Dragons" comes out as bIghHa'mey lungpu' je (although I might want to consider using lung'a'pu' to further distinguish dragons from kobolds and troglodytes).

jaSwa'

Hochlogh bechjaj Hoch jaghpu'wI'

David Trimboli <david at trimboli.name> wrote:

>On 12/12/2012 12:03 PM, Steven Boozer wrote:
>>
>>> Interesting that {petaQ} takes {-mey} here.
>>
>> When this was first posted to this list, someone (I don't know who) commented that the line was:
>>
>>    shouted by Molor at Kahless; not sure if the {-mey} was
>>    intentional to add insult to, well, insult.
>
>I believe that (a) you don't intentionally insult someone by using the 
>wrong suffix and (b) whether you use a language-using suffix or not 
>depends on the normal use of a noun, not the individual situation.
>
>(a)
>Using a non-language-using suffix inappropriately can be insulting 
>without being a tool to insult someone. Using an inappropriate {-mey} 
>just sounds like you don't know how to speak.
>
>(b)
>When asked about talking parrots and robots, Maltz balked, unsure of the 
>correct answer. When using body-part words to describe parts of 
>crockery, the body-part suffixes are used.
>
>No doubt when a Klingon is confronted by one of thsoe edge cases like 
>parrots and robots, his mind fights a war between the suffix the word is 
>*supposed* to use and the suffix the situation demands. Language-using 
>suffixes are not discretionary, but if you understand what they mean, 
>you might think they are.
>
>Whatever a {petaQ} is, it is probably something that doesn't use 
>language, so the plural {petaQmey} is used. You don't change that plural 
>when you are applying it to language-users.
>
>If I wanted to call some citizens "swords," perhaps as a metaphor for 
>their use in defense of a city, I would call them {yanmey}, not 
>{yanpu'}. A sword does not use language, and my calling them swords does 
>not make them swords or make swords use language.
>
>yanmey chaH rewbe'pu''e'
>the citizens are swords
>
>It's questionable what pronoun to use there, but I think I picked the 
>right one.
>
>-- 
>SuStel
>http://www.trimboli.name/
>
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