tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 29 11:24:21 2004

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Re: A fun conjectural question

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

qu'qul:
>I have been approached by a group producing a fan video of something
>they're calling "Trek Eye for the Mundane Guy", and they wanted to
>expose the poor fellow to Klingon culture.
>
>They're trying to talk to him about Klingon mating customs in the
>proposed script, and asked me about the phrase "I'm looking for some
>hot lovin'."
>
>Now, I explained that Klingon mating rituals begin with sniffing and
>growling, which intrigued them, but they still wanted the "right"
>words.
>
>Somehow I think "bang tuq qanej." (I seek hot love) would be sufficient.

No.  {bang} only refers to a person, as in "my love" (e.g. "Farewell, my 
love, until we meet again.")  If you think of it as "lover" you won't 
forget.  Examples:

   Qapla', jawwI' bangwI' je.
   Success my lord and my love. ST3

   reH bang larghlu'
   Love is always smelled. ("A loved one is always smelled"). TKW

   HIchop, bang
   Give us a kiss, love. RT

A better choice is {parmaq} *par'Mach*.  Okrand wrote:

   We do know that there is a Klingon word for "love", meaning something
   like what we mean by the word. It is {parmaq}. We heard this word for
   the first time in a recent episode of Deep Space Nine where Dax says
   that {parmaq} is "the Klingon word for 'love', but with more aggressive
   overtones." She accuses Worf of having a "bad case" of {parmaq}, which
   suggests it's a noun. (The episode is called "Looking for par'Mach in
   All the Wrong Places").  [st.klingon 12/1996]

   ... {parmaq}, conventionally translated "love" or "romance" (though the
   Klingon concept is far more aggressive than the Federation Standard
   translations imply) (KGT 199)

   ... there are some words that simply do not translate. One must resort
   to descriptions rather than simple one- or two-word translations, and
   one must be a quite facile in the language and knowledgeable of the
   culture to understand the concepts. ... So is {parmaq}, the Klingon
   term for an aggressive sort of romantic feeling. (KGT 207)

The person you want {parmaq} from is your {parmaqqay} *par'Machkai* 
("romantic companion/partner").

The word for "be hot" is {tuj}.  You want the verb prefix {vI-} "I [do 
something to] it" on the verb {nej} "look for, seek, search for".  All 
together, this is:

   bang tuj vInej.
   I want a hot loved one/lover. (a person)

   parmaqqay tuj vInej.
   I want a hot par'Machkai.  (a person)

   parmaq tuj vInej.
   I want hot *par'Mach*. (the emotion)

If "hot {parmaq}" means nothing to a Klingon, you could use {vaQ} "be 
aggressive":

   parmaq vaQ vInej.
   I want aggressive *par'Mach*.

or you could drop the quality altogether and use the emphatic suffix {-qu'} 
or the asseverative suffix {-bej} "certainly, undoubtedly, definitely":

   parmaq vInejqu'.
   I really want *par'Mach*.

   parmaq vInejbej.
   I definitely *par'Mach*. (i.e. I'm not kidding around here!)

{parmaq} may not cover the act of love, probably only the feeling or 
emotion, but it's better than {bang}.  If as I suspect, they're looking for 
a word for intercourse, then use the verb {ngagh} "mate with" without an 
object:

   jIngaghqu' vIneH.
   I really want to mate!  (in general)

[{jIngagh} "I mate (no object), {-qu'} "emphatic", {vIneH} "I want it."]

If you say this to someone, substitute the prefix {qa-} "I [do something 
to] you":

   HIghoS, parmaqqay. qangagh vIneH.
   Come here, par'Machkai.  I want to mate with you.

though it probably doesn't sound as crude in Klingon.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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