tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 13 04:45:18 2009

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Re: Snow?

Doq ([email protected])



Keep in mind that Klingons don't like the cold. I mean, they REALLY  
don't like cold. They don't play in it or even stand around in it if  
they have another option. There aren't a lot of things for a Klingon  
to do with snow, given that they don't like it very much. I mean on  
the one hand, it's cold, and they don't like cold. On the other hand,  
if you warm it up, it becomes... water.

Did I mention that Klingons don't like water?

So, the polite way to translate the noun "snow" is... to change the  
topic. There's not much for a Klingon to do with snow, except perhaps  
{Haj}, and that's not a verb they like to use a lot. It's too close to  
"fear", which is a verb they don't even have, because they really  
don't talk about what they fear.

For myself, I'd just say, {naDev peDpu'.} and look down at the ground  
with a look of distaste and that would pretty much end the  
conversation, until someone comes up with some warmer place for us to  
go.

For a cultural analogy, imagine if sometimes feces fell from the sky  
and covered the ground with an even coating of brown. Would YOU really  
want a noun for this stuff? Would you use it a lot in mixed company? A  
verb for the action of it falling on the ground would probably pretty  
well cover the topic in polite company.

I can imagine some creative uses of the word {peD}, for example, to  
describe a social pariah:

pa' 'elDI' petaQvetlh, peD. [Look down with expression of distaste.]

To describe an event you really don't want to go to:

wa'leS be'nI'wI' Qup qoS lopno' qaS. jIjeSnIS. peD 'e' vImaS. [Look  
down with expression of distaste.]

To describe extreme disappointment.

parmaqqaywI' vItlhob. jIjatlh <<munay'a'?>>... peD. [Look down with  
expression of distaste.]

Doq

On Feb 13, 2009, at 7:08 AM, Lieven Litaer wrote:

>
> as usual, we must answer with "there is no such word, sorry".
>
> But you can certainly use other words, like ice (chuch) or crystals  
> (I think qut).
>
> perhaps chuch'a'?
>
> But if it's only to say "there's alot of snow", is suggest you say  
> "it has snowed a lot": peDpu'qu'.
>
> peD 'Iv? peD nuq? peD muD!
>
> Quvar 'utlh.
> -- 
> Psssst! Schon vom neuen GMX MultiMessenger gehört? Der kann`s mit  
> allen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger01
>
>






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