tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 04 09:36:13 1998

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Re: KLBC: a translation attempt

: ---K'ryntes <[email protected]> wrote:
: > Robyn Stewart wrote:
: >> chovnatlhmey vImuch 'ej vay' Qatlh vIQIj.
: > 
: > I explain anything difficult and I present examples.
: > 
: >> bagh neQ vIlo'Qo'.
: > 
: > I don't use ________?  Neck ties?
: 
: Grin.  A spoon.  A very new word.  And a translation of an English
: idiom.  I'm being silly.
: 
: Qov - Beginners' Grammarian

Okrand posted this new word on the startrek.klingon BBS (5/98):

"The Klingon word for 'fork' is {puq chonnaQ}. As is well known, Klingons
prefer to get food into their mouths without the aid of implements (except
for such things as the bowl containing soup or the goblet containing
bloodwine). Nevertheless, they have become acquainted with the eating habits
of other cultures and have become aware of such things as forks. On
occasion, they'll even use the implements, most commonly when partaking of a
non-Klingon meal (whether on a Klingon planet or elsewhere) but sometimes
when eating Klingon food, as if to add an exotic touch to the meal
experience. (Not all Klingons are skilled in using forks, however, and some
simply refuse to deal with them. Those who do not use them seem to be not at
all troubled by eating 'foreign' food using Klingon means -- that is,
hands.) ... The Klingon word for 'spoon' is {baghneQ}. Even though spoons
were never typically used when eating, the word appears to have been in the
language for a long time, suggesting that it may once have meant something
else. One theory is that it comes from {nagh beQ} 'flat stone, flat rock'
and that the initial sounds of the two words, {n} and {b}, were, for some
reason, transposed. This is, however, just speculation." 

See however Okrand's early statement in "Klingon for the Galactic Traveller"

"Eating is done with hands only. There is no Klingon fork or spoon. If the
cook has prepared the food properly, there should be no need to use a knife
either, though, from time to time, one is quite useful." (KGT p.99)

Cf. {bo'Dagh} "scoop" KGT ("A scooping implement, much like a garden trowel,
used to remove food from a pot, is a {bo'Dagh}." [KGT p.97-8]). This word
also appears in idioms:
 - bo'DaghHom lo' 
   use a little scoop 
   (idiom: "make less of something than it really is" or "minimize the
    importance of something") KGT
 - bo'Dagh'a' lo'
   use a big scoop
   (idiom: "exaggerate") KGT
 - qaHarbe'; bo'Dagh'a' Dalo'
   I don't believe you; you're using a big scoop (i.e. "You're
exaggerating") KGT
 - bo'Dagh'a' vIlo'be'
   I'm not using a big scoop (i.e. "I'm not exaggerating") KGT



Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."        - Horace, Ars Poetica

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