tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 02 07:32:52 2005
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Re: STX "Save this Stardate"
>> > tera' poH jaj wa', jar wa', jaj loSDIch, DIS wa'-Hut-Hut-chorgh:
>> > HovpoHvetlh: latlh nab yIHutlh.
>> > Save this Stardate: Sunday, January 4, 1998
>> > [Star Trek: The Experience; KLI msg 1999/07#464; This a transcript of the
>> > communique sent 7 Nov 1997.]
lay'tel SIvten:
> >> I would translate "Save this Stardate" as {HovpoHvam yIpol}, i.e. "Keep
> >> this stardate".
Just to play Fek'lhr's advocate for a moment... I don't know if you can
{pol} something as abstract as a stardate. {pol} "keep, save" seems to be
used for keeping tangible objects:
nuqDaq yuch Dapol
Where do you keep the chocolate? TKD
Soj polmeH pa'
food storage [i.e. a storeroom/pantry] KBOP
pollaH pagh polHa'laH
"can either keep it or discard it" (idiom)
Okrand comments:
This is a way to say "The matter is unimportant" or "It does not
make any difference". The phrase is usually used in response to
someone who expresses a concern about something, and the "it" in
the translation refers to the matter under discussion. It is
sometimes phrased in terms of the speaker, as in {vIpollaH pagh
vIpolHa'laH} ("I can either keep it or I can discard it"), or the
listener, as in {DapollaH pagh DapolHa'laH} ("You can either keep
it or you can discard it"). (KGT 116f.)
Although Okrand does say that "the 'it' in the translation refers to the
matter under discussion", the phrase is clearly a physical idiom being used
metaphorically or idiomatically (cp. "a horse of a different color").
A better option might be {choq} "preserve, save" used only once:
wo' choqmeH may' DoHlu'chugh lujbe'lu'
"ending a battle to save an empire is no defeat" TKW
Yet another approach is to look at it in reverse. In addition to {polHa'}
"discard" we have {qIl} "cancel" which *might* imply *{qIlHa'} meaning
something like "reserve, schedule".
ngabwI':
> If I may... Try parsing {HovpoHvetlh} as a "timestamp", not a noun, and see
> if that makes a little more sense.
lay'tel SIvten:
> >> Okay, that does make more sense: "At that stardate be without other
> plans".
> >> Very idiom-atic sounding.
Indeed. Translating "save this stardate" is harder than it looks.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons