[92184] in tlhIngan-Hol
[Tlhingan-hol] Qagh vIHechbogh [was: Qaghmo' tIn mIS]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Felix Malmenbeck)
Mon Feb 13 09:16:26 2012
From: Felix Malmenbeck <felixm@kth.se>
To: "tlhIngan-Hol@KLI.org" <tlhIngan-Hol@KLI.org>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:16:06 +0000
Errors-To: tlhingan-hol-bounces@stodi.digitalkingdom.org
So, many of you have probably seen my story Qaghmo' tIn mIS. I never actual=
ly intended to make a game out of it... ...but I'm actually very much enjo=
ying it, and it seems I'm not the only one, so I don't want to spoil it. Ho=
wever, for the record, I've recorded my original intention below (DaHjaj vI=
t vIqon. wa'leS chaq maHegh.).
It's worth noting that I intended this to be a silly play on words, not som=
e revolutionarily clever riddle, so to those who've gotten their expectatio=
ns up...
jIQoS :P
------------
So, I was sitting in a caf=E9 translating "I wanna dance with somebody (who=
loves me)" by the late and great Whitney Houston, and I found myself playi=
ng a lot with words like nIteb[Ha'], tay', ghom, muv, tlhej and je.
I was drinking my coffee black, qa'vIn nIm je vIparmo'.
...well, actually, I figured, that's not a formally true statement, now is =
it? I DO like coffee, and I DO like milk, and in fact sometimes I'll pour m=
yself a glass of milk and drink it between sips of coffee, so qa'vIn nIm je=
vIparHa'law'.
I started wondering about what the word =ABje=BB really means. I reasoned t=
hat since Klingon is meant to resemble a natyral language, and judging from=
my experience with it, it resembles English and Swedish in that the word =
=ABje=BB can either imply togetherness or it cannot.
So, how does one tell if qa'vIn nIm je means "coffee with milk" or "coffee =
and milk, separately".
meqwIj: Context. Be it situational, cultural, logical or something else, co=
ntext is the key.
It struck me then that because Klingons don't normally pour milk in their c=
offee (though some use seasoning or spirits), they'd be likely to interpret=
=ABqa'vIn nIm je=BB as =ABqa'vIn mob nIm mob je=BB.
Humans, on the other hand, are well-used to the concept of coffee with milk=
, and we're used to asking one another if we want milk with our coffee, so =
for us it's natural to assume that "coffee and milk" means "coffee containi=
ng milk", which a typical Klingon who's unfamiliar with tera'ngan tIgh woul=
d need to be specified as =ABnIm ngaSbogh qa'vIn'e'=BB, =ABtay'bogh qa'vIn =
nIm je=BB, =ABqa'vIn nIm je luDuDlu'bogh=BB or the like.
So, because the Human said something ambiguous, and the two resolved the am=
biguity through different cultural perspectives, the Klingon ended up getti=
ng a drink he could not allow to go unpunished: Coffee containing milk!
So, Qov actually got it "right" with qIDHey loS, but she and others have al=
so come up with superior reasoning :P
Now, to the discussion I originally intended to set up: Do you agree that m=
y reasoning about =ABje=BB is - in principle, at least, if not in this part=
icular situation - correct?
SKI: Humans are from Venus; Klingons are from Finland.
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