tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 19 10:38:15 2002
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Re: Klingon WOTD: Ho' (n)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Thursday, September 19, 2002.
>
>Klingon word: Ho'
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: idol
>
>Additional Notes:
>KGT. (slang)
Note that this is not a religious term, but rather a "role model".
Described in KGT (152-53):
Ho' ("idol, someone worthy of emulation, something deserving of respect")
This is actually the word for "tooth," but it is applied to someone who
is admired or revered. It might be used in a phrase such as Ho' SoH
("You are an idol" or "You are someone worthy of emulation"; literally,
"You are a tooth") or Ho' ghaH HoD'e' ("The captain is an idol";
literally, "The captain is a tooth"). Grammatically, even as slang, Ho'
follows the rules appropriate to its literal meaning. Thus, even though
it may refer to a person, its plural is Ho'Du' ("teeth"), making use of
the plural suffix for body parts (-Du'), not Ho'pu', with -pu', the
plural suffix for beings capable of using language. Similarly, it never
takes the possessive suffixes associated with beings capable of using
language. That is, "my idol" (literally, "my tooth") is Ho'wIj (with
-wIj, the general suffix for "my"), not Ho'wI' (with -wI', the suffix
for "my" used with beings capable of using language). The slang meaning
of Ho' is no doubt influenced by the identically sounding verb Ho'
("admire"), and, indeed, the closest nonslang counterpart is probably a
phrase with this verb: HoD Ho'lu' ("The captain is admired").
Cf. also the noun {Sub} "hero".
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons