tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 03 08:06:08 2006

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Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for 2006/10/26

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



pm5:
> >>ratbot:  Hoch to'meywIj DaHachmeH wanI' DapabHa' 'e' vISaH.
> >>Ratbert: "I worried that all of my wisdom is derived from
> >>         bad analogies."

Voragh:
> > I'm not sure I understand your Klingon here - "you misfollow an event in
> > order for you are developed all my tactics"?

pm5:
>I used the wrong prefix.  I was meant to say {Hoch to'meywIj vIHachmeH wanI'
>vIpabHa'} "I misfollowed experiences in order to develop all my tactics", 
>which
>is still wrong because {Hach} doesn't take objects.

And {to'} is glossed with the plural "tactics" in English, so it would be 
{to'wIj} without the plural suffix.  I assume Okrand was contrasting {to'} 
"tactics" vs. {Dup} "strategy".  We have only one example of {to'} used in 
a sentence:

   potlhbe' to'.
   [Tactics aren't important. (i.e. Get it anyway you can!)] (ST3 DVD)

but I'm not sure if Okrand wrote the Klingon text on the back of the DVD 
case.  (Anyone know?)  For a specific tactic or individual strategem use 
{nab} "plan", {Qu'} "mission, operation" or best of all {tuH} "adventure":

   The noun {tuH} refers to a military maneuver of any kind. A specific
   plan or stratagem usually has a code name ({per yuD} [literally,
   "dishonest label"]) coined especially for the occasion and not neces-
   sarily used again.  (KGT 48)


> > {chen} "build up, take form, take shape" might be better.
>
>Agreed.
>
> > I do like {pabHa'} "misfollow (the rules), follow (the rules) wrongly" but
> > I'm not sure how we can work it to render "derived from bad analogies".
> > Maybe the two can be combined:
> >
> >    pabHa' chenpu'bogh Hoch SovwIj 'e' vISaH.
>
>Can knowledge take form and misfollow the rules itself, or must someone form
>knowledge and while doing so, misfollowed the rules?
>
>     {Hoch SovwIj vIchenpu'DI vIpabHa' 'e' vISaH.}

If {Sov} is now the object of intransitive verb {chen}, you have to add the 
causative suffix {-moH}:  {chenmoH} "build/form/make/create 
(something)".  E.g.:

   tIjwI'ghom vIchenmoH
   I form a boarding party. TKW
   ["This sentence might also be translated 'I cause a boarding party
     to be formed'." (TKD 38)]

   wIchenmoHlaH
   We can create it. TKD

   yIntaHvIS qeylIS'e' lIjlaHbe'bogh vay' batlh 'etlhvam chenmoHlu'pu'
   this sword of honor descends from the time of Kahless the Unforgettable. S8

If {Sov} is the object of {chen} in the subordinate clause, what's the 
object of {vIpabHa'}?  Just use the general prefix {jI-} here.  If you drop 
the subordinate clause the sentence still makes sense:  {jIpabHa' 'e' 
vISaH}.  Also I don't think you need the perfective suffix {-pu'} with 
{-DI'}, but it's your call.

So, putting it all together:

   Hoch SovwIj vIchenmoH(pu')DI' jIpabHa' 'e' vISaH.
   I'm concerned that when I formed all my wisdom, I mis-followed the rules.
   I'm concerned that I mis-followed the rules when I formed all my wisdom.



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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