----- Original Message -----
From: "laokou" <laokou@...>
To: "Constructed Languages List" <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: 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
>