tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 19 10:41:35 2000
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Re: titles
De'vID wrote:
: In Klingon, the title goes after the name. Thus, <bob HoD> "Captain Bob"
: But how do I say "Bob's captain"? i.e. if my friend Bob served on a
: ship, and I wanted to refer to his captain whose name I don't know.
Ambiguity is a part of every natural language, but context usually makes things
clear. If you and your listener know that your friend Bob is only a lieutenant
{Sogh}, then {bob HoD} can only mean "Bob's captain". Unless you're making a
joke:
A: meqDaq ghaHtaH bob HoD 'ej ...
B: nuqjatlh? lumunpu''a'? <mon>
A: {bob HoD} was on the bridge and ...
B: What? Have they promoted him? <grin>
Here are a couple of ways off the top of my head to disambiguate:
{bob Sogh HoD} "Lt. Bob's captain" - AFAIK a "Lt. Capt." is not a Klingon rank,
so this should not be misunderstood.
{bob Duj HoD} "the captain of Bob's ship, Bob's ship's captain".
{bob ra'wI'} "Bob's commander/commanding officer" {ra'wI'} is a job
description, not a rank, so this is less likely to be misunderstood. The rank
Commander is {la'}.
You can also say {bob HoD (ra'wI'Daj vIHech}} "Bob's captain (I mean his C.O.)"
or {bob HoD (pongDaj vISovbe'}} "Bob's captain (I don't know his name)".
Or you could just flat out ask: {bob HoD... va! nuq 'oH HoDvetlh pong'e'?}
"Bob's captain... Damn, what's that captain's name?" or {ghaHvaD nuq ponglu'?}
"What do they call him?"
BTW, "Bob" should be transcribed {bab} in Okrand's system; {bob} rhymes with
"probe". Don't get confused by the vowels: Martok is {martaq} and Gowron is
{ghawran}. And Okrand himself once transcribed Robert as {rabe'rIt}.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons