tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 26 07:24:17 1997

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: lut tlhaQ



At 11:28 PM 8/25/97 -0700, muHwI' wrote:
>Now that I do understand your joke (it IS funny)
>DaH lut tlhaQ vIyajchu'. tlhaQqu'.

qatlho'.

>I can start analyzing the language:
>(Just trying to understand, not criticizing)
>
qay'be'.

>> tlhIngan tach 'el wa' tera'ngan.
>Why do you say {wa' tera'ngan} ?
>Isn't it enough to say {tera'ngan},
>or do you want to say "ONE terran"
>instead of "A terran" ?
>

This is just a style I like.  I'm trying for the
feel of the English formula for such jokes: "A man
walks into a bar..."

>> chech ghaH.
>Why not only {chech} ?
>

Again just my stylistic preference.  I like to start a
paragraph with a very specific subject and gradually get
less specific as I go along.  You'll notice that in one of the
later paragraphs, I gradually make the subject less explicit
and end up with naked verbs.  It's just a pattern I enjoy.

>> Qu' wa': cha'vatlhben HIq HIvje' naQ DatlhutlhnIS.
>What does {cha'vatlhben} mean?
>maybe {cha'vatlh ben}? 
>Then it would mean "two hundred years ago liquor"...
>

 This is from one of the tapes (CK?), where its called
"200 year old ale".  How you divide the actual components
is anybody's guess.  I assume {cha'vatlh} from words like
{wa'maH, cha'maH}, etc., and {cha'vatlhben} from formations
like {wa'Hu', cha'leS}, etc., but for all I know, {cha' vatlh ben} is
correct.  But it all sounds the same if spoken, anyway.

>______________
>muHwI'
>Stardate 97652.3
>
-- ter'eS

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/2711



Back to archive top level