[tlhIngan Hol] Expressing "god damn"

[Steven Boozer]

{'Igh}  be cursed,  be jinxed (slang) (v)

(KGT 167):  This is a slang term with no known origin. It can be applied to just about anything--persons, missions, ships, and so on--when everything seems to be going wrong. Since Klingons consider self-control a great virtue, declaring oneself to be cursed is comparable to an admission of weakness and utterly uncharacteristic (though not unknown). To say that someone else is cursed, on the other hand, is to attribute weakness to that person. Accordingly, {bI'Igh} (“You are cursed, you are jinxed”) is quite insulting. In standard Klingon, the same idea may be expressed by saying {Do'Ha'moHlu'} (“be made unlucky” or “someone/something causes [someone/something] to be unlucky”), as in {DaDo'Ha'moHlu'} (“You've been made unlucky”, or “someone/something causes you to be unlucky)”.


{jay'}  intensely (adv)

(TKD 177):  This word not only intensifies whatever is being said, it turns the whole phrase into an invective. Alone among the adverbials, {jay'} always comes at the end of the sentence.

  qaStaH nuq jay'
  What the #$%@ is happening? TKD

 mIch 'elpu' jay'
  They've entered the @#$% sector! TKD

 SoH 'Iv jay'
  [Who the @#$% are you? (untranslated)] ST6

  qaStaH nuq jay'
  [What the @#$% is happening? (untranslated)] ST6

 ghaytanHa' jay'
  Not bloody likely! RT

 tuHbe' tlhInganvam jay'
  Curse this Klingon, who has no shame! PB


mayqel qunenoS:

> I meant "your mother cooked this god damn food".


Note the second TKD example which is an exact parallel to your sentence.

--Voragh


On Behalf Of nIqolay Q
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2016 10:52 AM

{Sojvam vutta' SoSlI' jay'} should suffice to get most of the meaning across. I'm not sure that {'Igh} quite works here. The description in KGT suggests it means something like "doesn't work right, prone to failure, unlucky" and not simply just bad in general.

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