tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 03 18:47:07 1999

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Re: Klingon pleasantries


Sulugh 'ej jImuj. jIjatlhta' 'e' yIlIj. tlhIH Sov law' jIH Sov puS.
jIghojpu'. 

--- loD Doq



> Excellent response. A couple comments.
> 
> On Tue, 2 Feb 1999 11:40:07 -0800 (PST) "Andeen, Eric" 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> > jatlh loD Doq:
> > 
> > > I know that klingons usually get to the point when speaking. 
> > > They usually will refrain from pleasantries. However,..
> 
> > > <DuQuchmoHchugh> (Please) (Actually: "If it causes you to be 
> > > happy")
> > 
> > Please just abandon this one. Any attempt at "please" will turn a nice,
> > straightforward, easily understandable Klingon sentence into something
> > confusing. For example:
> > 
> > qagh HInob.
> > DuQuchmoHchugh, qagh HInob.
> > 
> > With the first sentence, you would get a plate of qagh. With the
second, you
> > would get a blank stare or a puzzled look followed by a hearty laugh at
the
> > silly Terran.
> 
> Quite true. In fact, you must realize that you leave yourself 
> wide open (so to speak) to the observation that the person with 
> the qagh might be even more pleased to eviscerate you. You don't 
> necessarily want to invite a Klingon to do what would make her 
> or him most happy.
> 
> > > <bIchegh quvwIj> (Excuse/forgive me) Not a very good 
> > > translation (Actually: "Return my honor")
> > 
> > This doesn't work grammatically. It's really a sentence - "You return."
-
> > and an extra noun thrown in where the subject normally goes. It can't
be the
> > subject because the verb has the <bI-> prefix, indicating a subject of
> > "you".
> > 
> > In any case, I'm not even sure what "return my honor" means here.
"Excuse
> > me" or "forgive me" would probably be translated as a phrase similar to
one
> > of the following:
> > 
> > QaghmeywIj tIlaj
> > QaghmeywIj tIlIj
> > HIpIchQo'
> 
> Well done. I like these suggestions. Also, we have all managed 
> to forget our replacement proverbs, which serve the function 
> this beginner seems to be seeking. HIvqa' veqlargh! See Power 
> Klingon for a more lengthy description of how to handle these 
> situations.
>  
> > None of these really work for the common uses of a polite "excuse me".
Here
> > are my suggestions for a few of those.
> > 
> > Sneezing - remain silent
> > Getting someone's attention - a tap on the shoulder, <qaH>, the
person's
> > name, rank or title
> 
> Keep in mind that if the person is armed and focussed on 
> something else, a shoulder tap might not be the best approach. 
> Be judicious and weigh in context when you want to get a 
> Klingon's attention.
> 
> > Asking somebody to move out of your way - just proceeding, a gentle
shove,
> 
> "Gentle" meaning "not hard enough to cause physical injury -- 
> much".
> 
> > <vIH> (clipped form of <yIvIH> or <pevIH>).
> > 
> > > <jItlhIj> (Sorry) (Actually: "I apologize")
> > 
> > This one is fine. The only difference from English is that, like
<qatlho'>,
> > it should not be used for trivialities.
> 
> Remember that in ST5 Klaa was coerced by a superior officer to 
> say, "I apologize." What was the reason? Well, he tried to blow 
> up the Enterprise without authorization from his superiors. 
> Clearly, given the way he approached saying, "I apologize," this 
> kind of blunder is at the lower threshold of the kind of thing 
> for which one should appropriately apologize. If you try to blow 
> up someone's ship and that turns out to be a bad thing, 
> apologize. If you make a minor mistake while trying to set up 
> the barbeque and torch your neighbor's pet and one or two of his 
> children, apologize. If you are cleaning your disruptor and it 
> goes off, taking out the back wall of your neighbor's house, 
> apologize.
> 
> If your error is less important than this, don't apologize. Just 
> give a replacement proverb. {HIvqa' veqlargh} is short, easy to 
> remember and works as well as any of the more involved ones.
>  
> > pagh
> > Beginners' Grammarian
> 
> charghwI' 'utlh

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