tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 13 13:56:05 2000

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Re: BrokenPhone / ChineseWhispers

On Sat, 11 Mar 2000 08:35:07 EST [email protected] wrote:
> Quick comment wasn't no is a double negative so there for you said there was 
> an explanation

After many repeated readings of this seemingly random 
collection of English words and a little research, I 
finally began to decode it. Since it is exceptionally 
badly written and since it does not quote that which it 
references, as a community service, I'll offer to translate 
it:

***************************************************
I'll offer a quick comment: 

The original message with the subject title 
"BrokenPhone/ChineseWhispers" had the following words 
punctuated as if they constituted a sentence:

"It was somewhat strange about translations, there wasn't 
no explanation."

Besides this actually being two complete sentences 
artificially connected by a comma, the phrase "wasn't no" 
is a double negative. These negations cancel each other 
out, effectively stating that there was an explanation.

***************************************************

Please note that the "Quick comment" was written at least 
as badly as the statement it was criticising. Despite 
the aural similarity, the two words "there" and "for" do 
not function identically to the single word "therefore". 
Also, while some people argue over whether or not one 
should punctuate romanized Klingon, the overwhelming 
majority of English speakers highly recommend punctuating 
English. It really helps people understand what you are 
saying, and if you don't care if people understand what you 
are saying, just talk to the little voices in your head and 
leave the rest of us alone, okay?

DIvI' Hol yajHa'wI'pu'vaD:

loQ jatlhHa' wa' tlhIngan Hol jatlhbe'bogh nuv'e'. ghoHchoH 
latlh 'ach yepHa'chu' 'ej jatlhHa' je. ghIlob ghew rur. 
yIbuSHa'.

charghwI' 'utlh

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