[tlhIngan Hol] Expressing "underwear"

[SuStel]

On 4/24/2019 2:13 PM, Will Martin wrote:
> At the next qep’a’, we told this story to Okrand and we all laughed, 
> and as it got quiet after, he grinned and quietly said, “Well, of 
> course, you know that there really is a Klingon word for ‘armpit’, right?”
>
> We were all astonished and wide-eyed fell for it, hook, line, and 
> sinker as he said, “The word is, {‘I’}.”
>
> And… so, it became canon with a wave of his magic wand. We had a great 
> laugh and got a new word. Poof.

I always feel it necessary to offer my alternative memory of the event.

Recall first that this was Okrand's first qep'a', and we were under 
strict orders not to pressure him for new words or clarifications. He 
was very uncomfortable with the idea of appearing in front of the group, 
and we were supposed to not scare him off.

We were gathered around a circle, with those toward the center sitting 
in chairs and the rest of us standing around the periphery. Okrand was 
near the middle, because we'd sort of accumulated around him. Some 
people were telling funny stories of conversations that had happened on 
the list, and the story of *'I'* had come up. I was watching Okrand as 
the story was being told, by Seqram, I believe, and it was clear to me 
that he wasn't quite following it. When Seqram finished, and everyone 
was laughing, Okrand, still seeming confused, asked something like, 
"Wait, what is the word for armpit?" It was a very quiet question.

We couldn't take it anymore. As one, everyone in that group leaned 
forward and laughed, replying, in various words, "Yeah! What IS the word 
for armpit?"

And then it clicked for him that *'I'* wasn't a real Klingon word, and 
that's why the story was funny. Okrand, completely deadpan, paused for 
just a moment and said, just as quietly, "*'I'.*"

The room exploded in laughter.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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