tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 20 17:00:05 2003

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RE: no matter what happens...

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

>From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
>pagh:
>>I think <SISlI'> may work for some of the desert thunderstorms we get 
>>where
>>I live. The rain starts abruptly, it rains hard for a short while, and 
>>then
>>it stops. Sometimes they last as little as ten minutes, and sometimes you
>>can even see the stormcloud passing overhead. I'd say this kind of rain 
>>has
>>a definite stopping point.
>
>Why not just use {loQ} "slightly, a little bit, briefly, short":  {pay' loQ 
>SISqu'} or {pay' loQ jev}, etc.  That's what it's for.
>
>I think this is a matter of viewpoint.  Do you really know when it starts 
>what the "definite" stopping point of each individual thunderstorm is?  
>(E.g. This is a 10 min. storm, but that one is a 20 min. rain??)  Or is it 
>just an informed guess based on experience?

You don't need to know specifically the stopping point in order to use 
/-lI'/.  All you need to know is that there is one.  And the language isn't 
going to ask for proof that you definitely know it; using /-lI'/ would be, 
at worst, a bit of hyperbole to make the point.

>My point was that *all* kinds of rain eventually have a stopping point - at 
>least on Earth - whether a brief rain of a few minutes duration (e.g. a 
>shower, downpour) or an extended rain of several weeks (e.g. a monsoon), 
>but that exact point is nevertheless unknown.  "Whenever it stops" is not 
>enough.

Rain doesn't necessarily always stop at a "definite" point, though.  It can 
taper off.  What pagh seems to be describing sounds like rain that suddenly 
stops.  You may not know it in advance, but saying /SISlI'/ leads the 
listener to understand that the rain is the sort that progresses toward a 
goal of stopping, rather than one that slowly tapers out.

SuStel
Stardate 3635.6

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