Klingon Word of the Day for Thursday, October 20, 2016

Klingon word: 'och mutlhwI' Part of speech: noun Definition: plumber Source: Marc Okrand, Email 01/09/2012

(MO to Lieven, 1/09/2012): Regarding plumber - It turns out there is a special word for water pipe (not what you use for smoking - the kind that carries water from place to place): {qatlhDa'}. Though one could say {qatlhDa' mutlhwI'} and be understood, the normal way to refer to someone putting in pipes (for water or anything else) is {'och mutlhwI'}. (MO to Lieven, 1/09/2012): Words for bricklayer, roof maker, plumber, and so on are all based on the verb {mutlh}, meaning "construct, assemble, put together". Someone who does this, then, is a {mutlhwI'}. [...] The idea is that a {mutlhwI'} puts things together. So a {ngogh mutlhwI'} is not (necessarily) someone who makes bricks, but someone who takes bricks that are already made and assembles them into something (such as a building). Similarly, a {beb mutlhwI'} doesn't make the roof, but, rather, lays out the shingles or planks or stones or whatever the roof is made out of. [...] Someone who repairs any of these things (who may or may not be the same person who installed/assembled them) is a {tI'wI'} ({tI'} "repair"). Most {mutlhwI'pu'} are also {tI'wI'pu'} - but you'd be advised to check with them first. SEE ALSO: ngogh mutlhwI' bricklayer beb mutlhwI' roofer majyang mutlhwI' tiler 'ul pat mutlhwI' electrician jonwI' engineer chamwI' technician -- Voragh tlhIngan ghantoH pIn'a' Ca'Non Master of the Klingons