tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 13 04:32:54 1998
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nuqneH as greeting
- From: "Anthony Appleyard" <[email protected]>
- Subject: nuqneH as greeting
- Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 12:32:38 GMT
- Organization: Materials Science Centre
- Priority: normal
ghItlh Steven Boozer <[email protected]>:-
"It is not infrequent to hear nonnative speakers of Klingon use nuqneH "what
do you want?" as if it meant "hello" or the like in exchanges such as:
Speaker #1: nuqneH (see (1))
Speaker #2: nuqneH (see (2))
No one steeped in Klingon culture would do this, however (except in some sort
of a joking context, perhaps). To begin a conversation, just start! ...
(1) But people can't simply `just start'. Greetings aren't simply for
politeness. I know by too much experience that #1 needs to say <some> sort of
call-attention word to get #2's attention, else #2 loses much of the start of
what the speaker said. Else #1 would get sick of being asked to repeat what he
said. This can get wearisome: HochHom vIjatlhpu'bogh vIjatlhqa' 'e' neHtaH
SoSwI' 'e' rur.
(2) #1 knows what he was going to ask or tell #2 about. #2 does not know at
the start. So in reply #2 must ask {nuqneH?}, in its literal meaning, to tell
#1 that he is listening.