tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 13 11:41:01 1996

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Re: To greet or not to greet? The canonical question.

kaylar writes:
>...In Jamaica if you come up to me I will ask, what do you want?

Okay, but would you ask what I want if *you* came up to *me*?  That is
the main point of contention here.  

>If I see you, I might say
>something like 'what's happening?' or something that cuts through, as
>you won't find ANY amenities in patois--the street language of Jamaica.

I don't have a problem with this kind of greeting when the encounter 
is essentially unplanned.  However, if you approach your landlord with
the intent of reporting a leaking gas line, will you say to him or her
'what's happening?' immediately before you give the information?  If 
you leave a note for the exterminator, do you start it with the 
question 'what you want?'

According to TKD, a Klingon would not.  Starting email with {nuqneH} 
is, in my opinion, a misuse of the word.  It's not quite as bad as, 
for instance, *{jen pa'} or *{maj ram} (*shudder*), but it's still
(again, in my opinion) incorrect to use it to begin a message.

--------------------------------------------
Alan Anderson              Delco Electronics
{ghunchu'wI'}       Remanufacturing Services
        Test Equipment System Software Group

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