tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jun 05 05:22:17 2004

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Re: [KLBC] "I love you" word (sentence) order

Scott Willis ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thorwald Peeters" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: [KLBC] "I love you" word (sentence) order


>
> <quote who="Scott Willis">
>
> > You will find yourelf positively shocked at the amount of bad Klingon
> > floating around out there. }}: )
>
> I will try not to be shocked and instead will use my own judgement and
> that of my fellow klingonists to create and use klingon sentences...
> And maybe even correct one or two of those errors.
>
>
> > But there are alternatives. I have seen both {qaparHa'} "I like you" and
> > (my ersonal fave) {qamuSHa'} "I un-hate you".
>
> I must admit that I would prefer {qaparHa'} to {SoHvaD bang vIghajtaH} for
> the simple reason that the former is short and direct.
>
> I do have one more question though... seeing as both {par} and {muS} are
> verbs conveying negative emotions, would it not be better to use {-be'},
> as -Ha' carries the sense of something being changed, (undo/done wrong)
> and -be' simple means "oposite" (Hate, unhate). where with {muSHa'} you
> would have to hate first, with {muSbe'} you just *not* hate...

To me, this is exactly what makes these utterances "Klingon". Klingons don't
assume you like something, they assume a dislike. ({par} is the base verb,
with {parHa'} as the derived verb. Same with {Qoch}. Disagreement is
assumed.) While it is certainly grammatically correct to say {qamuSbe'} "I
do not hate you", to me, it fails to capture the spirit of the opposite end
of the spectrum. If I didn't like someone I worked with, I would say
{qamuSbe'} "I do not hate you", but that doesn't necessarily mean I like
them, either.

But, in the end, it is your choice. }}: )

--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian,
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org/
HovpoH 701626.9

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