tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 11 20:35:49 2001
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RE: quraq's saying of the day
Minor points below:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Boozer [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Friday, February 09, 2001 2:43 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: quraq's saying of the day
>
>
> quraq wrote:
> : qoDDaq tlhe' jej'a' mIn
> : The sharper eye turns inward
>
> Since you've removed this from KLBC, I'll comment on your grammar.
>
> {jej'a'} means "is it sharp?" You're confusing the augmentative
> NOUN suffix
> {-'a'} with the interrogative VERB suffix {-'a'}. Rephrase this as
>
> qoDDaq tlhe' mIn jej.
> The sharp eye turns inward.
>
> I think this is perfectly fine as it is, but if you really want to augment
> {jej} to render "sharper", we have a couple of options.
>
> First, you could use the {A Q law' B Q puS} formula for comparing
> A to B in
> terms of the quality Q. First thing you need to figure out is:
> What are you
> comparing A (mIn) to? I.e. sharper than what? We could avoid
> being specific
> and compare it to everything else {Hoch}, which results in a Klingon
> superlative:
>
> qoDDaq tlhe' mIn jej law' Hoch jej puS.
> The sharpest eye turns inward.
qoDDaq tlhe'bogh mIn jej law' Hoch jej puS.
> but this feels a little awkward.
Mostly because of the forgotten {-bogh}, but you have a point.
> A second method is to use the verb suffix {-qu'} - which needn't always be
> translated "very" - to emphasize {jej}:
>
> qoDDaq tlhe' mIn jejqu'.
>
> I'm also not sure what it means for an eye to "turn" within. Instead of
> translating literally, consider the verbs {nej} "look for, seek,
> search for";
> {bej} "watch"; and of course {legh} "see". Of these, I prefer the first:
>
> qoDDaq nej mIn jejqu'.
> The sharper eye looks/searches within.
I was about to make exactly the same suggestions. I also thought about
{Qeq}, though we are assuming that the poetic imagery implied works in
Klingon language/culture and that we are not merely talking about someone
looking cross-eyed, or someone carefully making a visual examination of the
exposed innards of bodies opened..
> : This proverbs that a klingons instinct or preception is often
> better then
> : the eyes themselves. For in a DS9 episode Worf says a Klingon
> warrior knows
> : when someone has the killing look, almost like an instinct.
>
> Duj tIvoqtaH
> Always trust your instincts. TKD
>
> DujlIj yIvoq
> Trust your instincts. TKW
>
pIj ngaDHa' DujwIj. My instincts haven't really been all that dependable of
late.
>
> --
> Voragh
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
SarrIS