Re: KLBC: Higher numbers

[GusDog <elwood@ufl.edu>]

willm@cstone.net wrote:

> I find it particularly interesting that Okrand gave us Klingon words for all 
> the numbers that all English-speaking peoples agree on. He did not give us any 
> words for the numbers that Americans use differently from other English-
> speakers. 



I noticed that too. Perhaps beyond 'million' the nomenclature 
diversifies across regions like with cookware and foreheads. Maybe some 
areas use special forms for 'ten million', 'hundred million', etc, while 
others recycle {maH} and {vatlh} into *{maH'uy'}, *{valth'uy'}.
{jIloy neH}.
I can imagine Klingon technical staff speaking in exponential notation...


> We don't typically talk about the distance between two cities in terms of feet 
> or meters. We speak in terms of miles. In space, we use light-years. 



That's a feature I liked a lot about the old ways of measurement 
(ounces, pounds, tons) which I suppose the metric system has decimated.