tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 29 06:58:55 1994

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Email Klingon Course



I think a cool way to introduce Hol to people would be a set of
lessons teaching the language through mu'qaD veS.  The first lessons
would teach the canon mu'qaDmey - how to say them, what they mean,
when to use them.  Subsequent lessons would introduce the idea of
altering the existing curses by changing nouns, then verbs, teaching
grammar and vocabulary that way.  Pretty soon the student will figure
out how to say OTHER things besides curses. 

The lessons would attract a large following simply because of the
subject matter, and I dare say that, published as a book, this would
net megabucks for Paramount and it's publishing subsidiaries. 

What brought this thought out was reading ~mark's "What did you call me?"
article from HolQeD when I saw the E-mail course topic drift by.  In partial
response to ~mark, I'm appending an atricle I wrote for our club newsletter
some time back called "Klingon Invective and YOU!"  I did most of the work on
this before I had even heard of the KLI.

Sogh'a' Qob vestai-qutvaj

---------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Klingon Invective and YOU!

to curse: (v) to utter an evil wish against; to imprecate evil
          upon; to use blasphemous language against

to swear: (v) to make a solemn declaration or affirmation with an
          appeal to God or to someone or something held sacred

profanity: (v) speaking or acting in contempt of scared things;
          things put to wrong use

epithet: (n) a descriptive name or title applied to a person

     -----------------------------------------------------------

HI'Ij!

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?
tlhIngan Hol Da'Ip'a'?

     No true Klingon warrior is without his most basic weapon. 
This weapon is not a levek, or a disruptor.  It is his own
language.  It is Klingon invective.

     Cursing, swearing, and name calling are as much a part of
the Klingon warrior's life as breathing.  He would sooner die
than be caught without a suitable insult or curse, even if that
curse is as simple as "toDSaH!"  Together, we will explore
the realm of Klingon invective.

     The official Klingon language document is The Klingon
Dictionary by Marc Okrand.  While it doesn't give the context
that Mr. Ford's work "The FInal Reflection" does, the Dictionary
does contain quite a few examples of Klingon invective.  The 
only problem is that, like other "upstanding, scholarly" works, this
compendium does not give definitons of them.  Of the words given 
below, the few definitions are infered from the meanings of the 
roots of the words.

The following are classed as epithets:

petaQ:    possibly from pe' (to cut) and taQ (to be weird), with
          a supposed meaning of "weird cutter";  or, a command,
          from pe- (second person plural imperative) and taQ,
          meaning "You all are weird".

toDSaH:   from toD (save, rescue) and SaH (be concerned).  This
          probably has to do with the Klingon "weakness" of
          compassion.

taHqeq:   from taH (negative angle) and qeq (drill, practice,
          train).  An epithet for one who does not maintain his
          level of proficiency in the matters of a warrior.  OR,
		from taH (to continue) and qeq (drill, practice, train).
		An epithet for one who trains constantly, and thus is never
		truly prepared.

yIntagh:  yIn (to live, life) and tagh (begin a process,
          initiate).  Obviously, this refers to procreation.  It
          has an invective quality substantially below that of
          "khest" and can be used in more polite company,
          although not before the Emperor or Council.

Qovpatlh: the root Qov is unknown, but patlh (rank) probably
          makes this a reference to a shortcoming in military
          rank.


The rest of these terms are general curses:

QI'yaH:   QI' (military) and yaH (duty station).  This term,
          while apparently innocent, has most likely become
          especially associated with some despised duty, and thus
          become a profanity.

ghuy'cha' no known meaning.  cha' can mean either the number
          "two" or the verb "to show, to display" - in this case
          probably the latter.  ghu is "baby" and the y' may be a
          contraction or other degenerate form.

ghay'cha' see above.  gha or ghay' is a complete unknown.

Qu'vatlh	Qu' (duty, mission, quest) and vatlh (hundred). 
          The proverbial endless task.  Possibly refers to an
		impossibility, similar to the phrases "forlorn hope" 
		or "catch-22" in English.

va        a contraction of Qu'vatlh.

baQa'     another unknown. Qa' is a type of animal.

Hu'tegh   Hu' (to get up - or - days ago) is the only known root.


 
... May you recieve a vision of Kahless--collect.



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