Re: similes

[Quvar valer <levinius@gmx.de>]

Am 16.07.2002 22:54:55, schrieb Steven Boozer <sboozer@midway.uchicago.edu>:

>nughel Quvar:
>>chay' mu' *similes* jatlhlu'?

jangmo' pagh, nIteb De' vISam. *simili* jatlhlu' (tlhIngan Deghmey Dalo' DaneHchugh, yIlaD: 
*SI'mI'lIS*)

>   chetvI' chIm rur DujlIj.
>   Your ship resembles an empty torpedo tube.
This one is more like an idiom to me.
I feel like everybody knows that a {chetvI' chIm} is worthless.

>   DaHjaj veqlargh rur HoDlI'.
>   Your captain resembles Fek'lhr today.
This one is nothing special. The Fek'lhr is the Fek'lhr, no need to explain or translate.

But I think that some of the others can be confusing, like {qagh rur}. A qagh could be alive, hungry, 
starving, slimy, ugly, tasty, ...(?)
I would never say {qagh vIrur} wthout adding {jIghung} 
In German, they also have similes with animals, this one would be "Bärenhunger", the "hunger of a 
bear". Nobody would say "I'm a bear".

>   SuvwI' juHmey rur tachmey
>   Bars resemble warriors' homes. CK
>
>We have examples of what you might call "informal similes" (A rur B):
Why "informal similes"?? That's just the way the verb {rur} is used, just like any other verb.

>   Dejpu'bogh Hov rur qablIj
   Dejpu'bogh Hov Sop qablIj
   Your face eats a collapsed star!

>   Hov ghajbe'bogh ram rur pegh ghajbe'bogh jaj
>   A day without secrets is like a night without stars. PK
literally: "... resembles ..."

>   chetvI' chIm 'oH DujlIj'e'.
>   Your ship is an empty torpedo tube.
This is hard!! ;-)

>We have a model of this type of insult from TKD:
>
>   veQDuj 'oH DujlIj'e'
>   Your ship is a garbage scow!
This is much stronger than "Your ship looks like..."

Quvar.