tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat May 12 06:57:44 2001
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Re: *Paramount* chaw'
- From: "William Bowlsby" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: *Paramount* chaw'
- Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 07:57:32 -0600
A town in Florida a week or so ago made a shopkeeper put a
"loincloth" on a copy of David outside his store because it was deemed
indecent. Mona Lisa sells macaroni and her mug graces every box. And
industrious souls in our midst have claimed Shakespeare as their own,
reworking it in this very language.
Just because one cane do a thing does not mean it should be done that way.
I cannot
bring myself to use the impossibly corny (but Okrandian) chang'eng for
pair, and rewrite my sentences as necessary to avoid it.
because of this statement I belive that you do not understand klingons.
Just because you do not like a paticular word does not mean it should not be
used. It is arrogant to presume that you know better that the person who
created the language what is better. It seems to me that you just want to
make it easier for your english instead of truly trying to work out the
correct way of saying a concept.
This leads me to a question I've never considered before and don't
remember reading about. Is tlhIngan meant to be only a historical
language? Or is it meant to be used? When Worf wants to discuss his
more Terran experiences with a fellow Klingon, do they revert to English
and admit that tlhIngan "has no word for that particular concept?"
Undoubtedly, ancient Klingon WAS unspoiled by weak and inferior Terran
concepts, as Okrand has laid it out. But as Klingons and humans began
to interact more and more, don't you think the Klingons delighted in
insulting and disparaging human ideas and other such flaws? At first
they may have borrowed words, but surely the purists would have
protested the corruption of their language and proposed new Klingon
words instead. Indeed the French today are doing just this, rebelling
against the influx of English words like pizza, blue jeans, and computer
and inventing their own.
A note on this, Klingons would not need to "make up" words, they simply
use the term. It is not a coruption. It is simply the way terrans talk so
we use the words that we do not have terms for ( ie. the afore mentioned
hypocondria.) Worf has explained words that english does not have a concept
of so why not the other way around. Oh, and by the way, computer and pizza
are not english they are borrowed. Just like robot,kindergarten, and a
multitude of others. Klingons are not the French and will NEVER be that way.
One final note, we were all encouraged a few months ago on this list to
adopt a Klingon name if we so desired, even if it did not conform to
tlhIngan Hol spelling conventions or even its alphabet. We didn't have
to clear it with Okrand first. (Nor, I'm sure, would he want us to.)
And if a name is not a word, I'll eat mine.
I have a question for you on this one. What does your name truly mean?
Does it have a true meaning anymore to what and who you are or is it just a
jumble of letters that your parents heard that they liked so they used it
for you? Yes a name is a word. But it does not need to really mean
anything. Worf, Martok, Gowron, etc. etc. etc. A name can be anything or
nothing. A language has to be there for all the hear and enjoy. There may
come a time when a word will be able to be used that does not fit in with
the norm, but first we must understand the lanuguage, not just make
something up because we don't like how it sounds.
Now I do not pretend to know tlhIngan Hol perfectly, or even very well, but
one thing that I am is klingon in my heart. I understand the way they
think, and act. tlhIngan is a language of the soul as well and the mind and
voice. It can convey deep thoughts if you are willing to use it the way it
is set up. If not, you may as well not take that klingon name because you
will never understand what it means to be klinon, and will just be a little
terran trying to be something that you are not.
I do not say I am sorry.
thIngan jiH!!!
qoraQ Doqetlh puqloD
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