tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 19 00:29:18 2002
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Re: Deconstructing {law'/puS}
[>reH latlh qabDaq qul tuj law' Hoch tuj puS. ]
ja' tulwI':
>ok, but: what the heck is the meaning of this proverb, then?
>is there an example when this proverb has been used, in what kind of
>situation?
It's a {qa'meH vIttlhegh}, a "replacement proverb". The literal meaning is
less important than the fact that it's a specific phrase. There are
several of them, and you just have to learn to recognize them. They are
used when you have done something minor to dishonor yourself, like dropping
a plateful of food, or making a particularly silly grammatical error in
public.
If you find yourself in a situation where you did something stupid and you
feel everyone's eyes on you, give a replacement proverb and pretend it
didn't happen. People are expected to accept the phrase as replacing your
lost honor, and to forget the incident.
-- ghunchu'wI'