tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 17 11:51:12 2001
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Re: KLBC: Turning a verb into a noun
Jonas Karlsson:
> By the way, why is {-ghach} unpopular? Is it because you are forced to use
> it with a suffix, or some other reason?
SuStel:
: How would I say "He accepts the discommendation"? "Discommend" is /naDHa'/,
: but you can't say */naDHa' laj/ "he accepts the discommendation." /quvHa'/
: can't be the object of /laj/. You need /-ghach/:
:
: naDHa'ghach laj.
: He accepts the discommendation.
In fact Okrand came up with {-ghach} precisely to translate "discommendation",
which was first heard on TNG. That's why it's in the Appendix to TKD, which
includes material from ST6 and the first 1 or 2 seasons of TNG.
: So when speaking to the people who have been studying Klingon for a long
: time, expect many of them to shy away from /-ghach/. It's been so abused by
: some that they will avoid it simply to prevent others from thinking they can
: misuse it.
wa'logh lIchopchugh, cha'logh bIHojchoH.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Because so many of us mis- and over-used {-ghach}, people are extra cautious
about using it and, as Sustel pointed out, go out of their way to avoid it.
(BTW has anyone noticed that there's no verb "be shy" in Klingon! Only {Hoj}
"be cautious". <g>)
: But really, there's no reason why you can't use /-ghach/
: whenever you want to. I find it to be a VERY cool suffix sometimes, and
: very powerful.
I agree. Be careful however not to over-use it. Even including the examples
Okrand supplied in his explanations of {-ghach} in TKD and that HolQeD article,
{-ghach}ed nouns are a miniscule fraction of known Klingon nouns. In fact,
Okrand has only used a {-ghach}ed noun once in a complete sentence:
qaStaHvIS wej puq poHmey vav puqloDpu' puqloDpu'chaj je
quvHa'moH vav quvHa'ghach
The dishonor of the father dishonors his sons and their
sons for three generations. TKW
I tend to consider {-ghach}ed nouns to be the Klingon equivalent of fancy,
pedantic/scholarly, $10 words in English. I.e. if you want to translate
something like "antidisestablishmentarianism", {-ghach} is ideal.
: But if you DO start to misuse it, I guarantee the /-ghach/ police will hunt
: you down.
Stand your ground and be ready to defend yourself. Avoid being {Hoj; tera'ngan
rur} "cautious as a Terran". As Worf advised in CK: "Speak Klingon boldly. Do
not be meek or hesitant."
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons