tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 26 12:56:03 1995
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}}} Klingon paintball
- From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
- Subject: }}} Klingon paintball
- Date: Wed, 26 Jul 95 11:56:03 EST
Jim Boniface is trying to put together a "Klingon paintball team" and
has asked for help. In the resulting scuffle, nobody has mentioned
the lack of a good translation for "paint". I think a Klingon
paintball team needs at least a name for the game they will be
playing! To that end, therefore...
To properly translate anything, one must first understand what one
means. So I ask what the "paint" in "paintball" really means. It
obviously isn't the same meaning as Sears Weatherbeater(tm) or even
whitewash; it's not intended to beautify or decorate walls, fences,
cars, etc. It's not the same meaning as acrylics, oils, or watercolor
as used by artists. The word "paint" thus isn't at the essence of the
meaning.
So what IS the essential nature of the paintball itself? Is the color
perhaps significant? Is it supposed to represent some other fluid
(perhaps blood)? Or is it simply a marker to indicate a successful
hit? There are reasonable ways to translate these concepts, and
others; but first, the correct concept must be identified.
"Paintball" is a name given to a simulated handgun battle that happens
to use balls of paint as ammunition. Without prior knowledge of that
fact, the name is non-descriptive even in English. It's no more
descriptive in Klingon even if translated correctly, and names don't
often translate well anyway.
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Alan Anderson Delco Electronics
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