tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 19 01:52:18 2014
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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] geometry and card games
On 18 November 2014 21:47, <[email protected]> wrote:
> The most interesting word here for me is {leD}.
>
> It's nice that Okrand told us how it is typically used: with plural
> subjects. Otherwise, we could have guessed lots of different constructions,
> like:
>
> *ravDaq leD tlhoy. The floors location is perpendicular to the wall.
>
> *ravvaD leD tlhoy. The perspective of the floor shows the wall to be
> perpendicular.
>
> But no.
>
> leD rav tlhoy je.
>
> The wall and floor are perpendicular.
I actually specifically asked him about how to use {Don}, and whether
{DonHa'} means perpendicular. The reason I asked about {Don} is that
it's defined as both "be parallel" and "go parallel to", suggesting it
can either take a plural subject ({Don rav, rav'eq je}) or an object
({'entepray' Don Qo'noS wa'}). He answered with {leD}, which he
explained is normally used with plural subjects (implying it doesn't
take an object). Does that make {Don} and {leD} a pair of words which
one might expect to be parallel, but actually aren't quite -- that is,
as if they were misaligned ({DonHa'})? :-) I think that's part of the
joke.
> Interesting that we don't have a word for "corner", as in the corner of a
> room. "Go stand in the corner" has to be some awkward construction like:
>
> cha' tlhoy leDDaq yIQam!
>
> or
>
> ghombogh cha' tlhoy leDDaq yIQam!
Well, we do sort of have {QIn} for a corner of a polygonal shape.
Although, does this apply only to acute angles? For example, does a
five-pointed star have five {QIn}, or ten {QIn} (five outward and five
inward)? That's not clear.
We also have {tajvaj}, which does indicate the angles of a polygon. In
particular, {qoD tajvaj} is "interior angle". Rooms don't have to be
square or rectangular (have right-angled corners). Klingon designs
seem to be based on a triangular/hexagonal layout anyway.
So:
{tajvajDaq yIQam!}
{tajvaj leDDaq yIQam!}
> Unless a square is considered to be a four point star...
>
> or
>
> cha' tlhoy DeD tajvajDaq yIQam!
>
> Bleah.
>
> We could use a word for "corner".
A Klingon would probably just point and say {pa' yIQam!}
--
De'vID
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