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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/28/2019 8:38 AM, DloraH wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:20190328073848.42da4801@RDT1.juH"><br>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
While there is a limit before communication breaks down, people break the rules of the English language every day.
The way we speak while hanging out with your friends is certainly
different from what we would write in a college essay.</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>It certainly is. And yet those two ways of speaking both have
known rules that grammarians can describe. In a college essay I
could write "You will not do that" and with my friends it might be
"You ain't gonna do that," and both of these are grammatical in
their own contexts. But if I'm standing around with my friends and
always say "no is" instead of "will not" or "ain't gonna," they'll
understand me but they won't accept the way I'm talking. "You no
is gonna do that" is not acceptable in either context, and not in
any context except something like Lolcat.</p>
<p>And the problem here is that we know very little about these
different modes of speaking among Klingons. I can't point to any
subculture or demographic that allows <b>-taH</b> with <b>-jaj,</b>
so I can't declare it as being acceptable to any particular group.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:20190328073848.42da4801@RDT1.juH">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I am not saying we should just ignore all the rules; I just saying that
in casual conversation, we can get away with it a little bit. Okrand
even mentions such in the books. I don't have the quotes handy and I
am running late for work.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>The tendency around here will be to take that little bit of
leeway and justify using it constantly. If using <b>-taH</b> with
<b>-jaj</b> is an example of acceptable breaking of the rules,
then every time I find myself wanting <b>-taH</b> with <b>-jaj</b>
I'm going to justify using it by telling myself it's okay just
this time, because I <i>reeeeeaaalllly</i> need it this time.</p>
<p>The correct course of action is to stick to the rules until we
get more information about the rules. If you throw out a stray <b>-taHjaj</b>
in casual use probably nobody will say anything, if they even
notice, but if you start using it as a rhetorical device you
deserve to be called out for it.<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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