Re: Ethnologue exercise (was: Conlang StandardLanguagesv.Dialects)

It's a sign of respect.  One eats the flesh of one's friends and family if
they died in a manner that doesn't cause the flesh to become dangerous (as
in disease, poison, or parasites), in the belief that one absorbs virtues
from the flesh eaten.  Saying someone doesn't look edible is like saying
they have no virtues worth ingesting, or possibly insulting the adressee's
parents' cooking, (assuming the adressee still lives at home with the
family) by means of implying that such cooking causes flesh to become
toxic.

Incidentally, the Rišuli <s-caron, I believe it's called> culture is very
proud, traditionally, of its culinary arts.  Insulting someone's cooking
can be the beginning of a generations-long blood feud.  The fact that the
only art as well developed as cooking is weaponsmithing <'cooking steel',
as it's called> doesn't noticeably impove this situation.

--
Shreyas
Lothlorien Gallery 77
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/s/s/ssampat/ssampat.html