[tlhIngan Hol] difference between someone somebody and vay'

[SuStel]

On 3/30/2021 7:57 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
> 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 *****
> ***** 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.

Wait, you're suggesting that *vay'* is informal because Okrand mentioned 
the word /somebody/ in the gloss but not the word /someone?/ That 
doesn't make any sense on many levels. Here's one: if *vay'* is 
informal, what's the formal version?

Okrand wasn't looking for every synonym for /somebody/ when he wrote 
that gloss. Since /somebody/ and /someone /are more or less 
interchangeable, he just included one of them. I have no doubt any data 
about /someone/ being used more often in formal contexts never even 
crossed his mind when he wrote it.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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