tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 29 07:37:09 2006

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



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

Re: "rule reversal"?

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



Paul:
>I somehow reversed those two rules in my head.  New question -- how to say
>"I reversed those two rules."  ?  :)

   cha' chutHomvetlh vIyoymoHpu'
   "I've inverted those two rules"

using {chut} "law" + {-Hom} and the verb {yoy} "be upside down" + {-moH}, 
which is as close as we have AFAIK.  (WRT {yoy}: "I had needed some 
technobable once and created 'inverter' [yoymoHwI'] ... which Marc [Okrand] 
said was perfect." [Bill Willmerdinger, BabelCon 2].)

Alternatively you could just say {qawHa'} "remember incorrectly".  E.g.:

   When taking a table's order, the {jabwI'} neither writes anything
   down nor enters data into a computer. It is considered the duty of
   the {jabwI'} to remember ({qaw}) the choices and to bring the correct
   food, and servers tend to be quite skilled at this. On the rare
   occasion when the {jabwI'} has remembered incorrectly ({qawHa'}),
   the patron may reject ({lajQo'}) the dish. If the patron rejects a
   dish that the server believes has been properly remembered, however,
   the misunderstanding could develop into minor combat. For most of
   the other diners in the restaurant, this is regarded as an exhilarating
   diversion. (KGT 101f.)

Hmm... "minor combat" is not a bad description for what occasionally 
happens on this list as we quote (or mis-quote) grammar rules, examples and 
exceptions at one another!  <g>



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






Back to archive top level