tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 28 18:20:18 1994
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mu'qaD
I've been sitting on this long enough. This is something I've been wanting to
comment on, and since ~mark is back, now would be good time to do it.
The article (HolQeD 3:1, pg.12-14) is, despite ~mark's disclaimer, one that
will probably help solidify the meanings of the curses. Even tho this might
not have been ~mark's intent, it's probably going to happen this way anyhow.
If cursing is to be "a fine art", one must know in which contexts to use
which words. If we follow ~mark's example, and try to develop the various
curses into specific meanings, and use certain ones in certain circumstances,
then the meanings will solidify. That's what we want, isn't it? To know what
the curses mean. If Okrand doesn't specify, we might as well develop meanings
for them ourselves.
Let me go over the mu'qaDmey, just to see if I've got the feel for how ~mark
described his interpretation of each one.
QI'yaH - disgust or repulsion with a thing or situation
ghuy'cha' - anger when things start going wrong
ghay'cha' - weaker, less intense, possibly polite form of {ghuy'cha'}
Qu'vatlh - extreme anger, has a rather broad meaning
va - abbreviation for Qu'vatlh, used to show only slight anger or
distemperament
baQa' - surprise (I've also interpreted this to indicate anger with
oneself - baQa', I screwed up!!)
Hu'tegh - impatience (I also think this may indicate that the speaker is
overwhelmed or impressed by something, not necessarily a bad thing.)
jay' - generic grammatical intensifier; 'nuff said
petaQ - useless garbage or incompetent person, possibly equivalent to
English "shit" or "shithead"
toDSaH - wimp, nerd, geek, suck-up
taHqeq - someone you really really don't admire at all, probably
epithetical equivalent to Qu'vatlh
yIntagh - insult indicating stupidity
Qovpatlh - insignificant (I also thought this might apply to people who
get on your nerves; something the liberals would call Rush Limbaugh)
Imesho we should increase our use of these words (which will help solidify
their meanings) and also cut back on our usage of {-oy} and {quv} unless
we're really sincere about them.
With the curses, we may also be able to gleem certain things about Klingon
culture. Most Terran curses have sexual connotations or biological
pertinences. But you see not too much of that with Klingon mu'qaD. (Maybe a
little with QI'yaH - Heghpu' qaghvam). This should imply that Klingons are
much less concerned with their biology, and more with status, background,
ability, honor, identity, etc.
Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos