tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 05 13:32:36 1998

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Unofficial words (Was: Re puqpu')

James Coupe writes:
>Qov <[email protected]> writes
>>*television* qellaw'.
>
>Just wondering, are there any other "unofficial" translations for
>words used on the newsgroup because, as a beginner, it can sometimes
>be quite confusing when you have problems first of all telling one
>word apart from another (I went through several different meanings 
>for jIH) and then have to try and work out exactly what they mean in
>context.

I didn't remember seeing viewing screen for television before, I was 
just familiar with the idea of television creating drooling idiots, 
and perhaps the Orwellian "viewscreen" influenced me, too.  Just 
think carefully about all the things that a word could represent and 
look for one that fits the context.  That said, here are some words 
used commonly enough that people who have been here a 
while will understand these connotations quickly.  

{Duj} - vessel: sometimes used to mean vehicle, car, truck, minivan 
{jabbI'IDghom} - transmission group: 
newsgroup, listserver, especially this one 
{Degh} - medal, emblem, insignia: I've seen this used this is used to 
mean variously, letter (of the alphabet), icon (on a GUI), lapel pin. 
logo ... 
{yaH} - duty station: place of work 
{pIn} - chief: employer
{chovnatlh} - specimen: example
{nav} - paper: page
{juHDaq} - home location: homepage, website
{Quv} - coordinates: address
{jabbI'ID} - transmission: e-mail
{targh/yIH} - targ/tribble: dog/cat  (ok, now I'm stretching it)

This will, of course lead to other people posting their lists and 
other people asking if such and such a word could mean such and such. 
That's not the point. The point is that if a word is understood to 
mean what you want it to mean, it can be used.  I can call a 
television an 'idiot box' or 'my cable-powered window on the world' 
or 'audio-visual transmission display module' or 'electric 
babysitter' or 'electronic hearth' or 'home theatre' or 'the dreaded 
thing' and if the context I have given allows you to understand what 
I mean, then you understand.  Some of those terms you wouldn't 
understand if you hadn't been exposed to them in context before, and 
because we don't consider what we write here to be the real Klingon 
context, we can't use our own acquired familiarity with a term to 
mean that it is good Klingon.

Note then, that if the word can't be understood in context by a god 
speaker of Klingon who does not particiapte in this group, 
then it isn't used correctly.  I would say that you've shown {jIH} to 
be an insufficient description of a television, as you translated the 
whole thing correctly but didn't understand what it referred to. 
After all, television refers not just to the viewing screen and the 
CRT behind it, but to the whole system of programming and 
advertising, which Klingons may lack.  The translation *television* 
or *television* jIH might be required.

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