[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Su'nIm

[De'vID]

On Wed, 2 Dec 2020 at 20:45, Will Martin <willmartin2 at mac.com> wrote:

> It’s interesting that all these patterns (shoe tread, tire tread,
> fingerprints) could as easily be interpreted as surface textures created by
> removing material as much as adding it. Removing, as in “minus”, or mIn’uS
> | Su’nIm…
>

Klingon has a pair of words referring to the mark left behind by touch
({vem}) and the object leaving the mark (the "marker", if you will;
{Su'nIm}).

At the same time as {Su'nIm} was revealed, we also got another word,
{yang}, the image left by a the surface of a rubber stamp ({toqwIn
Su'nIm}). The Chinese word for a rubber stamp is 印 (yìn), and in Taoism 陰陽
(yīn yáng) refers to the negative and positive concepts in dualism, with
"yin" referring to the negative. (Of course, yìn and yīn have different
tones, but that doesn't matter for the purpose of the pun.)

I think the idea is that the object leaving a mark and the mark itself are
"negative" images of each other. For example, where a tire tread pattern is
raised, the mark left behind (in the mud) will be indented, and vice versa.
Where a rubber stamp has been carved out, it leaves no ink, whereas the
parts which have not been carved leave an image. And so on.

-- 
De'vID
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