[tlhIngan Hol] difference between someone somebody and vay'

mayqel qunen'oS mihkoun at gmail.com
Tue Mar 30 04:57:05 PDT 2021


In English you have "someone" and "somebody".

In the alien language of Klingon (which is so alien that is crawling
with terran puns), we have: {vay'} (n) "somebody, something, anybody,
anything".

Now, in this page:
https://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/difference-between-someone-and-somebody

We read the following:

***** quote start *****

Someone and somebody are both pronouns that are used to refer a person
who is not known or specified. In most contexts, they are
interchangeable.

The only difference that most native speakers can agree upon is that
someone is more formal than somebody (just as anyone is more formal
than anybody, and everyone is more formal than everybody). This means
that in a sentence like the one below, used in a legal context,
someone is a much more likely choice than somebody.

The bank requires that the deed be signed by someone authorized by the courts.

It’s also interesting to note that someone is used more frequently
than somebody, according to the data that we have on language use.

***** quote end *****

One could wonder, whether in the alien language of Klingon (which is
so alien that is crawling with terran puns), the {vay'} has the same
"informal" character as in English.

On the other hand though, perhaps we shouldn't draw conclusions with
regards to Klingon based on observations from English.

It's such an alien language after all..

~ Dana'an
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites..



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