tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Nov 23 10:53:52 1997

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Re: squadron officers

My problem with all of these is "squadron" is being used as a 
unit of measure. We have special verbs for "to have a weight of" 
and "to have a length of". These need to be special verbs 
because we are talking about units of measure. We know well how 
to give the simple count of objects, but peHruS is trying to use 
the word "squadron" as if it were like the word "dozen" and we 
simply don't have any Klingon words that really work this way, 
nor would we have good grammar to explain how we would use them. 
Would they require another measurement verb? I honestly don't 
know.

charghwI'

On Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:10:55 -0800 (PST) Qov <[email protected]> 
wrote:

> I think SuStel posted an almost identical response, but I'll send this one
> anyway.  Useful for people to see the BGs agree on some things. :)
> 
> lab DloraH
> > somebody challenged:
> 
> peHruS ghaH.
> 
> > >1) Two squadrons of officers entered the restaurant.
> > >2) Two squadron officers entered the restaurant.
> > >3) The officers of two squadrons entered the restaurant.
> >
> > I thought I would give it a try.
> > (I felt that I was forgetting a rule or two, but hey, I tried)
> > 
> > 1) Qe' lu'el cha' yaS nawloghmey
> 
> jIQochbe'.
> 
> It could also mean "Two officers' squadrons entered the restaurant."
> 
> Your next two contain a speculative answer to what I've seen 
> called "the cat in the hat" problem. We are told that in a noun-noun 
> construction, only the second noun takes type 5 suffixes.  So how do 
> we say "the cat in the hat" or "the man from U.N.C.L.E."? Qanqor has 
> written an article on it and your solution as the one he liked, but 
> I don't use it.
> 
> > 2) Qe' lu'el nawloghvo' cha' yaS
> 
> I'd say 
> 
> Qe' lu'el cha' nawlogh yaS
> 
> which could also be "The officers of two squadrons..."
> If the differnce was important, I'd say {Qe' lu'el cha' yaS.  nawlogh yaS chaH.}
> 
> > 3) Qe' lu'el cha' nawloghvo' yaSpu'
> 
> Qe' lu'el cha' nawlogh yaS
> 
> "Two squadron officers ..."
> or
> "Officers of two squadrons ..."
> 
> To disambiguate I'd say {cha' nawlogh wa'maH yaS}. The ten 
> officers of two squadrons, or I'd write differnt sentences.
> 
> In English you can't tell whether number three is the same as 
> number one (were the squadrons composed only of officers?)
> In Klingon number three might be the same as number two.
> 
> yISIQ.
> 
> Qov     [email protected]
> Beginners' Grammarian                 
>

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