tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 08 13:06:13 2004

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Re: Hov = star ?

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

From: <[email protected]>

> ghItlh David Trimboli <[email protected]>:
> > When you go around pointing at things and asking what it is, you
probably
> > expect common nouns most of the time.  If you point at a tree and you
get
> > the answer "tree," are you going to assume it's "Tree"?  Of course not.
>
> If I pointed at a tree and asked what that was, and they replied back with
"It's
> a tree" I would slap then and say, "Of course it's a tree... but what kind
of
> tree?!".
>
> Just as if the Klingon pointed at the Sun and the Human said, "it's a
star", I
> would expect the Klingon to say, "well duh, I know it's a star, but what
do you
> call it?"

No.  If a Klingon pointed at the sun, the Human would say, "It's the sun."
He would NOT say, "It's a star."

You're starting with the assumption that a Klingon looking for terminology
would be looking for a proper noun.  I see no basis for this assumption.

I think I see why you're doing it, though.  Above, where I talk about "the
sun," you talk about "the Sun."  You think of it as a proper noun, I think
of it as a common noun.  You're assuming that Klingons will automatically
think of the word as a proper noun, as you do.  I don't agree that this is
necessarily the case.

[. . .]

> > My point here isn't to disprove your idea (that proper nouns may be the
way
> > Klingons refer to the star which their current planet is orbiting).  I'm
> > trying to show that your belief is only one of many equally-plausible
> > possibilities, and we just don't know how Klingon does it.  Saying "It
makes
> > sense" doesn't mean anything, because a lot of possibilities make sense.
>
> I think I've just noticed something. I am *not* talking about the Star
that goes
> around Qo'noS. I'm only talking about the big yellow ball of plasma that
> currently burns around *this* planet.
>
> We have a name for this star, why are we making up names like "Hov'a'" and
"juH
> Hov" for it when we already have one?

Because the question is not "what's its name?"  (That's a good question,
though.)  The question is, how do Klingons refer to it?  "By name" is not
necessarily the correct answer.

If I look at the bright yellow thing in the sky, I can call it "the sun."
If I go to Qo'noS and look at the bright thing in the sky, I can call it
"the sun."  If I go to Vulcan, I can look at the bright thing in the sky and
call it "the sun."  This is how English works.

Does Klingon work the same way?  Does it use proper nouns?  Does it do
something else?  We don't know.

> [. . .]

SuStel
Stardate 4270.5

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