tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 09 15:21:30 2001

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RE: KLBC A New Cook, again



p'an:
>>  reH gagh HoH jab
 
taD:
>{HoH} is defined as "kill" and not "be dead", so we can't use it as an
>adjective.
>Instead, if you use {Hegh} ("die") as a verb with the type-9 verb suffix
>{-bogh}, you could say that he always serves "gagh which has died".
 
ghunchu'wI':
: The verb {Qop} "be worn out" would be perfect here.  When used to 
: refer to food, its slang meaning is "be dead".
:   
:   reH qagh Qop jab.

Also from KGT we learn that {qagh HoH} - to "kill gagh" - is an idiom meaning
that a person is doing something counterproductive (cf. KGT 118).  E.g.:

  SuyDuj DaQaw'chugh qagh DaHoH 
  If you destroy the merchant ship, you kill gagh. KGT

Presumably, this idiom is only used with the standard verb {HoH}, not the
slangy {Qop}.

And while we're talking about gagh...

  yIntaHbogh qagh jablu'DI' reH nIvqu' qagh 
  Gagh is always best when served live.  TKW

  "When Captain Klag said this to William Riker, he was speaking
   literally, actually talking about the Klingon delicacy gagh,
   or serpent worms. The same expression, however, is often used
   figuratively to mean that a fight is always better when there
   is a worthy adversary, or that one should want to face real
   challenges." (TKW 141)

Finally, if you socialize with the upper crust, one should know that

  "… in an archaic form of Klingon, {ru'} meant something like 'ready
   to collapse or die.' It was used to describe weakened prey or a
   weakened enemy, but it was also applied to food (particularly fresh
   organs) meant to be eaten while still alive or just recently so,
   the implication being that if it were not eaten quickly, it would
   soon be no good. Upper-class Klingons still use the word in this
   latter sense, referring, for example to {qagh ru'} ('serpent worms
   about to die'). The modern meaning of {ru'}, derived from the earlier
   senses, is 'be temporary.' Except in upper-class settings, {qagh ru'}
   would be interpreted as 'temporary serpent worms,' which would not
   make much sense at all." (KGT 42)

Bon appetit.



-- 
Voragh                       
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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