[604] in tlhIngan-Hol
Expletives; contacting Marc Okrand
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Apr 20 10:20:18 1993
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: A.APPLEYARD@fs1.mt.umist.ac.uk
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: 20 Apr 93 13:22:43 GMT
(0) Re contacting Marc Okrand: several times I have successfully contacted
book authors by addressing the letter to:-
<author's name>
C/O <publisher's name and address got from in the front of the book>
(AUTHOR OF <book's name and ISBN number>)
(PLEASE FORWARD IF POSSIBLE)
(1) I have written a Klingon-English translater/analyser; some of its output
follows. It ignores case of letters except for `Q` versus `q`; it accepts `x`
for `tlh` to save a bit of typing.
(2) Klingons seem to have an odd idea what is strong language! I ran the
(expletives that he lists) through my analyser, and this came out:-
==== the 3 expletives in the 1st version ====
---- Qi'yaH ----
- S:*?!#@
- N:military V:be_taken_away*
- N:military N:duty_station /* How can this be a bad word!? */
---- ghuy'cha' ----
- S:*@$%
---- Qu'vatlh ----
- S:#*@!
- N:[duty|quest|mission|task|chore] I:100
==== the extra expletives in the addendum ====
---- petaQ ----
- PP:impv_pl/- V:be_weird /* = "Be weird!" (pl.) */
- S:$%^&_epithet*
---- toDSaH ----
- S:$%^&_epithet*
- V:[save|rescue] V:[be_present|care_about|be_concerned_about]
- N:rescue* V:[be_present|care_about|be_concerned_about]
---- taHqeq ----
- S:$%^&_epithet*
- V:be_at_negative_angle V:[practise|train|prepare]
- V:be_at_negative_angle N:drill_mil
- V:[continue|go_on|endure]* V:[practise|train|prepare]
- V:[continue|go_on|endure]* N:drill_mil
---- yintagh ----
- S:$%^&_epithet*
- N:life_support_system
- V:live V:[begin_a_process|initiate]*
- V:live N:lung*
- N:life V:[begin_a_process|initiate]*
- N:life N:lung*
(but `Qovpatlh` & `va` & `ghay'cha'` & `baQa'` & `Hu'tegh` & `jay'` have no
other meaning than as invectives as given.)
(Admittedly some people use unexpected words as annoyance expletives; e.g.
once Egon in Ghostbusters comic said "Oh protons! I've popped a lens." in
annoyance when a lens came out of his spectacles when he was cleaning them.)
(3) An unintended pun. `Hurgh` = "be dark" and also "pickled food". Someone
translating the Tolkien Ring-inscription into Klingon rendered "[and] in the
darkness [bind them]" as `HurghDaq`; in the end when his Ring was destroyed
Sauron indeed found himself `HurghDaq` in the other sense: "in a pickle"!. (I
suppose that "in the darkness" should be `HurghghachDaq` now that we have the
addendum, for `Hurgh` was never listed as a noun = "dark".
(4) As there are 21 Klingon consonants: b ch D gh H j l m n ng p q Q r S t
tlh v w y ', and 5 vowels, and a syllable can end in 'null' or one consonant
or `rgh` or `w'` or `y'`, there are 21*5*25 = 2625 possible single syllable
Klingon word roots to cater for all uses including all technical uses.
