[tlhIngan Hol] thoughts on the -be'pu' vs -pu'be'

Will Martin willmartin2 at mac.com
Thu Apr 30 07:19:40 PDT 2020


So, while reading this, I started thinking, what if you wanted to efficiently say that today, you ate pizza for the first time in your life (a very specific variation on your {wa’Hu’ pItSa’ vISoppu’be’}, and it hit me:

DaHjaj pItSa’ vIqIH ‘ej vISop.

charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan

rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.

> On Apr 30, 2020, at 10:01 AM, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> SuStel:
>> If you bring up such fine points of grammar to the ordinary
>> English speaker, most will just shrug and say something like
>> "I dunno. Whatever." I think the ordinary Klingon speaker
>> would do the same thing.
> 
> Now you reminded me..
> 
> Some years ago, I was asking something similar.. I don't remember
> exactly what it was, but I think it had to do with me trying to
> understand which suffix influences which and why.
> 
> Then, at some point in the thread, charghwI' replied by saying:
> "arguing about something like this, would probably get you killed on
> Qo'noS." Then, I found that so funny, laughing so much that I still
> remember that incident although 2-3 years or more have passed.
> 
> Fun aside, I agree that most native speakers in any language wouldn't
> care to analyze such details. When I was considering the question of
> this thread, initially I asked myself how I perceive this matter in
> klingon. Then I asked myself how I perceive this matter in english..
> But as soon as I begun to ask myself how I perceive this matter in
> greek, immediately the thought appeared in my mind:
> 
> Shut up, don't ask me that; I don't care. I just don't. I won't start
> wondering the differences between the greek equivalent phrases. I
> don't give a crap.
> 
> So, yes; from personal experience I understand that a native speaker
> doesn't care the slightest, about these details..
> 
> And I believe that the average klingon reader, regardless whether he
> read {wa'Hu', pItSa' vISopbe'}, {wa'Hu', pItSa' vISopbe'pu'}, or
> {wa'Hu', pItSa' vISoppu'be'}, he wouldn't stop even for a second in
> order to think if it's historical present, or past tense, or an event
> completed. He would understand "yesterday I didn't eat a pizza", and
> that's it - case closed. And I would think exactly the same, since I
> never stop to analyze whenever I read others' klingon what *exactly*
> their aspect (or lack of it) means.
> 
> However, I do believe that it's always better if we know how things
> work, even if in the end we tend not to (over)analyze things in the
> actual everyday use of klingon.
> 
> ~ mayqel qunen'oS
> 'Imyaghbogh DoS vIpoQ
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