tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 04 08:34:40 2004

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Re: Possible Pun

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

Tyler Fisher wrote:
>I think I may have finally found the pun behind {cha'par} (a bird noted 
>for its song). As you know,
>{par} is the Klingon verb for "dislike". The English word "nay" is used as 
>a negative vote-that is,
>expressing dislike. So {cha'par} could mean "two nays" or "nay nay", which 
>ryhmes with "ne-ne", a goose
>native to Hawaii.

This goose is "noted for its song"?  Are there any other Hawaiian puns in 
the glossary?

>I know that when it comes to puns you shouldn't overthink it, but this was 
>something I just couldn't ignore.

I think the jury is still out on this one.

As for my own theory... if we check the list of known puns at 
</wiki/index.php?Puns%20in%20the%20Vocabulary%20of%20tlhIngan%20Hol>www.kli.org/wiki/index.php?Puns%20in%20the%20Vocabulary%20of%20tlhIngan%20Hol 

we find four other birds whose names begin with {cha'-}:cha'bIp
(n) type of bird (speedy) [Klingon cha'=two, thus cha'bIp is "twice beep." 
In the cartoons, the Roadrunner always said "beep beep!"]

cha'Do'
(n) type of bird (about which little is known) [possibly a reference to the 
dodo bird. cha'=two, thus cha'Do' is "two dos." Since the dodo has been 
extinct for centuries, there's probably very little we know about it.]

cha'naS
(n) type of bird (digs up bugs to eat) [this is a real longshot, but the 
final syllable might be an acronym of "National Audubon Society"]

[Hmm... I think "nosh nosh" might be closer to the mark, particularly since 
eating is mentioned.]

cha'qu'
(n) type of bird with a noisy, repetative cry [this is probably a reference 
to cuckoo birds. cha'=two, thus cha'qu' is "twice coo."]
Based on this pattern, we might expect "parpar" to form the basis of the 
joke, but I can't think of any bird with this name.  (In Hebrew - which we 
can assume that the Jewish Okrand is familiar with, even if he doesn't 
actually speak it - *parpar* means "butterfly", which is clearly irrelevant 
here.)

Alternatively, after creating so many other bird names with {cha'-}, Okrand 
may have just decided to stick {cha'-} onto {par} (from "PARtridge"?) 
without it meaning "two".  (In fact, this may have been a double joke, 
since it's become a cliche that /cha/ is one of the Paramount writers' 
favorite syllables in "Paramount {Hol}", the non-Okrandian gibberish that 
passes for Klingon in some episodes.)



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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