tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 23 11:50:43 2007

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RE: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 10, 2007

DloraH ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

> In the first place, we put it in the past tense, just to distance  
> ourselves from admitting that right now, this very instant, we are,  
> in fact, calling. It's not really accurate to say, "I was just  
> calling you..." It would be more accurate to say, "I'm calling you."  
> Notice how stupid this sounds. How would a Klingon respond to this?  
> "OF COURSE YOU ARE CALLING ME! I KNOW THAT! YOU KNOW THAT! WE ARE NOW  
> TALKING ON THE PHONE BECAUSE YOU CALLED ME! SO WHY ARE YOU SAYING  
> THIS? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING? ARE YOU TRYING TO DISTRACT ME SO THAT YOUR  
> ACCOMPLICE CAN SNEAK UP BEHIND ME AND STAB ME IN THE BACK? I SHOULD  
> KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

Sounds like you watched my segment of "Earthlings...".  My co-workers at the time did not like my
straightforwardness.

 
> It's like the word "please".  
> Notice that it is absent from the Klingon vocabulary.  
> ... You can't translate "please" into Klingon any  
> more than you can translate "photon torpedo" into Latin.

Sometimes if I want to include something in its place I translate it as DaH.
"Could you come here... please"
"HIghoS... DaH!"


> If you can strip out any indirect or polite phrases from a sentence  
> and still convey the meaning into Klingon, then do so. The life you  
> save may be your own.


A couple sentences passed through this list some years back:
Nick Nickolas- "Is it just me (and I know for a fact it isn't), or does talking in Klingon actually
*force* you to be rude? ;)"
Richard Kennaway- "No, talking Terran forces you to be wittering, vague, and indecisive."


DloraH

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