[87104] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: Question about Klingon books (e.g., Gilgamesh et al.)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Terrence Donnelly)
Wed Nov 25 00:59:28 2009
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:57:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Terrence Donnelly <terrence.donnelly@sbcglobal.net>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
In-Reply-To: <DF788AD520D04A2C9DC3C5B1742FF728@juH.Seruqtuq.net>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
--- On Tue, 11/24/09, Seruq <seruq@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> From: Seruq <seruq@bellsouth.net>
> Subject: RE: Question about Klingon books (e.g., Gilgamesh et al.)
> To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
> Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 10:39 PM
> > > A couple times people have
> commented "Why did you do it like this
> > > ...", and I replied "What are you talking about?
> I
> > wouldn't do that."
> > > Then I look it up in the book and there it is.
> "Holy crap,
> > why did I do that?"
> > > I think one of them that was pointed out was a
> question-as-object.
> > > Not only did I for whatever reason use it, but it
> made it
> > past the proofreaders.
> > > Hey, nobody's perfect.
> > > I just wanted a story that could be read.
> Shakespeare can be
> > > difficult in any language.
> >
> > Thanks for the reply, and I think this answers my
> question.
> > I mean, I can figure out what was meant, especially
> with the
> > parallel English text. My question was more to
> what extent
> > people consider the language in these to be
> > super-great-awesome, or if it is okay when I find the
>
> > occasional thing that seems odd, I can write it off to
> style
> > or a small error or something.
>
> I did the project originally for myself. There wasn't
> a whole lot of
> klingon literature out there. After I was done I
> decided to share it with
> everyone. That was an interesting moment. I
> announced it at one of our
> annual gatherings, the qep'a'. Went to the podium,
> said, "We now have
> ghIlghameS." and I showed them the book. The room was
> quiet for a while,
> everyone just staring at me, probably thinking, "What do
> you mean?"
>
>
> DloraH
>
I was honored to be a proofreader for this project. I recall being surprized by some of your constructions and your word order. You explained them as attempts to reproduce the structures of the original. They were consistent enough that, once I understood the rationale, they didn't come off as wrong, just different. I recall that it was very enjoyable to read long segments of Klingon text.
-- ter'eS
