[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: bIraqlul

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Wed Sep 16 11:37:29 PDT 2020


Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Klingon word: bIraqlul
Part of speech: noun
Definition: *brak'lul* (redundancy in body parts)
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  A term from physiology: The Klingon body incorporates multiple redundancies for nearly all vital bodily functions. This characteristic, known as *brak'lul*, gives Klingon warriors enormous resiliency in battle, since almost every function in their body is duplicated in case any primary organ or system failed. From various episodes we know that Klingons have two livers (chej), three lungs (tagh), 23 ribs (joQ), a redundant stomach (burgh), an eight-chambered heart (tIq), a backup for their synaptic functions, etc. (TNG "Ethics", VOY "Macrocosm", VOY "Lineage"), redundant neural functions (ENT “Broken Bow”); and at least two QiVons (qIvon), whatever that is. 

SEE ALSO:
porghQeD  	the scientific study of bodily functions (n)  [physiology, anatomy, etc.]

(HQ 12.4:8):  Maltz was familiar with the scientific study of bodily functions, or {porghQeD}, but he didn't consider himself terribly well versed in the field. The closest he could come to bodily function was {porgh mIw}, literally "body process", but he had a hard time thinking of an everyday sentence containing that phrase. He said that Klingons don't talk all that much about bodily functions as a group, but they certainly do talk about specific bodily functions.

(MO to Lieven Litaer, 10/24/2011):  [Maltz] said he did know a word {Qur} that might be related, though it was difficult to translate. The best he could come up with was structure or organization. He was quick to point out that this did not mean structure like a building is a structure, nor did it mean organization like an organization of people or even an organization of states. It means the way things fit together or the arrangement of the parts of something bigger. He said it could be used for anatomy when talking about animals.

  The *VeK'tal* response is a measure of Klingon physiological condition. (TNG "Ethics"; something to do with the blood or circulatory system?)  When Worf's blood pressure dropped to 60/40 and his Vek'tal response fell to 20% during spinal replacement surgery, Dr. Crusher ordered, "Increase oxygen content to 85%." (TNG "Ethics")


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons




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