tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 05 08:27:30 2007
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Re: Klingon WOTD: luj (verb)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Wednesday, September 5, 2007.
>
>Klingon word: luj
>Part of Speech: verb
>Definition: fail, lose (not win)
>
>Additional Notes:
>Also in "Okrand's Notes" in HolQeD 2:4 p. 18. " 'To win' a competition is
>to {Qap}. (If it's a decisive or particularly gratifying victory, they'd
>say {Qapchu'}, even though that's a bit redundant.) In TKD, {Qap} is
>translated as 'succeed, work, function.' To a Klingon, to win is to
>function perfectly. The opposite notion, 'lose,' is commonly {luj}, also
>meaning 'fail.' "
>
>KGT adds the meaning "lose (not win)."
The slang expression is used in such constructions as {bIvonlu'pu'}
("You have failed completely"; literally, "You have been trapped").
In standard Klingon, the same idea may be expressed by saying {lujbej}
("certainly fail"), {lujchu'} ("fail perfectly"), or {lujqu'} ("really
fail"), all based on {luj} ("fail"). 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)
Used in canon:
lujpu' jIH
I have failed. TKD
lujpu' jIH'e'
I, and only I, have failed. TKD
bIlujlaHbe'chugh bIQaplaHbe'
If you cannot fail, you cannot succeed. TKW
("If you cannot lose, you cannot win"; i.e. Nothing ventured, nothing
gained).
wo' choqmeH may' DoHlu'chugh lujbe'lu'
"ending a battle to save an empire is no defeat." TKW
Used in Trek:
*lujpu' jiH'e Alexandrijn*
"I have failed, Alexander." (Worf, TNG "Night Terrors")
N.B. don't confuse with {chIl} "lose, misplace".
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons