tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Feb 12 19:10:39 2000
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KLBC tongue in cheek
- From: "Eric Andeen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: KLBC tongue in cheek
- Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 20:20:14 -0700
- Importance: Normal
jatlh J:
> At first I thought this would be straightforward -
> qevpobDaq jat = tongue at/in cheek.
> but then I thought this might be confused with a surgery mishap.
Not only that, a noun with a type five suffix can't really modify another
noun. Type five suffixed nouns have to go at the beginning of a sentence,
and they modify the whole sentence. Put your phrase <qevpobDaq jat> into a
whole sentence:
qevpobDaq jat bachlu' - The tongue was shot into the cheek. In this case the
tongue is the projectile.
> qevpobDaq lan jat = tongue placed in/at cheek.
> Is this free of surgical malpractice?
Aye, but not grammatical malpractice :) <lan> is "place", rather than "be
placed", so <jat> needs to be the object:
qevpobDaq jat lan - He placed the tongue in the cheek.
However, keep in mind that this is an English language idiom that makes
absolutely no sense in Klingon. Ask yourself how many English speakers would
figure out what <quSDaq bIba'> - "you're sitting in a chair" means. A native
Klingon speaker would just stare at you wondering what you're talking about
(or worse). Even some native English speakers who are fairly good with
Klingon would have trouble - when you get to the point of speaking and
understanding Klingon directly, without an intermediate translation step,
throwing an English idiom into the mix forces you to switch gears.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian