tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 07 10:41:25 1999
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Using {'op}
DujHoD
: {jIvbej 'op nuv} means, "Some people are certainly ignorant." ({'op} is from
: KGT.) Actually, I'm not sure that I'm using {'op} correctly; I'm treating it
: as though it were a number, the same way {Hoch} is used.
It looks fine to me. I understood it at once.
That's a question that has been debated before, along with the other quantity
words {HochHom} "most, greater part" and {'ar} "how many, how much". Is {Hoch}
the model for the others, or is {Hoch} the exception?
Okrand has used the noun {'op} "some, an unknown or unspecified quantity" just
once, in SkyBox card S7:
'ej DujvamDaq 'op SuvwI' tu'lu'bogh po' law' tlhIngan yo'
SuvwI' law' po' puS
It [IKC Pagh] has ... some of the finest warriors in the
Klingon fleet. S7
Note he translates {'op SuvwI'} as "some of the warriors", not "some of the
warrior" (i.e. a piece of him). Perhaps the plural suffix is omitted following
{'op}, or perhaps "some of the warrior" just doesn't make sense in this
particular context. {'op ghot} should indeed mean "some people".
AFAIK Okrand hasn't commented on whether there's a difference between {'op
chab} and {'op chabmey}. Does the former mean "some of the pie" (i.e. a
piece), while the latter is "some of the pies" (i.e. 3 pies out of a batch of
10)? Or do they both mean "some of the pies", with the plural suffix
optional? (Note that you can also say {chab(mey) puS} "several pies, a few
pies, a handful of pies". To confuse matters, Okrand has used {puS} both with
and without a plural suffix.)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons