tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 12 17:24:37 2001
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Re: The Year of the Horse
From: "Steven Boozer" <[email protected]>
> SuStel:
> >But it's not the Year of the Sark. Nor is it the Year of the Camel.
It's
> >the Year of the Horse. Since horses are not native to any Klingon
planets,
> >nor have we ever heard of Klingons using horses that I can recall, it's
not
> >surprising they have no known word for them. What's the English
translation
> >of "sark"? It's not "horse...." Use the word "horse" if you mean
"horse."
>
> Actually, the original poster should use the Japanese word or kanji for
"horse"
> - whatever that is - as he was putting together various translations of
"This
> is the year of the horse" for a Japanese company greeting card.
Ah, but a kanji and a horse are the same thing. A /Sargh/ and a horse are
not.
> ghunchu'wI':
> : I'd take a cue from "Tokvirian Skink" and "Ceti Eel" and "Tika Cat" and
> : "Denebian Ox". To refer to the Terran animal known natively as a horse,
> : I suggest the Klingon {tera' Sargh}. So what if a Sark is not a horse?
I think of a Klingon coming to Earth and translating the following:
President's Day
Qang jaj
Christmas
QI'lop
Jesus
qeylIS
Napoleon
qeylIS
Christopher Columbus
qeylIS
car
Duj
mile
qelI'qam
gorilla
mughato'
horse
Sargh
Yeah, you get it. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. But it's still wrong.
You wanna use /Sargh/? Go ahead and use /Sargh/. Just remember that you're
really saying "Year of the /Sargh/." No amount of "close enough" will
change that. If you don't MIND that it really says "Year of the /Sargh/,"
go ahead and use it.
> IIRC the original poster decided to go with:
>
> Sargh DIS 'oH tera' DISvam'e'.
>
> But, in order to satisfy any quibblers, we could shift the {tera'}:
>
> tera' Sargh DIS 'oH DISvam'e'
I agree with ghunchu'wI' and Voragh: if you're going to do it, follow the
"an alien because I name its planet of origin" idea. "Earth sark" makes it
clearer than just "sark." A little.
Let me put it one more way. If I were trying to write a science fiction
novel, Star Trek or no, and I casually mentioned that the "Yaggillithian
hunters spotted the goorracingang beasts one oompu away and charged after
them on their horses," you might take objection. "Where'd the horses come
from?" you'd demand to know. If I'd said "charged after them on their
mounts," you wouldn't have a problem.
SuStel
Stardate 1949.1