tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 15 08:00:37 2004

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Re: Klingon WOTD: chong (v)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])

• From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
• Subject: Re: Klingon WOTD: chong (v)
• Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 10:00:21 -0500
• In-reply-to: <[email protected]>

>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Wednesday, September 15, 2004.
>
>Klingon word:   chong
>Part of Speech: verb
>Definition:     be good, excellent

Not sure it's canon, but you can hear it being used by Spice Williams (Vixis):

   chong!
   Brilliant!  (ST5 DVD, extra "making of" feature)

>Additional Notes: KGT.  (slang)

   Literally "be vertical", this word is used to refer to one's intellect, as
   in {chong tlhIngan SuvwI'} ("The Klingon warrior is profound"--literally,
   "The Klingon warrior is vertical"). In its literal sense, this word is the
   opposite of {SaS} ("be horizontal"), and as a slang term, it is an opposite
   as well, as {SaS} is used to mean "be shallow, superficial". It is most
   likely that {chong} took on its slang meaning because of the prior existence
   of {SaS}, which has been used as slang for a much longer time. An equivalent
   meaning may be expressed without slang by using a word such as {Qubchu'}
   ("think perfectly, think clearly"), as in {Qubchu' tlhIngan SuvwI'} ("The
   Klingon warrior thinks clearly"). The word {chong} may also be used as an
   exclamation expressing approval or satisfaction, somewhat like standard
   {maj} ("good"). Thus, one may describe one's feelings about a skillfully 
made
   knife or about an upcoming social event by saying simply {chong} (literally,
   "vertical" but meaning "good, excellent, admirable"). See also {qu'} (liter-
    ally, "be fierce"), another slang term used to express approval. (KGT 
148-49)

   To describe someone as {SaS} is certainly insulting, as in {SaS DIvI' HoD}
   ("The Federation captain is shallow"--that is, literally, "The Federation
   captain is horizontal"). ... A slang word with a meaning similar to {SaS} is
   {natlh} (literally, "consume, use up" [see page 155]). The opposite meaning
   --that is, "profound, thorough" and "good"--is often expressed by the slang
   verbs {chong} (literally, "be vertical") and {qu'} (literally, {be fierce").
   (KGT 164f.)

   Slang terms expressing the opposite of {natlh}--that is, approval--are 
{chong}
   (literally, "be vertical") and {qu'} (literally, "be fierce").    (KGT 155)




-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons 

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