[3284] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: this'n'that
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Feb 17 09:00:39 1994
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
From: creede@isumataq.eskimo.com (Creede Lambard)
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 05:51:45 -0800
jatlh Holtej:
>> ~mark in particular objected to my translating "butterfly" as
>> "ghargh joq" even though I argued that "joq" could mean "be
>> fluttering."
>
>And well he should.
Perhaps I should explain the philosophy behind "ghargh joq," so
we can build from a correct foundation. Okrand purposefully
avoided names for animals and food (with exceptions like ghaH,
which was mentioned in the "Ryker tries to be a Klingon" episode
and is included in TKD, before anyone asks). In coining "ghargh
joq" I was trying to come up with a way in which we could use
existing Hol to describe a particular Terran faunum (?). The
pattern I had in mind was Nahuatl, which has a rather limited
basic vocabulary but uses it imaginatively. For instance,
in Nahuatl "iron butterfly" means "airplane" (whereas in Sixties
it means "rock-group-that-sings-In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida")*.
>And, what is a butterfly to a Klingon anyway?
The same can be said about Zen Buddhism (which is where the
coinage was used, in a koan), and the Bible for that matter,
but here we are trying to express most un-Klingon concepts in
a manner Klingons would presumably understand.
>ghew moj
I'm away from my dictionary at the moment and will get back
to you on that.
-- Creede
