[tlhIngan Hol] po 8 am, or 8 am po ?

[Steven Boozer]

I quite agree, {rep yIper} would be better if the captain wanted the exact time… or even {rep yIperchu’!} if he needed it down to the second.  But I was just thinking he was gently (for a Klingon) reminding the ensign of the old adage: "A Klingon may be inaccurate, but he is never approximate."

Voragh


From: tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces at lists.kli.org> On Behalf Of nIqolay Q

On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 12:36 PM Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu<mailto:sboozer at uchicago.edu>> wrote:
In practice I imagine a combination of systems is used:
Q:   'arlogh Qoylu'pu'?
       What’s the time?
A:   Hutlogh Qoylu'pu'.
       Gone nine. / It’s after nine.
Q:   rep yIper, lagh!
       Be specific ensign!
A:   Hutvatlh wa’maH wej rep, qaH!
      09:13 hours, sir!

If the {'arlogh Qoylu'pu'} idiom isn't used to specify fractions of the hour, it might be the case that you don't bother with it in the first place if you know you need an answer more precise than an hour. So the {ghelwI'} in this dialogue should probably have just started with {rep yIper, lagh!} if they knew they needed the minutes too.

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