tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 18 12:16:20 2000
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Re: DawI' and -ghach
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: DawI' and -ghach
- Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 15:15:40 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
- Priority: NORMAL
On Fri, 18 Feb 2000 09:55:14 EST David Trimboli
<[email protected]> wrote:
> >From: [email protected]
>
> >{ghunta'ghach} springs to mind, but I don't really like it. {-ghach}, as is
> >well known, is an overused suffix.
>
> /-ghach/ is a seldom-used suffix. Grammarians simply shy away from it for
> fear that beginners will mis-use it, and they justify this by pointing out
> we don't see it often in canon. (We don't see /-beH/ often in canon, but
> everyone's thrilled when they get to use it.)
>
> Don't fear to use /-ghach/. But use it correctly. /ghunta'ghach/ isn't an
> exact match for "software," though I can imagine situations where it might
> work. It might be more accurately translated as a noun meaning "having
> programmed intentionally" or "result of intentional programming."
One of the problems with {-ghach} is that it is difficult
to get everyone to agree on exactly what you are talking
about. For example, if I saw {ghunta'ghach}, I'd think you
were talking about the intentionality of programming. In
other words, programming is an act or a process and you are
speaking about its being done as an intentional goal.
Since a lot of Klingon speakers are computer geeks (and I
can say that because I am one), many of us have wanted a
noun for "program", but Klingon doesn't really have one.
Note that you don't have to go back very far in human
history to predate the existance of this noun having the
meaning we understand today, and given the changes in
technology, it might not be very long before the term
becomes obsolete. Computers may very well not "run" an
executable "file" for another century, let alone for the
timetable of the Star Trek universe.
It may very well be that there is an activity that one has
which gives instructions to a computer, such that we call
it "programming", but there is no actual program. Instead,
it is more like teaching the computer to do something and
the computer then uses what it has learned much as we use
what we have learned. I don't run a file in order to play
fiddle, though I definitely have people teaching me to play
it. Perhaps the language we use to describe these things
will change. Likely this is the case, and we may very well
be struggling to find a noun that will quickly become
obsolete.
De'wI' vIghun. vIra' 'ej 'ang De'wI'. DochHey chu'be'
De'wI'. 'ang neH. vaj DochqoqvamvaD DIp wIpoQbe'.
charghwI'
> SuStel
> Stardate 133.1
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