tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 24 18:59:56 1999

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Re: Have a nice day!

jatlh ghunchu'wI':
>And we *know* that {yIn nI' yISIQ} is an appropriate translation for the
>phrase "live long".  {yI-} is an imperative verb prefix in Klingon, so
>your argument, that one must be able to carry out a command, fails.
>
>Since Vulcans are presumed to have translated their customary greeting
>from their language into English, I'm going to continue to assume that
>the imperative phrasing -- which is mirrored in the Klingon rendition we
>have -- is the appropriate one to use.


Is the English phrase "Live long and prosper" a pair of imperatives?  Yes.
Does this mean that the concept is an imperative?  No.  Just as we might
translate "Which ale do you want?" into {HIq DaneHbogh yIngu'}, so might a
Vulcan phrase have changed from something else to an imperative.  Or it
might not have.  Not knowing much Vulcan, I'm not prepared to say.  I am
certain that it's not possible to say that the impertive concept of the
phrase is required, or even likely.

Furthermore, I doubt that this doubly-translated phrase has an "appropriate"
way to say it.  Klingons aren't Vulcans, and we don't have any Vulcans who
speak Klingons to ask.  I don't see that either the imperative form or the
wishing form is in any way superior to the other.

Say it however you want, as long as it's grammatical.

SuStel
Stardate 99646.8

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