tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 12 13:00:11 1996
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Re: YATNT (Yet Another Tlhingan-hol Name Translation)
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>Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 11:50:30 -0800
>From: "Lee Lewis" <[email protected]>
I'm going to leave the rest of this post aside to comment on only one
point. It's something I've seen in several people's Klingon; K'pach is
just one example.
>Sounds like a good idea! ... majqechHey!
I can see what you were thinking when you came up with this, but I think
you'll see, if you think about it, that it doesn't work. And if you don't
see it, you should.
Some people seem to have the idea that grammar is really just a bunch of
very vague suggestions, and obviously you'll be speaking correctly if you
can get enough information across that people will understand you (I'm not
saying you think this, K'Pach, just that others do seem to think so, and
words like yours make me think of it). That you just look up the elements
and hold them next to each other until a meaning comes out, and if one
does, it must be okay Klingon. So "*majqechHey"... well, "maj" is "Good!",
and "qech" is "idea" and "-Hey" is "apparent," so together it must mean
"the idea seems good" or something.
But that's not how languages work. I could apply the same thinking to
English:
If usingly I wordify with accordation to rulings not, you me-ish the
thinkthings comprehendation will be made by. But Englishly speech make I?
Do the me-ish words assembly-wise English-ish sentences form?
No, they don't. You can puzzle out what I was thinking, you can tease out
meanings (hmm... me-ish... that's an adjectival form of "me", right? My?)
but I haven't spoken English. I've spoken a tangle of words with grammar
that changes constantly, and even when it's consistent isn't the same as
that which everyone else uses. Languages simply don't work that way. They
have rules (which we call grammar), and if you don't follow them, then it's
not the language which you are speaking, even if you can understand
yourself.
So, back to the word. "maj" is an exclamation expressing satisfaction. It
isn't an adjective meaning "good," it isn't a verb meaning "to be good";
those are "QaQ." It's just an exclamation.
"qechHey" is "an apparent idea." It means you're not quite certain that
it's an idea, or that "idea" is the right term to use for it. That's what
the -Hey means.
So how do you say "The idea seems good"?
Well, let's start with "the idea is good." The verb "QaQ" means "to be
good." As with all Klingon, the subject follows the verb: "QaQ qech"/the
idea is good.
The verb-suffix "-law'" means "apparently, seemingly." I could be wrong
about the action of this verb, but that's how it seems. This is what we
want. The "being good" seems to be happening, but I want to express some
uncertainty. "QaQlaw' qech"/the idea appears good.
This isn't meant as a slam against K'Pach, just a call for thinking more
closely about using the words as the rules we're given say they should be
used, and not just slapping them together because "it makes sense."
~mark
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