tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Mar 30 22:53:01 2000

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Politeness (was Re: tlhIngan-Hol Digest 30 Mar 2000 09:00:00 -0000 Issue 1497)

jIjatlh:

> Klingons do not say <qatlho'> in these situations. When speaking
> Klingon, it is considered polite to be concise, while it is
> considered rude to waste time on pleasantries. If someone opens
> the door for you, the polite response among Klingon speakers
> is to go through it; if someone gives you a gift, the polite
> response is to use it as intended. Use <tlho'> only when you
> want to express real gratitude.

jang lay'tel SIvten. jatlh:
> But I'm not Klingon, nor do I speak to Klingons.  I will use
> the language as an educated human, to other humans.  If a
> Klingon would consider my usage rude, the same can often be
> said of him when he speaks English.  I adopt the language,
> not the culture.

My attitude is much the same as yours - I have no desire to *be* a Klingon,
or even generally act like one (although I do like the weapons). But the
line between language and culture is a little murkier than you might think.
In Spanish, it's quite rude to use the familiar second person form with
someone you don't know very well (in much of the Spanish speaking world,
anyway). English doesn't even *have* different formal and familiar second
person forms, but when foreigners learn Spanish, they learn the difference
and when each is appropriate. This is most certainly a cultural thing, but
it is expressed through language, and people not generally adopting the
culture of a place like Mexico will still adopt bits and pieces of it when
they speak Spanish.

Similarly, Klingon doesn't have pleasantries like "please" and "thank you".
It does have the word <tlho'>, but using <tlho'> when someone passes you the
salt would be just as inappropriate, even among polite Klingon speaking
humans, as referring to your Spanish teacher as "Tú" rather than "Usted".

When learning any language, you have to accept a little of the cultural
baggage that comes with it.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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