[86564] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: International Talk Like a Pirate Day
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Mon Sep 21 10:58:31 2009
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "'tlhingan-hol@kli.org'" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:55:27 -0500
In-Reply-To: <C305E6BD33E2654DAE1F8F403247B6A6EE94F1DAA3@EVS02.ad.uchicago.edu>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
naHQun:
>> Which brings up the question, if you were to speak like a Klingon
>> pirate, which speech patterns would you use?
Voragh:
>They would likely use Klingon smuggler's code. We have one example from
>ST6:
>
> ghewmey SuqQo'!
> Don't catch any bugs! ST6
>
>which we are told in J.M. Dillard's novelization is smuggler's code for
>"Good luck in avoiding border officials!" Interestingly, it is Morskan
>border guard Kesla who says this to Uhura, whom he apparently took for a
>smuggler, after listening to her bad Klingon which he understood as an
>"odd, archaic dialect."
ghunchu'wI':
>>> I would consider dropping all verb prefixes and using first- and
>>> second-person pronouns whenever possible.
Voragh:
>Coincidentally, Kesla dropped the imperative verb prefix {tI-}.
A follow-up to my earlier post...
I found evidence of Klingon pirates in one of the pro-novels in my notes:
"{Ghuy'}," said one of the pirates, uttering what had to be yet
another toxic curse. (_Excelsior: Forged in Fire_ [2007])
which reminds us that pirates (and other criminals) generally use lots of profanity. Probably even more than the Klingon norm!
Which brings us to the inevitable question of a word for "pirate". Someone once proposed *{weHwI'} for "raider, pirate, marauder" - e.g. *{verengan weHwI'pu'} "Ferengi marauders" - derived from {weH} "raid":
KGT 48: {weH}, "raid" (same as {yot} ["invade"], really, but with the added connotation of surprise or speed); {HIv}, "attack, assault" ... and nouns ({yot}, "invasion, raid, incursion"...
There's also {nIHwI'} "thief" (which is what a pirate is, after all) as well as the verbs {Hej} "rob", {qor} "scavenge", and {quch} "kidnap" - all activities associated with pirates. Hmm... *{qorwI'} "scavenger" isn't bad.
--
Voragh
Canon Master of the Klingons
