[tlhIngan Hol] potlh De'

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Thu Aug 17 08:10:26 PDT 2017


Possibly it's military jargon.  It is an odd phrase, but I understand {potlh De'} as an "announcement" or a flash alert.  (IIRC the message was about General Koord being taken hostage on Nimbus III. )  

Okrand has used {De' potlh} "important data/information" twice AFAIK:

  tlhIngan toQDuj Duj De' potlh 
  Klingon Bird of Prey General Specifications  (KBoP title)

  Marc Okrand jIH.  De' potlh vIlab. 
  I am Marc Okrand and I bring you an important message. ('U'-MTK)

and the noun {potlh} "consequential thing,  something important" once:

  tlhIngan qorDu' potlh 
  Klingon Family Values  (S13 title)

After ST5 came out, {QIn} "message" appeared in KGT and was subsequently used on the special reissue ST3 DVD case, though I don't know whether Okrand was involved:

  Qugh la'vaD QIn pav 
  [Urgent message for Commander Kruge. (untranslated) ]

--Voragh


-----Original Message-----
From: Lieven

While look at some canon phrases, I stumbled over a phrase from ST5:

{yo'SeH yaHnIvvo' potlh De' wIHevtaH.}
"We are receiving a priority message from Operations Command."

I would have said {De' potlh} "important data" here.
Is this an error, or is it just not much difference between "important data" and "data about something important"?



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