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At 04:57 '?????' 1/30/2013, you wrote:
> > > >{puH DujlIj 'arDIch 'oH Dochvam'e'?} > > > > > > How many cars have you had? > > > Is this your first car? > > > >Is this your first? No. > >Is this your second? No. > >Is this your third? No. > >Is this your fourth? .... > > > >Hopefully they didn't have too many or this could take a while. > > Either because we know English lacks the necessary construction, or > because of the cooperative property of conversation, people answer > this question by enumerating their past cars, unless they are being > obstructionist.Habit from military and security clearance. Answer the question that was asked.Being direct is also a Klingon trait.
Yes, which is why Klingon doesn't use those constructions. Perhaps you didn't notice that the sentences you were criticizing were in English. I was explaining strategies for translating tlhIngan Hol <'arDIch> into a language that lacks the construction.
> Wait, you're a native English speaker. Why are you asking this? I was > just answering for the Japanese speaker. English? Japanese? I thought we were discussing tlhIngan Hol.
No, the mail you originally replied to was principally in Klingon, answering a native Japanese speaker's question about how DIvI' Hol did this, since we didn't have a word for 'arDIch. I replied with examples of how we work around it. I left it on list because I thougth it was a good demonstration for people who sometimes complain that "there must be a way to say this in Klingon" when we tell them to use a workaround. They would see that a very experienced natural language like English has to do that sometimes too.
> >If 'arDIch doesn't work, how about nuqDIch? > > Someone had an insurmountable problem with 'arDIch? I missed that one.Without canon support, I saw others expressing uncertainty and offering alternative ways to ask the question. I was offering another option, an alternative that changes only one word instead of thewhole sentence.
I'd understand nuqDIch, I guess. It wouldn't change the problem of translation into English.
- Qov
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