[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: qol'om

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon Word of the Day for Monday, September 02, 2024

Klingon word: qol'om
Part of speech: noun
Definition: gold (element)
Source: qepHom 2015 p.13
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AFAIK not used in a sentence.

PUN: Gollum? ("I thought of gold as a precious metal. Who else likes precious things more than he should?" [nIqolay Q])

CULTURAL/TREK NOTES:
After killing Gowron in a duel someone put the Chancellor's gold-trimmed, medel-bedecked cloak on Worf who immediately took it off and put it on Martok. (DS9 "Tacking Into the Wind")

The Klingon Judiciary placed a bounty of 9000 *darseks* for the capture of escaped convict Jonathan Archer, dead or alive, in 2153, which was considered "a fortune" by the Tellarite bounty hunter Skalaar. (Although the Klingon Goroth cheated Skalaar and only paid 6000 *darseks* when he took Archer away.) (ENT "Bounty"; are *darseks* make from gold, latinum, or something else?)

LURSA:   Your safety is not our concern. 
B'ETOR:  Your gold is.  
		[ .... ]
GARAK:  I am only a simple clothing merchant. 
B'ETOR:  We have no time for your games. Do you want Tahna Los or not? 
GARAK:  You are in a position to deliver the Bajoran to Cardassian authorities? 
LURSA:   What is he worth to them? 
B'ETOR:  In gold-pressed latinum. 
   < Garak puts a number on a PADD >
LURSA:  You insult us. 
GARAK: Ladies, ladies, please. Everything is negotiable. I am no more than what
               I seem to be, a merchant trying to make the best transaction. So, let us
               haggle.  
		[ .... ]
   < Lursa and B'Etor beam in with a cylinder of bilitrium explosive > 
TAHNA:  Thirteen kilograms of gold-pressed latinum, as promised. 
LURSA:   This is yours. 
B'ETOR:  {'eH.  HImaH!}
   < The sisters beam out >  [DS9 "Past Prologue"] 

Latinum's chief advantage is that it cannot be replicated -- unlike worthless gold or diamonds -- which makes it useful as currency. See the comprehensive Memory Alpha article for more details at http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Latinum " (Voragh, 8/09/07)

"As we learned in a DS9 episode, latinum is actually a liquid (or maybe an oil), so valuable that tiny amounts of it are encased in the relatively worthless gold just to make it into a practical currency, which is why it is called 'gold-press'.  I always found that hilarious!" (ter'eS, 8/09/2007) :

QUARK: Beautiful, isn't it? And the way it picks up the light I wonder who came up
               with the idea of suspending liquid latinum inside worthless bits of gold? 
DAX:      Probably somebody who got tired of making change with an eyedropper. 
		[ .... ]
QUARK: That can't be! There's no latinum in these bricks! 
ODO:     What? 
QUARK: Someone's extracted all the latinum! There's nothing here but worthless gold.
ODO:     And it's all yours.
QUARK: No!  No!  No!  
		[ .... ]
QUARK: You know, you and I should consider doing business together. Two enterprising
               gentlemen like us could do all right for ourselves. Take that gold dust of yours. 
               It doesn't have to be a total loss. I hear there're some primitive cultures who 
               consider it quite valuable. [Quark to Morn, DS9 "Who Mourns for Morn?"]
  
SEE ALSO:
*baS wagh 	[expensive metal: gold, silver, etc.] [SOURCE? Glen Proechel?}
SIrlIy 		silver (n)
tamler  		element (chemical) (n)

ghon 		sparkle, glitter (v)
boch 		shine, be shiny (v)

TERRAN PROVERB:
  "All that glitters is not gold. " (misremembered from "All that glisters is not gold." In Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", II:7)

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons