tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 26 11:51:17 2006
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Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for 2006/10/23
pm5 wrote:
>DIlbot: {chay' qa'vIn law'qu' vItlhutlh 'e' vISov?} (1)
>Dilbert: "How can I tell if I'm drinking too much coffee?"
Some post-TKD vocabulary you probably aren't aware of:
{tlhoy} "overly, to an excessive degree, excessively, too much" (adv.)
{'Iq} "be too many, be too much" (v.)
Okrand explains them in HolQeD 8.3:
[{tlhoy}] is used in such sentences as {tlhoy jISop.} "I eat
too much, I eat excessively." {tlhoy bIQong} "you sleep too
much, you sleep excessively." When {tlhoy} is used, it denotes
that the action expressed by the verb is what is being overly
done or done too much. Thus the sentence: {tlhoy qagh vISop}
"I eat too much gagh, I eat gagh excessively, I overeat gagh"
expresses the notion that the eating is excessive, not that the
amount of gagh is. (Note that although it is possible to say
this, it is not something anybody would be likely to ever say.)
Similarly, {tlhoy yIHmey vIlegh} "I see too many tribbles" means
"I overly see tribbles" (perhaps this could be used if one meant
something like "I see tribbles far too frequently and in far too
many places").
To express the idea of "too much gagh" or "too many tribbles,"
the verb {'Iq} "be too many, be too much" is used adjectivally.
For example: {yIHmey 'Iq vIlegh} "I see too many tribbles."
{qagh 'Iq vISop} "I eat too much gagh." Sometimes, the word
{law'qu'} "be very many" [...] is translated "be too many." If
the context is clear, this is acceptable, but if it important to
stress the idea of "overly many, overly much, more than there ought
to be," {tlhoy} or {'Iq} is usually employed.
Another example from that article:
tlhoy Sop 'ach ghIq Qongchu'.
He/she eats too much, but then he/she sleeps soundly. (HQ 8.3)
For me, a good way to keep these straight is that if you're referring to
frequency (i.e. "too often"), use {tlhoy}: e.g. "I eat too much gagh = I
eat gagh (much) too often" {tlhoy qagh vISop}. If you're referring to
quantity, use {'Iq}: e.g. "There's too much gagh on this plate"
{jengva'Daq qagh 'Iq tu'lu'}. BTW the opposite of {tlhoy} seems to be
{loQ} "slightly, a little bit, briefly".
I'll let others explain the problems of question words with {'e'} in the
sentence-as-object (SAO).
>DIlbot: {taj qaDuQ.} (3)
>Dilbert: "I'd jab you with a used needle."
Vocabulary: {DuQwI'Hom} "(small) spike"
I don't think the prefix trick works here, but I'm not quite sure why. A
productive work around is to use {lo'}:
DuQwI'Hom vIlo'taHvIS qaDuQ.
I'll stab you with ("while I'm using") a needle.
"Used" is a bit tricky. We do have an example in canon:
reH boch qutluch lo'lu'bogh
The used kut'luch is always shiny. TKW
but repeating {lo'} is clumsy (although grammatical):
DuQwI'Hom lo'lu'bogh vIlo'taHvIS qaDuQ.
Here I would just say {ngo'} "be old (not new)":
DuQwI'Hom ngo' vIlo'taHvIS qaDuQ.
If you don't like using {lo'taHvIS} - and some people think it's too easy -
break it up:
qaDuQ 'ej DuQwI'Hom ngo' vIlo'.
qaDuQ; DuQwI'Hom ngo' vIlo'.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons