tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 22 22:44:11 1996

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Re: KLBC:2 items



On Thu, 21 Nov 1996 20:40:04 -0800 "Mark E. Shoulson" 
<[email protected]> wrote:
...
> >>Also, you have used a question word as part of a sentence-as-object statement. 
> >> Again, some people like to do this, and I honestly cannot fathom the logic 
> >>behind it, except that it copies English.  
> >
> >I think I was thinking something like:
> >"what is funny?", we know it.
> >But I understand what you are saying.  This is what happens when someone
> >writes in a hurry.  (It ends up being 'street slang' klingon)
> 
> I tend to use the question-word in SAO constructions, though I readily
> admit it is not canon nor attested.  

Nor is it necessary. That is my primary objection to it. I find 
it to be, like the question word "which", something I don't 
need. I do not find it difficult to work around the absence of 
using a question as the object of another verb.

qechmey tlhaQ DIghovlaH.

> And I use it for the reason above, NOT
> because of any mirroring of English (in fact, I try to punctuate it as a
> question before the 'e' to make that clearer).  "nughoS 'Iv? 'e' vISovbe'":

nughoSbogh nuv vIghovbe'. vIngu'laHbe'.

> who's approaching us?  I don't know that.  It sometimes works better than
> others, but I tentatively like it.  That's me, though, not Okrand.  (Note
> one break from English that it yields, though: "I don't know if she's died"
> gets translated not with -chugh but with -'a': "Heghpu''a'?  'e' vISovbe'")

Heghpu' 'e' vISovbe'.
Heghlaw' neH.
Heghbejbe'.

> Note also that charghwI' will likely make good points about casting things
> more actively.

Heh, heh, heh...

I've become predictable.
 
> >---------------------------------------
> >>Here's how I'd say the whole first bit in Klingon:
> >>
> >>tlhIngan maH!  tlhaQbogh lut law' DISovbej jay'!
> >>We are Klingons!  Of course we know lots of funny stories!  [explitive not 
> >>translated :) ]

majQa'!

> >Certainly better (That's why you're the BG); but I'm not sure if it's quite
> >what I was expressing.  Maybe something like:
> >tlhaQchugh lut  'e' wISovbej jay'
> >we certainly know if a story is funny!

That is ungrammatical, since the mu'tlheghqoq to which {'e'} 
points is not a complete sentence. You can drop the {'e'} 
completely and this sentence works for me. A {vaj} is optional 
and would be placed where you put {'e'}.
 
> Heh.  And here I'd use -'a' again. :)  Or maybe no 'e': if a story's funny,
> we know it.

I think you've had a minor lapse in your normal synapses. 
Perhaps you might choose to revisit these suggestions.
 
> ~mark

charghwI'




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