tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 26 13:12:20 2004

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RE: Using object prefixes with "intransitive" verbs

De'vID jonwI' ([email protected]) 

QeS lagh:
>I think the meaning of "expect" that Paul means is not the same as what
>Heather means. There are two meanings of "expect": "She's expecting a 
>baby".
>If a woman is "expecting" a baby in English, she's not "expecting that she
>will have" one (or "being suspicious" that she will have one), she is
>"awaiting" it. I think this falls right into line in Klingon: {yatlh be';
>ghu loS} means "the woman is pregnant; she's waiting for/expecting the
>baby", whereas {yatlh be'; ghu pIH}, as I understand it, means "the woman 
>is
>pregnant; she suspects that it is a baby". taQ 'e' vIHar.

Well "wait (for)" and "expect" aren't necessarily the same.   You can
certainly expect something without waiting for it, and wait for
something without expecting it.

<HuchwIj vIloS> "I'm waiting for my money"
<HuchwIj vIpIH> "I'm expecting my money"

In the first case, my money may come at some indefinite point in
the future, but I may not have any expectation of getting it any
time soon.  In the second case, I may believe that my money will
be deposited in my mailbox soon, but I may not be sitting by my
mailbox waiting for it.

<pIloS> "We're waiting for you"
<pIpIH> "We're expecting you"

If the hotel manager says the first sentence, it sounds like they've
actually been standing there waiting for you.  Perhaps you said you'd
show up at some time and you were late.   If he says the second
sentence, as they do on the CK tape, then they know you're coming,
but it's not as if they've stopped everything else to await your
arrival.

QeS lagh:
>That's just my opinion, but that's what the definitions point towards in my
>mind. There's nothing wrong that I can see with translating {loS} as
>"expect". We should think about how it might translate from Klingon to
>English, not just the other way around. As I said, I see some rather 
>bizarre
>connotations to the sentence {yatlh be'; ghu pIH}. She suspects maybe a
>targ? {{:D

I see the two as having slightly different connotations:

<yatlh; be'Hom loS> "She's pregnant; she's waiting for a girl"
<yatlh; be'Hom pIH> "She's pregnant; she's expecting a girl"

In the first case, maybe the pregnant woman has already had a few sons
and now wants a daughter.  In the second case, perhaps the doctor
has performed an ultrasound and told her she's carrying a girl, but
she has no preference either way.

--
De'vID

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