tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 08 06:12:01 1997

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RE: vaj KLBC

jatlh peHruS:
> << What, to you, is the difference between "dining room" and "banquet hall"
> that 
>  one and not the other should correspond to a particular Klingon phrase?  
>  Formality?  What makes {'uQpa'} more formal than {Sojpa'}?  Something else?
>   >>
> 
> What if we discover from MO that {Sojpa'} actually means "pantry"?  Of
> course, until he says so, I won't claim that it could only mean "pantry."  I
> am merely stating that I had thought some time back about using {'uQpa'} for
> "dining room."  Personally, I still like it.

Quite right: we don't know if Maltz or any other Klingon would interpret it as 
"pantry," "dining room," or something else.  If a noun compound has several 
possibilities like this, then it's probably not a very good compound.  In 
cases like this, you'll need to distinguish what you mean, rather than relying 
on someone remembering what your particular preferences are.

SopmeH pa'
Soj polmeH pa'

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97351.2

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