tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 05 02:52:34 1999

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Re: *muSHa'* yImuSHa'!



jIja':

> pItlh.

ja' charghwI':

> 'e' vIHon.

Well, you got that right.

> As truly sentient beings with a plethora of WIDELY
> VARIED available experiences there is no single "supreme"
> emotion. You disrespect the vast majority of people and their
> experiences by defining how insignificant their chosen paths
> are when compared to one that you particularly like.

jIQochbe'chu'.  How the [Klingon invective] you managed to interpret my 
manifesto as exalting romantic love is beyond me.  Are we both speaking 
DIvI' Hol?   I wrote:  "We [= I] challenge [= *invite*, akin to *taking the 
Pepsi challenge*] those who find <muSHa'> outside their comfort zone to 
jettison [= *discard*] tera'ngan romantic notions of love as the supreme 
emotion.  [Such a notion of love is] wejpuH!"

I've always suspected that resistance to the word <muSHa'> had something to 
do with its unromantic feel.  ("How do I un-hate thee?  Let me count the 
ways".)  In other words, some are still looking for a lovey-dovey 
translation, and I'm telling them to get over it and *muSHa'* yImuSHa'!

> THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO FEEL THAN JUST LOVE,
> and these other things are exactly as valid and meaningful.
> Respect them.

bIlughbej.  I love <muSHa'> for this very reason:  it knocks love down a 
peg by making it derivative of and paler than the stronger and more primary 
emotion of hate.  (I'm sure you'd agree that hate, in the Klingon sense, 
need not be destructive; it may be hate of dishonor and injustice, hate 
that rouses us against evil, whereas love of a certain kind can lull us 
into tolerance of these.)

> My problem is that {muSHa'} as you propose it is not a word
> for the Klingon language.  Instead, it is an encoding of the
> English word "love" so that {muSHa'} can be as mindlessly
> and meaninglessly used in Klingon as the word "love" is
> mindlessly and meaninglessly used in English ... There is
> always a clearer, more honest way to say whatever you are
> trying to say with the word {muSHa'}.

Dajqu'.  I actually think natural languages thrive on vagueness and 
ambiguity, but your argument that the lack of an all-purpose verb for 
*love* might force Klingon speakers to recast and so be more concrete about 
their meaning is something I hadn't considered--and should.

> Meanwhile, my life is not on hold while I yearn for
> resolution to a crushing need to fulfill the partnership
> that your "supreme" emotion requires.

All this anger I seem to bring out makes me wonder.

> A number of people here on this list love to argue.

qa' wIje'meH maSuv.

qa'ral

P.S. to Sustel:  Thanks for your concern, but I'm not so easily insulted or 
scared.  The list wouldn't be Klingon without the occasional round of 
forehead butting.





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