[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tuch

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: 	tuch
Part of speech: 	noun
Definition: 	the future (as a whole)
Source: 	qep'a' 23 [2016]
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’ach ’ejyo’ qangtlhIn nIb pabtaH ’ej vangwI’ najwI’ je puq poH SIghbogh tuch’e’ lujalbogh ngotlhwI’pu’ boptaH. 
… while embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers.  (DSC Netflix Klingon Announcement [Lieven])

 (Lieven & Okrand, 3/07/21; Die Sendung mit der Maus 50th Anniversary):
LLL:  When I say a phrase like "In the future, nobody will be poor", 
          may I add {-Daq} to {tuch}?  { tuchDaq mamIp}??  Or must it be
          something like {qaSDI' tuch} ?”
MO:  {qaSDI' tuch} should work.

(De’vID; Discord < MO, 6/06/2022):  In English, in the future is ambiguous: it can refer either to a point or an interval. In Klingon, the former is {'op pIq} and the latter is {tuch}. (And mutatis mutandis with in the past, { 'op ret}, and {pa'logh}.) This was explained at qep'a' cha'maH wejDIch.  
     There was a question about why it's {tuch} and not {'op pIq} in the above example. The example might be confusing out of context because in the future, nobody will be poor would normally be interpreted in English as meaning something like "at some point in the future, we will eliminate poverty".  But that should be {'op pIq Huch Hutlh pagh} or something like that.  
     In the show, they talk about *Leben in der Zukunft* (living in the future), i.e., what life might be like in the period of time we refer to as the future (as a whole).  In that context, {tuch} is obviously the right word.
     But one should also be careful to note that {qaSDI' tuch} is not a fixed expression for in the future (as a whole), and that other contexts may call for {qaStaHvIS tuch} or {tuch} as a time stamp.  The point of the quoted text was really that {-Daq} cannot be attached to {tuch} (i.e., in Klingon, the future (as a whole) is not thought of as a spatial location).  The example about being poor or the fact that {-DI'} was used were sort of tangential to the main point.

N.B.  Do not confuse with the verb {tuch} "forbid".

SEE ALSO:
'op pIq 		at some point in the future (n)
'opleS 		one day [in the future] (n)

pa'logh 		past, the past (as a whole) (n)
'op ret  		at some point in the past (n)

vIb 		time-travel into the future, move through time 
		toward the future (v)
vIbHa' 		time-travel into the past, move through time 
		toward 	the past (v)

TREK TRIVIA:

GORKON:    I give you a toast: The undiscovered country – the future.
ALL:              "The undiscovered country!"
SPOCK:         Hamlet, act three, scene one.
GORKON:    You have never experienced Shakespeare until you have read
                      him in the original Klingon. [ST6: The Undiscovered Country]

  “I hate temporal mechanics!” (Chief O’Brien, DS9 “Visionary”)

APPOSITE QUOTATIONS:
  “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." (George Orwell, 1984) 

  “A generation that doesn’t know history has no past; and no future.” (Robert A. Heinlein)

  “A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.” (Fidel Castro)

  "In the Soviet Union, the future is known; it’s the past which is always changing." (Soviet dissident joke)

  “Predictions are difficult—especially about the future.” (Yogi Berra)

--
Voragh, Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
    Please contribute relevant vocabulary or notes from the last 
    year or two. I’ve fallen woefully behind in updating my files.