On Jul 22, 2019, at 11:18, Jeremy Silver <jp.silver@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
ghunchu'wI', have a question you will most likely appreciate.
I note we have a new word for byte, {Hut'on}. Is there some joke, or specific alien point that eludes us... or can someone not count?
I imagine it has something to do with a bit being a {San'on}, and Klingon bytes consisting of nine bits (like on some early Earth computers) and not eight (like on almost all Earth computers). If there’s a joke behind the {'on} or {San} bits (ha!) that someone can shed a light on, I’m curious. IIRC, the original request on the chabal tetlh was for “bit (or trit)”; most likely the requester didn’t want to assume that Klingon computer systems worked on binary logic, as it’s totally plausible for them to be trinary instead. I could imagine the {'on} part being a play on “on” (vs. “off”).