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

[mayql qunenoS]

De'vID:
> When I learned English, I was like... why do you just call everyone
> "uncle" and "aunt" or "cousin"? Then how do people know how they're
> related to you?

your post De'vID made me think ; it made me think and it made me
realize something.. I will write my thoughts and subsequent
realization exactly as they were made between me and myself..

(thinking to myself..)
in greek we only have one word for uncle/aunt and one word for cousin.
when someone says to you "my cousin" you will of course ask for
further context, further clarification as to what kind of cousin he
speaks of. and you accept this as perfectly normal.
on the other hand, when in certain circumstances, in klingon you're
required to provide further context, you tend to think and wish that
"if only klingon had more vocabulary and/or grammar".
why now, that klingon provides you with additional vocabulary, in
order to express concepts which you could not express, not even in
your native language, you judge this as unnessecary and redundant ?
why do you tend to accept any kind of limitation of greek or english,
while at the same time refusing to do the same for klingon ?
the answer is simple : because arriving at klingon from any previous
linguistic background we tend to carry with us the "baggage" from that
previous background ; and even worst we're trying to impose on another
language the attributes of any previous one, we consider to be the
"gold standart" against which all other languages need to be measured.
things become a lot simpler once we realize the need to let go of this
previous linguistic burden, and accept the new language as something
unique, consisting of its own, personal, characteristic attributes.

mayqel mIv Hurgh qunnoq

On Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 1:44 PM, De'vID <de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com> wrote:
> mayql qunenoS:
>> 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.."
>
> These are the family terms I grew up with:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1HaZ4WLo50 (Chinese family tree)
>
> When I learned English, I was like... why do you just call everyone
> "uncle" and "aunt" or "cousin"? Then how do people know how they're
> related to you?
>
> --
> De'vID