tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 17 22:33:16 2002
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a couple things
- From: Captain Krankor <[email protected]>
- Subject: a couple things
- Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 22:33:11 -0400
A couple quick replies to a couple things, all conveniently condensed
into one email message.
> >> You can translate {HoDpu''e' pup Qanqor} several ways:
>
> ja' Krankor:
> >No you can't, it's a nonsense sentence!
>
> I disagree strongly with *both* of you. :-) It has a single, clear,
> obvious translation, which actually has nothing to do with what Will wanted
> it to mean:
>
> "Krankor kicks the *captains*."
>
> Putting a noun like that in front of {pup}, even one marked with {-'e'},
> makes it essentially impossible for me to interpret it as a verb of quality.
I stand corrected! I completely agree with this! I totally forgot
that pup was also "kick".
> >I've never seen -'e' used that way in my life, and I would assert
> >that there is no sensible translation of that sentence...
>
> You've been away for far too long, Captain. While I'm not as comfortable
> as some are with the cavalier use of {-'e'} to turn a topic into a "header
> noun", there is a perfectly canonical example of its use in ST5. Vixis's
> reply to Klaa's {qIrq vIjeylaHchugh}, from memory:
>
> qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS!
> "You would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy!"
Well, I stand by my statement-- as I'd never actually *seen* that
written out. {{:-) ST5 is a fairly lame source of canonical Klingon;
I'm reminded of the one line with a caption about hostages on Nimbus 3,
where the Klingon contains nothing even remotely sounding like
nImbuS wej. However I will grant you that this example does appear
to support Will's case. But the ultra-huge city-eating-size caveat is
that this is being used as part of a law'/puS, and we already know that
law'/puS is very appart from normal Klingon grammar.
Anyway, my main point wasn't that I think Will's example was *wrong*
so much as that I'm *certain* it isn't the kind of safe, solid,
uncontroversial Klingon that beginners should be concerning themselves
with.
As a second point, though, several beginners have commented that they
found Will's clarification post helpful, so I hereby publically retract
all my bellyaching about it (except for that one -'e' example!), and I
further apologize to Will. Sorry, d00d!
Next, thanks to everyone who wrote in about the stardate stuff. Shows
you how much I know, I thought vI' was "marksmanship". I had had a
nagging suspicion I had overlooked something, but was unable to lay my
hands on it.
As a side question, do we have any evidence that Klingons actually even
use the same "star date" system the Fed-heads use?
--Krankor