[84104] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Klingon WOTD: meb (noun)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Thu Jan 31 11:29:15 2008
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:26:39 -0600
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
In-Reply-To: <E1JKX9E-0008TQ-VP@server03.webpowerplus.org>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Thursday, January 31, 2008.
>
>Klingon word: meb
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: guest
Used in canon:
meb cha'DIch
second guest TKD
meb loSmaH cha' jIH
I'm guest number 42. CK
meb! lut tlhaQ DaSov'a'?
Guest! Do you know any funny stories? PK
tagha' pawpu' meb 'ach pumDI' ('etlh) Heghpu' qagh
The guest finally arrived, but by then the gagh had died. (st.k 11/99)
Cultural notes:
CK: When visiting a Klingon planet the first thing you will want to do,
once you have finish answering the guard's questions, is rent a room. No
matter where you stay the accommodations will be stark compared to what you
are used to. Klingons are predisposed to rejecting anything whose sole
function is physical comfort. They will, however, make some concessions for
visitors. For example, your room will almost certainly be equipped with a
bed, though it is likely to be made of the same material as the floor.
Checking into your room is a painless procedure, as long as you have made
reservations ahead of time. Simply identify yourself to the desk clerk ...
In the hotel you will have to do everything yourself. Do not expect to find
housekeeping or room service either, while this may be a little
inconvenient, it is also inexpensive. There is never any need to tip. As
accommodating as it is, you will not want to spend all of your time in your
room.
Related nouns:
{'elI'jaH} "uninvited guest, unexpected visitor" (KLI qep'a' 2007)
{mebpa'mey} "hotel" (KGT)
ghunchu'wI': The translation "hotel" is a convenient noun that exists in
English, but apparently Klingon has no unique word for a collection of
guest rooms. It is rather like talking about a professor's "rooms": you
mean his apartment, but you refer to the collection of rooms instead of
using a singular noun. However, "rooms" isn't a singular noun, "The
professor's rooms are cluttered," not "The professor's rooms is cluttered."
... I guess that {mebpa'mey} works the same way. You could talk about a
single {mebpa'} or plural {mebpa'mey}, but there's no unique noun to
describe the collection of these rooms, a hotel.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
