tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 12 13:19:21 1996
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Re: PK opening scene question
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>Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 05:18:43 -0700
>From: "Mark J. Reed" <[email protected]>
>tera'ngan: bISaHbe'? qatlh vIjatlh(1)? chaq SoHvo' vay' vIje' vIneH!
I thought it was "<jISaHbe'> qatlh bIjatlh?" for "why do you way "I don't
care?""
>tlhIngan: tugh. Su'. bIje'be'chugh, vaj bIHegh. quvwIj DatIchpu',
> tera'ngan. bIyIntaH 'e' ?????(2)
Your guess is as good as mine. I thought it sounded like "DaXXXbe'" also,
but no guess as to what XXX is. Perhaps it's a verb for "deserve" that
hasn't come out yet.
>tera'ngan: yIjotmoH!(3)
I heard this as "yIjotchoH", which works better.
>tera'ngan: <drawing phaser> Dochvetlh yItlhap!
Hmm. I never could hear "yItlhap." And I never pictured the Terran
drawing (too aggressive for the yutz of a tourist we have). I sort of
pictured it as being "Dochvetlh yIta['Qo']", a weak attempt at "Don't do
that!" That might explain the bad "tlh." I see the tourist as still
trying to talk his way out of the problem, in typical Fed fashion: always
talking, never doing.
>Were the initial {maja'chuqjaj} not spoken by an obviously clueless Terran,
>it would make me wonder about the previous discussion on the various meanings
>of "may" in English. That looks suspiciously like a request for permission:
>"May we talk?" rather than "May we talk!" in the sense of a wish. Although
>I suppose the intent is similar in either case.
"-jaj" in Klingon to me indicates a wish, not a request. The wish aspect
could be seen as like a request to a higher power to allow it to come to
pass, if you want. The English may be a request for permission to talk;
the "-jaj" in Klingon isn't.
~mark
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