tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Oct 18 23:15:25 1997
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Re: "Good night."
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: "Good night."
- Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 23:15:08 -0700
At 05:48 97-10-15 -0700, 'eQ wrote:
> If I want to say "Good night" in klingon, should I do it exactly as
> in english? (adjetive - noun).
> {ram QaQ.}
> Or should I say "The night is good":
> {QaQ ram.}
Two months ago I would have simply told you that Klingons don't SAY
good night, but as someone has pointed out, there is a set
expression. I'll tell you the real and fictional history.
> So how do we say "Good night." in klingon? and what do we mean
> *exactly* when we say it in english. "May your night be good."?
> Perhaps "May you feel good this night."?
In English we mean "may you have a good night."
Klingons say {maj ram}.
In episode Star Trek on TV, the dialogue {maj ram} has been used at
least once. It's easly constructed if you don't know the first thing
about Klingon and simply look up the words for "good" and "night."
Ironically, people in the KLI have been using this as a joke for
years, then shutting each other up if there are beginners listening.
It's gibberish, meaning roughly "good! the night" or "good! it is
trivial."
In KGT Okrand 'explains' that Klingons used to say {maj. nI' ram} or
{maj ngaj ram} - "Good, the night is long/short" meaning that
either there was a good rest to be had, or it would soon be time to
resume duty, both regarded as good things. This got shortened to the
meaningless formula {maj ram}.
All of which is an example of how careful you have to be around
idioms and formulae.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian