Re: Request for everyone

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@POLARIS.UMUC.EDU>]

il luns il 6 le hApril, Andreus Ferrars yscreus:

> Padraic has given us the travellers kit for south of the Limestone Hills,
> but in the Home Provinces and the north Comroig differs from Kernu:
>

[multis snipitis]

> >> Where is a good restaurant?
> >
> > in ce que parts ys at, yn ndawerns mboun?
> > (in what place it is, a restaurant good?)
> >
> K'log es-sa yn bon restawrant?
> Where is-she a good restaurant?

This has been a cause for some mirth -- oh, all right!  An excellent
opportunity to have a guffaw at the travellers' expence -- in Kerno, since
a "reistawrants" is a restorative tonic, most often advertised for the
restoration of the "vigour of a depleted man". ;-)  An especially good
laugh if the poor man in question is accompanied by his wife (or etc.).

> > >I want to see some countryside.
> >
> > il wether le mbays ys dom mblecherew.
> > (to see the country it me would please.)
> >
> Eo wol gathar ill dors di'll paes
> I want to-see the back of-the country.
> or:
> Eo doirew gathar ill dors di'll paes.
> I like(conditional) to-see the back of-the country.

I like the use or dors here.  The verb weller exists in Kernu, but has
taken on a meaning rather more like "prefer" or "would rather".

>
> > >How do I get there from here?
> >
> > komo eo alla deci moniso?
> > (how I thither from here shall go?)
> >
> Co wa-eo a lla di gi?
> How go-I to there from here?

Here it might be interesting to note that monis- is the future form of ir
(to go), a verb actually more irregular that esser (to be).  Its various
tenses take forms from ir (go), *vader/wadher (rush), monir (ride), and
esser (be).

>
> > >Where could I get some good [insert representative conlang food]
> >
> > in cel que parts eo lo lochrab-el, cel alch nges ndostu?
> > (in what place I it shall get it, some o' that there caws pobi?)
> >
> K'log bod-eo llugrar yn bon ges tostad?
> Where can-I obtain some good toasted cheese (Amen, ffradr!)

The answer to this is frequently "ma dhommu!!" (my house), often followed
by lengthy descriptions of how good it is and all the various nuances of
ingredient involved.  Such answers have in the past -- alright, in the
present as well -- been the words (frequently followed by "no, my Livia
does the best you'll ever shove down that greedt gob of yours!", or
similar) that have started more than one "scuffle" in the pub.  The Kerno
are quite serious about food and rugby and food.  Is not the mixture of
Latin and Celt a truly explosive combination!? ;-)

>
> > >I want my [insert familial noun: parent/slave/consort] to buy me that
> > >[insert contraption of choice].
> >
> > il comprar-el cel cest kyempoer-y-car de la mewa gwena, cel ort,
> > dom-blecherew ce.
> > (the buying of that there thing-a-ma-jig by my wife, the slegehammer
> > there, that would please me.)
> >
> Eo wol mew ffuin comprar-mi ill marthel lla.
> I want my wife to-buy-me the hammer there.
> (Eo wol rhen saber in alch perch Padraic gwol yn marthel!)

Hey!  "slegehammer" was the only halfway interesting thingamajig in the
lexicon!  It was either that or _mateyo_, "chamber pot".

>
> > >Is this or isn't this a dark planet, Sir?
> >
> > ke?
> > (eh?)
> >
> Yn blaned, Padraic, ty sab, alch gos ke wa am yn sul, sifil lla der.

oh?  Eo chreddif yn blaned ffew yn disc di bedr (cwn der) cufann subr llo
dhors di cathr olifann subr yn thartaruch rann nadann per yspas! ;^)

>
> Es-yst o es-yst rhen yn blaned yscyr, maistr?
> Is-this or is-this not a planet dark, sir?

OK: Cela'sta planeta, mhaystoer, atsa oschur o rhen?
This planet, mister, is she dark or not?

>
> - andrew.
>
> Andrew Smith                                  <hobbit@earthlight.co.nz>
> Life is short, so am I...
>
Padraic.