tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 02 13:59:11 2004
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Re: A fun conjectural question
> Qapla', jawwI' bangwI' je.
> Success my lord and my love. ST3
Se'noj le'umaS:
>>Strange, is this a jatlhHa'? I would have though joHwI' would be more
>>correct than jawwI'... what is the difference between the two?
Both are correct, but {joH] is more commonly heard. Okrand on {jaw}:
The leader of a house is afforded the title {joH}, usually translated
as "Lord". This title is also used to refer to his wife, translated as
"Lady". ... When addressing the head of a house, a member of a lower
class may use either the name plus {joH} or else {joH} plus {-wI'} ...
{joHwI'} ("my Lord, my Lady"). This title also has an alternate form,
{jaw}, which is used from time to time with no known difference in
meaning or connotation, though {joH} is heard far more frequently.
[KGT 40f, 198]
In the ST3 novelization, Valkris was described as a member of a
subculture/race known as the *Rumaiy*; the dominant Klingon culture is
*Kumburanya*. (ST3 novel)
Actually, in real life this was a "Valkris-ism": a backfit by Okrand for
the actress playing Valkris' mispronunciation of {joHwI'} in ST3. She
mispronounced it in another line:
HISlaH jawwI'.
I have, my lord. ST3
BTW, this pronunciation of the Klingon aspirated /H/ as the fairly weak
English /h/ is fairly common among actors who haven't been coached by
Okrand and are forced to figure out on their own how to pronounce the words
the Paramount writing staff look up in TKD and use in the scripts. It's
useful to keep this in mind when trying to figure out what the actors are
saying.
I'm not sure why this actress made so many mistakes, since the actors for
ST3 drilled by Okrand for 2-4 weeks. Was she a last-minute replacement or
just exceptionally bad at foreign dialogue?
> reH bang larghlu'
> Love is always smelled. ("A loved one is always smelled"). TKW
>>Ew.
The verb meaning "smell"--that is, "sense odors" ... is {largh}. The
word for "emit a smell" is {He'}. This does not necessarily imply a
bad smell. Odors are not considered "good" or "bad"; they are just
odors. There may be a subjective evaluation of the source of the odor,
however. [KGT 86]
Also, keep in mind that the Klingon sense of smell is more sensitive than
that of humans which, together with the TKW proverb, suggests that Klingons
are more susceptible to the pheromones of their mates than we are.
> HIghoS, parmaqqay. qangagh vIneH.
> Come here, par'Machkai. I want to mate with you.
>
>though it probably doesn't sound as crude in Klingon.
>>I'll bet it does sound just as crude, though it's probably more socially
>>acceptable than it is in our wimpy culture. ngaghnIS Hoch }};-)
That's exactly my point. What's socially acceptable is, by definition, not
crude.
FWIW, Worf always referred to having sex or making love as "mating with",
even when speaking to K'eylahr. (I seem to recall him asking someone,
"Have you mated with him yet?") In fact, IIRC he always referred to her as
his mate, not his wife. Hmm... I wonder whether Worf had learned the
dictionary translation of {ngagh}, not realizing how that sounded in
Federation Standard. <g>
Voragh:
> > If "hot {parmaq}" means nothing to a Klingon, you could use {vaQ} "be
> > aggressive":
> >
> > parmaq vaQ vInej.
> > I want aggressive *par'Mach*.
lay'tel SIvten:
>Or perhaps {parmaq nong vInej} for "I want (seek) passionate *par'Mach*"
Who knows? I must point out, though, that our only examples of {nong}
refer to people, not things or concepts:
nong; vulqangan rur
passionate as a Vulcan KGT (a unique example of an ironic simile!)
maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'
We fight, we love, and then we kill. (Anthem)
Let's hope it's always in that order! <g>
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
![[KLI Member]](/pics/KLImemberbutton.gif "[KLI Member]"){kind=small}