[85182] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: A stupid translation request
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Doq)
Thu Dec 4 18:33:24 2008
From: Doq <doq@embarqmail.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
In-Reply-To: <C305E6BD33E2654DAE1F8F403247B6A6916A89F563@EVS02.ad.uchicago.edu>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 18:29:29 -0500
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Good discussion all-around. Just to toss in another suggestion:
not qoH vorlu'.
Pithy. To the point.
yIlaj pagh yIlajQo'. jISaHbe'.
Doq
On Dec 4, 2008, at 2:18 PM, Steven Boozer wrote:
> naHQun:
>>>> "Stupidity is stupidity and there is no pill to help".
>>>> [....]
>>>> I don't like using -ghach (big surprise), but using it (on either
>>>> verb) would tend to mark it in a way to show that their "stupidity"
>>>> is of a special kind and not able to be 'fixed'.
>
> Voragh:
>>> {QIptaHghach} is perfect for the abstract noun "(ongoing) stupidity"
>
> SuStel:
>> That's true, but the original sentence isn't talking about "ongoing
>> stupidity"; it's talking about a simple quality. {-ghach} can only
>> represent "stupidty" with some additional quality added to it, and
>> none
>> of those qualities are parenthetical. {QIptaHghach} "ongoing
>> stupidity,"
>> {QIpqa'ghach} "resumed stupidity," {QIpchu'ghach} "complete
>> stupidity."
>
> No question about that, but I was responding to naHQun wanting
> "stupidity ... of a special kind and not able to be 'fixed'." To me
> that means a permanent, ongoing, stupid-is-as-stupid-does type of
> stupidity: *{QIptaHghach}.
>
> For a one-time, anomalous single occasion of stupidity there's
> *{QIppu'ghach}.
>
> I considered *{QIpchu'ghach} but I'm personally loathe to use {-
> chu'} on bare qualities. My view is that this suffix tells how well
> something is done or an activity is performed and should therefore
> only be used with action verbs. (Although in a different suffix
> class, I view it as being analogous to {-ta'} "accomplished, done"
> or {-lI'} "in progress".) See Okrand's comment in "Power Klingon"
> that "{chu'} ... indicates action is performed absolutely properly."
>
> For the idea of exceptional stupidity, however, you can always use {-
> qu'} "emphatic" for *{QIpqu'ghach} "incredible/unbelievable
> stupidity" or {-na'}: *{QIpwI'na'} "a genuinely stupid person" or
> *{qoHna'} "an utter fool".
>
>
>
> --
> Voragh
> Canon Master of the Klingons
>
>
