mayqel qunenoS :
So, I guess the conclusion of this thread would be :
"We can create metaphoric phrases, as long as each word within that phrase is used on its literal klingon definition ; we can't use single words metaphorically".
ghunchu'wI':
I don't even know how you would use a single word metaphorically. Metaphor requires a juxtaposition of words that invites an implicit comparison to something unstated. It usually suggests that two things are similar in some way, but unlike a simile it doesn't explicitly declare the resemblance.
Your proposed example of a "debt haircut" makes no sense to me. I can't see how lent or borrowed money is in any way like hair. Looking it up, I see that the term "haircut" has a specific meaning in the financial context of a loan, but if the term originated as a metaphor, the intended reference is unknown to me.
Okrand on {Hoch DuH yIqel} "consider every possibility!": (KGT 108): This is an idiom cloaked in the terminology of the military that has a wider application. It is used to mean "Consider every possibility" or "Consider every option," with the word {nuH} (weapon) standing metaphorically for possibility... Another example of a word used metaphorically - at least initially - may be {neb} "beak, bill (of a bird)" which may appear in {jorneb} "warhead (of a torpedo): (Qes, 6/27/2007): I find the idea of a torpedo or missile as a bird of prey diving at its target beak-first to be a rather apposite metaphor. It may also be the origin of {neb} "nozzle (like on the end of a hose, rocket, etc.)" revealed at qep'a' 2016. Whether these are examples of metaphor, idiom, or word play that caught on and became widely used (eg. a computer's "mouse" -> "mousepad") may be another matter entirely. Or as we say in Klingon: DaH may' bom pIm Dabom Now you sing a different battle song. (i.e. "Well, that's another matter altogether.") KGT -- Voragh tlhIngan ghantoH pIn'a' Ca'Non Master of the Klingons