[tlhIngan Hol] using ordinals on their own

[SuStel]

On 4/29/2022 1:59 PM, Will Martin wrote:
> I get that, but to yell at a crowd “The first to flee is a traitor!” 
> leaves open the opportunity for one guy to take the hit for the others 
> and then everybody is right behind him because, hey, you didn’t say 
> anything about the second person to flee.
>
> Say it my way and the clearer message is that we’re all in this mess 
> together, and only a traitor would abandon those who stand and fight. 
> All who flee are traitors.

You don't know the context in which this is said. It's likely that if 
one flees, the lines will break and all will flee. In that case, you 
want to punish the one who broke the line, not the entire line.

Who said this is the speech of someone yelling at a crowd? Maybe it's 
the generals consulting before a battle. Maybe there is a known 
saboteur, whose job is discovered to be throwing the troops into chaos 
and causing them to flee, and the speaker is saying how the saboteur may 
be identified.

There are all sorts of reasons why one might want to identify the first 
one to flee as a traitor rather than everyone who flees. I'm not 
imposing my singular imaginary context onto it. I'm just trying to 
address the questions about the grammar.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name