tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 08 11:31:23 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Secret Santa
>Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 10:44:09 -0800
>From: "Elizabeth C. Hoyt" <[email protected]>
>jIghItlh:
>> A friend just asked me how to say "I'm your Secret Santa" in Klingon. I
>> told him that I thought it could be:
>>
>> nobwI'lI' pegh jIH
>I just realized that this is somewhat unclear. The way I meant it, this
>sentence would back-translate as something like "I am your secret-keeping
>giver", not "I am keeping a secret (from?) your giver", which makes
>little sense and brings up the old transitivity problem.
No! You had it right the first time. "nobwI'lI' pegh jIH" can only mean
"I am your secret giver." If it meant "I am keeping your giver a secret"
(as I think using "pegh" transitively would mean), it would have to be
"nobwI'lI' vIpegh". Your original sentence was fine!
>Perhaps I should try:
>___ nobmey qanob ...va! there's no way to say "secretly"
>How about:
><nobmey qanob 'ach choSovbe'>
This one works too...
~mark