tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 10 00:35:34 1996
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Re: KLBC: Thinking and compounding
- From: [email protected] (Denny Shortliffe)
- Subject: Re: KLBC: Thinking and compounding
- Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 00:19:28 -0400
>
>
> This may be a little off the subject of Klingon for a second, but
>that isn't correct French. The appropriate translation of "I think,
>therefore I am" is "Je pense, donc je suis".
>
> Remy Savant
>
>On Sun, 8 Sep 1996, Denny Shortliffe wrote:
>
>> [snip]
>>
>> >If I remember my French correctly, the original expresion "I
>> >think, therefore I am" was REALLY "Je crois, <I've forgotten the word for
>> >"therefor"> j'exist." ("I think, therefore I exist").
>>
>> My understanding is that the original expression was in Latin, "Cogito
>> ergo sum". This uses the Latin for "to be" which carries with it the
>> meaning of "to exist" but is not limited to that. So the conundrum
>> continues. (Don't we English-speakers love our alliteration!)
>>
>> >This goes back, I think to several people's comments on "translations on
>> >translations", and why you should always go back to the original, before you
>> >try to translate something. This is also another example of how English
>> >uses "to be" WAY too much, and you really should re-cat it, before you
>> >attempt to translate it into tlhIngan Hol.
>>
>> I'm not aware that English uses "to be" too much, not any more than French
>> or Portuguese, two other languages with which I happen to be familiar.
>> Perhaps tlhIngan Hol doesn't use it enough (perhaps MO planned it that way
>> just to give us something to do in our evenings!).
>>
>>
>>
>> Qapla'
>>
>> qrlIH veStaySortlhIH Sogh Lieutenant K'rlikh Vestai-Shor-Klikh
>> tlhIngan wo' Duj qIj leng rawI' Commanding Officer, IKV Black Odyssey
>>
>> a.k.a.
>>
>> --
>> Denny Shortliffe
>>
>
>
Quite correct. However, it wasn't me who said the other. Coincidentally,
I was reading since then that it was Descartes who said it. While
undoubtedly French, in the context of the times, I know he would have
written it in Latin. Therefore, I stand by the part of the above that I
*DID* write.
It was good to hear from you!
--
Denny Shortliffe