tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 26 13:41:15 1998
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RE: KLBC (halloween)
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC (halloween)
- Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 14:38:20 -0700
lab SIHwI':
Since you already made one correction, I will include it.
> tera'Daq QI'lop lughaj.
A couple of comments. First, <QI'lop> is a specific holiday, much like
Christmas or Easter. We do have a word <yupma'> meaning "festival", which
*might* work for "holiday".
Second, the English "have" gets used in an awful lot of contexts where the
Klingon <ghaj> just doesn't work, and this is one of them. I think <lop> -
"celebrate" would work well here, though.
Finally, this sounds a bit weird without some context. "On Earth, they
celebrate a holiday". I would suggest attaching a date:
tera'Daq, qaSDI' tera' DIS wa'maH jaj wejmaH wa', yupma' lulop tera'nganpu'.
> <halloween> lupong.
maj.
> tIghmey taQ lulop.
I don't think <lop> is the right word here, but I can't think of a better
one. I would probably rephrase the entire thing as <taQ yupma'vam tIghmey>.
> lujech'egh puqpu'chaj.
The prefix on <jech> should be the null prefix. Verbs with <-'egh> and
<-chuq> must use the no-object prefixes. <puqpu'chaj> is fine, but I would
probably use <tera'ngan puqpu'> or just <puqpu'>.
> lojmItlIjDaq lughoS 'ej <trick or treat> lujach.
Since <ghoS> takes as its direct object the place the subject goes, you
should leave off the <-Daq> here.
You are leaving out a couple of steps in the process. The children go to the
door. They knock. The homeowner answers. The children scream... If you think
the extra steps are obvious enough that they don't need to be explained,
that's fine, but remember that you are describing strange customs to aliens
who have no idea how our society works...
Since spoken text is not the object of verbs like <jach>, you need the
no-object prefix. You could also say either <"trick or treat!" jach> or
<jach "trick or treat!">, since the text can go before or after the verb of
speaking.
As an exercise, try translating "trick or treat". Keep in mind the example
"buy or die" - <bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh>.
> yuch luneHlaw'.
yuch luneHbej.
> yuch DajabQo'chugh vaj juHlIj luQIH.
Good use of <-Qo'>. I'm glad somebody found a use for <jab>, although I
think <nob> would be better here - I think it fits better with the idea of
passing out prepackaged candy than <jab> does.
> nImISmoHlaH human tIghmey 'e'.
Typo - should be <Human>. Also, the <-'e'> goes right on the <tIghmey>,
without a space.
I would also reprase this from "Human customs can confuse you." to "Human
customs are confusing, yes?" - <mISmoH Human tIghmey, qar'a'.>
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian