tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 22 12:19:36 1996

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RE: mu'tlheghmeywIj SochDIch vImugh

December 22, 1996 10:27 AM, jatlh HurghwI':

> "He who laughs last laughs best."
> nIv HaghwI' Qav
> This was hard because of the lack of adverbs for both best and last. It
> looses most of the meaning.

Actually, I think it's a rather successful translation.  Other possibilities:

Qap HaghwI' Qav.

yay chav HaghwI' Qav.

> "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
> nagh wa'DIch "throw"jaj yembe'bogh vay' 
> How does one say "throw" in two words or less? Would ghoS/"thrust" work? Is
> woD way too off?

nagh wa'DIch vo'jaj yembe'bogh vay'.

I'd say that {woD} indicates that you don't care about what happens to it.  It 
may also mean "discard" rather than "throw."

> "When I die, I hope people say about me, 'He sure owed me lots of money.'"
> jIHeghDI',  jIH vIbuSlu'DI' <<Huch law' munobbej>> jatlhlu', 'e' vItul
> Is there a simpler way to say "say about me?" I thought about using jIHvaD,
> but that implies "to me."

Quite right.  No, there's no simple way to say this.  You've got the right 
idea.  {vIbuSlu'DI'} or {vIqellu'DI'}.

I think you need to add {-nIS} to {munobbej}.

> "You can lead a [targ] to water, but you can't make it drink."
> targhvaD bIQ Da'ang, 'ach targh DatlhutlhmoHlaHbe'.
> I used targ twice because, water being the subject of the previous sentence,
> it would have implied you can't make water drink.

You can also say

bIQDaq targh DaDorlaH, 'ach DatlhutlhmoHlaHbe'.

That will prevent you from having to repeat {targh}, but I don't think the 
repetition was too bad.

> "All's well that ends well."
> QaQchugh vay' rInta'ghach, QaQ 'oH.

Ick.  Nouns.

Qapchu'chugh Qu', batlh chavlu'ta'.
If the mission is a complete success, honor has been achieved.

It's not at all the same sentence, but I think it expresses the sentiment in a 
very Klingon manner.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96977.0

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