tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 08 07:35:08 2000
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re: bridge (RE: pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese ?)
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: re: bridge (RE: pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese ?)
- Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 10:32:17 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)
- Priority: NORMAL
jatlh De'vID:
>> 'e' DaHarchugh, SoHvaD "USS Brooklyn" meH vIngev.
>> [corrected]
> = If you believe that, I'll sell you the bridge to the USS Brooklyn.
> cha' puH chev bIQtIq. bIQtIq DungDaq qach tu'lu'. cha'
> puH rar qach.
> chay' qachvam vIngu'?
> = Just wondering, but how would I say "bridge" in the
> sense of a structure connecting two land masses separated
> by a river?
We have no Klingon word for that. For that matter, we don't
know if Klingons have bridges that run across rivers. We
can assume that they have rivers, since we have a word for
that, but we've never seen a Klingon bridge, and we've
never seen a Klingon land-based vehicle. They may use
hovercraft and just drive across the river. They may prefer
to tunnel under rivers. Maybe they just use ferries.
Maybe they use transporters. Maybe they just swim and
consider those who want a road across the river to be
sissies.
My main point here is that if you were having a real
conversation with someone speaking Klingon and you wanted
to describe a Teran bridge across a river, you'd either
find a way of describing the bridge or you'd use the Fed
Standard word for it, assuming that the person you are
talking to understands the concept. This would not be a
major problem.
If, however, you just want to be able to deliver a
succinct, witty remark about selling someone the Brooklyn
Bridge, realize that you are using the wrong language.
Likely, in Klingon, it just wouldn't be funny.
It would be like speaking English and saying, "Are warriors
red? No! They are GREEN! Mwahahahahahahahahahaaa..." In
other words, even among the rarified atmosphere of
weirdness that exists among those who speak Klingon, you'd
be weird. Probably by accident, which is far less cool than
being weird on purpose, which is what the rest of us are
doing.
> --
> De'vID
SarrIS