tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Oct 17 23:32:00 1998

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Re: Eye On The Ball



lab Qermaq:
> Any beginners want to try to express the true meaning of "may
> we keep our eye on the ball" in Klingon?

jang Kreth:
> <delurk>
> My take on this would be something along the lines of, "May we
> remain focused on our goal." or (hopefully):
>
> ngoQmajDaq wIbuStaHjaj
> </delurk>

Very close. You did get a little English-ism in there with the <-Daq> on
<ngoQmaj>. <-Daq> can only apply to spatial ideas, and doesn't work here.
Fortunately, the verb <buS> - "focus on" includes in the verb itself the
meaning you were going for with <-Daq>. If you take the <-Daq> off,
<ngoQmaj> becomes the object of <buS>, your prefix becomes correct, and
everything works just fine (... almost).

The other problem is a line in TKD stating that a type 7 suffix cannot be
used on the same verb with <-jaj>. Okrand himself has violated this rule at
least once (with <tlhIngan wo' DevtaHjaj ghawran>, I believe), but it is
still a rule we must follow. In any case, the <-taH> is not really necessary
here, although it would enhance the meaning if it were allowed.

Despite some minor problems, this was an excellent recasting.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian




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