tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Nov 09 17:45:44 1997
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Re: bIchuSchoHqu''a'
According to Joel Peter Anderson <[email protected]>:
> "parmaq, conventionally translated "love" or "romance" (though the
> Klingon concept is far more aggressive than the Federation Standard
> translations imply)..."
>
> KGT p. 199 [this is mirrored in the dictionary
> section parmaq <-> love, romance]
>
>While the evidence on DS9's episode where we first learned this word
>points to the more earthy uses of the word, nothing Okrand has written
>really rules out other meanings of the term - just as our English word
>"love" is used in quite a variety of ways.
Dochvam Damaqmo' SoH loQ jIHagh. It seems rather ironic that *you* should
be the one saying that what we see on screen should take a back seat to
the words written in the book, especially when the topic is <parmaq>.
Please don't try to argue what a Klingon word might mean based on what
one of its English translations can represent. That way likes madness
and confusion. Stick with the restrictive meanings given in the book,
taking into account the way the words are used in examples. <parmaq>
does not mean the same thing as the "agape" side of English's "love".
>> ...We have considered what "love" means several times in the
>> past few years. Where were you during those discussions?
>
>Beats me - As I recall, this has often been over the misuse of "bang" for
>"love". I frequently don't translate long pure tlhIngan Hol messages,
>unless the topic is one in which I'm interested, so maybe I missed it.
toH. bIQummeH tlhIngan Hol Dalo' DaneHbe'law'. vaj qabuSHa'qangchoH.
>I often get asked about the odd bits of fluff in my signature. For a
>quick answer I supply the meaning as I intended it. If more interest is
>there, then I tell about the language and its history. I find people
>relate with more interest to the difficulties in finding vocabulary, and
>the disagreements over them than just rattling off the consensus of a few
>vociferous users of the language.
These so-called "difficulties in finding vocabulary" are really just
difficulties in matching English and Klingon words. Unless I am trying
to communicate technical information where specialized jargon is truly
important, I rarely have difficulty in expressing any given idea.
If you're introducing people to Klingon by telling them that it's hard
to find the words to translate what you want to say, I think that you
are doing a disservice to them. And I also think that the consensus of
the *users* of the language should count a lot more than the arguments
from the people who are merely *debating* it.
-- ghunchu'wI'