Re: me and my languages

"Cakendrop."  That's priceless.  Can I adopt it as
a foreign word in Teonaht?  Does it have an etymology?
With permission, I adopted "meavalht" from Draseleq.
The word for "gull" in that language got turned into the
word for a whole troop of gulls in Teonaht, especially
the ones that all the face the same direction in the wind.
Consequently it has come to mean "regimentation."

As far as phrases go, I kind of like "krefimort," in
Teonaht, which means, literally, "hand clapped to
mouth," and figuratively, that word you let out that
exposes your meanest side.

I like my sig, obviously, "The gods have retractible
claws," meaning not that they are feline, but that
they are indulgent parents and will withdraw their
punishments.

I like my emphasized pronouns, used in politeness
phrases:  As for me all grateful, as for me all blushing
(yry myeebihs), used when you want to be particularly
fawning.

I like _fandary_, "art," "skill," "craft," and its shared root
with _fand_, "dream."

_krekinvand_, which also shares the word "dream," means
that which stops dreams:  "a nightmare."

Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Mills <romilly@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: me and my languages


> Jesse Bangs wrote:
> >My question to the group: do you guys have favorite phrases in your own
> >languages?  What are they?
>
>
> At risk of being self-revelatory:
> (Kash)  tambola "(I) don't care"
>             tambelo "(I) don't want to"
>             me kuwa-kuwa "it's all the same to me"
>             cakondrop "clueless; just doesn't get it"
>