tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 09 09:48:43 2003
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Re: Qapla': Noun or Exclamation?
Tyler Fisher:
> >In the dictionary, Qapla' is listed as a noun. Yet in
> >every instance I've seen the word used (canon or
> >otherwise), it's always been treated more like an
> >exclamation.
> >Don't you think that maybe Mark Okrand
> >should make some comment on this?
ghunchu'wI':
>He has. TKW page 83:
> Under most circumstances, a Klingon would never literally say
> "farewell" or "good-bye" upon taking his leave; he would simply
> walk away. If, however, he wanted to show honor or respect, he
> may offer a salute, often verbalized as {Qapla'} (success).
Okrand has also commented elsewhere WRT {Qapla'}:
This is used as an exclamation, a greeting, or a farewell. It means
"Success (to you)." (STC:KLS)
Similarly, at the end of a conversation, there is no Klingon equivalent
for "good-bye" or "catch you later" or "have a nice day". If anything
of a concluding nature is said at all, however, it will certainly be
{Qapla'} ("success"), a customary send-off that has its origins in ship
captains' dispatching their crews on dangerous and, most assuredly,
glorious missions. (KGT 185)
The common Klingon sendoff, {Qapla'}, "success", is another overt signal of
this warrior spirit: success is always possible. (TKW 49)
OKRAND: {Qapla'} means "success", which has become used as a general
hail...
Q: Well, we have to wrap this up now. Tell me, Dr Okrand, how does a
Klingon say goodbye?
OKRAND: He doesn't. When he's finished his business he just leaves.
[sound of chair scraping across floor, sound of footsteps walking away,
sound of door opening, a few more footsteps, door closing]
(Okrand, interviewed on National Public Radio [date?])
At a convention in Halifax, Okrand said that {nuqneH} and {Qapla'} were
equally acceptable: you'd use {Qapla'} when greeting great warriors, but
the general greeting would be {nuqneH} (jejQIb, 10/1996).
Okrand has explained that Qapla' "does not mean the same thing as
'goodbye'" but is used as a sort of salute as warriors go off to battle. (KCD).
Okrand himself uses {Qapla'} as a closing salutation at the end of the
Introduction to TKW, the Introduction to KGT and often at the end of his
letters on startrek.klingon.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons