tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 11 14:21:59 2003

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Re: sandwich

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

naHQun asks:

>More than likely, Klingons don't eat anything resembling a sandwich.
>But if I were to try to describe a sandwhich, or the concept there of
>to a Klingon, how would I go about this?

That would be hard, considering that Klingon has no known word for anything 
like "bread" - though the Klingon Bible Translation Project did come up 
with *{tIrSoj} "grain-food".  Unfortunately, that might well suggest a 
completely different image for a Klingon.  We learn from KGT (in a section 
on preparing meat) that:

   ... if [the meat] is fresh, the 'cook' may {pID} it, which involves
   coating it with herbed granulated cartilage (not necessarily from
   the same animal) mixed with some kind of {tIr} (grain) and doing
   very little else. The name of the granulated cartilage is {ngat},
   which has also come to mean "gunpowder". Meat prepared in this way
   is sometimes described as {wamwI' Ha'DIbaH} ("hunter's meat"), but
   the specific animal name is usually used instead of the word
   {Ha'DIbaH} ("meat")... (KGT p.89f)

and

   A particularly popular dish, {tlhombuS}, requires that the cook coat
   a block of {tlhagh} [animal fat] with a mixture of {ngat} ("herbed
   granulated cartilage") and {tIr} ("grain") and then briefly immerse
   the block into the already boiling fat, just until the coating hardens.
   (KGT p.93)

As it happens, the sandwich problem has come up before.  Seqram (Mark 
Shoulson) described what happened:

   This was at qep'a' wejDIch. We had all gone out to eat at a nearby
   restaurant.  Again, I was at Krankor's table, and again he was
   speaking only Klingon, and I was translating for him. He got across
   that he wanted the swordfish ("{'etlh bIQ Ha'DIbaH}") but then was
   asked if he wanted the sandwich or the platter.  This is a toughie.
   He looked at me and said "*{HIlel vIneHbe'}."  This one took me a
   few minutes, but I'm proud I got it at all... In the Passover Seder
   ...there is a part called "korekh" wherein you make a sandwich out
   of matzah (unleavened bread) and a bitter vegetable. This is done
   to remember the tradition of the sage Hillel, who used to do the
   same when eating the Passover sacrifice (no longer offered) in
   order to fulfill the commandment of eating it "together" with
   matzah and bitter herbs... Krankor remembered that in his house
   they make a fuss about how it was therefore Hillel, and not the
   Earl of Sandwich, who invented the sandwich... and so used that
   term. And so I worked out what he meant, informed him I'd kill him
   for such convoluted punning, and translated.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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