tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 12 06:52:20 1997

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RE: KLBC: tach Such

On Tuesday, February 11, 1997 9:20 PM, [email protected] on behalf of Perry 
J. Brulotte wrote:
> A Terran enters a Klingon bar.
> He sits.
> The bartender approaches, and asks, "What do you want?"
> The Terran replies, "Romulan Ale."
> The bartender asks, "In a dirty glass?"
> The Terran answers, "No.  In a broken glass."
> The bartender says, "10 credits.  Pay now!"
> The terran replies, "Okay."  He gives the bartender 12 credits.  "Keep the
> change."
> The bartender is offended.  He gives the extra 2 credits back to the
> terran.  "I will forget this, terran."
> The terran is confused.  "Why?"
> The bartender draws his dagger.  "Because you have offended me!"
> The terran raises his hands.  "I'm sorry."
> The bartender drives the knife through the terran's heart.  "*@#&^
> tourist!"
> 
> -----
> 
> tlhIngan tach 'el tera'ngan.
> ba'.
> ghoS chom.  tlhob, >nuqneH?<
> jang tera'ngan, >romuluSngan HIq.<
> tlhob chom, >HIvje'Daq lam DaneH'a'?<

This kinda gives me the impression of a pile of dirt in the glass.  
Fortunately, the word {lam} is also a verb, meaning "be dirty."

HIvje' lamDaq DaneH'a'
Do you want it in a dirty glass?

Remember, when using verbs like adjectives, any Type 5 noun suffix goes onto 
the *verb*.

> jang tera'ngan, >ghobe.  HIvje'Daq ghor.<

{ghor} does not mean "be broken," it means "break (something)."  To get "be 
broken," we have to use a couple of suffixes:

HIvje'Daq ghorlu'pu'bogh
In a glass which one has broken.

Get it?  Check out the suffixes I've used.

> jatlh chom, >wa'maH DeQmey.  DaH yIDIl!<
> jang tera'ngan, >lu'.<  wa'maH cha' DeQmey nob.  >latlhmey yIpol.<

That's an interesting way to express the concept of "change."  However, you 
have used the wrong suffix.  {latlhmey tIpol}

> maw chom.

{maw} is "offend," not "be offended."  This is the same problem that we had 
with {ghor} above.  However, which you might say {chom mawlu'pu'} "Someone has 
offended the bartender," we KNOW who did it.  Why bother with the indefinite 
subject?

chom mawpu'
He has offended the bartender.

> latlh cha' DeQmey nob.

There's not a scrap of evidence that we can use {latlh} like we do {Hoch}.  
Don't say {latlh <noun>}.  Either use only {latlh}, or find a completely 
different way to say it.

Also, you've lost the "back to the Terran" part.  Since this is "giving back," 
you might consider using the suffix {-Ha'}.  Watch this:

tera'nganvaD latlh nobHa'.
He gives the additional back to the Terran.

Here, {nobHa'} means "ungive."

> >wanI'vam vIlIj, tera'ngan.<
> tera'ngan mIS.  >qatlh?<

{tera'ngan} is the subject of the sentence, "The Terran is confused," and must 
come last in the Klingon sentence.  {mIS tera'ngan}.

> tajDaj lel chom.  >chomalmoH!<

You obviously meant {maw}, not {mal}.

Again, {maw} is "offend," not "be offended."  This actually simplifies the 
sentence, as we don't need to worry about using {-moH}.

I'm going to add the "because" part to it as well.  It's not a complete 
sentence, but neither is the original English.

chomawmo'
Because you offended me!

> ghopDu'Daj pep tera'ngan.  >jIQoS.<
> tIqDaj tera'ngan DuQ chom.  >petaQ SuchwI'!<

"The Terran's heart" is simply {tera'ngan tIq}.  Review TKD 3.4 for noun-noun 
constructions.

I'll leave the epithet alone; we really don't know much about how their used.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97118.7

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