tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 15 09:36:17 1998

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Re: Comparatives and Superlatives

When you quote canon, you should be more careful than this to 
get it right. I do appreciate your citing the source so those 
who care can look it up and see what is actually stated.

On Fri, 13 Feb 1998 15:31:44 -0800 (PST) Marian Schwartz 
<[email protected]> wrote:

> ghItlh ghunchu'wI'
> >We've never seen it reversed.  KGT gives us some 
> >alternate word pairs to use in place of {law'} and {puS}, but in 
> >each case the "positive" word comes first.
> 
> We have, actually.  KGT page 179-180:
> 
> "To say 'The Klingon is braver than the Ferengi,' one would have to say
> {tlhIngan yoH law' verengan yoH ngeD.}  

That should be {tlhIngan yoH Qatlh verengan yoH ngeD.}

> Reversing the order of {Qatlh} and
> {ngeD} would produce the phrase...

It may seem like a minor point to you, but if you omit 
something, you should indictate that you are omitting something 
lest your paraphrase be misinterpreted to be a direct quotation.

> which, if interpretable at all, would mean
> 'The Klingon is less brave than the Ferengi.'  Even if one really meant it,
> uttering such a phrase could lead to unfortunate consequences."

I think a key phrase here is, "...if interpretable at all..." 
That doesn't sound like much of an endorsement for the 
construction.

It is also good to indicate when your quotation is ending and 
your personal voice begins. It may seem obvious to you, but old 
posts have a tendency to be reborn here months or even years 
later and misinterpretations haunt us.
 
> This seems to suggest that although a puS/law' formation would be extremely
> slangy and probably ungrammatical, a Klingon might actually understand it,
> and not regard it as grammatical gibberish in favor of this alien's
> language.
> Qapla'
> qoror

You didn't continue the quotation. I think you omitted something 
of significance later on that same page:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Some speakers of Klingon never use such nonconformist 
constructions. Some use a few from a stock set. Others seem to 
be somewhat creative. Among Klingons, there is a fine line 
between creative use of the language and silliness, however, and 
Klingons are rather intollerant of the latter. Accordingly, the 
visitor to a Klingon planet is advised to avoid making such 
constructions until he or she is very well versed in Klingon 
culture. Not only will this preclude being viewed as less than 
serious, it will also prevent inadvertently making comparisons 
backward.

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charghwI'

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