tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 23 10:24:47 1997
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Re: KLBC: that old joke
- From: "Robyn Stewart" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: that old joke
- Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 10:24:05 PST
- Organization: NLK Consultants, Inc.
- Priority: normal
lab muHwI'
>{chorgh qagh QaQ law' quv QaQ puS}
>(when ghagh better than honor?)
{ghorgh} is "when" {chorgh} is "eight."
>{DaH qaja'}
>(now I tell you:)
maj.
>{pagh QaQ law' quv QaQ puS} (?)
>This makes me hesitate...
>It sounds like "nothing is BETTER than honor"
>But the meaning is that there is NOTHING better than honor,...see?
Yes you should hesitate. This is being discussed in another thread
and I am going to respond to it later.
>{Doch QaQ law' tu'lu'be'} (?)
I think you are trying for: "There is nothing that is better."
Have a look at {qaq} - be preferable.
qaqbogh Doch tu'lu'be' - There is nothing preferable.
Of course this loses the possible double meaning of "nothing" but
that's what normally happens when you try to translate puns.
>{qagh QaQ law' pagh QaQ puS}
>can I use this for "better"?
Yes. In English you wouldn't say "*X is more good than Y"
but in Klingon that's a fine way to say it. However, we don't know
if saying X QaQ law' pagh QaQ puS makes it sound like "X is better
than nothing at all" or "there exists no thing such that X is better
than it." So your second idea is better, once you get the word order
right. Remember that the {law'/puS} is a very special construction.
-Qov