[tlhIngan Hol] lawn mower

[Elizabeth Lawrence]

I suspect you would agree that <<magh vIchIp>> is no more incorrect than "I
give the lawn a haircut."  I will be satisfied with that.

be''etlh

On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 1:55 PM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:

> On 7/26/2016 1:35 PM, Elizabeth Lawrence wrote:
>
> No, I would not speak of mowing someone's hair, but I would certainly
> speak of trimming the lawn.  <<chIp>> is glossed as "cut, trim (hair)".
>
>
> But the English word *trim* doesn't mean "cut hair." It means "make
> shorter by cutting." The Klingon word *chIp,* however, means "make *hair*
> shorter by cutting." English *trim* can be applied to things other than
> hair, and is not even especially associated with hair.
>
>
> When hair is cut or trimmed, it is shortened for aesthetic effect.  I
> don't know that Klingons have the notion of mowing lawns at all, and
> "Giving the grass a haircut" is certainly much more descriptive of what is
> happening than "Cutting the grass" would be to people who have no tradition
> of mown lawns.
>
>
> Maltz gave us the phrase *magh yotlh,* so he at least understands the
> concept and could declare a "correct" phrase for it.
>
> Whether "giving the grass a haircut" is a better description of the act
> than "cutting the grass" is subjective, and I'm not sure I agree that it's
> more descriptive. One relies on metaphor; the other is straightforward. And
> there are other reasons to mow grass than just for aesthetics: sports
> fields need to be mown if they are grassy; tall grass can support dangerous
> fauna, obstruct vision, and hinder the operation of vehicles; some animals
> eat hay. Since *magh* is a Klingon plant *like* grass, they must deal
> with it from time to time, either obliterating it or mowing it. Or maybe
> even using it decoratively.
>
>
> I will continue with magh chIpwI' as the much more evocative
>
>
> ...and incorrect...
>
> phrase.
>
>
> I dislike playing the "a Klingon would" game, where we project our ideas
> of what a Klingon would do/say/believe/prefer and use that straw man as an
> argument for Klingon grammar. Barring information from Okrand, using
> *chIp* as *mow* is, at best, poetic license. The standard verb is *pe'**
> cut.* If you like, use *runmoH* *shorten* along with it to get your point
> across.
>
>
> --
> SuStelhttp://trimboli.name
>
>
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