[88223] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: muD Dotlh
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Fri Aug 27 12:42:11 2010
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "tlhingan-hol@kli.org" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:30:30 -0500
In-Reply-To: <BAY127-W1773306BEAA861F549D0BAAA840@phx.gbl>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Fiat Knox:
>>>How exactly would you guys phrase the response "Klingons never talk
>>>about insignificant things?"
QeS 'utlh"
>I would say something like <jatlhDI' tlhInganpu' not ram Soj> "when
>Klingons talk, the matter is never trivial".
"When Klingons talk, the food is never trivial."
HQ 12.3 (p.9): All this talk of pseudohonor and nonhonor logically led to a discussion of honor itself, normally expressed by the nouns {quv} and {batlh}, both usually defined as simply "honor". When asked to distinguish between the two, Maltz said, "{tlhIngan Soj 'oH--not bIyaj}," literally, "It is Klingon food-you will not understand," using {Soj} food in its idiomatic sense of "matter, concern, affair".
Less idiomatic versions would be:
jatlhDI' tlhInganpu' not Dochmey ram qel.
When Klingons talk, they never consider insignificant things.
ja'chuqDI' tlhInganpu' not wanI'mey ram qel.
When Klingons confer, they never consider insignificant events.
But you know, I wonder if we're over-thinking this. Okrand said about {jatlh}:
st.k 6/1997: The object of {jatlh} speak is that which is spoken. Thus, it's OK to say "speak a language", for example {tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh} "you speak Klingon". But it's also OK to say "speak an address", "speak a lecture", for example {SoQ Dajatlh} "you speak an address" or, more colloquially, "you deliver an address" or "you make a speech". To say simply {jatlh} "he/she speaks" implies "he/she speaks it", where "it" is a language or a lecture or whatever.
I wonder if "insignificant things" can be a "whatever"? So,
? not mu'mey ram jatlh tlhInganpu'.
Klingons never say insignificant words.
Or you might say:
? not joS lujatlh tlhInganpu'.
Klingons never speak gossip/rumor.
or just:
not joS tlhInganpu'.
Klingons never gossip.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
