tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 07 17:20:30 2000
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{lo'laH} (was RE: Feynman quote)
ja' De'vID:
>...I have a tendency to avoid {lo'laH} because I don't really like
>the word. It looks too much like it's {lo'} + {-laH}, which is a
>different word and has a different meaning.
yIbuDQo'. mu'mey Dalo'chu'meH, Hoch mu'mey DalajnIS. cha' qech
'oSlaHchugh wa' mu'tlhegh, DajlaH ghu'.
Don't avoid it out of laziness. Learn to embrace ambiguity -- it's a
staple of subtle expression. It happens in English all the time. Consider
"I ran the race." A Klingon translator would have to understand whether
you were a competitor or an administrator. Do you tend to avoid the word
"run" because it can mean two different things?
>> lo'laHbe'; chetvI' chIm rur
>> worthless as an empty torpedo tube KGT
>
>This almost makes me think that at a previous stage of the Klingon
>language, {lo'} had meant "be used" rather than "use".
Whatever its etymology, {lo'laH} is a valuable verb. :-) If you tweak your
mindset slightly, you'll probably come to see both meanings at the same
time without undue conflict.
-- ghunchu'wI' 'utlh