tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 15 12:10:20 2001
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Re: To greet or not to greet...
> Hi! I'm Francis Moisan, a beginner in tlhIngan Hol. I've been studying
> it for some time now,
Are you new to the list? I don't recognize your name. I am DloraH, this
list's current Beginners' Grammarian. It's my job to help the new guys. If
you want, you can put KLBC in the subject line, this will flag the message so
that I answer it first before everybody jumps on you with a dozen different
answers. Without the KLBC it is open ground for everyone.
> but there's one question I can't seem to answer.
> When you greet people, is it better to say qavan (or Savan), nuqneH or
> absolutely nothing at all?
Of course what you say depends on the situation you are in.
Warrior #1 walks up to warrior #2, warrior #2 says [nuqneH]-"What do you
want?" Warrior #1 then tells #2 what it is he wants.
If you saw a good fight and you went to the winner and wanted to /shine his
nose/, you could say [qavan. SuvwI' Dun SoH. blah blah blah]
But for the most part... I enter the room. I see you sitting at the table.
You saw me enter the room. I saw that you saw me. (In other words, we made
eye contact). Unless I actually wanted to talk to you, what needs to be said?
Humans think its rude to not say "Hello". I think its rude to interupt
somebody just to say "Hello". (My co-workers have a hard time understanding
this. Look up the origins of hello. It could be taken as an insult to say
hello to someone's face.)
If you have something to say, then certainly say it.
If you enter a building and nobody saw you enter and you want them to know you
are there, then sure, you could say something to get their attention. (perhaps
[peqIm])
Humans have a saying, "words are cheap". Supply and demand. There are too
many words thrown out there for no reason; inflation; they loose value.
You don't need to say a greeting; but eye contact is polite. (But a good
warrior is aware of his surroundings. He will know who is around him.)
DloraH, BG