tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Sep 22 20:19:35 2007

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Re: puchpa'?

QeS 'utlh ([email protected]) 

ghItlhpu' mIq'ey:
>Is it really impossible for Klingon to call
>a room a {puchpa'} if it contains no {puch}?

I find it difficult to accept. Naturally nothing is impossible unless it's written in canon, but I don't think we have any examples of euphemisms (as opposed to ordinary metaphors) in Klingon, and knowing what we know about the value of direct speaking in Klingon culture, and also the freedom of cursing, I would find it quite surprising if any such euphemisms were revealed.
 
>Consider:  you might as easily say "If a room doesn't
>contain bathing facilities, then I don't think you can
>call it a bathroom."  Yet this happens, and passes
>without comment, in American English.

As you later point out, this could well have arisen out of a distaste for discussing excretory functions. In other forms of English (including my native Australian English), we have no such reticence; "toilet" is the ordinary word, and "bathroom" as a euphemism for "toilet" in my dialect is almost always seen as a blatant Americanism.

>You could argue that English uses "bathroom" instead
>of "toilet" only because of a taboo on mentions of
>excretory functions.  True enough, but who's to say
>that the Klingon distaste for washing isn't as strong
>as ours for excreting?

I would argue that it's a difference of quality. Terrans (and not even all Terrans) don't like *talking* about excreting. Klingons don't like *bathing*. It might be reasonable to assume that Klingons don't like talking about bathing either, but whether that would be so strong as to override the premium placed on direct speech is debatable.

Anyway, are we even sure that Klingons have dedicated washing rooms at all? KGT says that bathing is an "occasional" occurrence, which to me indicates once every one or two weeks (or perhaps even less frequently) rather than once daily; if Klingons bathe so rarely, wouldn't having a separate and dedicated bathing room in the house be considered a waste of space?

QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pab po'wI' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute


not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh

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