tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 22 13:11:58 2001

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re: HochlIj waw'pu' maH wIghaj

SarrIS, 'ay'mey vIyajbe'bogh Damughta'.

> I can understand why this writer chose to remain anonymous. The Klingon is 
> REALLY BAD. The subject header is impenetrable gibberish. I'm guessing it 
> was supposed to be {Hoch waw'meylIj DIjeyta'}

chu'wI' law' Hol qab law' Holvetlh qab puS.  yItIchQo'.  Daj 'oH.  SIbI'
vIlaDDI' jIpIH.  nub ghunchu'wI'.  tojwI' ghaH.  chaq chIch nov (Korean?)
Hol mughHa'lu'bogh rur.

pongbe'lu'wI':
>> jar cha'SaD wa'vatlh wa'Daq
>> taghtaH veS
>
charghwI'
>A year is not a place. It doesn't take {Daq}. {taghtaH} is an interesting 
>verb and suffix combination worthy of philosophical exploration. Likely, 
>{taghtaH veS} suffers from word order reversal, since most likely {veS} is 
>the process which is begun and not the entity beginning an unnamed process.

The suffix -Daq isn't called for here, but it is used at all, and it is put
where it would go, if it belonged there.  A common rote translation is to
use -taH for English -ing.  So perhaps "In the year 2101, the war was
beginning." was intended. We both assumed 2101 is a year rather than a
month, but it could be a month, for a sense of alien-ness.  The
substitution of jar (month) for DIS (year) is not an alphabetical lookup
error and not an error a UT sophisticated enough to create this would make.
 It is either a memory error -- implying an author who has a memorized
vocabulary -- or a deliberate error, to introduce strangeness to the piece.

>> HoD: nuq qaS?
>
>Reversed word order.

And the natural mistake for a beginner, and the only way in which to
scramble a two-word sentence.

>> yaS: jorwI' macherbeHlu'pu'
>
> {ma-lu'} is a meaningless combination of affixes. The {-beH} requires that 
> the subject of the verb is a device. I'm guessing that the intended text 
> was something like {jorbeH jan. wIcherta'.}

Now what's the chance of someone who had no clue getting both -beH and -lu'
on any verb in the right order?  If they've read TKD closely enough to
realize -beH is called for, they probably can sort out wI-/ma-  Suffix
order is correct.  A prefix has been used at all, and from the right row
but wrong column. In English translation, verbs with -lu' have a more
stilted feel than direct subjects.  I think this has been used (and again
below) to convey the stilted feeling of a Korean(?) toy manufacturer's
literature.

>> yaS: marI'lu'
>
>Again, {ma-lu'} is gibberish. {wIrI'lu'}.

But consistent.

>> HoD: nuq !
>> yaS: chu' jIH'a'
>
>I'm guessing the word order is wrong. {jIH'a' chu'} could be clipped for 
>{jIH'a' yIchu'!} Right now, it means something like "The major display 
>engages (something)."

Yep.  "On screen" or "activate the screen" (for the big screens on the
bridge).

>> HoD: SoH !!
>> CATS: nuqneH qaHpu'
>> CATS: HochlIj waw'pu' maH wIghaj
>
>Gibberish.

Not really.  
HoD: You!! (in surprise at seeing the CATS on the screen)
CATS: Hello, gentlemen.  (No, nuqneH doesn't mean that, but a BG has seen
it like that a thousand times.  Note the correct plural.  Could be a
mistype for qoHpu'.)
CATS: We have all your bases (As you surmised from the subject of the
message).

Again we have a correct suffix, placed on the wrong word, and an incorrect
suffix that is not a common beginner error.  Pretending this is a beginner
who has just looked up the -pu' from qaHpu', can he have forgotten this
quickly that there was a choice in plurals, and that the one he chose was
for people?  Or is he throwing in a random incorrect plural.  Personally I
would have used the body parts plural -Du' to make it sound really weird,
but perhaps the document being translated isn't *that* weird.

>> CATS: QIH DaghoS
>
>This is perhaps an interesting way of saying, "You are on the path to 
>destruction."

With the ghoS grammar exception intact.  I think the translator couldn't
resist getting this one right, as it's so elegant.

>> HoD: Dajatlh nuq !!
>
>Either this is a direct quote to the effect of: "You say it, 'What?'" or 
>the word order or prefix is hosed. Better to just say {nuqjatlh?}

Hosed word order yet a prefix selected.  

>> CATS: DuHbe' SutaH poHraj yIta'
>
>More jibberish. I see three main verbs in one sentence with no grammar to 
>explain it. The general sense is something like {SutaHlaHbe'.} Note that 
>the speaker keeps slipping back and forth between talking to an individual 
>and a group.

Slipping into literal translation mode, "Impossible ...  you (plural)
endure ... your time ... do it."    

My first theory here was that the CATS are law enforcement and the time
referred to is jail time.  The HoD and yaS have been caught in the act of
preparing to blow something up.  But the following line of presumably evil
laughter confuses me.

>> CATS: HA HA HA HA
>> HoD: Hoch "zig" yIteq
>
>"Take off each zig!"? This is perfectly grammatical and meaningless.

As are many far eastern translations.  

>> HoD: nuq bota' boSov
>
>More gibberish. Two main verbs and a question word as direct object with no 
>grammar to hold them together. Wild guess here: {nuq bota'pu'?} "What have 
>you accomplished?"

"You know what you're doing."

>> HoD: "zig" vIH
>
>"A moving zig"?

Or "the zig moves."

>> HoD: ruv'a'vaD
>
> Great justice is the indirect object of a missing sentence.

"In the name of Justice!"

In immediate (we're talking 14 minutes) follow up to that posting,
ghunchu'wI' provided an explanation.  It's a translation of some sort of
dialogue from a gaming console.

ghunchu'wI'
> I'm sufficiently out of the console gaming world to understand this at all,
> but I do recognize it, and I am astonished by how "well" it has been
> translated.

So I set out to find what exactly ghunchu'wI' was commending himself for.
(wa'logh mutojchu' ghunchu'wI'.  jIQeHbe', mutoj 'e' vItIv, 'a DaH vIghuH). 

And I found this:

http://www.toaplan.com/zerowing/zerowing_story.html

I still don't know what it is, but you have to admit that it's a close
translation.  Mystery solved.  DaH yIDIS.
Qov

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