tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 11 10:11:25 2000
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RE: KLBC: Hamlet
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: Hamlet
- Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 11:12:59 -0700
jatlh De'vID:
>>>>>
tlhIngan Hol:
DuSaQ'a'Daq paqvam vIqeng. HochvaD vI'angbej. ghel Hoch, "chay'?
tlhIngan Holna' tu'lu'be'bej, bIqIDqu' neH! qar'a'?" 'ach paqvam
nuDDI', jach 'op, "toH! tlhIngan Holna' tu'lu'bej! Huj ghu'vam,
'ach Daj." 'ach jach latlhpu', "bImaw'qu'. maw'qu' Holvam ghojwI'pu'
je." wejpuH. QamtaHvIS chaH, pa' vIHoH vIneH.
DIvI' Hol:
I brought the book to the university and showed it to everyone.
People asked, "What? There's no Klingon language. You've got to be
kidding, right?" After they look at it, some of them say, "Wow.
There really is a Klingon language. It's wierd, but it's kinda
cool." But, others exclaim, "You're nuts. Only crazy people would
learn this language." Charming (ironic). I should've killed them
where they stood.
My KLBC question is, how do I express "I *ought* to have killed
them..." If I write, <QamtaHvIS chaH, pa' vIHoH>, that sounds like
"I killed them, i.e. I did actually kill them, where they stood".
(btw, is "QamtaHvIS chaH, pa'..." a good way to express "where they
stood"?) So I wrote <... vIHoH vIneH>, but that means "I wanted to
kill them". But "I *ought* to do something" is really a different
concept from "I *want* to do something".
Or do I have to recast: <QamtaHvIS chaH, pa' vIHoH 'e' poQ quvwIj>,
"My honour demanded that I kill them where they stood"?
>>>>>
You have to ask what "should" (or "ought") really means. I interpret it as
meaning that some implicit standard requires the action. Klingon doesn't
really have a word or construction which allows you to do this, so you have
to make the standard explicit, which is exactly what you did. maj.
> [p.s. The part about me wanting to kill people is fictional,
> in case anyone's worried... I have had extensive training,
> not to mention plastic surgery, to enable me to live
> relatively unnoticed amongst Federation citizens.]
bIDel'eghtaHvIS, charghwI' choqawmoHbej.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
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