tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 16 05:10:45 1995

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Re: "Do it or else..."?

Soqra'tIS: > yIlo'qu' yIHeghbej joq petaQ

jIH:       > DIp muvwI' 'oH <<joq>>'e' 'ach mu'tlhegh muvwI' Dalo'nIS.
           > <<'ej>> chaw' <<qoj>> vaj <<pagh>> Dalo'nIS.

Soqra'tIS: > jIHtaHbogh naDev vISovbe'. DIvI' Hol DaghItlh 'e' [sic]

"{qoj} (and/or) permits {'ej} (and), so you need to use {pagh} (either/or)."

I was responding to TWO errors in the so-called threat.
The really bad one was using {joq} after the sentences to join them as if
they were nouns.  The obvious correction would be {yIlo'qu' qoj yIHeghbej}.
However, the other error was the choice of {joq/qoj} instead of {ghap/pagh}.
Since {qoj} means "and/or", the half-corrected threat comes out like
"Really use it, or certainly die, or both."  Where's the incentive? :-) You
should use {pagh} "either/or" to get "Either really use it or certainly die."

Soqra'tIS: > <<bIlo'be'chug vaj bIHegh>> DaH vItu'pu'.
           > nuq bIQub.

"If you do not use then you die."  Since you probably mean "use my name",
your choice of {bI-} doesn't work here.  {Da-} is what you need instead.
Why did you drop the {-bej} from {bIHegh}?  It really had the flavor of a
warrior's threat; without it, the sentence feels somehow wimpier to me.
Using {vaj} after {-chugh} seems unnecessary.  It's probably just personal
preference, but I tend to translate {vaj} more as "thus" than as "then".
"If X then Y" is okay in English, but {X-chugh Y} is just fine in Klingon.
I still think {-Qo'} instead of {-be'} would be better, but that's my own
lack of intolerance showing.  With {-be'}, you might have to kill someone
for accidentally forgetting to use your name; with {-Qo'} he/she suffers
the consequences only if he/she REFUSES to use it.

Since I seem to have temporarily stolen a grammarian's hat here, I'll go
ahead and point out that {DaH} belongs before a non-topicalized object.
That means it goes at the beginning of the sentence unless you use some
other adverbial or temporal word first.  You also used {bI-} again where
you needed {Da-}; {nuq} is the object of {Qub} in your question.

yoDtargh DaH SoHvaD nachyoDlIj vIchegh.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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