[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: qer

[Will Martin]

Gee, I wonder if Rick Moranis, star of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, whose name, reversed and transliterated would sound a lot like {qer} would have anything to do with this Klingon verb...

pItlh

charghwI’ ‘utlh
(ghaH, ghaH, -Daj)




> On Feb 6, 2025, at 10:37 AM, Steven Boozer via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org> wrote:
> 
> Klingon word: 	qer
> Part of speech: 	verb
> Definition: 	shrink, get smaller
> Source: 		QelIS boqHarmey [Klingon Alice]
> _______________________________________________
> 
> (Lieven/Klingon Alice < MO):  The word for grow (increase in size) is {Qa}. But for animals or plants growing, that is, maturing (not just increasing in size), use {nenchoH}. 
>    {QaHa'} would refer to getting smaller after the thing had previously grown bigger - that is, it's losing (in length or whatever) what it had gained. So if the balloon is losing air, you could say it {QaHa'}.
>    Presumably the object is going back towards its original size (though it may not get that far or may become even smaller than it once was). 
>    For "get smaller, shrink" (without the notion of having previously grown), use {qer}. Of course, depending on exactly what you want to say, you can also use {machchoH}.
>    The choice depends on whether you're focusing on just the shrinking or growing, on the one hand, or on the return to or towards the original size (or beyond!). 
>    So if your main character started at their original size, and then shrank, that's {qer}. If they then started to grow, that would be {Qa} if the storyteller is just saying that they grew, but it would be {qerHa'} if the storyteller was saying that the shrinking was reversing.  If the de-shrinking continued so that the character ended up bigger than they originally were, that might be {qerHa'} and then - what a surprise! - {Qa}. 
>    For Pinocchio, if you're saying that after his nose grew he started telling the truth and his nose got smaller, that's probably {QaHa'}. If you'd just met the long-nosed Pinocchio for the first time and didn't know the story of the nose but saw it get smaller, you'd probably say {qer}.
>    In short, you have four words to choose from, depending on what exactly you want to say:  {qer}, {qerHa'}, {Qa}, {QaHa'}. 
> 
> SEE ALSO:
> mach  		be small (v)
> run 		be short [in stature] (v)
> tIn 		be big, large (v)
> 
> --
> Voragh
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
> 
> 
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