[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tey'be'

[Michael Roney, Jr.]

On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 1:57 PM, mayql qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> there are two word groups I cannot understand, as far as the need for
> their existence is concerned :
>
> 1. the whole group "the son of the brother of the sister's mother of
> the third cousin of my grandmother's second uncle.."


Well to be fair, it's not as complicated as your example.
Here are some family tree charts that might help visualize what's going on:
http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/purpleelaphants/tlhInganHol/qorDuSor.html

I don't know how it works in other languages (or other families), but
My Mother's Mother is "Granny", while dad's mom is "Grandma".
My wife's sister is my child's "aunty" while my sister is their "auntie".

In my circle of friends, it seems common for grandparents to have their own
separate terms.

Interestingly enough, as specific as the aunt/uncle terms are, the lor/tey
terms are less specific than English.



> 2. to use the whatever toe.
> when I was compiling my dictionary, I couldn't understand their
usefullness..
>

Is it the verbs or nouns that bother you?
Do you feel the same way about the fingers?

English has nouns for all of the fingers: thumb, index/pointer, middle,
ring, pinky.
But we don't have official terms for our toes, so people try to awkwardly
use the finger words and say things like "pinky toe" or "ring toe".

As Klingon is all about the verbs, I see nothing wrong with these words
existing.
Especially if we're learning about typing, playing the piano, or other
finger-heavy activities.

~naHQun


--
~Michael Roney, Jr.
Freelance Translator
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