tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 16 05:20:51 2006
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Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for 2006/10/14
- From: "QeS 'utlh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for 2006/10/14
- Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:19:27 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' pm5, ja':
>"I need you to drop whatever you're doing and work all night to
>make this change to your system."
>{Qu'lIj DajeghchoH 'ej DaHram patlIj DatI'meH bIvumtaH vIneH.}
While I understood {DaHram}, it's not a proper word. I would have said
merely {Hoch ramvam} "all of this night".
Aside from that, majQa'. Everything else you've said is sensible and
grammatical. I just have a couple of small stylistic issues (i.e. advice
that you can feel free to ignore if you like). Firstly, it's probably a bad
idea to tell a Klingon to {jegh} "surrender"; {lon} "abandon" is a better
verb to use here. Likewise, I would use {choHmoH} "cause to change" instead
of {tI'} in order to keep to the sense of the original. Secondly, I,
personally, would have repeated {vIneH} and made the whole thing two
separate sentences: {Qu'lIj Dalon vIneH 'ej...} etc. The way you have it
written is somewhat ambiguous as to whether {vIneH} governs everything
preceding it or just the second part of the subordinate sentence.
>"If you refused to do my bidding, here's the rumor I will
>spread about you."
>{DalobHa'chugh DuHIv joSvam chaH vIja'.}
Note the verb prefix on the first verb; {cholobHa'chugh} "if you disobey me"
preserves the original a bit better. Also, this whole thing looks like two
separate sentences: "If you disobey it, this rumour will fight you. I will
tell the others". I'd drop {DuHIv} for a start, as it's not necessary;
{joSvam vIja'} "I will tell this rumour" (or even {joSvam vIja'choHtaH}
"I'll start telling this rumour"), with no explicit dative object, works
just fine, as who you're telling the rumour *to* is essentially unimportant
- it's the fact that you're spreading the rumour that's the important part.
Actually, I'd be tempted to go a touch metaphorical here, and use the
marvellous verb {jaD} "throw around" from KGT: {cholobHa'chugh joSvam
vIjaDchoH} "If you don't obey me, I'll start throwing this rumour around". I
just like the image that conjures. {{:) Other possibilities include {joSvam
vIlengchoHmoH} "I'll cause this rumour to start journeying" and {joSvam
vIQoychoHmoH} "I'll start causing this rumour to be heard"...
>Dilbert: "Ha! I'll say I was only scratching an itch."
Yes, that is a tough one. Maybe this:
toH! <'oy'Hom vIvor neH> jIja'.
Well! I'll say "I was merely curing a little sore".
>"Good luck with that."
>{bIDo'jaj.}
maj! I'm really enjoying reading this. Keep it up!
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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