tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 28 16:41:06 2003

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Re: MOST terminology

Christian Einfeldt ([email protected])



On Sunday 28 December 2003 09:27, David Trimboli wrote:
> >I just want to be sure to understand correctly:
> >jIH = screen (the device)
> >HaSta = what you see on the screen
> >
> > > window            jIHHom                small screen
> >
> >why not HaStaHom? (small visual display)

snip...

> People often come up with stretched meanings of /HaSta/, because
> they want a word that means something like "movie" or "graphics,"
> but we don't really have such words.

Please forgive me for asking what might be a stupid question, but I am 
new to this list.  When you say "we", to whom are you referring?  I'm 
assuming you mean the worldwide community of Klingonists, or perhaps, 
even more broadly, even humanity in general, as any person could, 
potentially, take an interest in Klingon, and then want to have a word 
for such things as "window", etc. 

Also, when you say that we don't really "have" such words, I'm assuming 
that you mean that such words are not in what I have seen referred to 
as "the canon".  I'm also assuming that the "canon" means works 
published by either Dr. Okrand or Paramount.

>
> As for "window," we now have /Qorwagh/ "window," and I don't see why
> you can't duplicate the metaphor.  But I am NOT going to get
> involved in the discussion of how to translate common menu commands
> into Klingon!  There's way too much kinda-sorta iffy compromise in
> there for me to be coming up with something "official."

How does a Klingon word become "official"?  Is there a body which 
votes, or does it become "official" through peer review and 
acceptance, or does it become "official" by merely becoming recognized 
as a good solution and thereafter becoming widely adopted?   I'm 
guessing that it might be a combination of several of the above. 

I am guessing that the concerns of Klingonists in general is to keep 
the evolving grammar and vocabulary consistent with Dr. Okrand's work.  
I recall reading that Dr. Okrand said that he wanted to create a 
language which was counter-intuitive for humans, as Klingon was not, 
after all, intended to be a "human" language, but rather, a language 
spoken natively by non-Terrans, more specifically, Klingons. 

Thank you for answering these basic questions. 



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