tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Feb 07 17:11:48 2004

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Re: Chinese pun?

Scott Willis ([email protected])

• From: "Scott Willis" <[email protected]>
• Subject: Re: Chinese pun?
• Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 17:01:15 -0500
• References: <[email protected]> <[email protected]>

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philip Newton" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 8:02 AM
Subject: Re: Chinese pun?


On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 09:49:07 -0500, "Scott Willis"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Does it mean "heavy", "to be heavy", etc.?

That's one meaning - http://zhongwen.com/d/173/d171.htm (zhòng or zhong4
in Pinyin, chong4 in Wade-Giles) is glossed as "heavy" or "serious".

Excellent! That's what I was looking for! The "han4zi4" at the top of the
page you linked to is also the Japanese kanji for "heavy" or "serious".
(This happens about 80% of the time.)

I would like to propose that the slang usage of the Klingon verb {chong} "to
be thorough, careful, or profound" has its roots in this very Chinese word.

For those not familiar:
In American slang,  profound ideas are described as "heavy". (This usage
dates back to the 60's and 70's, but has recently had a resurgence in some
parts of American culture.)

So a {qech chong} would be a "heavy idea".

Is this word pronounced this way in the dialect of Chinese that Dr. Okrand
speaks?
And has this "pun" been suggested before?

Thanks for the help,
--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian,
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org/
HovpoH 701139.8

• References:
  • Chinese pun?
    • From: "Scott Willis" <[email protected]>
  • Re: Chinese pun?
    • From: Philip Newton <[email protected]>

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