tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 01 06:09:32 1996

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Power Klingon quotation

bISaHbe'. qatlh Dajatlh?

I think that's how it went on PK.

Thinking about SuStel's remarks about the beginning of Power 
Klingon, I realize that I've never stated my interpretation of 
that exchange. I thought the human thought he said:

Why do you say you don't care?

Meanwhile, to the Klingon, it meant:

You are not here. Why do you speak?

The Klingon would, of course, take this as fatal sarcasm and 
respond accordingly. Even so, the {Da-} prefix on {jatlh} is 
odd, being more like:

You are not here. Why do you speak it?

If I'm right that {jatlh} can only take a langauge as its 
object, then it gets even stranger. Meanwhile, if ~mark is right 
and Klingon only uses direct quotation, the Klingon could only 
interpret what the human said as I describe above, or he could 
interpret it as:

You are not here. You said, "Why?"

Or maybe even:

You are not here. You said to him, "Why?"

By a long stretch, you might interpret it as:

Why did you say to him, "You don't care/You are not here,"?

All of these would be very strange things to say in this 
setting, earning suspicion.

If, indeed, indirect quotation is the norm and the human 
actually did say what he intended, there is not as much cause to 
kill him, not that he needed much cause after blundering in with 
{'IH jaj, qar'a'?} To a Klingon, this sounds like, "Look! 
Haily's Comet!" 

(So WHAT if I can't spell it?)

charghwI'

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