[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: lIlwI'

De'vID de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com
Mon Apr 4 07:39:27 PDT 2022


On Mon, 4 Apr 2022 at 16:21, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu> wrote:

> Klingon Word of the Day for Monday, April 04, 2022
>
> Klingon word:   lIlwI'
> Part of speech:         noun
> Definition:     simulator
> Source:         November 2016 email to Lieven
> _______________________________________________
>
> (Lieven, 11/25/2016):  {lIl} is a verb meaning something like "simulate,
> impersonate". The idea is one of doing something such that the subject of
> the verb looks or behaves like something (or someone) else or represents
> something (or someone) else. The word has no connotation of fraud or
> anything underhanded (in this respect, it’s like {ghet}). The object is the
> thing being simulated or the person being impersonated. {lIlwI’}
> (“simulator,” for lack of a better term) is different from {lIw}
> (“substitute”) since {lIw} implies replacement (the notion of “instead of”)
> while a {lIlwI’} doesn’t replace anyone or anything.
>
> PUN:
>  “did you know there is a big flight simulator in the French city of
> Lille?” (Lieven, 7/06/2017)
>

I doubt that this is anything but a coincidence, unless we have evidence
that Okrand has some connection to that city. There are lots of flight
simulators all over the world. Lille is a city that happens to have an
airport, and is thus present in many flight simulators.

I think it's more likely that {lIl} is a joke based on the similarity of
the lowercase ell and uppercase eye in a sans serif typeface. The meaning
of the verb is that something looks like or behaves like something else.
Thus, {l lIl I 'ej I lIl l}. I think Okrand is likely aware that the Latin
alphabet characters used to transcribe {'It} and {lay} are often mixed up
by people who copy Klingon words or sentences without understanding the
allowed phonology.

-- 
De'vID
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