Pingo

From sona pona, the Toki Pona wiki
Caution: The subject of this article is just for fun. It might not be meant or appropriate for serious use.
Pingo in sitelen pona
Vintage blue car
Vintage blue car
Pronunciation /ˈpin.ɡo/
Usage 2023: Obscure (4% ↘︎ )Caution: Most speakers don't understand this word.2022: Obscure (5%)
Book and era nimi ku lili (post-pu, marginal phonology)
Part of speech Content word

Pingo is an obscure joke word and nimi ku lili relating to cars.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The word Pingo is a priori, that is, it is not derived from any other existing word, and it was coined by jan Likipi in 2020.[1][2]

Pronunciation and spelling[edit | edit source]

The word Pingo contains the marginal phoneme /ɡ/. The word is, additionally, supposed have its first letter capitalized, which goes against Toki Pona's sitelen Lasina, where capitalization only applies to names. Alongside kalamARR, it is the only notable word with capitalization.

Semantic space[edit | edit source]

The semantic space of Pingo exclusively includes cars. It is sometimes extended to include other motor vehicles, such as trucks, vans, and buses.[3]

ku[edit | edit source]

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as Pingo:[4]

car½

sitelen pona[edit | edit source]

The sitelen pona glyph for Pingo (Pingo) is an uppercase serif letter P. It was created by jan Likipi in August 2021.[5] They first suggested a P without serifs, saying that "it represents the side view mirror of a car, roughly," but changed it to avoid confusion with mi (mi).[6]

Alternatively, Pingo is sometimes written as a drawing of a car viewed from the side.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. jan Likipi [@lilscribby]. (22 September 2020). [Message posted in the #sona-musi channel in the ma pona pi toki pona Discord server]. Discord. Retrieved 2 December 2023. "i wanna make a nimi sin called Pingo and it has to be capitalized and it means car".
  2. Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. p. 24.
  3. manœ [@.manoe.]. (17 November 2022). [Message posted in the #sona-kulupu channel in the ma pona pi toki pona Discord server]. Discord. Retrieved 2 December 2023. "Pingo means:".
    Which of the following options are included in the semantic space of Pingo?
    Option Votes
    Car 45
    Van 14
    Truck 15
    Boat 0
    To drive 2
    Bus 15
    Bike 2
    Other 0
  4. Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. p. 328.
  5. jan Likipi [@lilscribby]. (11 August 2021). [Message posted in the #sona-musi channel in the ma pona pi toki pona Discord server]. Discord. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  6. jan Likipi [@lilscribby]. (11 August 2021). [Message posted in the #sona-musi channel in the ma pona pi toki pona Discord server]. Discord. Retrieved 26 April 2024. "it represents the side view mirror of a car[,] roughly".

Further reading[edit | edit source]