tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 03 07:46:56 2006

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Re: toj pagh nob

De'vID ([email protected])



naHQun wrote:
> So I've been trying to translate "Trick or treat",

<bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh> "feed (me) or die"

Note the homophony between Klingon "feed" and "purchase".

> I've come up with {toj pagh nob}, which I'm assuming would mean "trick or give".
> Does this work?

I don't think the Klingon <pagh> can be used to give alternative options 
in an imperative.  I have no positive evidence of this, but whenever 
Marc Okrand has had to translate "Do X or do Y", he's rendered it as 
<bI(X)be'chugh vaj bI(Y)>.

If my hypothesis is true, Klingon <pagh> is more restricted than English 
"or".  I notice the difference because I speak (Cantonese) Chinese, and 
the Chinese "or" also cannot be used for imperatives of the form "Do X 
or do Y".  <toj pagh nob> looks to me like a statement: "either (one is) 
tricking, or (one is) giving".

-- 
De'vID





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