popaia

German: ‘vorbei’.

See original Mihalic entry.

Intransitive verb forms

  1. to miss the mark (shooting, hitting with a hammer, typing on a keyboard etc)
    makim gut, nogut yu popaia aim straight, you might miss
    kamda i popaia long nil na bagarapim pinga bilong em the carpenter missed the nail and hit his thumb
    mi wok long popaia long leta I keep hitting the wrong keys
    mi popaia long lek bilong diwai na pundaun I slipped on a tree root (didn’t put my foot on it straight) and fell down

  1. Warfare, fighting: to miss (of a projectile)
    olgeta spia i popaia na mi no kisim wanpela bagarap all the arrows missed and I came away unscathed

  1. to verbally miss the mark
    tok i popaia na ol lain i kisim narapela tingting the explanation went over wrong, and the listeners got a completely different meaning

© Revising the Mihalic Project, 26 Jan 2005 [Home]