tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon May 01 10:36:02 2000
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The Hallmark Bird-of-Prey commercial
Eodrakken wrote:
: jatlh Voragh:
: > BTW for the Hallmark Bird-of-Prey Christmas ornament commercial some years
: > ago Okrand came up with another way to refer to lights, {wovmoHbogh jan}:
: > Qapqu' wovmoHbogh janHommey
: > It even has working lights!
:
: Heh, I remember seeing that. How did the rest of the advert go?
Here's my transcript of the commercial. (Does anybody remember in what year it
aired?)
HALLMARK BIRD-OF-PREY ORNAMENT COMMERCIAL
Gowron: Qapla'!
Greetings!
pIj maSuvpu' batlh maSuvpu' 'ej maQapbejta'!
In our many battles, we have fought with honor and
achieved... VICTORY!
vaj malopmeH tlhIHvaD nob SaSuqpu'.
So to celebrate, I've gotten you all a gift.
tlhIngan toQDujHom 'oH.
It's a Klingon Bird-of-Prey ornament.
Warrior1: toQDujna' rurchu'!
It looks so real!
Warrior2: Qapqu' wovmoHbogh janHommey!
It even has working lights!
[The commercial switches to Federation Standard and gives the sales pitch.
After that we see the warriors speaking to one another as they leave through
the door.]
Warrior1: [peghmo' ... ] (?!?)
That was real nice of him.
Warrior2: HIja', [kvitch-kvatch-kvom] wISuqnIS. (??)
Yeah, we should get him a thank you card.
The last two lines are a complete mess. I transcribed what I could hear, even
if it doesn't make much sense, especially WRT Warrior1's line. Glen Proechel
once commented that, "This scene seems to follow the rule: 'If you can't
remember your lines, mumble a lot.' We can only surmise that Dr. Okrand gave
them some legitimate lines and they chose to fake it instead."
Some time later, Marc Okrand was asked about his use of {wov} in this
commercial on startrek.klingon back when it was hosted by MSN. He replied on
6/18/97:
"I haven't seen the commercial in a while, but I don't think {wov} was
used as a noun there. Though the Klingons in the ad may have ad libbed
a bit, the phrase the one Klingon was supposed to say regarding the
little lights in the Bird of Prey ornament was {wovmoHbogh janHommey}.
That is, 'little devices that cause (something) to be light or bright'
or 'little devices that brighten (something)' or 'little devices that
light (something) up' or the like. {wov} is a verb 'be light, bright'
followed by the suffix {-moH} 'cause' (thus, 'cause to be light')."
As always, Okrand was being diplomatic when he said the other two actors "may
have ad libbed a bit". OTOH Robert O'Reilly ("Gowron") did his usual excellent
job with his {tlhIngan Hol} lines.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons