tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 21 13:17:10 1998

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RE: KLBC nuqneH

lab [email protected]:

> Ok this is also my first posting to this....so call me crazy but i 
> can't seem to figure out what this word means (Qapla')  I know it's 
> used a lot in Klingon Grammer and also on quite a few of movies and 
> shows...But for the life of me i can't figure it out..I got the 
> Dictionary and maybe i am looking in the wrong place but if anyone 
> could help me figure it out it would be appreciated

<Qapla'> means "success". You can find it in the main Klingon-English
section of the dictionary. It is in the <Q> section, not the <q> section. In
the transcription system we use to write Klingon, <Q> and <q> are different
symbols. Other potentially confusing symbols are <ch>, <gh>, <ng>, <tlh>,
and <'>. Each of these symbols represents a different sound in Klingon.

<Qapla'> is used a lot on the Star Trek television shows as a sort of
generic hello/goodbye, and many beginners seem to use it this way as well.
Klingons generally do NOT use it this way. Since most humans feel the need
for some sort of greeting to begin and/or end a conversation, <nuqneH> and
<Qapla'> get used a lot. Klingons don't feel the need to do this; they start
their conversations by stating their business, and when they are finished,
they leave.

<nuqneH>, which basically means "what do you want", is really the only
Klingon greeting, and is probably only be used in situations where a human
would say something like "what do you want". You would not go up to someone
else and say <nuqneH> to start a conversation; you would just start talking.
<nuqneH> is not considered rude.

<Qapla'> is often said between Klingons before a new mission or battle. It
is meant to wish success, which usually means either victory or a glorious
death. It would not be used (except sarcastically) for something like a trip
to the grocery store.

Marc Okrand has talked about this a bit in the startrek.klingon forum. I
don't have the post handy, but I will see if I can find it tonight.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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