Re: Error rate, Circumlocution, and Cappucino
| From: | Herman Miller <hmiller@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, September 27, 2005, 2:38 |
|---|
Paul Bennett wrote:
I don't know; I think that any exposure to language at all in a news
article is an unusual enough thing that I don't like to nitpick those
things, especially considering that this appears to be a book review
rather than an article on language.
I like that Dutch word "uitwaaien" ("walking in windy weather for fun")
-- it sounds like such a Zireen thing to do that I'll have to borrow it.
> What monomorphemic (or compound) words in your conlang(s) need to be
> circumlocuted in English? Likewise, what single words in English (or
> your native language) have to be circumlocuted in your conlang(s)?
There are many words that have no equivalents for trivial reasons: for
instance, Zireen can't see red, so they don't have a word for it (they
would lump it in with infrared as "infrayellow"; likewise, there are
many distinctions between Zireen colors that look the same to human
eyes). Technical terms also fall into this category; Zireen languages
have words for specific musical tuning systems that don't always have an
English equivalent ("nai lemba", for instance), and English has tons of
legal jargon that would be incomprehensible to Zireen. Mizarians have
words and phrases referring to specific Mizarian rituals (the triek
chirikit, for instance, which involves eating a meal of live insects and
performing a specific dance in order to gain the mystical powers of the
insects).
One word that I've used that shóuld have an English equivalent is "tezn"
(originally a Tirelat word which I've borrowed in Minza). This is one of
those little transparent plastic balls for gerbils or other small
rodents to run around in. Maybe there's a specific word for this, but I
don't know it.