On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 6:20 PM, Ed Bailey <bellerophon.modeler@gmail.com> wrote:
Just as feet are divided into both tenths of feet (for surveying) and inches (for carpentry, machining, etc.), perhaps Klingons use both decimal {'ujmey} and {'ujHommey} according to purpose. Based on how augmentatives multiply units of measurement by nine, it's reasonable to expect that diminutives divide then by nine, in which an {'ujHom} would be one ninth of an {'uj} or 3.87cm. Another thing to ask Maltz. I'd hate to make a ruler marked with {'ujHommey} only to find out from Maltz an {'ujHom} is actually a twenty-seventh of an {'uj}.
Reasonable expectations apparently do not apply to Klingon units of measure. Here's what Marc Okrand said about such things:
From: Marc Okrand <...> Newsgroups: startrek.klingon Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 Subject: Re: Measurement question
Will Martin wrote:
So, if an 'uj'a' is nine 'ujmey, is an 'ujHom a ninth of an 'uj?
No. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
An 'uj is a unit of linear measurement, roughly 35 centimeters; an 'uj'a', or "big uj" ('uj plus the augmentative suffix -'a' "big") is nine times as long, or nine ujes, somewhat over three meters.
The Klingon measurement system is more like the British and American system in that the names of the units, for the most part, have nothing to do with each other (inch, foot, yard, mile, and so on). This differs from the metric system, where the names are basic units modified by a set of prefixes (meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer, etc.).
Thus the existence of a unit known as a "big uj" ('uj'a') does not mean there's a mathematically related diminutive counterpart (a "little uj," or 'ujHom)
Maltz did say, however, that he'd heard the term 'ujHom used in a story about a merchant lacking honor, something about the merchant not filling the order properly.
-- ghunchu'wI'