tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 26 14:38:32 2004
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Re: Klingon WOTD: na' (v)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Sunday, January 25, 2004.
>
>Klingon word: na'
>Part of Speech: verb
>Definition: be sure, definite, positive, certain
>
>Additional Notes:
>KGT. (slang). See also {bej}.
The word {na'} literally means "be salty", but its slang usage is
probably influenced by the noun suffix {-na'} ("definite"), which
is used when the speaker wants to indicate that he or she is
absolutely sure about what is being said (compare {maghwI'}
"traitor", and {maghwI'na'} "definite traitor, without a doubt a
traitor"). The slang word, a verb, is used in such constructions
as {jIna'} ("I am positive [about something I just said]"; lite-
rally, "I am salty"] and {bIna''a'} ("Are you sure?"; literally,
"Are you salty?"). These kinds of meanings may be expressed
without using slang by employing such verbs as {Honbe'} ("not
doubt") or {Sovbej} ("know for certain"). See also {bej}, a slang
term with similar meaning. [KGT 156-57]
Unlike the verb {na'} ("be salty"), which has an identical slang
meaning (see below), the verb {bej} may be used when there is an
object: {HIvrup 'e' vIbej} ("I am positive they're ready to attack";
literally, "I watch that they're ready to attack"). The notions
expressed by {bej} can be conveyed without slang with a word such
as {Honbe'} ("not doubt") or by making use of the verb suffix {-bej},
as in {HIvrupbej} ("They're certainly ready to attack"). [KGT 145]
In my notes I have the pre-KGT "unofficial slang" expression *{DIch vIghaj}
"I'm sure, I'm certain" which my notes say was coined on the List by -
appropriately enough - Krankor. <g> (See his discussion of slang in the
current "HolQeD".) This was, of course, modeled on the canonical
expression {pIch vIghajbe'} "It's not my fault" in TKD's List of Useful
Expressions.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons