[tlhIngan Hol] lawn mower

[SuStel]

Your suspicion is correct.


On 7/26/2016 2:15 PM, Elizabeth Lawrence wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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.
>
>
>


-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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