tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 09 13:53:32 1997
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Re: bIH chaH ghap
Steven Boozer wrote:
>
> On Sat, 8 Mar 1997, Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
>
> |>From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
> |>Not much help there. Hmm... 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.
> |
> That's certainly a human attitude. Which is exactly my point: would
> *Klingons* other than Worf consider a robot (qoq), even a talking robot, to
> be a "being" or a "thing"? After all, in the 24th century computers
> routinely talk and can even conduct conversations.
> For that matter, do Klingons even use androids?
>
An opinion here: I have a bit of a problem with ST:TNG, DS9, & ST:V
in relation to the writers' knowledge of military protocol. However, in
relation to Data, they got it right. By "military tradition" all
officers below flag rank (Lt.Cndrs & below) are addressed as "Mister"
(originally regardless of gender, but that will probably change and a
female officer will probably become "Mz" by that time. Mr.Worf, and the
rest of the crew, were required by protocol to call Data "Mr." when
on-duty (which was nearly all the time). In an environment like that,
the anthropormorphizing of Data just about becomes a given! As was
mentioned before, we humans "humanize" our pets and our prize posessions
(anyone want to call the Enterprise an it in front of Kirk or Scotty).
Thus, Worf's calling Data "he" is not an example of how other Klingons
would speak of/about Data.
On a pure science level, Data is defined as an android, or artificial
life-form, not a robot or a cyborg. Being strickly literal (I hope),
that makes Data a "lifeform capable of speech", albeit an artificial
one. To me, that makes Data a "he" & "him" in Klingon. Computers and
robots remain "its" and cyborgs & other inteligent aliens regardless of
their forms become "he's / she's" as appropriate. However, that brings
up an interesting side-bar, where do the hermaphroditic aliens
encountered during the last season of ST:TNG fall?
Y'jImbotlh