tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 22 12:12:25 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Bucket of tongues (was: Re: Looking for Nick Nicholas)
>Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 03:43:03 -0500
>Originator: [email protected]
>From: "A.Appleyard" <[email protected]>
>ghItlhpu' "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>:-
>> ["nujpu' ngaSwi'"] means "tongues' bucket". While you can translate that as
>> "bucket of tongues, you must realize that you are referring to the bucket
>> and not its cargo. If you are using "bucket" as a unit of measure, it would
>> probably be better to count the tongues and use the number.
>Then what <is> the Klingon for "an X-ful of Y" = "the amount of Y that can
>fit into an X"? Perhaps he didn't know right then how many tongues make a
>bucketful, or what the cubic capacity of a teacup is (in e.g. "take a
>teacupful of flour"). I don't!
Maybe "a bucket which has been filled with tongues". That's more or less
what I'd wind up with in Hebrew for the analogous construction.
>> Even if you don't count them, remember, a Klingon may be inaccurate, but he
>> is never approximate.
>Why not? Anyone may have to be approximate, if he can't get find or hold of
>the exact value at the time.
It's a quote from a tape.
~mark