tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 10 15:16:20 1998

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Re: Okrand on {yIH ngaghwI'} (PG13)

Besides being a hilarious insult from our perspective, (given 
your avoidance of translating {yIH ngaghwI'} as "tribble 
f**ker", which is OBVIOUSLY what you were getting at, we have to 
remember that a Klingon may respond to this with simple 
bewilderment. Tribbles are rather small, you see, and there are 
logistical problems with the concept of {yIH ngaghwI'}. Klingons 
don't like tribbles, so they can figure you are probably trying 
to insult them, but then, you might as well call them a 
{pu'ghIch ngaghwI'}. The logistical problems would be about the 
same.

The verb {ngagh} clearly does carry some of the same insulting 
connotations, given the known {targhlIj yIngargh!} canon we do 
have. Still, I think we stretch our understanding of the concept 
to assume that calling someone a {targh ngaghwI'} would be an 
insult relating to {targhlIj yIngargh!}.

Meanwhile, if you use {yIH ngaghwI'}, for all we know, you'd get 
laughed at. Or killed. Or both. It is a rather strange concept, 
after all. I mean, at least with a targh, it is physically 
possible, though it reportedly requires a rare combination of 
skill, care, determination and perverse interest to pull it off. 
I, for one, would not mess with anyone who accomplished the 
task. For several reasons.

I don't know. It just doesn't seem like the right crowd to hang 
out with. But {yIH ngaghwI'pu'}... It boggles the mind.

I'd just call the Klingon a taHqeq and be done with it. That 
should get you a good fist fight, if that's what you are looking 
for. Klingons may approach insults the way they approach jokes. 
The old ones work find and they might not appreciate new ones 
you consider to be very clever.

charghwI'

On Thu, 9 Jul 1998 11:05:32 -0700 (PDT) Steven Boozer 
<[email protected]> wrote:

> As if on cue, it seems we have another example of Klingon epithet. Too bad
> Okrand didn't translate the entire line of dialogue so we can see how
> they're used in *Klingon* sentences.
> 
> ---------------------  Begin Forwarded Message  ---------------------
> From: "Marc Okrand" <[email protected]>
> Newsgroups: startrek.expertforum
> Subject: Re: Marc Okrand
> Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 01:27:57 -0400
> 
> [email protected] wrote ...
> >As I specified in my original post, the purpose of getting the phrase
> >was to incorporate it into a story I am writing.  I do appreciate the
> >response and help, but everything I have gotten so far, while it may
> >be correct for conversational Klingon, does not fit the blank space I
> >have left in my story for it.
> > [snip]
> >Klingon insults a federation officer in Klingon. Federation officer ignores
> >him. Klingon says to other klingons in Fed standard "He does not even know
> >when he has been insulted."
> >Federation officer: "I cannot be insulted by (a) ________________.
> 
> Seems to me that the phrase that best fills in the blank ("I cannot be
> insulted by (a) _______") is the one suggested a while back by both SuStel
> and Qermaq:
> 
> yIH ngaghwI'
> 
> (I'd leave the "a" in the English: "I cannot be insulted by a yIH ngaghwI'.")
> 
> If this is translated as "one who mates with a tribble," perhaps it sounds
> too formal or clinical (in English, not in Klingon) to function as a curse
> or insult.  If it's translated "tribble mater-wither" or something like
> that, it has a somewhat better tone, but it's questionable English and
> therefore lacks punch.  But English isn't the issue here; Klingon is, and,
> unless I'm missing the point, /yIH ngaghwI'/ should work.  I trust that, in
> the story, the Federation officer who utters the phrase is prepared for what
> the Klingon may do next.
> 
> ----------------------  End Forwarded Message  ----------------------
> 
> 
> Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."        - Horace, Ars Poetica

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