[tlhIngan Hol] Thoughts on mu'qaS veS

[nIqolay Q]

I don't think MO has ever elaborated why he hasn't talked much about sexual
vocabulary. He's talked about why Maltz doesn't talk about sexual
vocabulary, but that sort of in-character answer is probably not what
you're looking for. He might just want to keep things PG. Or perhaps he's
working on it as we speak. Who knows? I assume we'll get there eventually.
Discovery tends to be more TV-MA than other Trek series, so it's possible
Qov or Quvar have already asked for some of this vocabulary.

On some level, even if you're talking about real-world thngs and events
using Klingon, the language is still influenced by its fictional culture.
{ghaH vuv SuS neH} can still be used to talk about real-world idiots even
though Kahless and the city of Quin'lat have never existed. Klingon
speakers don't try to translate "please" and "thank you" and "you're
welcome" in their everyday Klingon speech, even though most Klingon
speakers come from cultures that typically require that sort of politeness.

That said, there are plenty of ways to craft real-world insults using
existing Klingon vocabulary, without necessarily having to reference
Klingon social attitudes. They don't all have to be sexual.

On Tue, Oct 16, 2018 at 10:01 AM mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> There is a school of thought in tlhIngan Hol learners, which says: Since
> you chose to learn a constructed language, you need to get “in-character”;
> you need to get the “feeling of this language”, by letting go of your
> native-language-habit, of insulting someone by the use of sexually-oriented
> words which would concern his mother.
>
> After all - this school of thought continues -, perhaps klingons wouldn’t
> find anything sexual offensive; perhaps they would be way more offended by
> the sound of {yIH muSHa’wI’} rather than “cocks***r”.
>
> I can partly understand this school of thought, at least as far as
> cosplaying is concerned. After all, during cosplay, one could expect
> klingons to express terran concepts, to the same degree one would expect
> orcs from the lord of the rings, to talk about phasers, photon torpedoes,
> and warp drives..
>
> However, the extent of my willingness to agree with this school of though
> ends, the moment cosplay clothes are taken off, and real life begins.
>
> Klingon obviously started as the language of the fictitious star trek
> warrior race, however not all of the
> real-life-actually-breathing-on-this-earth people, learn it for the purpose
> of understanding star trek dialogues.
>
> And some of us don't even like klingons to start with..
>
> So, here comes the second school of thought, that says: Klingon should at
> least have the vocabulary to construct the mu’qaD veS phrases needed in
> actual everyday life.
>
> And I always counted myself among the people of the second group..
>
> I’m really sorry (actually not at all..), but I could never stop being
> irritated by the argument “klingons would never use this or that”. It is
> the money-laundering equivalent for “how do we justify the obvious
> inadequacies ? lets say, klingons would never say that”.
>
> And what irritates me is, that the vocabulary needed to construct
> real-life mu’qaD veS, should already exist.
>
> Lets talk about the vocabulary which concerns procreation..
>
> We already have bogh, yatlh, nga’chuq.. But do we have a word for “penis”
> ? No.. Do we have a word for “vagina” ? No again..
>
> For a baby to be born, first something needs to enter something.. And
> after a while, the baby has to come out of somewhere..
>
> And it isn’t like I’m saying “we should have the vulgar versions of the
> male/female reproductive systems”; we could make due with the
> medical/scientific terms, as is the case with lay.
>
> Unfortunately though, klingon lacks these words, although we do have
> numerous words which describe the various body parts. So, I wonder.. Why is
> that ? Are we some kind of underaged children, who must at all costs never
> hear the f-word, let alone use it ?
>
> Or is it perhaps, that klingon mothers vuj their babies through their
> Sa’HutDu’, so there is no need for words which would describe their
> reproductive systems ?
>
> Sovba' qeylIS neH.. qeylIS neH..
>
> ~ channgan qIj
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>
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