tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Apr 25 03:10:42 2004

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Re: Probability

QeS lagh ([email protected])



jIghItlhpu':

>Playing devil's advocate, though, I'm not sure whether you can have fifty 
>percent
>of a certainty; it strikes me as somewhat weird, like saying "half a hole" 
>or "a little bit pregnant" in English.

ghItlhpu' Paul:

>But you *can* have "half an orange" or "half a year".  What's a certainty
>but a 100% chance?  I think it works exceedingly well.

I know what you mean; I'm slowly warming to it, but the Klingon {vaghmaH 
vatlhvI' DIch} still seems a little odd. I'm not sure if I can even explain 
why I think so, so maybe I should just go back to my corner and let everyone 
else toy with it... {{:)

>There's an English phrase, "half a chance", but I believe that is more
>idiomatic and so it wouldn't make sense to say /vaghmaH vatlhvI' DuH/ (or
>even /bID DuH/...  I hadn't realized /vatlhvI'/ gets used as a number, but
>it makes my worries of a noun-number-noun construction go away.

Nice, isn't it? I'd wondered how you say "120 mL of grain" (I'm writing a 
basic Klingon cookbook, but after hitting upon {wa'maH cha' vatlhvI' 
tlho'ren}, it's been smooth sailing.

>I think there's a /Hutvagh vatlhvI' DIch/ chance this is a good rule of 
>thumb.  :)

jIHaghnIS. I hope I read that right: "Too much percentage certainty"?? {{:)


(BTW, If that's not what you meant, {HutmaH vagh} is what you're after; 
{Hutvagh} means "too many things or people in a place at one time".)

Savan.

QeS lagh

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