tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 22 13:50:11 2002
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Re: Deconstructing {law'/puS}
>[>reH latlh qabDaq qul tuj law' Hoch tuj puS. ]
>
>ja' tulwI':
>>ok, but: what the heck is the meaning of this proverb, then?
>>is there an example when this proverb has been used, in what kind of
>>situation?
>
>It's a {qa'meH vIttlhegh}, a "replacement proverb". The literal meaning is
>less important than the fact that it's a specific phrase. There are
>several of them, and you just have to learn to recognize them. They are
>used when you have done something minor to dishonor yourself, like dropping
>a plateful of food, or making a particularly silly grammatical error in
>public.
>
>If you find yourself in a situation where you did something stupid and you
>feel everyone's eyes on you, give a replacement proverb and pretend it
>didn't happen. People are expected to accept the phrase as replacing your
>lost honor, and to forget the incident.
and this works?! ;)
thank you for the explanation. :)
tulwI',
sts.