[tlhIngan Hol] look what the cat dragged in

[Lieven L. Litaer]

Am 11.11.2021 um 06:38 schrieb James Landau:
> How did you manage to translate: "-I quite agree with you, said the
> Duchess; and the moral of that is-’Be what you would seem to be’-or, if
> you’d like it put more simply-’Never imagine yourself not to be
> otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or
> might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have
> appeared to them to be otherwise.’"?

THAT really is a good question. I think that from the entire book, this
part is the most confusing and most complicated sentence of all. Surely,
the questio also is: What does that sentence mean, and does it make
sense at all?

Anyhow, I believe that the Klingon version is as confusing as it the
original. I'll skip my literal backtranslation first here, just to see
if you can make anything out if this. I'm very curious to see your
reactions to this.

»jIQochbe’qu’,« jatlh qumwI’, »’ej DughuHmoH ngoDvam—<vay’’e’ Darur
DaneHbogh yIDa>—’ach, chaq mu’mey ngeD DamaSchugh—<latlhpu’vaD
pImbe’law’bogh vay’’e’ SoH not ’e’ yIjal. pImbe’ vay’ SoHbogh, chaHvaD
jaS vay’vamvaD vay’ pIm’e’ luDambogh je ’e’ luQub latlhpu’.>«

> Also, *woSwa' ghew* is defined as a rolling bug. Does that mean an
> isopod crustacean, i.e. a pillbug? (I call them pillbugs, my mother
> calls them sowbugs, my sister calls them roly-polies.)

Of course I cannot tell more than what Maltz said, but I guess that this
word can be used to describe the bugs you mentioned. Of course, the
Klingon animal might look very different, but we just don't know.

--
Lieven L. Litaer
aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany"
http://www.tlhInganHol.com
http://klingon.wiki/En/AliceInWonderland