tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 09 15:06:13 1998

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



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

RE: KLBC Shakespears Sisters lyrics.



qatlho', jupwI'. maQochbe'bej. mubItmoH chovnatlhvam, 'ach QInlIj vIlaDpa'
meqwIj vIQIjlaHchu'be'. meqlIj rurqu' meqwIj, 'ej meqlIj DaQIjchu'mo', DaH
meqwIj vIQIjnISbe'.

SKI: pagh agrees with charghwI', and is glad of charghwI''s clear
explanation.

lab charghwI':

> While I'm glad you've noticed this {wa' jaj} example, and it 
> WILL be useful, I'd like to offer a little caution about 
> potential for overextending its usefulness.
> 
> In Okrand's example, he is talking about a definite event that 
> happens. He uses a combination of {wa' jaj} and {jajvam} in 
> order to set a time stamp on the second sentence when he doesn't 
> have a definite time relationship between that day and today. It 
> is the event that triggers the timestamp.
> 
> He could have, argueably, translated this as:
> 
> 'etlh 'uchchoHlaHDI' tlhIngan puqloD, loD nen moj.
> 
> My guess is that such an event is worth about a full day's 
> celebration and special notice. One notes the day that one's son 
> becomes an adult. One doesn't note the hour.
> 
> This use of the word {wa' jaj} to denote the duration 
> surrounding the event is not necessarily the same thing as a 
> generic term for "someday". Many times, this likely will be 
> useful, but I just don't feel like this is license to 
> plug'n'play "someday" as a generic English definition for the 
> term {wa' jaj}.
> 
> charghwI' 'utlh
> 
> On Thu, 5 Nov 1998 21:32:05 -0800 (PST) Alan Anderson 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> > Zrajm jang pagh:
> > >>   You better hope and pray that you wake one day in your 
> own world.
> > >>   {wa' jaj qo'lIjDaq bIvem; 'e' Datul 'ej 'e' Daqoy'.}
> > >
> > >Same comments as above about <'e' Datul 'ej Daqoy'>.
> > >
> > >> Perhaps there is a better/easier way to say "some time", "any
> > >> day" or "in the future"? Otherwise what I said about the previous
> > >> sentence pretty much applies here too.. (I think I am saying
> > >> something like "One day, you in your realm will wake, you hope
> > >> that and you beg (for) that."
> > >
> > > Oh, my. <wa' jaj> just does not work. Klingon does not  really 
> > > have a way to say "someday". The only general word for "in the 
> > > future" is <tugh> - soon. Other than that, you probably need to 
> > > use <leS> or <nem> to specify when the event is going to happen.
> > 
> > As it happens, {wa' jaj} *does* work.  The Klingon Way, page 177:
> > 
> >     wa' jaj 'etlh 'uchchoHlaH tlhIngan puqloD; jajvetlh loD nen moj.
> >     The son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade.
> > 
> > 
> > -- ghunchu'wI'


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian



Back to archive top level