Anticipating some questions, I asked a few things which Maltz confirmed or explained as follows: MO said okay for these examples I wrote: If the wind blows and a sheet of paper just moves upside down, assuming it does not fly away: {tach nav} and {nav tachmoH SuS} Okrand wrote that {tachmoH} is used "when moving someone from a prone to a supine position." -- Of course, it also works the other way around. Additionally, this was only an example. The verb is NOT limited to bodies. If you turn around in your bed, you'd say {jItach}. For the suggested {jItach'eghmoH}, Okrand wrote: <<<Normally, the first. You could use {jItach'eghmoH} if there were a particular struggle or effort or accomplishment or something like that involved, something that might prevent you from turning yourself over or that's making it particularly hard to do.>>> I asked why {yoy} is used for pancakes, since they have equal sides, so there is no defined "top". MO said: <<< Unless you're drawing pictures or writing on the hamburger or pancake, you're right -- there's no official top. But when you flip the hamburger over, the side that was face up is now face down. It may sound odd to say it's now upside-down, but it's definitely flipped over. Similarly, if you turn it over again, it's weird to say it's right-side up, but it's definitely been flipped over. The gloss in boQwI' for {yoymoH} is pretty good: "turn upside-down, flip, invert."
I wrote: I think that a {yoy} human would be head down, feet in the air. Somehow, "upside down" sounds like when something is /incorrectly/ aligned, not just turned around like a pancake, is it? MO said: <<You're right about that poor human (unless you're talking about an acrobat or something like that, in which case he or she is not poor at all). {yoy} is not just for flat (or flat-ish) things. Rather than considering the upside-down orientation to be "incorrect," though, perhaps think of it as "not the norm, not usual, not customary" or something along those lines.>> -- Lieven L. Litaer aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany" http://www.tlhInganHol.com http://klingon.wiki/En/Hamletmachine