CHAT: A Tip: Don't Play the Horses (was:CHAT: currency [was Re: OT: the euro & 01.01.02])

From: "Christophe Grandsire"

> En réponse à Philip Newton
> > Verdurian. The word for "tip" is "pitu",
> > which
> > is the "classical imperative" of "pitir" = "drink". So, it's literally
> > "drink!", but conjugated as a masculine noun due to the -u ending.
> > (Reminds me of the German word for tip, "Trinkgeld" = "drinking
> > money".)
> And in French "pourboire", which is the nominalisation of a complete
verbal
> phrase: "pour boire": "in order to drink". Funny enough, a little the same
idea
> as the Verdurian word :)) .
In my salad days, I used to adore tipping. What a great way to express your
dis/satisfaction with your waitron's service (in retrospect, it could be
rather capricious -- in a good mood, 20%; have a flagellating hair across
your ass, 10%, poor waitron [no matter, s/he'll just sneeze into your entree
the next time you visit]). Spoiled for thirteen years in the Orient, where
tipping doesn't happen, however, and I've grown to utterly abhor it. Just
pay the folks a decent wage and leave me alone (unlikely in my US lifetime)
(tipping someone for holding a door? puhleeeeze!).

Consequently, the Géarthçins don't customarily tip. But having read this
thread, I got to thinking that even if it doesn't normally happen, there
ought to be a word to at least express the concept. And lo, the word
"síuths" ([sjuTs]) was born. This is the noun form of the verb "síuth" (to
thank), and harks back to the original notion of "gratuity" with its
etymological link to "gratitude" (for going above and beyond the call of
duty). Hence, if a Géarthçins porter helped you carry an anvil, a trunkful
of sand, or a baby grand piano from the cab to your hotel room (which s/he'd
do courteously if not gleefully), you *might* consider a "síuths". And in a
Boxing Day-ish mode, you'd probably give a nod at the end of the year to
people who serve you regularly, like your mail carrier or your concierge. As
a neighbor of Japan, presentation reigns supreme in Géarthtörs (my grammar
teachers are writhing in agony over that sentence). So gifts are considered
better form (in the notion of the Chinese "xiao3 yi4si1 (some folks
pronounce "si1" in the neutral tone here)" which I usually translate as "a
little something" [I know it's not much, but...](China, too, a neighbor)).
But if, as in the case of the afore-mentioned porter, you must give cash
(due to time constraints perhaps), it is *extremely* bad form to openly snap
florin notes at someone (it's doubtful anyone would accept, and you'd be
chided as a rube in the break room). Find an envelope anywhere you can (most
convenience stores carry specialty envelopes for just such purposes -- but
in a real pinch, even a hotel envelope will do) and write a small expression
of thanks on the outside with your monetary "remembrance" discreetly on the
inside. The serviceperson appreciates the extra effort you put into thanking
him/her (since getting an envelope usually means the gratuity can't be
offered immediately after the überservice is performed), as you appreciate
the extra effort they put into the service. So "síuths" doesn't really mean
"tip" in its ordinary sense of throwing money at any serviceperson who has a
pulse, but it would be used to describe that custom in other countries.

Íunaitidstétsöiv seth lav se síuthset chü zhameksük sethekük ba gamez daikh.
US-loc one-nom present a tip-acc the waitperson-dat one's-dative BA give
ought.to
In the US, you should tip your waitperson.
                one                 one's

I haven't settled on a name for the voice where "-v" is tacked onto the
auxiliary (here, "la") (working label is "impersonal"), but it transforms
the seventh declension third person pronoun ("he", "she", or "it" in
English, depending on context), into something resembling the French "on",
the German "man", or even the English "one" (also "you" or "they" [as in
"They say it'll rain tomorrow." "Seth lav, gü seth lí che helkedalthsev
höifun sho, ngamath.")

one-nom pres, that it-nom future the tomorrow-loc rain-discoursive SHO, say

Kou