Ambiguities (Was: Re: qepHommaj)

[Qov <qov@direct.ca>]

 > >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.