#sitelen pona, according to my partner who does not know anything about toki pona

34 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

amber vessel
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My partner does not speak any toki pona, nor have they ever seen sitelen pona. They were curious what all those weird squiggles on my computer meant, and instead of explaining like a nice person, I asked them to give me their best guess.

Their definitions are in plain formatting, with context or other comments in italics. My own comments are indicated like so. After their initial guesses I provided the correct toki pona definitions. We referenced the version of sitelen pona from pu.

Without further ado:

a - ah!
akesi - bug
ala - x, treasure?
alasa - D with an arrow through it? I'm not sure.
ale - infinity
anpa - I have no idea what this means
ante - intersection
anu - Y? Choice?
awen - mountain
e - forward
en - plus
esun - not sure, it's a cursive L
ijo - circle
ike - hill
ilo - sign
insa - above
jaki - what angle am I even supposed to look at this from?
jan - person
jelo - child. I explained the concept of the triangle symbol referring to color.
jo - pregnant
kala - fish
kalama - soup
kama - walking
kasi - sprout, growth?
ken - I am genuinely baffled by this one. What could it possibly mean? When I explained, they became visibly upset that this symbol could mean choice but "anu" didn't.
kepeken - dancing tool*, or* bookstand
kili - apple, fruit
kiwen - diamond
ko - ghost... wait you're laughing, is it a splat??
kon - stream, road
kule - blue?! after I explain: If you really wanted it to mean "gay" it should be a rainbow... My toxic trait is thinking I could do these better.
kulupu - water? they look like droplets.
kute - ear
la - is this how you say "I" like in English? As in that you're talking about yourself?
lape - now I know this isn't right, but it looks like either bong or sperm. My actual answer is "leading to" or "working toward". After my explanation, they responded "Oh my god it's a person laying down 🤦"
laso - that's obviously a plant. It's on a triangle, so I'll go with green.

To be continued...

image.png
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Part Two!

lawa - superhero potato /j
len - light or billboard. If anything it looks like a Pac-Man ghost.
lete - intersection? This one has to mean that PLEASE.
li - greater than /j, nose /s
lili - down
linja - if this doesn't mean river or stream I am going to riot.
lipu - paper
loje - red, the triangle means color and the half circle is a mouth
lon - above. Real talk, if you want to mean at that dot needs to be touching that line. You're not hovering above it!!
luka - hand
lukin - eye
lupa - hole
ma - window
mama - shrine? mirror?
mani - evil, devil
meli - amogus /j. [after explanation]* this is BS, men can have long hair too.*
mi - lamp
mije - this person does not have hair so obviously they are a man >.>
moku - mouth and hand together, gasp? laugh?
moli - dead
monsi - outside
mu - clock? mouse?
mun - that's a fucking MOON
musi - headphones, music
mute - quiet? silent? those look like sound lines, but they are straight.
nanpa - number
nasa - spiral
nasin - tree [after explanation] No. No! No no no! I am Michael Scott-ing this one. No! There are so many other symbols that could be road and yet that one is?? No!! This is a tree, or a flower stem, or even an airplane! No!
nena - hill
ni - DOWN. Whatever you say is wrong. It's down.
nimi - bed, couch... coffin?
noka - foot
o - exclamation, exaggeration, reaction?
olin - couple, soulmates
ona - pipe
open - hurdle, obstacle
pakala - torn
pali - friend
palisa - portal or that pod from Arrival
pan - small group
pana - it's hand + noise lines. clap? waving?
pi - L /j, probably some grammar thing
pilin - heart, organ

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pimeja - tent /j, it has the symbols for "no" and "color", so I'll go with black.
pini - uppercase I, pogo stick /j. light? illuminate? /srs It looks like a flashlight.
pipi - bug!
poka - outside
poki - it can't be hole because lupa already means that. building? gate?
pona - smile, happy
pu - music. paper with lines, it looks like a speaker playing something.
sama - equality, fairness. it's not road >.>, it looks like an equal sign.
seli - singing? opinion? It looks like you're talking about something. [after explanation] There should be the symbol for stick underneath, a dot makes it look like a mouth or a person.
selo - table, surface
seme - question, curiousity. meh I was close enough.
sewi - this symbol looks inappropriate for some reason o.O Honest to God I have no guess.
sewi alt symbol - above
sijelo - it looks like a table but it's not because that'd be too easy. inwards, inner part, introspection
sike - ring, donut, food?
sin - that's math space between, separate
sina - you
sinpin - outside
sitelen - written, visual
sona - spoken word. it's a paper with lines
soweli - animal. That's a new Disney comedic side character if I've ever seen one.
suli - it reminds me of a crossroad or impasse.
suno - sun
supa - FUCK, mean table PLEASE [after explanation] THANK YOU, FINALLY >.>
suwi - happy! excited!
tan - that, or back
taso - ughhhh this is something silly. I'll guess tree or stick before anything it actually means.
tawa - to, toward, walking
telo - river. linja wasn't so it has to be one of them.
tenpo - time, clock
toki - talking, communicating
tomo - house, home
tu - some grammar thing
unpa - that's a love stick, is this sex? intercourse?? physical love?
uta - mouth
utala - dancing
walo - either brown or white. or a fun little dude sticking his arms up ^.^
wan - one
waso - that's a nose!
wawa - drowning /j, cheering, excitement, party /srs
weka - center, core
wile - butt, chest

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Reserved.

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sitelen pona, according to my partner who does not know anything about toki pona

hollow juniper
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Wow, your partner, 'twas awfully good at this!

simple lily
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reminds me of those videos where a non gamer tries some games under supervision but with no help

fringe pivot
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anu can be used for choice

tribal beaconBOT
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anu
book

pu

description

or | ALT choose, decide

manic vector
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also is esun supposed to be like an exchange thingy

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they became visibly upset that this symbol could mean choice but "anu" didn't.
exactly why "ken" in my sintelen pona is this

image.png
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considering this too but not sure

image.png
manic vector
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ones they got right or close:
a, ale?, anu (a bit), jan, kala, kasi, kili, kiwen, kute, laso

amber vessel
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They were surprisingly close on many of them!

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It’s honestly a testament to sitelen pona that a lot of it is understandable without any prior knowledge.

gaunt imp
hollow juniper
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I LOL'd at so many of these. Thanks for the humor

fleet lion
manic vector
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a

modest viper
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now make them guess ku

fleet lion
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I wonder if the partner is similarly/more/less interested in learning toki pona after this fun guessing game

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(and btw: I love the "superhero potato")

manic vector
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how did i not read part 2
lipu ✅
loje ✅
luka ✅
lukin ✅
lupa ✅
moli ✅
mun ✅
musi ehhhhh
nanpa ✅
nena ✅
noka ✅
pakala ✅
pilin ✅
pimeja ✅
pipi ✅
pona ✅*
sama ✅
sewialt ✅
sike ✅
sina ✅
sitelen ✅
soweli ✅*
suno ✅
supa ✅
tan ehhhh
tawa ✅
telo ✅
tenpo ✅
toki ✅
tomo ✅
unpa ✅
walo ✅
wan ✅

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also

nunpa

amber vessel
amber vessel
manic vector
alpine hound
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very funny. good job to your partner 😄

near sorrel
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suwi is literally calque from english

simple lily
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that's not what a calque is
also the word comes from tok pisin, but originally it's from english

near sorrel
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It really is the screw joke kind of situation

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it has two completely different meanings, and they just happen to be the same as in english