tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 27 23:52:17 2004

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Re: "dozens" (wa'maHmey?)

Lieven L. Litaer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol ghojwI']

Am Thu, 27 May 2004 21:10:19 -0400 hat De'vID jonwI' <[email protected]> 
geschrieben:

> Then that got me to thinking, "Can we pluralize numbers
> in Klingon?"

No.

> <wa'maH QIn boqonta'> "You (pl) have composed ten messages"
> <*wa'maHmey QIn boqonta'> *"You (pl) have composed tens of messages"

TKD gives examples:
    20     {cha'maH}                 (that is, "two tens")
    30     {wejmaH}                  (that is, "three tens")

After this, *wa'maHmey* is a plural form of a singular thing: "one tens"

> Do any rules suggest you can or
No, no rules do, so we cannot guess.
As far as we know, pluralsuffixes are NOUN suffixes.

> expressed, other than a general/vague <QIn law'>... I want to
> say "many messages" but also want to indicate the order of
> magnitude of tens rather than, say, hundreds.

"Although Klingons are sometimes inaccurate, they are never approximate."

Say:
   {wa'maH QIn boqon}
   "You composed ten messages"
or
   {wa'vatlh QInmey boqon}
   "You composed hundreds of messages"

canon:
  {qaStaHvIS wa'maH puq poHmey, wo'rIv betleH ghaj qorDu'Daj}
  "Worf's bat'telh has been in his family for ten generations."
Are you sure it's TEN generations? I'm sure it could be less or more.

------
You might also go back to an old idiomatic expression describing a "long 
time":
  {wa'maH cha' pemmey wa'maH cha' rammey je}
  "twelve days and twelve nights"

and say
   {wa'maH cha' QInmey boqon}
   "You composed twelve messages"

(but that's just an idea, I'm not sure that will work)
------

A very simple and Klingon suggestion:

   {QIn 'Iq}
   "too many messages"

------
From Webster I found roughly three meanings for "dozen":

1. a group of 12 *oranges sold by the dozen*
----> {wa'maH cha' na'ran}

2. a group containing an indefinite small number *a dozen years ago*
----> {'op} ... {puS} ...

3. a larger number than one might expect â usually used in plural *I've 
dozens of things to do* ----> {'Iq} ... {law'} ... (?)

This last definition is what you're looking for. Since it's not literally 
in english either, one could guess it's probably idiomatic in Klingon too.
We say "dozens" because that's a very old known expression. I'm sure 
Klingon uses something completely else. Until we find that out, just say 
directly what you want to say, using what we know.

Enough of my opinion :-)

Quvar.

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