tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 13 11:41:01 1996
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: To greet or not to greet? The canonical question.
- From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: To greet or not to greet? The canonical question.
- Date: Thu, 13 Jun 96 13:15:04 EST
kaylar writes:
>...In Jamaica if you come up to me I will ask, what do you want?
Okay, but would you ask what I want if *you* came up to *me*? That is
the main point of contention here.
>If I see you, I might say
>something like 'what's happening?' or something that cuts through, as
>you won't find ANY amenities in patois--the street language of Jamaica.
I don't have a problem with this kind of greeting when the encounter
is essentially unplanned. However, if you approach your landlord with
the intent of reporting a leaking gas line, will you say to him or her
'what's happening?' immediately before you give the information? If
you leave a note for the exterminator, do you start it with the
question 'what you want?'
According to TKD, a Klingon would not. Starting email with {nuqneH}
is, in my opinion, a misuse of the word. It's not quite as bad as,
for instance, *{jen pa'} or *{maj ram} (*shudder*), but it's still
(again, in my opinion) incorrect to use it to begin a message.
--------------------------------------------
Alan Anderson Delco Electronics
{ghunchu'wI'} Remanufacturing Services
Test Equipment System Software Group