tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Apr 23 20:07:59 2006

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Re: mangpu' or negh?

Elizabeth Lawrence ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

I'm fairly certain that the original meaning of great in english was that of 
large size, which came to mean very good through the philosophy of bigger is 
better.  Tremendous went through a similar shift.

Elizabeth


>From: Shane MiQogh <[email protected]>
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: mangpu' or negh?
>Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:31:10 -0700 (PDT)
>
>The word handy's meaning would rely on dialect or culture rather than 
>language, considering they both would fit what the root of the word 
>applies. For the german example that is. If you're implying about my 
>remarks of great... Great has a double meaning in english, assume that 
>being great has a single meaning in klingon, because the insult of great, 
>we can *CLEARLY* see where that came to mean "fat". Great means "really 
>good" which could "evolve" it's meaning to "something big" because usually 
>when it comes to land or money, alot is good, or great. And fat is pretty 
>big and massive... Technically speaking, then great might be considered a 
>pun in english...
>
>   As for 'a'.... Well... i heard myself, that if it can be insulting in 
>klingon (even if a compliment), to beware usage of it. For 9 times out of 
>10, they are sensative... though... We're not sensative as the fictional 
>characters are....
>ngabwI' <[email protected]> wrote:
>   ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Shane MiQogh"
>To:
>Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 3:44 PM
>Subject: Re: mangpu' or negh?
>
>
> > So basically a SuvwI''a' Dun would be a "fish tale" in any case?
>
>I would imagine this to be the case, like "epetai-zana" in John M Ford
>novel, "The Final Reflection", it is praise so high it's an insult.
>
> > More or less to describe only someone sacred such as Kahless or a High
> > ranked military person?
>
>{yIyep'eghmoH! Qun lururbe'law' qeylIS, Sa' je. ghotpu'qoq neH chaH (bIH
>pagh). *Confucius* rurlaw' qeylIS'e'.}
>Careful. Neither Kahless or a general are "sacred", as such. They are just
>"people". Kahless, in particular, seems to be held in the same regard as
>Confucius. Wise, but not divine.
>
> > Such as "SuvwI'a' Dun " Kohlrak is a great... i don't know how to
> > put this in english, more of a "God in war" or "great knight" or "Super
> > great fighter" or something like that. lol
>
>This would be {SuvwI''a' Dun ghaH Kohlrak'e'}. And you're right, it does
>sound redundant.
>
> > I'm sure at any point SuvwI''a' Dunqu' would be by far an example of
> > overdoing it.
>
>Agreed.
>
> > in that case, we'd be implying old age with ('a') which is something 
>which
> > is insulting to a girl...
>
>Not necessarily. {'a'} covers a whole range of concepts, not just age or
>weight.
>
> > Considering great could also mean vast. Hm... it seems i'm getting
> > philosophical... o.o
>
>{yIyep'eghqa'moH} "Careful, again" You are imposing English meaning onto a
>Klingon word, something that cannot be reliably done between any two
>languages. For instance, both German and English have a word spelled
>"Handy". In English, it means something like "useful or skilled in everyday
>repairs". But, in German, this word refers to a cell phone. English and
>French both have a word "douche", but to a Frenchman, this means "shower".
>Be careful when recasting.
>
>--ngabwI'
>Klingon Grammarian
>HovpoH 704403.2
>
>
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls.  Great rates 
>starting at 1&cent;/min.
>
>

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