tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 24 15:38:57 1997
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Re: KLBC Dax & nuq Hech jIH
jatlh SuStel:
> Remember, Hamlet and the rest of the KSRP are NOT canon. Hamlet, for example,
> has {Hoch} always follow the noun it's modifying, not precede it. Some of
> those who worked on Hamlet are of the camp that says that {nuqneH} is about
> the same as "What's up?" This does not make it correct. It also doesn't make
> it wrong. But it is not evidence either way.
True. However, one might argue (myself not being that one) that "What's
up?" and "What do you want?" are ROUGHLY the same. And, that non-canon
alternate definition is helpful as a deterrant for those who begin every
message with {nuqneH}. Now, my personal take on this one is the
conservative route; e.g., {nuqneH} literally means what's up, and it is
also the only thing a Klingon would possibly need to say in way of
greeting to another Klingon.
Speaking of which, it is possible (speaking in fictitious Star Trek
terms) that {nuqneH} was corrupted by humans during the first few
encounters with this particular dialect, and has now taken on the
"Hello" connotation during Klingon-outworlder conversation. In other
words, humans heard the Klingons saying "nook-nekh" and assumed it meant
hello. However, we have no evidence for that fact other than that many
20th Century humans use the word that way... don't make it seem like I
was passing this off as canon, because it is just pure speculation! On
Star Trek, one of the few uses of {nuqneH} was when emmisary K'Ehleyr
came aboard the Enterprise. Riker, hoping to impress the Klignon woman,
said, "nook-nekh" with a terrible Terran accent. This lends support to
my speculation, but still doesn't make it canonical Klingon or tlhIngan
Hol!
-mIqIraH