[2468] in tlhIngan-Hol
Meaning of nuqneH
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri Jan 7 06:10:14 1994
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 11:12:29 GMT
mat begins some messages:
>nuqneH:
"nuqneH" is described as the nearest Klingon equivalent to "hello", but it
seems quite wrong to use it to preface one's initial utterance in a
conversation. Literally, it means "what do you want?" If you listen to
how it is used in the first dialogue on the Power Klingon tape, it's the
Klingon who says it, not the tera'ngan who has just walked into his shop.
In other words, "nuqneH" is not used by the person desirous of beginning a
conversation -- that person should just start speaking. It is used by the
other person, when the one who wants to start a conversation is
insufficiently prompt in doing so.
The smallest perceptible time interval may be defined as the time between a
Terran walking up to a Klingon and the Klingon snarling "nuqneH".
-- ____
Richard Kennaway __\_ / School of Information Systems
jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk \ X/ University of East Anglia
\/ Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
