John Cowan wrote:
>
> Matt Pearson wrote:
>
> > Tokana has several words for water. Water as a substance or element
> > is "hum", a word which I'm supremely unhappy with and will have to
> > change one of these days.
>
> Why not just heave it overboard? Tokana chemists, if there ever
> are any, can develop their own terms for dihydrogen monoxide.
> After all, if Japanese (IIRC) can get along with words for "hot water"
> and "cold water" but no word for "water" simpliciter, why can't
> Tokana just have "wild water" and "tame water"?
Hmmm... I thought 'mizu' in Japanese was just plain water.