tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 25 12:58:23 1993

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porghpu' porghDu' porghmey joq



I don't remember the beginning of this thread, but doesn't it say in TKD
that objects that are capable of language take -pu', but may take -mey
to represent "scattered".  They say it doesn't happen with body parts,
except in poetic instances.  Is the question just of the plural "bodies",
or of a specific expression?  Remember that plural suffixes aren't always
necessary; depending on the circumstances, you might as well just use "porgh"
and let the plurality be derived from context.

On the topic of context, how is "body" intended?  It could be just the 
trunk of a person (whole body minus head, arms, legs), or do you want it
to mean "body", as in whole bodies?

In that sense, perhaps the appropriate suffix actually changes;  If you
wanted to convey "bodies" as in "How many able bodies do we have left?"
then perhaps porghpu' would be appropriate.  If you wanted to convey the
anatomical "body", perhaps -Du' would be better; "They had cuts all over
their bodies".  And then if you wanted to enforce the dead body sense, you
might be able to use -mey "There were bodies everywhere!" 

...Paul

Sorry, this wasn't really thought out or researched.




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