tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 08 04:31:16 1995
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Re: HIqIH
- From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: HIqIH
- Date: Wed, 8 Feb 95 07:19:10 EST
<<qIH>> vIlo'laHbe'chugh vaj <<vIDel'egh>> vItam.
Hmm. Is {vI***'egh} or {jI***'egh} correct? I really /do/ have an object,
but does {-'egh} remove the need for {vI-}?
> law' jIlaD.
"I read a lot." I guess I got lazy and used a /very/ naive translation.
"I read many things" would be better. I say "things" because I want to
include books, magazines, billboards, and cereal boxes.
{Dochmey law' vIlaD.}
> law' laD.
> law' Sov.
Similarly, "He reads a lot" and "He knows a lot."
{paqmey law' laD 'ej Dochmey law' Sov.}
Now I reveal the mystery phrase:
> wIqIp 'e' wIbuQDI' <<qIpbogh chaHbe' puqpu'>> 'e' jatlh *Corey*.
"When we threaten to spank him, Corey says 'Children are not for hitting.'"
I did /not/ want to recast the quoted phrase, I wanted to /translate/ it.
It is a direct quote, and I wanted to preserve it as closely as possible.
Maybe "Children are not that one hits them." {ghaH qIplu' 'e' chaHbe' puqpu'.}
Or maybe not. It's much easier to reword to an active form: {puqpu' tIqIpQo'.}
The distinction between "spank" and "hit" is lost in my translation. I could be
more specific (or more graphic) and refer to {'o'Daj}... :-)
"While a Klingon may be inaccurate, he is /never/ imprecise!"
{'o'Daj wIqIp 'e' wIbuQDI' puqpu' tIqIpQo' 'e' ja' *Corey*.}
It's still a monster, but I think it's grammatically correct.
The {wIpuQDI'} connection is ambiguous -- does it more naturally attach
to the closer {tIqIpQo'} or to the ultimate {ja'}? I'll try to fix it:
{puqpu' tIqIpQo' 'e' ja' *Corey*. 'o'Daj wIqIp 'e' wIbuQDI' 'oH ja'.}
-- ghunchu'wI'