tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 25 09:07:21 1997

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Re: KLBC: Klingon desktop items



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>Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 20:31:21 -0700 (PDT)
>From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
>
>[email protected] on behalf of Michael DeMatteo wrote:
>
>> The translation for nuqneh is "What do you want?." My question is how can
>> nuqneH be 
>> considered a greeting?
>
>A Klingon enters a shop.  The shopkeeper sees him, looks him over, and says, 
>{nuqneH} "What do you want?"  In this case, the Klingon had better immediately 
>tell him what he wants to buy.

Indeed.  However...

>Some people, however, believe that {nuqneH} is exactly the same as "hello."  
>They have no problem with the idea of two Klingons passing in the street, 
>recognizing each other, saying {nuqneH} to each other, and walking on.

Also true.  I'm not going to say which is right, for the just and
sufficient reason that I don't know.  However, let's consider even the case
mentioned second, that "nuqneH" is a greeting, plain and simple, and can
start a conversation.  Your question is "how can that be considered a
greeting?"  The answer is "Because it is."  Languages do lots of things
that are explainable only as idioms and the like.  How "can it be" that
"raining cats and dogs" means "raining heavily"?  How "can it be" that it's
a good thing to be "the cat's pajamas"?  How "can it be" that "what's up?"
is a greeting?  Because they are.  OK, there may be some explanations for
these, but often they're no longer accurate or no longer well-known in
later times.  Languages do that: they develop expressions.

~mark

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