tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 09 09:35:24 1998
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RE: KLBC "qagh"
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC "qagh"
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 10:32:29 -0700
lab SIHwI':
>
> In a message dated 11/9/98, 10:05:35 AM, [email protected] writes:
> <<On the newest episode of ST:Voyager, one of the characters qoutes a
> Klingon saying, which was in clipped Klingon, and, as ussual, badly
> mangled (I like to call it <Hol>icide).
>
> The Enlish was "smile when you eat the "qagh"'.
>
> I came up with two slightly different ways to express this,
> and would like
> your (or anyone else's) opinion of which is better, or if
> there is yet another
> way to say it. Here are my two:
>
> DaSoplI'DI' qagh yImon
> DaSoptaHvIS qagh yImon
>
> SIHwI' >>
>
> oopps, make those:
>
> qagh DaSoplI'DI' yImon
> qagh DaSoptaHvIS yImon
Thank you, SIHwI': you saved me the first correction.
The second is quite simple - the <-taHvIS> version is better than the <-DI'>
version. Although <-DI'> and usually gets translated as "when", it helps to
think of the "other" definition of <-DI'>: "as soon as". In English, "when"
can mean "as soon the event occurs/begins" or "while the event is going on".
The Klingon <-DI'> can only mean the former. As a result, <-lI'> and <-taH>
don't make that much sense with <-DI'>.
If you want to say "Smile at the moment the qagh is served and you shove the
first fistful into your mouth", then <qagh DaSopDI' yImon> is fine. If you
want to suggest smiling the whole time, which is what I think you are trying
to say, <qagh DaSoptaHvIS yImon> is better.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian