tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 24 08:48:46 1996

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Re: KLBC:DaHjaj

K'Daq writes:
> Heghmo' DaHagh 'ach DaHeghQo'
> I'm trying to say. " You laugh at death, but you aren't dying."

This is a very good first attempt.  Let's see how much I can do to 
pick it apart. :-) 

{Heghmo'} is okay, but it's a little ambiguous.  It might mean either 
"because of death" or "because he dies."  In some cases, either of 
these interpretation might work, but in general you might want to try 
to do something to reduce the ambiguity.

{DaHagh} seems to say "You laugh it" -- The prefix implies an object.
I believe you want merely to say "You laugh" which is {bIHagh}.

{DaHeghQo'} means "You refuse to die it."  Again, the {bI-} prefix is
used when the verb has no object.  {-Qo'} indicates refusal; for "You
don't die" you should just use say {bIHeghbe'}.  If you mean "You are 
not in the process of dying" then it would be {bIHeghlI'be'}.

The previous comments were all about grammatical issues; here's one on
a slightly different topic.  Remember that the *words* you use to make
a sentence are not as important as the *meaning* of the sentence.
You used the Klingon verb "to laugh", but your English has a different
verb: "to laugh at".  There are a lot of English verbs whose meaning 
is tied closely to the "helper words" which accompany them, such as
"participate in", "pay for", "take care of", etc.  For this intended 
meaning of "laugh at" I would use {vaq} "mock".  So instead of "You
laugh because of death" I would say "You mock death."

{Hegh Davaq 'ach bIHeghlI'be'}

> You're right "Mad Klingon" wading in is satisfying.

It is odd that such obviously useful advice would have come from one
who has scarcely gotten his toes wet.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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