tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 09 16:01:05 1997

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Re: [KLBC]: Re: Hockey Player insult

At 12:33 97-12-09 -0800, Khatal wrote:

}You wrote,
}>>>You've probably seen me --and previous BGs, if you've been here a
while-- talk a blue streak about sentence-as-object and verb prefixes, but
it probably never seemed relevant, because it wasn't your writing.  Well now
it is ...
}
}You are right.  It is different when you see your own writing corrected.  I
}guess there is a good reason not to lurk!

<Insert BIG Qovian grin.>  You heard it from Khatal, folks. 
 
}I will work on the short sentences you have given me.  But in the mean
time, I wonder now if my house motto is correct:
}
}"HejtaH joq Heghpu' Daq, yIttaH thlInganpu'!!"
}"Hell or Plunder, Klingons March!"

I'm not quite sure what the meaning of the motto is, in English--nothing
wrong with it, just like most mottos it needs some interpretation-- so I'll
adjust what you have in Klingon to the nearest grammatical fit and you can
work from there.

In English it is ok to say "<verb> and <noun>," in fact it is ambiguous
whether the plunder in the English is a verb or a noun, but in Klingon verbs
and nouns have to be joined by separate conjunctions.  For nouns use {joq}
after all the nouns: {Hegh pop joq} "death or reward."  For verbs use {qoj}
between the verbs: {Hegh qoj Hej} "they die or they rob." Changing the nouns
of the English to the verbs of the Klingon is a GOOD move. The Klingon hell
is {ghe''or} or {ghe'tor}. If you want to say "place of death" you can use
{Heghpu'wI'pu' Daq} "place of those who have died" or {Hegh Daq} "place of
death" but not {Heghpu' Daq} "the place has died."

I would accept {Hej qoj Hegh,  yIttaH tlhInganpu'} as "Die or plunder,
Klingons walk on."  In full grammatical form it would be {Hejchugh qoj
Heghchugh, yIttaH tlhInganpu'} "Whether they die or plunder, Klingons walk
on," but in my opinion it works as a motto without the -{chugh}mey.
{yItqu'taH} might suggest marching better than just plain {yIttaH}.

You're welcome to bounce this back a few times until it means what you want
it to.
                                                                             

Qov     [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian

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