tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 28 08:21:22 2010
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RE: 'u': the first authentic Klingon opera on earth
Hmm, I don't think I've mentioned yet how much epic win this project strikes me as being made of.
So, just to put it out there: This is made of epic win! :D
For those of you who haven't seen the Klingon replies that they link to on their homepage, I really recommend you check them out; the warriors of Khemorex Klinzhai put on an impressive show of Klin!
Voragh:
> I imagined that "Federation linguist" Okrand may have been being clever.
> "September 9" would mean nothing to Klingons on Kronos - unless they've
> been monitoring us for years (we know the Vulcans are) - but their astronomers
> might be able to calculate when the day preceding our summer solstice occurs.
Aye, they may be able to do that. It would seem more or less impossible to do with modern science in such short a time period, but if this is the 846th year of Kahless, the Klingons should have had Hur'q technology for a while, now.
Of course, they have to, if they want to have any hope of getting here on time for the show... ...or to intercept this subspace/tachyonic/something-else message ;)
Voragh:
> I respect what Okrand has done in creating the language. I also respect how
> hard it is to perform in front of a camera, speaking a language he doesn't use
> very often. Meanwhile, even with all that respect, I often wince when he tries
> to stretch the language to fit a translation he's been given, or when he forgets
> basic stuff like putting {-'e'} after a subject of a pronoun.
Indeed. As he's put it a couple of times, he may have created the language, but it's has taken on a life of its own.
That being said, all the more kudos to him for availing himself to fans in ways such as this :)
Voragh:
> In other words, it takes time to heat up the mass of earth, water and air. So,
> the hottest application of solar heat (summer solstice -- the longest day),
> doesn't make for the hottest day because of thermal inertia.
Oopsies; promise me you won't tell my fellow physics students that I forgot to take into account the fact that big rocks take time to heat up :P
As you say, the hottest day of the year is usually about a month after the Summer solstice, so I suppose the Summer solstice could be seen as some sort of dramatic opening act... ...perhaps preceded by some sort of prelude.
ghItlhta' SuStel:
> This is an old argument, and I'm pleased to see that Marc didn't English
> this. One more piece of evidence that a verb's arguments and its prefix
> must agree.
Interesting that you view this as an Anglicism; I've often seen it as more of a benefit of the prefix system, being able to specify first- and second-person subjects in an efficient - albeit not always unambiguous - way. However, there are some indications that it is that you say, for instance the proverb Hem tlhIngan Segh 'ej maHemtaH 'e' wIHech. {The Klingon race [third-person] is proud, and we intend that we intend going on being proud.}
I personally try to avoid it, but whenever possible I try to put the addressee of my statements on the "correct" side of the predicate, e.g. if I want to say "I salute you, SuStel", I prefer to say SuStel qavan rather than qavan SuStel; both are correct (TKD p.58), but by using the forme rather than the latter I make absolutely sure that nobody interprets this as "I, SuStel, salute you", no matter their stance on this issue.