tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 29 10:16:07 2005
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Re: {cha'naS} pun?
Stephen Carter:
> >>Is Okrand a fan of Jorge Luis Borges or Yemeni mythology?
> >>Knowing the feeding habits of the bat-winged nasnas of Borneo might
> >>provide a clue [...]
> >>
> >>http://www.hum.au.dk/romansk/borges/vakalo/zf/html/body_the_nasnas.html
> >
> > "Among the monstrous creatures of the Temptation is the Nasnas,
> > which "has only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a
> > torso and half a heart."
Voragh:
> >This doesn't seem to fit the description of the {cha'naS} as "a small
> >bird which digs up bugs to eat" (HQ 10.4).
Stephen Carter:
>Did you see this bit on the same page?
>
> "Another variety of Nasnas, having the wings of a bat, inhabits
> the island of Raij (perhaps Borneo) at the edge of the China seas."
>
>That may be a better fit. At least it has wings.
Better. I was side-tracked by the "one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg,
half a torso and half a heart" line. IOW half the usual number of organs
and limbs, which is very un-Klingon. The Klingon body incorporates
multiple redundancies for nearly all vital bodily functions. This
characteristic, known as {bIraqlul} or *brak'lul*, gives Klingon warriors
enormous resiliency in battle, since almost every function in their body is
duplicated in case any primary organ or system failed. From various
episodes we know that Klingon have two livers, three lungs, 23 ribs, a
redundant stomach, an eight-chambered heart, etc. (Cf. TNG "Ethics", VOY
"Macrocosm".) Of course, we have no idea whether this is a general
physiological characteristic of higher-order animals on Kronos or just people.
In any event, I suspect the pun in {cha'naS} has something to do with
Okrand's comment "which digs up bugs to eat".
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons