RE: KLBC..Family

["Andeen, Eric" <Eric.Andeen@Sequencia.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: William H. Martin [mailto:whm2m@server1.mail.virginia.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 1999 9:07 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: KLBC..Family


On Tue, 2 Feb 1999 18:28:37 -0800 (PST) Hobo7713@aol.com wrote:

> I have been trying to find words for family members...I have found ones
for
> like mother and brother etc. But non for like Uncle or Niece..Do the the
> Klingons not count these as family members or what? 
> Qapla'
> qoreQ

I really want to answer this, but I just saw the KLBC header. 
Ouch.

Okay, I'll just suggest that your uncle and cousin have a 
relationship with you that can be expressed using noun-noun 
constructions and the words you already know. Your uncle is a 
parent's sibling. Your cousin is your parent's sibling's child.

While you're likely tempted to conclude that Klingons lack 
specific terms for these relatives, in fact, expressing it the 
Klingon way is a lot MORE specific, since it indicates which 
parent creates the link and what gender the relative is. 
"Cousin" doesn't do that at all, and "uncle" only tells you 
gender, not which parent. Even the most extended family 
relationship can be expressed in terms of parents, siblings or 
children.

I hope I don't make pagh too angry here. I'll try to do better 
next time, respecting his turf. This is just one of my favorite 
pet peeves. It is not that the words are MISSING from Klingon. 
It is that a Klingon would never be as vague in terminology as 
the English relationship terms. How many people here know the 
meaning of "third cousin twice removed", anyway? And if you 
tried to explain it, you'd use the same terminology Klingons 
would have used the first time.

charghwI' 'utlh