tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 12 08:01:06 2005
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Re: Klingon WOTD: Quj (noun)
This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Wednesday, January 12, 2005.
Klingon word: Quj
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: game
Never used in canon.
Homonyms:
Quj (verb) - play a game
The object of {Quj} is the name of the game:
DaH ghew yIQuj
Cricket, please. (RT)
Cf. also {qaD} "challenge" and {'ov} "compete".
Do not confuse {Quj} "play a game} with {chu'} "play (a musical
instrument)" or {reH} "play (in general; e.g. children playing).
Some relevant vocabulary when playing games:
"To win" a competition is Qap. (If it's a decisive or particularly
gratifying victory, they'd say {Qapchu'}, even though that's a bit
redundant... To a Klingon, to win is to function perfectly. The
opposite notion, "lose", is commonly {luj}, also meaning "fail."
(HolQeD 2.4)
Note that {luj} is also used to mean "lose" (as in "lose at a game").
To say "I lose" is {jIluj}; to say "I lose in a big way" is {jIlujqu'}
or {jIlujchu'}. (KGT 165-66)
{pe''egh} is to "keep score" (lit. "cut oneself"):
It comes from an old Klingon habit of keeping track of accomplish-
ments by making small cuts on one's skin, usually on the face, as
a tally. (TKW 135)
potlhbe'chugh yay qatlh pe''eghlu'?
If winning is not important, then why keep score? TKW
Examples of known Klingon games are {qa'vaQ} *qa'vak* (a traditional game
where one throws a {ghIntaq} spear through a rolling a half-meter hoop;
seen in TNG "Birthright II") and {qeylIS mInDu'} "Eyes of Kahless" (a
guessing game with dice where the winner - yes, the winner! - receives a
punch; seen in KCD).
"Klingon" games in fandom include *{mu'reHwI'} (KLI), *{pachmu'} Klingon
Scrabble (ILS), *{poQ'ar} poker (KLI), {DIS Qujmey} "the Year Games"
(Proechel); *{Huchmay' Quj} Klingon Monopoly (ML); {vutlu'meH Quj} "recipe
contest" (Proechel).
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons