tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 09 00:30:26 2001
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RE: Strange Coincidence
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Qor'etlh valwI'na' [mailto:[email protected]]
...
> I see that you were merely being rude, and chose to repeat it in the
> public forumn.
>
> That's OK: tlhIngan maH.
>
> nachlIj jeDba' law' DIrwIj jeDbej puS Do'meH
> Fortunately my skin is thicker than your skull.
jeD = "be thick, dense, viscous"
Verbs with {-meH} always PRECEED the noun or verb they modify.
In the comparative construction, the verbs of quality are acting as
adjectives, so they can't take most verb suffixes. Perhaps they can take
{-qu'}, {-be'} and {-Ha'}, but almost certainly, they can't take {-ba'} or
{-bej}.
I'd suggest:
Do' DIrwIj rotlh law' nachlIj rotlh puS.
I would expect that to be a very effective insult for a Klingon.
...
> peboH. pejotchoH
Are you aware that you just commanded us to be impatient and then to be
calm?
> I'm among the majority within the KLI in my belief that the language
> is less than the tip of the Iceberg;
*Moral Majority* choQawmoH. I don't really hear the rest of your majority
speaking up for you. Your self-declaration of your majority status and our
imminent demise because we continue to try to follow the only two rules this
list has ever had would be more convincing if there were more people
speaking up for you and fewer people arguing with you.
Just be a participant, like the rest of us. Follow our two simple rules.
...
> The smallest minority of all Klindom participate in this List.
That could be because this isn't a Klindom list. There are Klindom lists.
This isn't one of them and never has claimed to be one. I could as easily
point out that only the smallest minority of Klingon speakers participate in
Klindom lists. Should they change their rules in order to accommodate me and
others like me?
> If I
> knew the Klingon word for "Sad" I would apply that here.
'IQ.
> The Language
> is important, but merely a part of the greater whole.
This is true of anything in the Universe, but it is not cause to be sad. We
should celebrate all of these things. Celebrate the Klingon language here.
Celebrate Klindom there. Don't try to set up a ping pong table in the middle
of an active basketball game. The basketball players will not like you for
that.
> The original charter indicated that this ListServ was for both
> beginners and partly fluent participants.
And it still is. Just follow our two rules.
> tlhIngan Hol jIjatlh law' 'ach tlhIngan wo' jIqon puS.
You should really try to say simpler things in Klingon. Your reach extends
beyond your grasp. Many of the elements of the language you use are good.
You just have difficulty holding them together into coherant sentences. This
is natural and is a phase we all have to go through. I'm not trying to be
critical. I'm trying to nudge you toward noticing more detail and making
fewer mistakes.
You have a {law'} and a {puS} in that sentence as if you were making a
comparison, but the rest of your sentence doesn't follow any of the
grammatical rules for a law'/puS comparison. There is no verb of Quality. It
is supposed to be:
N1 Q law' N2 Q puS.
You have the {law'} and {puS} parts right, but there is no Q. The Q is
supposed to be a verb describing a quality (in other words, an adjective),
and you are supposed to repeat that verb in the two places the Q sits in the
sentence map above. You are comparing the two nouns, N1 and N2, reflecting
on how they both exhibit the verb of quality Q, but N1 has more of this
quality than N2. Also note that Q has no prefix and typically no suffix,
though negatives and {-qu'} are probably allowed.
If you are not trying to do a comparative, then {law'} and {puS} have no
grammatical justification for being there. It looks like you are trying to
say, "I speak a lot of Klingon, but I record a little Klingon empire."
Meanwhile, I doubt that is what you are really trying to say, so I'm a
little at a loss to offer advice, since I honestly don't know what you are
trying to say. It also looks like you used {jI-} a couple times when you
meant {vI-}, but I'm just guessing.
...
> > wa' ben jabbI'IDghomvaD vIqon 'e' vItagh.
I know I'm addressing a second person here and I've lost track of whom, but
I'd like to suggest that while what you've written is grammatically correct
(except that {-vaD} is for indirect objects and {vI-} is for direct objects
and you should make up your mind which you think {jabbI'IDghom} is) and
clear, you might consider:
wa' ben jabbI'IDghomvvaD jIqonchoH.
> So you joined a year ago.
>
> maj SoHvaD...
This is what I'd call Klinglish. "Good for you." I'm honestly not sure
whether you are being congratulatory or sarcastic, so I don't know what to
offer as an improvement.
Congratulatory: qanaD. yIHem.
Sarcastic: wejpuH. tlhoS bIDojlaw'.
> > tlhIngan Hol yej'an vImuv je.
> "tlhIngan Hol yejHaD" mu'mey yIHech'a'?
You can't really combine {yI-} and {-'a'}. The former indicates a command.
The latter indicates a question. In English, this would be something like
saying:
"Go to your room, right?"
You have to really work hard to come up with a context where that would make
sense. I can't command you to intend something while I'm making the same
sentence something that is supposed to be answered "yes" or "no". In this
particular case, I think you'd do better with {Da-} than {yI-}.
Please don't be discouraged by these corrections. I really do want you to
write using the language. Get nudged until your skill matches your interest
in expressing things using the language. Others and myself will try to help
you out as you build your skill. That's what we are here for.
Well, that and the small, private chat bbs thing, of course...
> roj neHchugh vay', SuvrupnIS ghaH.
> "Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum".
>
> Qapla' batlh je.
>
> Qor'etlh valwI'na', buraD tuq, Duy'a' tlhIngan wo'
> Klingon Ambassadorial Residence, Washington D.C. Terra, UFP
> http://homeworld.klingonempire.net
> [email protected]
> chaq jIlughbe', 'ach reH Qor'etlh jIH!
> }};-]
charghwI'