tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 26 18:17:01 1996
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: existence
- From: Will Martin <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: existence
- Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:16:51 -0400 ()
- Priority: NORMAL
My first (and only) semi-private conversation with Okrand
was on this very topic. Simply put, Okrand quite
intentionally built the language to avoid having a single
word to plug in where English uses "to be", as in, "to
exist". He set out to do it that way and he achieved it,
though he had to compromise now and then to fit the demands
of the script.
taH pagh taHbe'.
That's the biggest compromise he was ever forced into on
this topic, and the result is incredibly ugly. "He endures,
or he doesn't endure." wejpuH.
On Fri, 19 Jul 1996 08:42:59 -0700 "A.Appleyard"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> > ... it is time Okrand provided a Klingon word for "to exist".
No, it isn't.
> Even in a hard action-minded and attacking-first people with no tendency to
> philosophise, the idea of simple existence or nonexistence arises sometimes.
And they deal with it on a case by case basis, recasting in
a less stative way when possible.
> E.g.:-
> (1) A village headman on Qo'noS, pressed hard about why he has not delivered
> as ordered {qagh} which the local commander had allocated in advance in large
> amounts to this officers' barracks and that, may finally and heatedly have to
> say e.g. "The qagh that your orders refer to DO NOT EXIST, therefore I could
> not have withheld them. The marsh where they breed has dried up in the
> drought, as I kept trying to tell you. I can't help the weather.".
qaghHeyraj ghajlu'be'. not SISmo' not bogh.
> (2) The captain finally found out by a more reliable source than the Ferengi
> traders, that the dilithium referred to in the invoice <existed>, but it was
> far too far away for him to get hold of it in time for the coming battle.
HoDvaD cha'puj nob verengan lay' verengan, 'ach nep.
cha'pujvam Daqna' Del latlh. Hopqu'mo' cha'puj'e' poQbogh
HoD, ghobnISpa' cha'pujvam SuqlaHbe'. verengan HoHnISba'
HoD.
charghwI'