tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 09 21:02:15 2002
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Ambiguities (Was: Re: qepHommaj)
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Ambiguities (Was: Re: qepHommaj)
- Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 18:05:05 -0800
> >jIH: naDev wej tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI' lutu'lu'.
>
> The first time I read this, I parsed it as 'There aren't any Klingon
speakers here > yet.' As that did not make sense within the context, I had
to reread it it, and
> then it was clearly, 'There are three Klingon speakers here.'.
>
> Does anyone else have any examples of ambiguous statements (deliberate
or > unintentional) that they've run into?
The wej/wej thing in Klingon is annoyingly common. I rarely use wej in an
object without having to consider that issue.
Yesterday on another group e-mail it was suggested that <naDev QInlIj>
would be a witty thing to display on a temporary tattoo. Sparks flew.
In aviation there are well-known safety issues associated with linguistic
ambiguity.
"Take off power" might mean either /mapuvmeH HoS yIcher/ or /HoS yIteq/.
The phrase "We are now at take-off" killed 583 people (there were other
factors involved too) at Tenerife when the pilot meant he was taking off
and the controller thought he meant he was waiting in the take off position.
A pilot cleared to by air traffic control to descend "two four zero zero"
read back the clearance as, "OK. Four zero zero," and descended to 400
feet. HuD mup.