tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 14 17:54:19 2000

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RE: KLBC <chyrano berjeraq>

jatlh J:
>>> moHbe' ghaH 'ach Quch Hab ghaj.

jIjatlh:
>> In English, it's natural to say "he has a smooth forehead", but in 
>> Klingon, the natural way is "his forhead is smooth". The most famous 
>> curse in Klingon mu'qaD veS is <Hab SoSlI' Quch>, which Okrand 
>> translated into English as "Your mother has a smooth forehead".

>>> por chIS ghaj mIvDaj.

>> maj.

jatlh Qov 'utlh:

> Similarly to the /Quch Hab/, I balked at this one.  If the white leaf 
> is a picture, then I would write /mIvDaq por chIS cha'lu'/.  If an 
> actual leaf, then /mIvDaq por chIS tu'lu'/, or /lanlu'ta'/.  The 
> /ghaj/ made me think of the helmet's HAVING of the leaf, and 
> wondering about that, rather than the leaf was there.

I had a paragraph similar to this in my response, but I deleted it before I
sent it. The message was getting long, and it didn't seem quite as awkward
as the other example.

Qov is of course correct - <por chIS ghaj mIvDaj> could be phrased better. I
will say, though, that I think <cha'> works best in either case - a picture
or an actual leaf. The definition of <cha'> - "show, display" - can be used
with an object just as it can with a picture, and it describes what the leaf
is doing there perfectly. In KGT, the idiom <mIvDaq pogh cha'> is certainly
talking about a real glove.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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