On Thu, 2 Nov 2000, Andrew Chaney wrote:
> > [snip] Perhaps "na" and "nu" could be switched with
> > something else that sounds less pleasant, as is suggested?
>
> I could, I guess... I'd never really thought of "na" & "nu" as sounding
> especially pleasant... "Nu" to me sounds like what you say when someone
> punches you in the stomach. (Ihro "u" being the same as the "ou" in "could".
If you punch *me* in the stomach I say something like "yagrrrooffOUCH!"
Perhaps it depends on the person. <G>
> > It's a nice
> > idea, poetic too. (The inanimate 2nd person appeals to me especially
> > since I'm dealing with a conscript that embodies somewhat animistic
> > ideas, though that's completely irrelevant to the discussion here. <G>)
> >
> > YHL
>
> The poetic use is encountered more often than the insulting use.
<wry g> The insulting inanimate 3rd person is used with about the same
frequency as the "animistic" inanimate 3rd person in Chevraqis--but
that's because the major dialect I'm dealing with belongs to a nation of
soldiers!
YHL