tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Mar 08 15:23:54 1997

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RE: bIH chaH ghap

jatlh Voragh:

> I wonder which pronouns would be used for
> language-capable androids like Data and Lore?  Worf, I believe, always
> addressed Data--his superior officer--as "he/him" in Fed Standard, though
> he may have just been copying the humans around him.

Worf lived most of his life speaking English.  That's not a factor.

Data is a "him."  The only people to doubt that and call him "it" were 
convinced otherwise.  To refer to Data, use {ghaH}.

The difference in English and Klingon for these pronouns comes when referring 
to animals.  I'd call my neighbor's cat (Phred) "him," but a Klingon would use 
{'oH}.  And until we humans know the sex of the animal, we say "it."  Since 
the very first thing a person instinctively determines about another person is 
their gender, this problem rarely comes up, and we say "he or she" instead of 
"it."  Again, Klingons don't have this problem.  They just say {ghaH}.

> This would be a good question for someone with an MSN.com account to post
> to the Okrand BBS.

There is very little activity there now.  charghwI', Ken, and I have posted a 
number of things, but we only seem to be talking to each other!  Okrand aside, 
no one else is talking!

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97185.2

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