[88159] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: How Many of Them Can We Make Die!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (lojmIt tI'wI' nuv)
Tue Aug 10 16:55:49 2010
From: "lojmIt tI'wI' nuv" <lojmitti7wi7nuv@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimTj8GKGa5VzcjH2awQ0G_itge_81QTrjUSFAsP@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:47:46 -0400
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
If I hammer nails with the butt end of a screwdriver and turn screws with the claw-hammer edge of a hammer, does that imply thorough mastery of tool technique? A master of tools has a hammer and a screwdriver and uses the best one for each job.
A sword is nimble, light, sharp, and has a long reach and can cut anywhere along its length. It cuts because of the extremely high weight to surface area of its cutting edge. It can maintain that cutting edge because the metal is extremely hard (to the point of being brittle) metal. Try chopping down a tree with a sword. You'll break the sword. The sword is also badly suited to piercing heavy armor. But it is excellently suited to fighting anyone as nimble as you are, unfettered by armor.
An axe has a much softer metal and a duller edge, but it still maintains a high weight-to-surface-area-of-contact ratio because of its extreme weight. You can cut down a tree or pierce armor with an axe, but don't try dueling with one. Someone in armor requiring your axe will be weighed down enough to be unable to dodge you while you hit them with it.
A warrior would likely carry a sword and an axe. The axe is for fighting someone armored, but if someone comes at you with an axe, you pull out your sword, because nobody duels with an axe. Attack with an axe and a good swordsman will stab you while you prepare to strike, dodge your strike and then stab you again once your axe misses him.
It's like pistols and and hand grenades. Unrelated skill sets. You may shoot a pistol at someone shooting a pistol at you, but nobody tosses hand grenades at people tossing hand grenades at you. It's just not done.
I think you should change the verbs.
pItlh.
lojmIt tI'wI' nuv
On Aug 10, 2010, at 3:56 PM, ghunchu'wI' 'utlh wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 2:33 PM, Jeremy Silver
> <j.silver@mupwi.demon.co.uk>wrote:
>>> pe'chu' yan 'ej SIj 'obmaQ,
>>
>> My only thought is that {SIj} (slit) conveys too fine a cut to attribute to
>> an
>> axe. So I reckon {pe} and {SIj} might need to be swapped somehow.
>
>
> I put them that way on purpose, and I'm glad someone noticed. I like the
> idea of a sword cutting completely while an axe does more "delicate" work. I
> think it implies a thorough mastery of weapons technique. If there's enough
> objection to this bit of provocative poetic imagery, the verbs can be
> changed easily enough.
>
> -- ghunchu'wI'
>
>
>
