tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 17 14:15:39 2006
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Re: no' Hol: pung ghap HoS
- From: "QeS 'utlh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: no' Hol: pung ghap HoS
- Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 07:15:24 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' Shane MiQogh, ja':
>And that's where my problem is.. I never got the "water" thing in
>the "glass" or other container thing...
But this is no different to idioms in any other language. When you say in
English "John let the cat out of the bag", John didn't actually have a cat
tied up in a sack somewhere that needed to be freed. Similarly, the French
phrase "bourré aux as" doesn't mean you are literally buried with aces (it
means that you are rich), nor does a Basque who says "ez kendu babak
altzotik" actually expect that you have beans in your lap that need removing
(it means "don't get up on your high horse").
As lay'tel SIvten has pointed out, idioms can be treated as single
vocabulary items; as well as the structure and actual words, you need to
learn an entirely separate meaning when learning an idiom.
>How was i supposed to know it means "you are wrong"? lol I see
>no connection...
That's the thing about idioms: very often the connection may only become
visible after you know both the literal and the idiomatic meanings. In this
case, the Klingon idiom relies on the idea that Klingons find water weak,
and almost never drink water alone; therefore, there's something wrong when
someone's goblet only contains water.
>"you were fooled" would make more sence.
So would "you let out my secret" rather than "you let the cat out of the
bag", qar'a'? {{:)
QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute
not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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