tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 19 14:29:39 2006
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Re: A probably missed pun...
- From: "QeS 'utlh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: A probably missed pun...
- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:29:22 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' Shane MiQogh, ja':
>Despite baQa' isn't used as a curse against some one (i don't think) it
>might be a pun of "baka" which is japanese for "fool".
I don't know any Japanese, but it sounds like it might be plausible.
>They have a small list of cusswords here, but not the meaning of
>each word... odd...
Not really. Some linguists are more prudish than others. A linguist I know
who has written extensively on Georgian will usually translate vulgar
Georgian words and phrases directly into English using similarly vulgar
counterparts, in order to preserve both the negative connotations associated
with those words, and the grammatical structure where necessary (English has
only one non-colloquial transitive verb that means "to have sex with", for
instance, and in an ergative language like Georgian it's important to know
whether a verb takes a direct object or not). However, not all linguists
will do this: there is another linguist of Georgian who translated these
vulgar terms into Latin instead of his usual French, in order to preserve a
semblance of what he saw as decency. Okrand probably didn't feel comfortable
translating the Klingon words into their true English equivalents in a book
that's intended for general consumption.
QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute
not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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