tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 03 23:59:47 1996
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Re: tu'HomI'raH
- From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: tu'HomI'raH
- Date: Sat, 4 May 96 1:59:51 CDT
- In-Reply-To: Your message of Fri, 3 May 1996 12:02:07 -0700
ghItlh marqem la'Hom:
>The script for the Language Lab translates it as:
> T'oohomIrah (something useless)
>(We know that the spelling of Klingon words in English is no guide to
>anything, so we don't worry about the spelling "T'oohomIrah".) My guess
>is that <tu'HomIraH> *means* "a useless thing". After all, it's in the
>category of Cursing, which includes insults:
> "Get that piece of junk out of here!"
> <HurDaq tu'HomIraHvetlh yIlan!>
>Compare the English word "good-for-nothing", rather old-fashioned
>slang, a noun referring to a person, with accent on the first syllable [as
>expected for an English noun made in this way].
Have you forgotten about a "dunsel"? Think back to The Original Series.
The Okudas' _Star Trek Encyclopedia_ defines "dunsel" as a
"Term used by midshipmen at Starfleet Academy for any item
that serves no useful purpose."
In "The Ultimate Computer," Commodore Wesley referred to Kirk as "Captain
Dunsel" after a successful test of Daystrom's M-5 multitronic computer
which would have led to a fleet of unmanned, fully-automated starships.
Now, does anyone know whether "dunsel" was an invented Trekkish term or a
legitimate, if outdated, English word. I checked my desk dictionary, the
online Webster, and the online Oxford English Dictionary. Nothing. I never
heard it during my five years in the U.S. Navy (two years spent in the
engineering department on a heavy destroyer, or what they used to call a
light cruiser). It certainly would have come in handy.
cha' DeQwIj neH...
_____________________________________________________________________________
Steven Boozer | How many ages hence
University of Chicago Library | Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
----------------------------- | In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
[email protected] | (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III.i)