tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 30 06:51:35 1997

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double ways of seeing translation



	qoror here.  I just thought of a translation that works two ways.  It's
from a story, and I'm afraid I'll have to explain a good deal of the plot, but
I'll try to cut down as much as possible.
	Some teenagers are in an apartment for the summer.  The deli owner/their
landlord is a moneygrubbing coot who wants them to eat at his place, not the
popular place down the street, to get more money for himself.  But they try to
go anyway, but just as they're about to go in, he yells "They're underage!",
which was true.  Later, they're jabbing him about it, and the dialog is thus:
	"I owe it to my tenants.  What would have happened if the police came by
checking up?"
	"They do that?"
	"Of course, I would have phoned them myself."

	I won't try to translate any of this stuff *except* the "Of course."  Say
you defy a lot of grammar and have him say:
	"-bej."
	..or "definitely."  But think.  If this is Clipped Klingon, it actually
means "Watch," or maybe "Just watch."  It's not exactly what he said, but it
carries across the exact same meaning.  What do you think?

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