tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 16 08:39:02 2006

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Re: KLBC: Translating Dilbert Comic for 2006/10/13

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



ter'eS:
>>   qaS chenqa'moHghach
>>   "a reorg will occur"

Voragh:
> > Still thinking about the buzzword "reorg", I remembered {qa'meH}
> > "replacement (permanent)":
> >
> >    The word {qa'meH}, clearly a shortened form of {quvqa'meH},
> >    was originally used only in the construction of {qa'meH
> >    vIttlhegh} ["replacement proverb"], but, though historically
> >    two verb suffixes, it has become accepted as a noun in its
> >    own right, meaning "replacement" in the sense of something
> >    that takes over for or is used instead of something that is
> >    gone or that has been lost. It is not used for a temporary
> >    substitute or a stand-in; the word for that is {lIw}.
> >    (HQ 5.1:10)
> >
> > Hmm... "something that takes over for or is used instead of something" -
> > isn't that what a reorg eventually becomes:  the new way of doing
> > things?  And {qa'meH} is also a shortened form, just as "reorg" is
> > shortened from "reorganization" so it sounds like jargon.

pm5:
>I'm not sure how to use this word, but it does sound more like a jargon.

That short paragraph is all we have, but it appears that {qa'meH} has 
become a noun and should behave like any other noun.  So you would say:

   qaS qa'meH
   a reorg ("replacement") will occur/happen

For those who don't like {qa'meH} here, pm5 might want to create his own 
buzzword:  *{qa'moH}, *{qa'ghach}, etc. from {chenqa'moHghach}.  Of course, 
no one will know what this abbreviated form means until you explain it - 
much like many English buzzwords in fact.

> >>> Loud Howard:       "DON'T MAKE ME SHUSH YOU!"
> >>> {Haw'arD chuSwI'}: {yIja'Qo'!}
> >
> >>I feel that {yIja'Qo'} is a poor substitute in spirit for "DON'T MAKE ME
> >>SHUSH YOU!", but I >can't think of any easy replacement for it.
> >>?{qatamnISmoH 'e' yIraDQo'}?
> >
> > "Don't force me to (need to) silence you".  Not bad, but drop {-nIS}; it's
> > superfluous.  Even more simply, this would be:
> >
> >    qatammoH vIneHbe'
> >    I don't want to shush ("silence") you
>
>How about {yItamchoHbe'chugh vaj qaraD} "be quiet or I'll force you to"?  It
>sounds more like a threatening to me.

Nice use of {-choH}, but change the imperative prefix {yI-} to {bI-} when 
using {-chugh}:

   bItamchoHbe'chugh vaj qaraD
   "if you do not become quiet, then I will force/compel you (to)"

We have a classic example of this type of "if (not)/then" sentence:

   bIjeghbe'chugh vaj bIHegh
   Surrender or die! TKD
   ("if you do not surrender, then you will die")

Note that the Klingon is a statement, not an order like the English.  If 
you wanted to make the Klingon match the English more literally, you would 
use two imperatives:

   yIjegh pagh yIHegh!
   Surrender or (else) die!

FYI the negative suffix {-be'} is never used with imperative 
prefixes.  {-Qo'} is used instead:

   bIjeghbe'
   You don't (do not) surrender.  (statement)

   yIjeghQo'
   Don't surrender!  (order)



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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