[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tlhep

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: 	tlhep
Part of speech: 	verb
Definition: 	be suspended, dangling
Source: 	Hamletmachine
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(Hamletmachine notes):   basically the same as "hang"

(Hamletmachine notes):  {HuS} [i.e. "hang"] takes an object. If your shoes are hanging on a wall it's because somebody hung them there. {HuS} is not used to mean "lynch" or "execute by hanging". That's a different word:{ jIb}. (Maltz thought maybe an early form of torture or execution was hanging people by their hair, but he wasn't totally sure about this and may have just been reacting to the homophony.) And there's another word: {tlhep} "be suspended, be dangling". Use {HuS} if, for example, you hang your coat on a hook on the wall or hang sheets on a clothesline to dry. But if, say, you see a spider dangling at the bottom of one of those silk threads that spiders extrude, use {tlhep}. Or if you see a pair of shoes tied together by the laces and, for whatever reason, they're hanging by the tied-together laces from an overhead power wire, use {tlhep}. 

CULTURAL NOTES:

(KGT 57):  Traditional clothing worn in battle, known as {Hip}, the word currently used to mean uniform, had both a protective function and a more utilitarian one, since it was from the clothing that weapons (nuHmey) or ammunition ({nIch}) could be hung.

(KGT 58):  A skin belt ({qogh}) both held pants ({yopwaH}) in place and provided a place from which to hang weapons or weapon holders.

(KGT 150):  As this word [{ghIgh}] literally means "necklace", perhaps the slang usage is based on the old practice of identifying one's position within a military unit--for example, one's assignment on a ship--by means of a symbol hung on a chain worn around the neck.

--
Voragh, Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
    Please contribute relevant vocabulary from the last year or two. I’ve fallen 
    behind in updating my files and adding cross-references for related words.