tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon May 04 12:03:14 1998
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Pet peeves
- From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
- Subject: Pet peeves
- Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 14:02:00 -0500 (CDT)
SuStel:
> Pets, however dear they are to you, are still {SajlIj}, and they will
> continue to be so until all pets are widely accepted to be sentient.
charghwI':
: No. They will continue to be {SajlIj} until they are widely
: accepted as being able to use language. We may argue about
: where the threshold lies between being able to use language and
: merely mimicking it or suggesting it, but the point is not
: sentience. The point is use of language.
Agreed. We have an indication how Klingons view pets in Power Klingon:
targhlIj yIngagh, yIruch!
Go mate with your targ!
targhlIj yab tIn law' no'lIj Hoch yabDu' tIn puS.
Your targ has a bigger brain than all your ancestors put together.
qu'bej QoghlIj.
Your krol (?) is definitely fierce.
Note that {-lIj} is used for both targs and a growling {Qogh} - whatever
that is - not {lI'}.
ghIlqer:
>targhwIjvaD tlhIngan Hol vIghojmoH. jatlhchu'be ;-) 'ach {yIba'} {yIQot}
>{yIHu'} {naDev} je yaj. ({naDevDaq yIjaH} nI' vaj {naDev} vIjatlh.)
>Ha'DIbaHmey ghojmoH'a' latlhmey?
SuStel:
: Don't teach him the wrong commands! As we learn on Power Klingon, you
: always use Clipped Klingon when speaking to your pet.
I don't rememember Okrand or Dorn actually saying on the tape one "always"
uses Clipped Klingon, but if this observation is correct (and I think it
surely is), it's another clue that Klingons don't regard pets as beings,
capable of language or not. Here are the pet commands in the tape:
Sit!
ba'!
Stand!
Qam!
Come here!
naDev ghoS!
Eat!
Sop!
Stop eating!
Sop 'e' mev!
Attack!
HIv!
Bite his/her leg off!
'uSDaj chop! chev!
Chew that arm!
DeSvetlh yIv!
Do not do that!
mev!
Bad animal!
Ha'DIbaH qab
Bad!
qab
Do not lick my forehead!
QuchwIj roSQo'!
Bring that here!
naDev Dochvetlh qem!
I really mean it this time! Bring that here!
naDev Dochvetlh qemqu'!
Get off that transporter control panel!
jol SeHlaw lItHa'!
Since the imperative prefix is {yI-} "*you* do something (to it)!", an
animal may not be considered a "you", but an "it". (BTW, the anomalous
{qab} and {Ha'DIbaH qab} are probably not commands, but statements. If
these latter are clipped, are they forms of {bIqab} "you are bad" or from
{qab} "it (the animal) is bad" (using the 3rd person 0-prefix)?) So if you
tell your pet {yIba'!} or {yISop!}, a Klingon might consider this to be a
symptom of insanity -- like many of us view those humans who dress their
pets up in costumes and talk to them as if they were children.
I wish we knew how Klingons address things. In other words, how do Klingons
command an "it" -- like a computer or a turbolift? All the imperative forms
address a "you" (singular or plural). Most of us have assumed Klingons use
Clipped Klingon for this, though I can't find anything in canon or that
Okrand has said in the Expert Forum. Can anyone else?
Voragh