tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 15 21:41:39 1994

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Re:ri' nobmey nobwI' lu



According to [email protected]:
... 
> H>Your original sentence, "Scrutinize..." uses an imperative.  It's like 
> H>saying "You there! Scrutinize!"  You need to use an imperative prefix 
> H>on {HaD} if you want to retain this meaning in the Klingon: {yIHaD}.
> 
> I thought about this a bit, and am still not sure if the imperative fits the
> mod.  It emphasises the importance of  "Scrutinize", but I'm pretty sure the
> Norse was something like "study well", which would not carry the immediacy of
> an order.

Order or not, "study well" is still imperative. We are speaking
in terms of grammar, not subjective mood. When you speak to a
person, telling them what they should do, you are using the
imperative. The declarative is not merely a gentler imperative.
It is an altogether different beast. There is a huge difference
between describing what a person is doing and suggesting to a
person what they are to do. I think you are missing this
difference.

> Poetic mood again.  TKD 3.3.2 {thlonmey} is an example of grammer being
> secondary to poetic mood.   You're right, it should be {bI-} instead of
> {yI-}, but the {-'egh} is needed for the proper mood.  {bIHegh'eghnIS je}
> "you yourself must die also"  has a more poetic ring to it.

Again, I dread the thought of 500 new Klingon speakers taking
this to be clever gospel and adding {-'egh} to every
intransitive verb they use in any circumstance. After all,
4.2.1 does say, "This suffix is used to indicate that the
action described by the verb affects the performer of the
action, the subject." jItIn'egh. Why not? I'm sure that I am
affected by the action I perform by being big. jIba''egh. I'm
certainly affected by the action of sitting. jIbech'egh. Who
could argue that I am not affected by the action of suffering?

Admit it. This is a NEW USAGE that is NOT condoned in either
TKD or any other canon. The {tlhonmey} rule can be used to
justify ANY bad grammar. In all likelihood, this use of {-'egh}
is simply bad grammar. Put a stamp of "poetry" on it, and not
only does it stop being bad grammar, but it becomes cool and
desireable. Anybody wishing to be cool who speaks Klingon
should emulate it.

Gentleman, this way leads to chaos. Let us not casually accept
this. At best, we should say that we accept it as an exception
and plaster a disclaimer over it that is so big that no one can
ignore it.

> yIHmey SurghwI'.

charghwI'



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