tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 05 08:44:32 1999

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RE: vajpu' raSvamDaq, jIlDaj {lut machqu'}



lut Daj qon Ed:

...

jatlh Jeffrey P Morgan:

> Nice story, but it seems to me that a Klingon tale should me more 
> epic, more mythical.

qatlh? Soj, HIq, parmaq joq qel Hoch *France* Hol lutmey 'e' Daqap'a'?
vajpu' tIQ neH qel Hoch *Japan* Hol lutmey 'e' DapoQ'a'?

We are here to study and use the Klingon *language*, and that means
expressing a broad range of ideas with that language. If we limit the ideas
we express to only those that are "epic" or "mythical" or fit within the
constraints of the very narrowly defined Klingon culture that Paramount
presents us with, the language loses everything that makes it interesting.

I prefer to think that the "real" Klingon culture that "created" this
language is as rich and varied as human culture here on Earth. The Klingon
themes and characters we see on TV are simple reflections of a few facets of
that culture, usually bent and warped to fit the needs of the screenwriter
for that particular week. Klingons, like humans, can have experiences from
the majestic to the mundane, and should be just as able to describe them as
we are.

Even beyond that, a language can and *should* be used well beyond the bounds
of the culture that created it. Klingon obviously has no word corresponding
*exactly* to "cubicle" (and no, don't anyone reply and tell me about <yaH>),
and a Klingon would almost certainly find the row of cubicles where I work
to be a folly that only a silly Terran could think of. But I can use the
Klingon language to describe my workplace, the people in it, my job, the
organizational structure of the company, my very Terran feelings about it,
or just about anything else I want to.

qechvam vIqeltaHvIS jIjatlhtaHqu'mo' jItlhIj. labwI''e' vItIch qoj vImaw
vIneHbe'bej. 'ach potlh qechvam 'e' vIQubmo' jIjatlhnISba'.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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