tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 21 16:38:27 1996

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Re: existence




On Fri, 9 Aug 1996 00:43:06 -0700 "A.Appleyard" 
<[email protected]> wrote:
> For "X exists" we have been advised to write {X tu'lu'}, on the grounds that
> "X's existence can't be known of unless someone has found it". But to say
> "Theory shows that X exists, but nobody has yet found it"? This construction
> occurs referring to a very important central matter in a story that I have.

First, theories do not "show" anything. A theory is an 
inconclusively tested model of some aspect of reality. A 
theory merely proposes that something exists or explains 
why something exists which we know exists.

Given that, facing your challenge to express your thought 
in Klingon:

Dochvetlh tu'laH vay' 'e' chup ngervam 'ach wej tu'lu'.

I say this suggesting that if a tree falls in a forest and 
nobody hears it, a Klingon does not care whether or not 
there is any sound. I'm sure the Vulcan language would 
offer a different approach...

I also offer that I would never use the number "three" as a 
noun in the object position, because I like to be clear. I 
guess I could say:

Dochvetlh tu'laH vay' 'e' chup ngervam 'ach tu'ta' pagh.

charghwI'




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