tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 21 17:33:22 1998
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Re: KLBC: nobmey
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: nobmey
- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 17:30:36 -0700
At 19:58 98-04-20 -0700, SuStel wrote:
}From: Qov <[email protected]>
}
}>vay' vIta'DI' vIta'qu' je.
}>
}>"If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing to ridiculous excess."
}
}Marc Okrand has told us that {-qu'} can be used for the idea of "very much"
}or "a lot," but he also said that it does not contain the notion of
}"excessively" or "too much."
}
}When I first saw your Klingon sentence, I didn't notice the {je}, and read
}it as, "When I do something, I *do* it" (i.e., you get the job done, as
}opposed to wasting time). Then I read your English and had to go back. I
}suspect you were not trying to translate exactly, but I think it's clear
}that your {-qu'} was meant as "excessively."
Odd, considering the panic in that Klingon's voice when he says {tujqu'choH
QuQ}, in CK.
I didn't actually intend the quote as a translation, even though I did write
it in the way I write translations. At the time I wrote it I read the
exchange aloud and then translated it to my husband as "She says: 'When I
make a mistake, I MAKE a mistake,' so I replied, 'when I do something, I DO
it, too'."
Then I put the quote, which is an old one of mine, predating my Klingon
hobby, if not the Klingon language itself.
}Unfortunately, he doesn't explain exactly how one might say "excessively";
}he falls back on an idiom before he does that. I can find no idiom which
}conveys this idea. Anyone with some good ideas?
I'm not sure how I would translate the quote. charghwI's suggestion of
{vay' vIta'chu'ta'DI' jImevQo'} is good. The point of the English is that
it plays off a well known saying, "If a thing's worth doing, it's worth
doing right." So I'd need to do the same in Klingon. Something like,
{Heghbe'lu'chugh Qapbe'lu'}, {pIpyuS pach vISop vIneHchugh cha' bIp pIpyuS
vIghor} or {jIQeqbe' neH. DoS vIQaw'chu'}. You get the idea.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian