tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jan 02 19:33:04 1998

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

Re: KLBC: Trying to translate qIDHom

peqaw - chaq qabqu' Qermaq qIDmey, 'ach qaybe'!

ghItlh Qov:

>>veng wa'DIchDaq ghaHtaHvIS SuvwI''e', ghoS nuv. nuv qab So'lu'.
>
>L: While a warrior -yes a warrior- was in the First City, a person
>approached. The person's face was hidden.
>
>The {-'e'} on SuvwI' is what caused me to add the "-yes a warrior-" to the
>translation. When {-'e'} is not grammatically required, it adds that type
>of emphasis to the noun.

Qov, bIcheghta'! Dun. DaH bIvumnISqa'! :o)

<veng wa'DIchDaq ghaHtaH> alone is "He is in the First City". To say "The
warrior is in the First City", we need to add <SuvwI''e'> because the
pronoun <ghaH> acts as a verb, right? (I find no canon to explicitly support
it or forbid it, but it seems consistent with other 6.3. usage.) So in this
case I believe I added <-'e'> correctly. No emphasis on <SuvwI'> intended or
implied.

>>jatlh SuvwI': nuqneH
>
>L: The warrior said "Whatdyawant?"
>S: The warrior greeted him.
>
>>pagh jatlh nuv. DaS teq nuv 'ej SuvwI' chuH. SuvwI' qIv mup DaS.
>
>L: The person said nothing. The person took off a boot and threw it at the
>warrior. The boot struck the warrior's knee.
>S: The person said nothing. He took off a boot and threw it at the warrior,
>striking his knee.
>
>(the word order and longer sentences of English allowed some consolidation
>here)
>
>>jatlh SuvwI': chonuQ. naDevvo' yIghoS.
>
>L: The warrior said "You annoy me. Go away."
>
>>pagh jatlh nuv. latlh DaS teq nuv 'ej SuvwI' chuH. SuvwI' qIv rap mup DaS.
>
>L: The person said nothing. The person took off the other boot and threw it
>at the warrior. The boot struck the warrior's same knee.
>
>>QeH SuvwI', 'ej jatlh: QI'yaH! tera'ngan SoHchugh, yIjang, tlhIngan
>>SoHchugh, yIvang!
>
>L: The warrior was angry, and he said <badword>! If you are a Terran,
>answer, if you are a Klingon, act!
>
>Better to have said {QeHchoH} - the warrior BECAME angry.

maQochbe'. bIlugh.

>>jatlh nuv: tera'ngan jIHbe'. tlhIngan jIHbe'.
>
>L: The person said, "I am not a Terran. I am not a Klingon."
>S: The person said he was not a Terran nor a Klingon.
>
>>ghel SuvwI': vaj SoH 'Iv?
>
>L: The warrior asked, "So who are you?"
>
>I think I might have said {nuq SoH jay'} "What the hell are you?" but it's
>not my joke.

Qap cha' mu'tlheghmey. qID jatlhtaHvIS pIj mu'mey pIm wIlo'.

Though - Not that your suggestion is wrong or less funny - I used an
extremely straight setup to heighten the silliness of the answer to the
question. This whole situation is slapstick anyway - the Terran tradition is
to have the "straight man" be serious and oddly calm amidst the wacky
behavior of the "gag man". I don't know what Klingon tradition is - no one
does yet. But since Klingon ceremony is so serious and traditional to an
extreme, it seems likely to me that a Klingon satirist might play on that.
Again, just guesswork on my part; I have no Klingons in my basement...

>>jatlh nuv: DaSwIj vIjaDtaHvIS, jIqar, qar'a'? vaj qarDaSngan jIH.
>
>L: The person said, "When I'm throwing my boots around I am accurate,
>right?
>Thus I am a Cardassian."
>
>Perhaps the {ghobe' SuD} joke was once a rich pun but as the language
>changed and the joke retained its traditional form the pun was lost,
leaving
>only the unquestioned tradition that the joke is funny.

DaH maQoch, Qov. The pun is that SuD can mean "They are green" and also
"They take chances". <Doq'a' SuvwI'? ghobe', SuD!> is as funny to me as "Do
nylons walk away by themselves? No, they run." (The non-native English
speakers are perhaps now scratching their heads - much as we all did upon
first hearing the Klingon joke.) (Qov is probably scratching her head, too,
but for a different reason...)

Not to say the English equivalent is a real knee-slapper, but the point is
some jokes translate, some don't. My Klingon joke is meaningless in English,
and a person with little experience in Klingon can at least figure out the
pun. But I imagine that some native speaker of Klingon, somewhere, would
hear this joke and chuckle over the play on words. Unless Klingon and Terran
physiology differs incredibly, a surprise pun will elicit at least a groan.

Like this one - read it through without 'translating' it a few times first,
then think of the meaning later: <loD wa' - SeymoH'a' HIchwIj?><loD cha' -
ghobe'. Dal HIchlIj.><wa' - Dalchugh HIch, yInSIp bal Dalo'nIS.><cha' -
qatlh?><wa' - yInSIp Dalo'be'chugh, DuHoHlaH HIchDal!> Bad joke, I know. But
it was at least a groaner.

I have at least demonstrated that explaining a joke kills it, no matter what
language is used. But don't ask me to explain the one about the bugs. I
don't get that one - yet. BTW, can someone provide the canon for that joke
from Power Klingon?

Qermaq

Back to archive top level