tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 24 18:46:14 1999

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Re: pabpo' peqIm!



jatlh Voragh:
>In general, resist the overpowering beginners' urge to add {-mey} to
>nouns referring to people and just use {-pu'}

toH, not "urge"vam vIghajpu'.

>If anything, a non-Klingon using {-mey} inappriately probably just sounds
>ignorant since aliens aren't expected to understand the subtleties.

Personally, I wouldn't consider correct Type 2 noun suffix use a subtlety. 
(Although I do occasionally forget to use {-Du'} for body parts.)

>Though in the right circumstances,
>the "scattered all about" connotation can be used to good effect:
>
>  muDech petaQmey jay'!
>  Bloody hell, I'm SURROUNDED by p'taks!

choHaghmoH!

>AFAIK Okrand has never shown us the plural form of any epithet like {petaQ},
>{Qovpatlh}, {taHqeq}, etc. -- no doubt because they are mostly used in a
>one-on-one confrontation.  But the {vIttlhegh} you quoted should have given 
you
>the answer:  {qoH} "fool, idiot" is, by Klingon standards, a fairly mild
>epithet itself and has been used in the plural:
>
>  Hagh qoHpu' neH HeghtaHvIS SuvwI'pu'.
>  not qoHpu''e' neH ghIjlu'.
>  HIvbe' qoHpu' neH.

jIQochbe'. Unless, of course, the epithet refers to something that isn't 
capable of language, as in

De'wI'meyvam vImuSqu'! petaQmey bIH jay'!

- DujHoD


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