Klingon Word of the Day for Sunday, May 17, 2026 Klingon word: jav mIS Part of speech: noun Definition: a stuck person (slang), ditherer (slang), confused prisoner (slang), mixed-up prisoner (slang) Source: qepHom 2022 _______________________________________________ (MO, qepHom 2022, p.23): We know that the word {jav} is a slang expression for prisoner. Maltz said that this word is found in another slang expression: {jav mIS} literally 'confused prisoner' or 'mixed-up prisoner.' This is used to refer to somebody who's in a bind, in a situation they're not quite sure how to get out of. Maybe all of the choices are bad or the information available is conflicting. Maybe they don't know which way to turn and they keep changing their mind. But they can't do nothing. The situation is such that they need to make a choice. Maltz said that's why the expression is about a prisoner: The person referred to by the expression is stuck, as if in prison, until a decision is made. One of the situations in which this might come up is when playing a game and, as a result of something that happens during the game, a player has to decide what to do - and maybe it's not an easy decision. If they don't decide reasonably quickly, the other player(s) may become impatient and call the ditherer a {jav mIS}. Somehow or other, some Klingons started using {jva} (in pIqaD, of course) as a way to write {jav mIS} - mixing up the letters of {jav} to create some kind of shorthand or abbreviation. (This is for writing only - one would pronounce written {jva} as {jav mIS}, not {jva}, whatever that might sound like.) Maltz says he's seen it in messages, but he's never seen it on a die. On the other hand, since a roll of the dice may put one in the position of a {jav mIS}, he thought "mixed-up six" was a good pun. Maybe your dice were manufactured for a game in which rolling a six always entails a tricky choice. In any case, Maltz thought it was funny." -- Voragh Ca'Non Master of the Klingons