[402] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: naDev jIH
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Wed Oct 14 03:54:12 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: mosquito@Athena.MIT.EDU
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 02:18:59 -0400
taH actually means "to continue" so that "taH pagh taHbe'" would be
"To continue or not to continue" which expresses the meaning much
more clearly in Klingon terms. There just isn't a way to say
"be" the way we would in English. There are lots of other Terran
languages with nothing but a vague approximation to the English "be".
Hebrew "haitah" to become, or Japanese "aru/iru/oru" to have/there has,
or American Sign Language where it's just not used ("there is life
after death" -> "life after death"). I'll have to ask how ASL translates
"to be or not to be"; it's possible they fingerspell, or use signed
English or "truly" or "live" or something.
At any rate, this idea that "nuqneH" can only mean "hello" when you actually
mean "what do you want" is one that comes up on this list often, and our
grammarian Krankor has often reiterated that it does NOT have this meaning,
any more than you say in English "you're welcome" to literally mean,
"you are welcome to my services at any time" or anything like that, at
least not always. It's just become a fixed phrase that no one really thinks
about all that often. This means you can use nuqneH in a variety of
circumstances, including:
1. when you are initiating a conversation with someone who is not
paying attention to you
2. when meeting someone for the first time
3. when answering the equivalent of a phone
4. when trying to find out if someone is in the house
Now, maybe Klingons use different words for these cases, just by
social custom (Japanese greet each other by "Konnichiwa", say
"shitsurei" for 1, "hajimemashite" for 2, "moshimoshi" for 3, and
"tadaima" or "shitsurei" depending on whose house it is for 4). But
the point is that "nuqneH" would not sound out of place or nonsensical
in those circumstances, in the same way as "What is 2+2" would be.
Now, it is probably the case that Klingons don't have much social occasion
to talk to each other as we do in our society. So more often than not,
if in a situation where "nuqneH" seems inappropriate as "what do you want?"
you're probably expected to remain silent. But there are indeed circumstances
where we would say "hello" where it is efficient to initiate a conversation.
In these cases, "nuqneH" may be used. Just as it is permitted in English to
initiate a conversation with, "Say, Joe,..." or "Excuse me,..." or
"Sergeant Benson reporting, sir." it's not far fetched that Klingons permit
many ways of initiating a conversation, and even likely that different
ways are used when appropriate. "naDev jIH" certainly makes sense in
certain contexts, though I wouldn't dpened on it being an accepted
social practice. "nuqneH" is likely to be brushed off as "standard
practice" and you'd only get in trouble if the other person is witty and
thinking of snaring you in your words.
