tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 23 06:25:21 1999
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Re: RE: wej vIghro'meywIj
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: RE: wej vIghro'meywIj
- Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 09:23:00 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
- Priority: NORMAL
quljIb,
The problem you've accidentally stumbled into is that Klingons,
having few words to describe color, use {rur} to be more
specific about the color of that which is being described. The
typical form is to say what color something is, and then say
that it resembles something of the more specific hue you want
to indicate.
The problem with the way YOU state it is that you are saying
that it has a color, then saying that it resembles something
else while your INTENT is to say that it resembles it IN
PATTERN, not IN COLOR. So, where is the clue for us to know that
you mean for us to be looking at the pattern and not the color?
Well, you don't give us a clue. You just expect us to think they
way you thought when you were writing.
Realize that {rur} is a very flexible verb. One thing resembles
another. Maybe they are of similar size or color or shape or
pattern or breed or mood or verbosity or character or fuel
mileage or sharpness or strength or lineage or ... There are a
lot of different ways that things can resemble each other.
The most natural way to specify what you mean by {rur} is to
preceed it with a sentence talking about the quality which is
similar between the things being compared. Unfortunately, we
don't have a Klingon word for "pattern" yet. We have very few
words to talk about images or textures.
If I had to say this, I'd probably come up with:
vIghro'vam veD vIleghDI' ngemHey vIleghlaw'. ngemna'Daq
vIHHa'DI' vIghro'vam So'choHlu'.
charghwI' 'utlh
On Mon, 22 Mar 1999 17:00:02 -0800 (PST) david joslyn
<[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Mar 1999, Steven Boozer wrote:
>
> > quljIb:
> > > Doq nguv 'ej ngem rur, 'ach chIs qamDu'Daj HughDaj je.
> >
> > pagh:
> > : <nguv> doesn't work here, and the sentence works without it. I have
> > : no idea how s/he (or 'oH in Klingon) can be <Doq> while resembling
> > : a forest. Did you mean something other than <ngem>?
> >
> > quljIb:
> > > Well, she [Raggedy Anne-"Rags" for short] is a brown, taby Maine Coon,
> > > of a variety sometimes called the Siberian Forest Cat (not officially
> > > recognized by international breeders). The only way I could think of
> > > to convey "brown taby" was to say "she is {Doq} and resembles (is
> > > coloured like) the forest."
> >
> > pagh:
> > : The only colors I can think of when I hear "forest" are the beautiful deep
> > : green of a natural forest, and the darker green color decorators call
> > : "forest green" and apply to carpet and the like. Neither of these is even
> > : remotely <Doq>.
> >
> > DloraH:
> > : Doq, ngem rur - Doq like a forest - brown (when viewed from inside
> > : the forest; no light, no green)
> >
> > Or some types of Terran forests, when the {pormey} (leaves) turn all shades
> > of {Doq} in the Fall.
> >
> > pagh:
> > : n...Klingon happens to have a single
> > : word - <Doq> - which covers a wide range of colors, from bright pink to dark
> > : brown. Everything in that range is <Doq>. Although the color words in
> > : Enlgish are more specific, there is considerable variety even here-think
> > : of the difference between "ice blue" and "midnight blue". Do you have
> > : trouble calling anything in that range just "blue"?
> [...snip...]
> > : I would probably describe your cat as <Doq 'ej Hurgh>. There is a need to
> > : differentiate your cat from, say, Morris (who is <Doq 'ej wov>), but that's
> > : about it.
> >
> [a lot of (unneeded) stuff on colours in tlhIngan snipped]
> > --
> > Voragh
> > Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
> >
> >
> Look I ment to say "my cat, Rags, is brown and resembles (has pattern on
> her fur like) the forest", IOW she's a brown tabby. To quote the proverb:
> "If I did not want it to be heard, I would not have said it." Lot's of
> animals have markings resembling their natural suroundings. As an example,
> here's how I would describe a tiger to a Klingon:
>
> {vIghro"a' Doq 'ej wov 'ej tIr rur} - a great cat that is light {Doq}
> (orange) and resembles the grass.
>
> Could anything be more clear?
>
>
> quljIb
> (who really, really doesn't like literal thinkers!)