tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 16 19:06:30 1997

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KGT: The Jokes Keep Coming

I think I have uncovered yet another linguistic joke in KGT, which I 
haven't seen mentioned on the list (though possibly it sailed past 
me)

On page 147, Okrand defines the slang term bolwI' as a traitor.  
Something about this sounded VERY familiar.

Here in North America in the 1860's, during The War of the Rebellion
(known variously today as the "US Civil War" or "The Late
Unpleasantness with the North"), Southerners who worked for the
Union against the Confederacy were called "boll weevils".  For
anyone unfamiliar with the term , it refers to an insect (a weevil)
which destroyed cotton crops by burrowing into the cotton bloom
(known as a "boll").  It ruined the plant from the inside, an
excellent metaphor for a traitor, don't you think?



'etlhqengwI'
(vuDmeywIjvaD jIngoy' jiH'e')

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