tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 03 11:01:23 2002

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Re: Difference between {pI'} and {ror}?



maHvatlh wrote:
>What is the difference in meaning between {pI'} and {ror}? They're both
>translated as "be fat" in TKD but are they really synonymous or do they
>mean different things?

We don't know.  Okrand hasn't explained or used either of them in a sentence.

Our only other piece of information - and it's VERY indirect - is {runpI'} 
"teapot" in KGT, which is one of Okrand's jokes, deriving from the 
children's song:

   I'm a little teapot,
   short {run} and stout {pI'}.
   Here is my handle.
   Here is my spout.

Now, whether this means anything is unknown.  E.g.: Is {pI'} somewhat less 
fat - or offensive? - than {ror}?  Cf. English "stout/chubby/plump" vs. 
"fat".  Or... is one used for things (cf. {ngo'} "be old [not new]") and 
the other for people ({qan} "be old [not young]")?  At the moment, we have 
no idea.

To complicate things, AFAIK there's only one word for "be thin" {lang} and 
the apparently unrelated noun {tlhagh} "fat, animal fat" - two more puns 
(sound them out!).



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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