tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 04 11:20:39 2008
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RE: A stupid translation request
naHQun:
>>> "Stupidity is stupidity and there is no pill to help".
>>> [....]
>>> I don't like using -ghach (big surprise), but using it (on either
>>> verb) would tend to mark it in a way to show that their "stupidity"
>>> is of a special kind and not able to be 'fixed'.
Voragh:
>> {QIptaHghach} is perfect for the abstract noun "(ongoing) stupidity"
SuStel:
>That's true, but the original sentence isn't talking about "ongoing
>stupidity"; it's talking about a simple quality. {-ghach} can only
>represent "stupidty" with some additional quality added to it, and none
>of those qualities are parenthetical. {QIptaHghach} "ongoing stupidity,"
>{QIpqa'ghach} "resumed stupidity," {QIpchu'ghach} "complete stupidity."
No question about that, but I was responding to naHQun wanting "stupidity ... of a special kind and not able to be 'fixed'." To me that means a permanent, ongoing, stupid-is-as-stupid-does type of stupidity: *{QIptaHghach}.
For a one-time, anomalous single occasion of stupidity there's *{QIppu'ghach}.
I considered *{QIpchu'ghach} but I'm personally loathe to use {-chu'} on bare qualities. My view is that this suffix tells how well something is done or an activity is performed and should therefore only be used with action verbs. (Although in a different suffix class, I view it as being analogous to {-ta'} "accomplished, done" or {-lI'} "in progress".) See Okrand's comment in "Power Klingon" that "{chu'} ... indicates action is performed absolutely properly."
For the idea of exceptional stupidity, however, you can always use {-qu'} "emphatic" for *{QIpqu'ghach} "incredible/unbelievable stupidity" or {-na'}: *{QIpwI'na'} "a genuinely stupid person" or *{qoHna'} "an utter fool".
--
Voragh
Canon Master of the Klingons