tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 23 09:37:25 1996
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Re: Wish List
ghItlh peHruS:
Chinese uses "open" and "close" for turn on a switch or turn off a
switch; but, there is no reason to believe that Klingons think as the
Chinese do.
jang ghunchu'wI':
Actually, saying "open" and "close" in reference to an electrical
circuit is common in most languages, at least when it comes to
technical writing. I wouldn't have a problem with this usage, if we
had a way to talk about "circuits".
vIghItlh jIH:
You'd have more trouble than you think. Go back and reread peHruS's
paragraph carefully. Although he didn't say "respectively", that's
what he means; at least, Mandarin kai1 means "open" and "turn on",
while guan1 means "close" and "turn off". I've heard the same
relation in Yiddish-influenced English ("open/close the light" =
"turn the light on/off"). This is opposite to the electrical-circuit
sense, in which opening (or "breaking") a circuit turns OFF the
appliance, and closing ("making") the circuit turns it ON.
marqem, tlhIngan veQbeq la'Hom -- Heghbej ghIHmoHwI'pu'!
Subcommander Markemm,
Klingon Sanitation Corps -- Death to Litterbugs!
Mark A. Mandel
Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : [email protected]