tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 04 08:58:33 1997
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC: Words for assassin & blade
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 13:55:48 -0700 (PDT)
>From: "SuSvaj" <[email protected]>
>
>
> but not assassins, for
>> they preferred random acts of murder.
>>
>> > What's a good Klingon word for "assassin"? I'd go with "chotwI'" most
>of
>> > the time, perhaps "HoHwI'" in some situations.
>
>As assassination is commonplace as a means of both rising in rank, and
>elimination of unfit superiors, or "honorable retirement" as Worf called
>it, it is most certainly not considered a crime in and of it's self.
>Therefore, I don't like using "chot." Since "assassin" usually implies
>killing by stealth, I would prefer:
>
> HoHwI' pegh, "Secret Killer."
Depends on the situation! Is an assassin necessarily a secret killer? Was
Lincoln's assassination secret? And there's assassination and there's
assassination. On a ship, when a captain has been forcibly removed from
power, his successor's supporters might describe the act as "batlh pe'vIl
HoD cho'ta' la'", while his opponents might say "HoD chotta' la'." (hmm,
interesting similarity in sound between "cho'" and "chot"). It all depends
on *what you want to say*. That's why I say it's misleading to look for
"THE" translation of "assassin," as though there were only one. If you
want to talk about a secret killer, talk about a secret killer. If you
want to talk about a secret murderer, talk about a secret murderer. If you
want to talk about an over-ambitious officer... well, say so! Don't try
to map an English phrase replete with its own associations to some single
stock line in Klingon and pretend you can just replace one with the other.
~mark
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface
iQB1AwUBM5WQo8ppGeTJXWZ9AQFTAwL/ULSSXvEfJcH0g9HkuS8dwTDGY2FOhH8j
5Hp4rxzfjWbuQ8J2BAZrcbSJUCq0pzAGtm2eZcg+eLLcV+UTu2/MT8yaM8EKUKR/
dlWU6vXUa/5sp6kS6oagsED7t1XyNTO+
=45c8
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----