tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 04 06:43:38 2000
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Re: Dangerous pun?
This is one of the most interesting items I have read (to me) in this forum. I see exactly what you mean. And since this language was "created," it is hard to blame it on pure coincidence (though that is still entirely plausible). Being October, I can't help but to think of the word in the Thai language for pumpkin... which is "phuc"... then I think of the musical group... "The Smashing Pumpkins" ... I will leave it at that!
K'Pach
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 1:23 PM
Subject: Dangerous pun?
I was looking at the new words from Maltz, and have become very uncomfortable with one of them: {tuqnIgh} 'member of a House'. Why? Since {tuq} means 'House', given the sound of the following element, this becomes a pun that sounds (to me) very much like "house n*gger" (a reference to a token black, or "Uncle Tom" sort of person).
Am I being too sensitive, or reading too much into it? Consider:
a. the word "nig" is a fairly common shortening of the actual N-word.
b. the word {tuqnIgh} does refer to a person (not an object).
c. MO is known for his lexical puns (not that I think this "pun" is intentional).
d. many of the actors who portrayed Klingons are black.
e. having read what I just wrote, would _you_ be comfortable telling Michael Dorn, "So, you're Martok's {tuqnIgh}, see?"
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think it would be a shame to leave the potential for offense when the solution to removing it is so simple. Someone with regular contact with MO should ask him to check again with Maltz and see if they didn't get the spelling of that word wrong. And they should do it fast!
-- ter'eS
http://www.geocities.com/teresh_2000
http://www.geocities.com/weseb_2000