tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 23 06:25:21 1999

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Re: RE: wej vIghro'meywIj

quljIb,

The problem you've accidentally stumbled into is that Klingons, 
having few words to describe color, use {rur} to be more 
specific about the color of that which is being described. The 
typical form is to say what color something is, and then say 
that it resembles something of the more specific hue you want 
to indicate.

The problem with the way YOU state it is that you are saying 
that it has a color, then saying that it resembles something 
else while your INTENT is to say that it resembles it IN 
PATTERN, not IN COLOR. So, where is the clue for us to know that 
you mean for us to be looking at the pattern and not the color?

Well, you don't give us a clue. You just expect us to think they 
way you thought when you were writing.

Realize that {rur} is a very flexible verb. One thing resembles 
another. Maybe they are of similar size or color or shape or 
pattern or breed or mood or verbosity or character or fuel 
mileage or sharpness or strength or lineage or ... There are a 
lot of different ways that things can resemble each other.

The most natural way to specify what you mean by {rur} is to 
preceed it with a sentence talking about the quality which is 
similar between the things being compared. Unfortunately, we 
don't have a Klingon word for "pattern" yet. We have very few 
words to talk about images or textures.

If I had to say this, I'd probably come up with:

vIghro'vam veD vIleghDI' ngemHey vIleghlaw'. ngemna'Daq 
vIHHa'DI' vIghro'vam So'choHlu'.

charghwI' 'utlh

On Mon, 22 Mar 1999 17:00:02 -0800 (PST) david joslyn 
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Mar 1999, Steven Boozer wrote:
> 
> > quljIb:
> > > Doq nguv 'ej ngem rur, 'ach chIs qamDu'Daj HughDaj je.
> >  
> > pagh:
> > : <nguv> doesn't work here, and the sentence works without it. I have 
> > : no idea how s/he (or 'oH in Klingon) can be <Doq> while resembling 
> > : a forest. Did you mean something other than <ngem>?
> >  
> > quljIb:
> > > Well, she [Raggedy Anne-"Rags" for short] is a brown, taby Maine Coon, 
> > > of a variety sometimes called the Siberian Forest Cat (not officially
> > > recognized by international breeders). The only way I could think of 
> > > to convey "brown taby" was to say "she is {Doq} and resembles (is 
> > > coloured like) the forest."  
> > 
> > pagh:
> > : The only colors I can think of when I hear "forest" are the beautiful deep
> > : green of a natural forest, and the darker green color decorators call
> > : "forest green" and apply to carpet and the like. Neither of these is even
> > : remotely <Doq>. 
> > 
> > DloraH:
> > : Doq, ngem rur - Doq like a forest - brown (when viewed from inside
> > : the forest; no light, no green)
> > 
> > Or some types of Terran forests, when the {pormey} (leaves) turn all shades
> > of {Doq} in the Fall.
> >  
> > pagh:
> > : n...Klingon happens to have a single
> > : word - <Doq> - which covers a wide range of colors, from bright pink to dark
> > : brown. Everything in that range is <Doq>. Although the color words in
> > : Enlgish are more specific, there is considerable variety even here-think
> > : of the difference between "ice blue" and "midnight blue". Do you have
> > : trouble calling anything in that range just "blue"?
> [...snip...]	
> > : I would probably describe your cat as <Doq 'ej Hurgh>. There is a need to
> > : differentiate your cat from, say, Morris (who is <Doq 'ej wov>), but that's
> > : about it.
> > 
> [a lot of (unneeded) stuff on colours in tlhIngan snipped]
> > -- 
> > Voragh                       
> > Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
> > 
> > 
> Look I ment to say "my cat, Rags, is brown and resembles (has pattern on
> her fur like) the forest", IOW she's a brown tabby. To quote the proverb:
> "If I did not want it to be heard, I would not have said it." Lot's of
> animals have markings resembling their natural suroundings. As an example,
> here's how I would describe a tiger to a Klingon:
> 
> {vIghro"a' Doq 'ej wov 'ej tIr rur} - a great cat that is light {Doq}
> (orange) and resembles the grass.
> 
> Could anything be more clear?
> 
> 
> quljIb
> (who really, really doesn't like literal thinkers!)

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