tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 29 18:26:33 1995

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Re: Translation request (clich'e)

William Henry Hsu writes:
>``Had this been a Klingon vessel, I would have killed you for asking such a
>question.''

Klingon doesn't really deal well with hypothetical statements.  I'd have
to turn this around to make it say "Because we are not on a Klingon vessel,
I will not kill you due to your suggestion."

{tlhIngan DujDaq maHbe'mo' qaHoHbe' qeSlIjmo'}

Deal with what really happens!  Don't waste time with "what if" or
"if only" fantasies.

>vavoylIj jeylaHbej qu'nutlh
>Roughly: Your pappy could whup Knuth's butt.    (Don't ask)

Roughly?  Not quite -- the word order is backwards.  In a Klingon sentence,
the object appears before the verb, and the subject comes last.  You've
said "Knuth certainly can defeat your(*) daddy."  The {vavoylIj} also has
an interesting feature.  The suffix {-lIj} is supposed to be used on nouns
which are not capable of speaking, so you've managed to seriously insult
the father of the person to whom you are talking!  If you really want to
say something like "Your pappy could whup Knuth's butt," then it would be
{qu'nutlh jeyqu'laHbej vavoylI'}.  I've added the {-qu'} to emphasize the
verb "defeat" -- I think it fits the "whup his butt" idea.

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj

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