tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 04 18:59:30 1996
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Re: greetings
>Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 09:39:10 -0800
>From: "Andrew 'Ska' Netherton" <[email protected]>
>
>
>> (This has been debated before, though. If you
>> want to question it, take it out of KLBC!)
>
> OK, done. Now, let's chat.
>
>> > OK, I'll buy that. In that case, should each of these 'greetings'
>> > I hacked together be reworked into commands?
>>
>> No! Klingon has only one greeting (this is a fact): {nuqneH}.
>
> I find this rather hard to believe. It's like saying
>English-speaking humans only greet each other with "Hello"! I seriously
>doubt that a shoemaker would see the High Council walking past and
>jauntily shout <nuqneH!> At the very least, Klingons have honour, and
>treat those who have it with more. This leads me to believe that there
>*must* be some honourific greetings *somewhere*.
Don't be so sure. Honor is shown in different ways by different people.
WE show honor by greeting; that's not the only way to do so. Civility
varies widely among different cultures. Among the Deaf, it's actually rude
to say (sign) "Excuse me" when you push someone out of the way to get past
them in a crowd. Perhaps wasting time with meaningless mouthings shows not
honor but dishonor.
~mark