tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 09 14:38:48 1994

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Confusion



Okay.

Let me try to get this straight.

I like helping people learn to speak Klingon. I like speaking
Klingon. I like translating interesting text from English into
Klingon or from Klingon into English.

As BG, I probably put more time than I have any excuse for into
responding to the list. I like doing this. It is rewarding.

I have what might be called a rather flexible personality. One
of my attractions to the Klingon language is that it is a place
to play, and given the nature of the depicted fictional
culture, a place to play rough sometimes. Given that the rest
of the time in the Real World (tm), I am extremely polite
beyond the limits of my own well-being, sometimes this
attraction to playing rough gets its own momentum and I appear
to disrespect others when that is not really my intent.

As a Klingon, I have a temper. As a human, I rarely allow
myself that luxury. Instead, I just go home, play DOOM and vent
all that stuff I soaked up all day while being polite.
(Testosterone: Just say, "No!")

So, here I am in Klingon personna wondering how I'm going to
sweep through all of today's KLBC stuff without falling behind,
and I ran into a rather substantial pile of text with some
gnarly grammatical problems in it and my spirit sagged.

"That's okay," I said to myself. I'll just do it. I see a
problem here with this second sentence that I can dig into, but
gee, I guess I better deal with this first sentence first...
Hmmm, there's a lot here that needs fixing, but then,..." I
started to feel like I basically needed to start from scratch.

"So, if I'm starting from scratch, how can this help others
learn how to speak Klingon better? Well, if it was in a
relatively small packet, maybe, but this is enough that it will
bury me as long as I intended to spend on the entire list
today, and besides, the whole text surrounds a topic that
touches a nerve. I don't believe any of this stuff."

So I got mad. In part, I was mad because I could not just
casually fulfill the request to translate the text. If I do it,
I want to do it well. That takes time. I was frustrated with my
own limited resources.

My manner of response was not respectful. It was bad enough
that several people have independently commented to that
effect. I can only deduce that they are correct.

I apologise to all who have been offended. As I have explained,
ASCII is a great place to misunderstand people. I'm surprised
that this kind of mess doesn't happen more often.

So, while speaking DIvI' Hol so I am not misunderstood:

When attacking again on the side, light a fire on the Feqlar and
laugh at danger while fools are dying.

Did I get that right?

charghwI'

-- 

 \___
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 <\__,\
  ">   | Get a grip.
   `   |


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