tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 22 18:17:20 1997

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: Quotable quotes



jatlh 'Iwvan:
>HurghwI' wrote:
>[replying to me on {neH}]
>> The key is the placement of only in the translation.
>> After the article, and it's an adjective. Before the verb, an adverb.
>> In between . . . what is it?
>
>Also an adverb, but it applies to whatever it is that it precedes.

I tried two other dictionaries and managed to find it. It's still a wierd
word.

>> Hmmm. This whole thing is kind of a moot point; The more you try to say
>> "the only thing," or "it is the unique thing," or whatever, it becomes
>> clear that it is an English idiom anyway.

I was referring to this particular phrase, not the adjectival "only."
"The only thing," doesn't mean its literal translation, or "The only object
which is a thing in the entire universe."

-HurghwI'



Back to archive top level