tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 14 13:17:38 1996
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Re: PK opening scene question
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: PK opening scene question
- Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 16:20:25 -0400
qaSDI' 96-08-13 06:48:08 EDT, jatlh marqoS:
> I dunno; given the flavor of the rest of the translation, I would have
> expected {qatlh Dochvetlh Dajatlh}. {qatlh bIjatlh} comes out as
> "Why are you speaking?"
Well, it does, but I think its only a little ambiguous. The context seems to
explain it nicely. I mean, since (assuming we can use indirect quotes)
{bISaHbe' bIjatlh} means "You say you do not care," (or {bIjatlh bISaHbe'},
but not {bISaHbe' Dajatlh}, since {bISaHbe'} is not the object of {jatlh}),
you should be able to say {qatlh bIjatlh bISaHbe'}, or . . . {bISaHbe' qatlh
bIjatlh}. The placement of {qatlh} here is similar to where you'd put a
question word or an adverbial in an {'e'} construction. The only difference
is that there is no {'e'} in a sentence which uses a verb of saying.
I'm also not sure whether {Dochvetlh} can refer to something which has been
said, or if it refers only to physical objects. I'd understand it, though.
> \ > tera'ngan: <drawing phaser> Dochvetlh yItlhap!
> \
> \ Yes, this line is pretty bad. It obviously should be {vItlhap}, and the
> \ pronunciation is terrible.
> No, I don't see that it should be {vI-}. I interpret it as "Take that!",
> a phrase often uttered by English speakers when they are about to deliver
> some punishment to someone - although I'm surprised that he bothered,
> in the heat of the moment, to translate it. :)
No, no. You see, the Klingon shopkeeper is telling him to "buy or die," so
the Terran tries to follow the advice given in Conversational Klingon.
"Buying the first thing you see may be a good idea."
So, he's telling the shopkeeper, "I'll take that thing," and is presumably
pointing.
"Take that!" is an idomatic expression, which wouldn't be translated into
Klingon with {tlhap}. I wonder what the equivalent Klingon expression would
be.
SuStel
Stardate 96618.5