tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 15 07:18:14 2004

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: jIb

ngabwI' ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 8:55 AM
Subject: jIb


> Is {wa' jIb} a single hair or a head of hair?  Does {jIb} parallel English
> usage of 'hair', with both count and mass interpretations?
> lay'tel SIvten

AFAIK, we have only one example of {jIb} in canon, from PK:

{DaH jIbwIj vISay'nISmoH} "I must wash my hair now."

So we have at least a "mass interpretation" of the word.

FWIW, when I read {wa' jIb}, I pictured a single strand of hair, so the 
"count interpretation" is, to me, a valid one. YMMV.

The key here, I think, is to not limit the way this language can be used. If 
I were asking a question like this, I would ask myself if the answer would 
actually expand our knowledge of the language, or simply eliminate a 
possible meaning for the word. Eliminating meanings would be a bad thing, 
and a disservice to the language.

Let me give you an example: Let's say we go to MO and ask, "Can we use {jIb} 
to talk about a single strand of hair?" MO thinks for a minute and says, 
"No". End of conversation. We've just eliminated a word we could have used 
to express this concept.

Before asking the question, we could at least use {wa' jIb} with the 
knowledge that it *might* be correct. With the question above being 
answered, we would know that {wa' jIb} would definitely be incorrect, and we 
would have to come up with some other, less elegant, way to express this 
idea.

I'm not suggesting that we don't ask these questions. I only suggest we 
change the way they're asked. And when we're speaking amongst ourselves, we 
should expect to hear the answer, {maSovchu'be'}.

So, in answer to your question, if you want to talk about a single strand of 
hair, go ahead and use {wa' jIb}. If anyone has objections, they will raise 
them, then you know that {wa' jIb} doesn't work for communicating the idea 
of a single strand. The only way to learn Klingon is to use it. Did you 
learn how to use a computer by cataloging each and every feature? Or did you 
sit down in front of one and start typing?

[pause for answer]

Exactly....

If you are trying to document *everything* about the language, you are going 
to drive yourself nuts, and learn nothing in the process. We don't know that 
much about this language, so use it as *you* are comfortable using it. Write 
a letter in Klingon, compose a story, translate some sentences and post them 
to KLBC. If you screw up, you will be told about it. Promise. And you'll get 
a much better feel for the language than all the analysis in the world can 
give you.

Now, let's see some Klingon... }}: )

--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org
HovpoH 702046.0

Back to archive top level