tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Sep 19 12:33:47 2003
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Neverending
On Fri, 19 Sep 2003, Steven Boozer wrote:
> Se'noj:
> > {mevbe'taH DuHmey }
> > "Possibilities are neverending".
>
> {mevbe'taH} "neverending". I like it.
I'm not sure about it. I think the English "neverending" doesn't really
mean "continually not ending". More of "it will not end" or "it does not
end".
Perhaps more importantly, you cannot really convey "never" with verb
suffixes. Even -taH does not denote an unchangeable context; it merely
indicates an "ongoing" action, not an infinitely-going action.
While sometimes context in English actually indicates this kind of
behavior, it's usually because the English "neverending" is being used as
an exaggeration: "My work is a neverending source of annoyance." In this
case, it's probably accurate to use /mevbe'taH/ -- but then, the Klingon
isn't really exaggerating. I would still favor /not mev DuHmey/.
One way I'd love to be able to phrase it is "One cannot limit
possibilities" -- but we run into that horrid conflict between -lu' and
-laH. :P But I guess you can still get by with:
DuH vuSbe'lu' "One does not limit possibilities"
...Paul
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