tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Aug 08 13:05:42 1998

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: -vo' (was Re: KLBC - pabqoqwIj vIlughmoH)

>Qermaq wrote:
>>Is being spatial enough? The action takes place here, and nothing is really
>>going away from here except your attention. The examples most fresh in my
>>mind about <-vo'> are related to actual motion, making <-vo'> "away from" as
>>well as "from". I am uncomfortable with the sentence, especially since my
>>first impulse would be <naDev jIHtaHvIS vIleghlaH.> "I can see you while 
>>I'm here." I would prefer to see <-vo'> reserved for times when action is
>>directed away. It feels wrong to see away from a place, and yes, it's only
>>a feeling ultimately. So take what you will from this.
>
>I seem to recall a line from the "Useful Phrases" section of TKD, which
>went "You can see the factory(?) from here" (meaning your hotel room)
>which used /naDevvo'/.  (I'm at work without my TKD, so I can't be more
>specific than that.)  Apparently the "movement" of one's attention or
>sight _is_ sufficiently spacial.
>
>-- ter'eS

The line is actually from the jitney scene in CK:

  naDevvo' jIleghlaHchu'be'
  I can't see well from here.  CK

And consider this from the earlier hotel scene:

  pa'vo' pagh leghlu'
  The room has no view.

Unfortunately, Qermaq's "first impulse" is wrong in this case.  However
un-Klingon it may be to admit, sometimes one's instincts should not be
trusted, despite the proverb.
 
For those interested, the other examples with {naDevvo'} are:

  naDevvo' yIghoS
  Go away!  TKD (Useful Expressions)

  naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq majaHlaH'a'
  Can we get to the Great Hall from here?  PK

FYI, there are no examples in canon with the suffix {-vo'} on {pa'} "there,
thereabouts, area over there".

-- 
Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."         Horace (Ars Poetica)

Back to archive top level