tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 30 13:44:06 1998
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RE: prepositional phrases
- From: "Rose, Thornton (Atlanta)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: prepositional phrases
- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 16:43:47 -0500
> > > I'm also looking for how to say, 'too much of
> > ><something>'.
> >
> > Where English says "too much", Klingon often merely emphasizes the
> > quality with the verb suffix {-qu'}. In TKD's appendix of useful
> > phrases, we find {tujqu'choH QuQ} "the engine is overheating."
>
> While this is true, on the online NEWS list Okrand once objected
> to my carrying that generalization too far. He suggested
> something that is a tool, though not an overly generalizeable
> one. Typically, it takes too sentences. "I'm too late for the
> meeting." {maghom vIneH 'ach jIpaS. nargh 'eb.} If I just said
> {jIpaSqu'} it would not necessarily mean that I was TOO late. It
> would just mean that I was VERY late. Maybe we could still meet.
> I show that I was TOO late for us to meet by stating that the
> opportunity escaped.
>
> This is simply something that you need to take on a case by case
> basis and translate the MEANING instead of falling back to some
> pat formula. "I wanted to buy the knife, but it was too
> expensive." {taj vIneH 'ach waghqu'mo' vIje'Qo'!} Just to say
> {waghqu'} is not enough to show that I would not still be
> willing to buy it. The whole meaning of "too expensive" is that
> because it is very expensive, I'm not willing to buy it.
>
> Basically, the English "too" in this sense means "the trait
> described here has crossed a threshold which changes the
> potential of the item carrying this trait". So, your job during
> translation is to decide exactly what that threshold is and what
> the consequences are of that crossing and explicitly describe
> the implied change of potential action relating to the crossed
> threshold. "If you are less than this tall, you are too
> short for this ride." A Klingon might make the "mark" at eye
> level instead of head level; you have to look over a fence
> rather than measure yourself against a mark. {Qujvam DalIgh
> DaneHchugh vaj veHvam DopDaq bIQamnIS 'ej tev DaleghnISlaH.}
>
> charghwI' 'utlh
>
So, could you use this technique to translate, "I ate too
much food at the Thanksgiving Day celebration?"
~ Thornton