tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 01 12:22:23 2003

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Re: Definition request

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

Quvar wrote:
>While re-arranging my dictionary, I've lost some information.
>Please someone give me the canon explanation for:
>
>{tlhoy'} - {chevwI' tlhoy'} - {pIn tlhoy'} "territorial wall"

These come from

{chevwI' tlhoy'} "territorial wall" (e.g. Berlin Wall); {pIn tlhoy'} is a 
slang version of this [Okrand on st.klingon 12/7/98].

{chevwI' tlhoy'} is apparently derived from {chev} "separate" (v.) and 
{tlhoy'} "wall, interior wall, interior face of exterior wall".

>And what's does the idiom "break some pipius claws" mean? {pIpyuS pach ghor}

   pIpyuS pach DaSop DaneHchugh pIpyuS puS DaghornIS
   If you want to eat pipius claw, you'll have to break a few pipiuses. TKW

Okrand explains this as:

   Pipius claw is a traditional Klingon dish. As with Klingon food in general,
   it is not cooked, but neither is a live or just killed pipius simply thrown
   in front of the diner. This proverb, however is really not about food. It
   supports the Klingon virtues of conquering that which is desired and of
   taking action--breaking a few pipiuses." (TKW 185)

Presumably, this is the same idea as the English expression "You can't make 
an omelette without breaking a few eggs".

BTW, don't confuse this with the slightly different idiom {pIpyuS yIghor} 
"Break a pipius!" which Okrand explains as "a command to tell someone, 
often a child, to get started on or to devote more effort to a project" 
(TKW 185).

And speaking of breaking things, there's yet another idiom:  {pel'aQDaj 
ghorpa'} "before it breaks its shell" which means "before it's too late" or 
"while there's still time" (cf. KGT 124).




-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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