Idiomatic Expressions

[Txur’Itan]

If only there was a Sarcasm infix.

Speaker one:
The Path to the Heart of the SkyPeople is through love.
Fya'o a ne te'lan    sawtuteyä kxamlä  tìyawn  leru.
Path  twards heart of skypeople through love is.

Speaker two retort:
The Path to the Heart of the SkyPeople is through Eytukan's Bow.
Fya'o a ne te'lan    sawtuteyä    kxamlä  tsko Eytukanyä lasyu.
Path  twards heart of skypeople through Bow of Eytukan is.

wouldn't "ìlä" fit better in this situation?

It might be an alternate form, but I don't see it as a better versus worse way of saying it.

[Taronyu]

I was walking through town the other day after a storm passed, and thought of a cool phrase for storms, I think.

krr rusikxa ayrìkä - time of the moved leaves

I was thinking of using mìn, turn, but the shortened version of the above could be

rikxrìk - turnleaf

which just reminds me of the sounds the trees make when they rub against each other. (In Pirahã they say that is when the trees copulate o.O)

What do you guys think? (Sorry for necroposting, figure this is more of a constant contribution thread anyway.)

[Plumps]

Mmmmmmh, I like it Txantsan!

Just to decide whether it's a continuous action: krr rusikxa ayrìkä (moving)
or the time after the storm: krr rawnikxa ayrìkä (moved)

For me, this expression has something of ›the time of first songs‹ — very beautiful, and musical only

*hrh* thinking of the massive amount of trees on Eywa'eveng I'd presume there is a lot of leaf-rubbing going on

[tsrräfkxätu]

rikxrìk... very cool! love it!

[Kì'eyawn]

Oeru fìsäfpìl ngeyä wou, ma Taronyu.  Tsaw lor leiu nìtxan.

[Plumps]

Sorry to necropost but I wanted to know what you think and this is really the appropriate place...

Was thinking about the expression »Out of sight, out of mind« the other day and since the Na'vi don't necessarily perceive with their eyes I thought about something like:

(neto) ftu tswin, (neto) ftu ronsem

Thoughts?

[Skxawng]

plumps - it still seems kind of directly translated, as opposed to an idiom in itself.

Perhaps luke menari, ronsem zererok*
"without eyes, the mind forgets"

or better ayswizaw nìftue slu tìzawnerok
"Arrows become easily forgotten"
or modified na'rìngìl txana ayswizawìt lew seri
"The forest hides many arrows"

I figure since the bow and hunting is so integral to their society, much practice with bows yields many lost arrows - I shoot bows often, and often in the woods by my house and it is insanely easy to lose arrows. Worse, you seem to lose track of how many arrows you had if you shoot many at once - for example I tend to keep track of my arrows better when there are only 4 or 6. One afternoon, I had about 12 arrows and over the course of an hour that number whittled down to 8 somehow and after that day I completely forgot about them.

Furthermore, since their arrows are made from wood, and the whole interconnectedness of life is deeply ingrained in their social behavior ...
Ayswizaw tätxaw ne ayutral
Arrows return to trees

which I like best

[Toruk Makto]

  Although I am probably the last person that should be attempting something like this, the concept of Eywa is one of the most fascinating things to me from the film, so I have been pondering some proverbial phrases about her. I thought of one that refers to the connectedness of the life on Pandora:

Eywa Na'vihu ke plltxe nì'aw - Eywa doesn't just speak to the Na'vi

[Maria TunVrrtep]

  Although I am probably the last person that should be attempting something like this, the concept of Eywa is one of the most fascinating things to me from the film, so I have been pondering some proverbial phrases about her. I thought of one that refers to the connectedness of the life on Pandora:

Eywa Na'vihu ke plltxe nì'aw - Eywa doesn't just speak to the Na'vi

That's a good one, Markì!
I'm all for the Goddess themes.  This definitely fits in with my feelings about the interconnectedness of the entire planet.

[Ftiafpi]

  Although I am probably the last person that should be attempting something like this, the concept of Eywa is one of the most fascinating things to me from the film, so I have been pondering some proverbial phrases about her. I thought of one that refers to the connectedness of the life on Pandora:

Eywa Na'vihu ke plltxe nì'aw - Eywa doesn't just speak to the Na'vi

I love it! I think this is a very good one and it definitely reflects their culture and is a pretty nifty saying as well.

[Kì'eyawn]

 Although I am probably the last person that should be attempting something like this, the concept of Eywa is one of the most fascinating things to me from the film, so I have been pondering some proverbial phrases about her. I thought of one that refers to the connectedness of the life on Pandora:

Eywa Na'vihu ke plltxe nì'aw - Eywa doesn't just speak to the Na'vi

I love it! I think this is a very good one and it definitely reflects their culture and is a pretty nifty saying as well.

I like it, too; but i would suggest a slight change.  The way nì'aw is used, the current word order seems to me to mean "Eywa doesn't only speak with the Na'vi."  Do you get what i mean?  So, i think to get the emphasis in the right place, it needs to be,

Eywa ke plltxe Na'vihu nì'aw.

If i completely misunderstood, and that original meaning was the one you were going for in the first place, then ngaytxoa.

Edit: fixed a typo. durrr...

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Here's another simple 'tail' idiom, that I am surprised hasn't been mentioned before.

kxetse mìkam mehinam

Might be a litle less 'Englishy' as

mìkam mehinam kxetse

Essentially what one would do if they knew they messed up and were going to get in trouble for it.

[Toruk Makto]

My brain is trying to tell me that somewhere Paul mentioned that the more "important" words in the phrase go at the front, but I could be hallucinating.  I do think I like your tweak on it though.  Irayo!

[Ftiafpi]

My brain is trying to tell me that somewhere Paul mentioned that the more "important" words in the phrase go at the front, but I could be hallucinating.  I do think I like your tweak on it though.  Irayo!

If I recall correctly it was:

New or important information should go first, blah-blah in the middle, punch or exclamation goes at the end.

[Toruk Makto]

I like it, too; but i would suggest a slight change.  The way nì'aw is used, the current word order seems to me to mean "Eywa doesn't only speak with the Na'vi."  Do you get what i mean?  So, i think to get the emphasis in the right place, it needs to be,

Eywa ke plltxe Na'vihu nì'aw.

If i completely misunderstood, and that original meaning was the one you were going for in the first place, then ngaytxoa.

Edit: fixed a typo. durrr...

The other way is a valid proverbial too, that Eywa does more than just speak to the Na'vi, but that wasn't what I meant.  What I wanted to say was that Eywa speaks with every living thing, not just the Na'vi. Your word order is more to that point, I think.

Expanded, "Fpi meoauniaea, Eywa ke plltxe Na'vihu nì'aw."  Does that work?

[Kì'eyawn]

I like it, too; but i would suggest a slight change.  The way nì'aw is used, the current word order seems to me to mean "Eywa doesn't only speak with the Na'vi."  Do you get what i mean?  So, i think to get the emphasis in the right place, it needs to be,

Eywa ke plltxe Na'vihu nì'aw.

If i completely misunderstood, and that original meaning was the one you were going for in the first place, then ngaytxoa.

Edit: fixed a typo. durrr...

The other way is a valid proverbial too, that Eywa does more than just speak to the Na'vi, but that wasn't what I meant.  What I wanted to say was that Eywa speaks with every living thing, not just the Na'vi. Your word order is more to that point, I think.

Expanded, "Fpi meoauniaea, Eywa ke plltxe Na'vihu nì'aw."  Does that work?

=)  I do like it, a lot.  And what about this?

Eywa plltxe a krr, framikyunìl stawm.

[Maria TunVrrtep]

=)  I do like it, a lot.  And what about this?

Eywa plltxe a krr, framikyunìl stawm.

Oh, Ki'eyawn, that is beautiful. 

I've been working on translating some Goddess chants and I've got a few of my own.  I'll have to pull them out. 

Just can't do it now.  I'm late trying to get ready to go out tonight.

ta TunVrrtep

[Toruk Makto]

=)  I do like it, a lot.  And what about this?

Eywa plltxe a krr, framikyunìl stawm.

Yes! I like that too.  I would think that the Na'vi would have a lot of proverbials about Nawma Sa'nok.

[Maria TunVrrtep]

Ok.  It's not an Idiomatic expression.  It's a Goddess chant.  But here is one of them.  

Srerew 'ìheyu nemfa kxamtseng
Kxamtseng ayoengeyä tìhawnu (leyn)
Lu oe täftxuyu lu oe tawnäftxua 'awpo
Lu oe uniltu lu oe unil (leyn)

I'm going to work on translating some of the rules of Wicca also.  

ta TunVrrtep

NOTE:  Modified the word tawnamäftxua to the corrected form of tawnäftxua.

['Oma Tirea]

Here's a thought: heard of the term proverb before?  What would really stick as a Na'vi proverb and what is just an idiomatic expression?

One Na'vi proverb off the top of my ronsem: Kxetse sì mikyun plltxe kop.

I'm sure more might develop through time....