Reading the Nuoc Mam thread I noticed your .sig, mind filling me in on what it means and in what language? My WAG is Persian, perhaps? TIA
While we’re waiting for Jorge, I’ll post his sig so no one has to go to the trouble of opening the link.
I would guess it’s some Polynesian language, such as Hawaiian or Samoan. This assumption is strengthened by Jorge’s profile where he says “Location: Hawaii & other Pacific islands.” and this language identifier which says it’s Hawaiian (which I think is the only Polynesian language it recognizes). I have no idea what it means.
Oops, just saw that. Tough to figure that one, I guess: it’s Samoan - actually, a proverb taken from florid chiefly speech (analogous to the elevated speech forms used in, say Japanese or Greek), where often much is said by way of allegory and metaphor.
It means (taken from Dr. E. Schultz’s 1980 text Samoan Proverbial Expressions; Polynesian Press):
“The transgressions of the nobility should be punished; those of the common herd should be treated with contempt”.
While working a bit on the Samoan language, I came across it and laughed. I used to sig with Pynchon’s Proverbs for Paranoids (taken from Gravity’s Rainbow) but decided this was rather appropriate, albeit cryptic, for the SDMB, a while back when thinking of off-point replies and trolls to otherwise interesting threads. Been too lazy to change it since.
And now, seeing as this probably should have been in the “About this Board” section, I’m either gonna get punished, or treated to a large dose of contempt by the moderator. Better slide off like Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now while the gettin’s good.
Ack ! I forgot: thanks for the link, and the correct guess, bibliophage.