[tlhIngan Hol] lawn mower

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Wed Jul 27 05:00:45 PDT 2016


On 7/27/2016 2:06 AM, Rhona Fenwick wrote:
>
> I'm firmly with be''etlh and ghunchu'wI' on this. The verb {chIp} does 
> not mean "cut hair, trim hair"; it means "cut, trim". "Hair" 
> disambiguates, but there's no reason to consider it to exclude 
> *everything* else. To take some other examples, must the object of 
> {weq} absolutely be a percussion instrument (KGT: "hit (percussion 
> instrument) with palm (v)")? Or does it just need to be anything that 
> I hit in the manner of a percussion instrument? I don't see anything 
> wrong with saying someone {qIvDu'Daj weqtaH} "is drumming on their 
> knees with their palms".
>

In that case, your knees are a percussion instrument. You haven't 
deviated from the disambiguator at all.


> Another instance is {ghoS}, defined in TKD as "approach, go away from, 
> proceed, come, follow (a course)". We know from many, many canon 
> examples that the object can, but need not, be a course: it may be a 
> destination, or indeed a point of origin in the right context.
>

All of which are available in the various verb forms listed.


If Okrand had intended "(hair)" to be only an example to disambiguate 
/trim,/ I would have expected multiple examples, to demonstrate that 
hair is only an example. "(hair, bushes, grass)" We get this with *baH,* 
which gives us "(torpedo, rocket, missile)," and not just "(torpedo)," 
which is what the word was invented for. He could have given us 
"(projectile)," in the manner of *weq* /hit (percussion instrument),/ 
but he didn't.


In a couple of cases, Okrand /does/ give us examples in parentheses, and 
in these cases he actually says "e.g.": *laQ* /fire, energize (e.g. 
thrusters);/*Hach* /be developed (e.g., civilization)./

/
/

It simply does not follow Okrand's pattern to say that hair is only one 
kind of thing that you can *chIp.* He wasn't giving one possible 
example; he was telling us the sense of the verb. This doesn't prevent 
you from using the verb beyond its literal meaning, just as English 
doesn't prevent me from saying I'll give the lawn a buzz cut.


-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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