tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 17 16:01:32 1997
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Re: Time to call the {ghoS}tbusters?
ja' "Anthony.Appleyard" <[email protected]>:
> [Time to call the {ghoS}tbusters]
> In the course of writing briefly in Klingon about a storm at sea recently I
>ran into an ambiguity. For "of a ship, to travel" the word seems to be
>{ghoS}, which TKD defines as (1) "approach", (2) "go from", (3) "proceed",
>(4) "follow course", (5) "thrust". This all-too-inclusive portmanteau word
>for travelling seems to be to be liable to ambiguities.
It only leads to unacceptable ambiguities if you insist on trying to translate
a specific English word using {ghoS}. If you only use {ghoS} when it is an
appropriate word for the *idea* you have in mind, there's no problem. Because
I recognize what {ghoS} means, I don't have any difficulty with using that
meaning. I don't insist that there be a unique translation for each English
word I might be thinking of.
> We need different words for "go to" and "go towards" and "go along". I don't
>trust context to sort out all ambiguities. It is not wise to rely on Miss
>Context to be the only receptionist keeping out all such undesirables.
If you really need to translate "go to X", consider {X-Daq jaH}.
-- ghunchu'wI'