tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 16 12:08:09 1996
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Re: KLBC: yet more again...
>Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 16:01:04 -0800
>From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
>
>December 12, 1996 8:46 PM, jatlh jo'Saq:
>> <jawqoqwIj vItoy'.>
>> I serve my so-called "lord".
>
>Using {-wIj} is considered derogatory, but for some reason I doubt that
>Klingons would use it just to insult someone. I think it's more of a taboo
>than a method of insult. Besides, if your so-called lord is not worthy of
>being referred to with {-wI'}, is he worth insulting?
If it's derogatory but you can't use it to insult someone, what the hell
good is it? That's what derogatory *means*: you get to use it to insult
people. "joHwIj" is taboo because it jars Klingon sensibilities
drastically to be insulting one's own lord, but this is at least somewhat
softened here by the -qoq suffix, indicating that the speaker doesn't
believe the "lord" is really deserving of that title.
~mark