[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: puS

[Lieven L. Litaer]

Am 25.05.2021 um 23:30 schrieb James Landau:
> My understanding is that "few" emphasizes the paucity of what there are,
> while "a few" emphasizes the fact that, hey, at least there are some.

Yes, that's how I learned it too. "I have FEW friends" means that I do
not have many. When you say "I have A FEW friends", it's positively
saying that there are several, many friends.

> In Spanish, however, they're both *pocos*.

In German, "a few" is "einige", and "few" is "wenige".

> How would those two sentences be rendered in tlhIngan Hol?

It always depends on context, but for "a few cheated" I'd say {ngor 'op}
and for "only few passed the exam" I'd say {Qap puS}.

As {puS} is considered the opposite of {law'}, I usually regard it as
"not many", i.e. few.

But we should not forget the canon examples:
{pIpyuS pach DaSop DaneHchugh pIpyuS puS DaghornIS}
If you want to eat pipius claw, you'll have to break a few pipiuses. (TKW)

This phrase does not indicate the negative feeling of not having enough
of something ("sad to have few friends"), it says you need several of
something, and the English translation even uses "a few", so there is an
overlap. But anyway, "a few" still is not "many".


--
Lieven L. Litaer
aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany"
http://www.tlhInganHol.com
http://klingon.wiki/Word/PuS