[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Quj (noun)

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: Quj
Part of speech: noun
Definition: game
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Quj wa'DIch MONOPOLY Huch nav qa' tlhIngan QaS 
Klingon forces replace original MONOPOLY bills. (MKE)

Quj wa'DIch juH qachmey mebpa'mey je qa' raQmey chu' monmey chu' je 
Custom OUTPOSTS and CAPITALS replace original Houses and Hotels. (MKE)

(ghunchu'wI', 9/30/2020):  At qep'a' wejDIch, Marc Okrand gave a brief speech in Klingon before the Cabaret. He ended with {taghjaj Qujmey}, and translated it as "Let the games begin!" 

(HQ 2.4):  To win a competition is {Qap}. (If it's a decisive or particularly gratifying victory, they'd say {Qapchu'}, even though that's a bit redundant... To a Klingon, to win is to function perfectly. The opposite notion, lose, is commonly {luj}, also meaning fail.

(KGT 165-66):  Note that {luj} is also used to mean lose (as in "lose at a game"). To say "I lose" is {jIluj};  to say "I lose in a big way" is {jIlujqu'} or {jIlujchu'}.  The slang term {vonlu'} is not used in reference to games.

(qep'a' 2020):  An athletic competition is {pIqcho' qaD} or {pIqcho' Quj}. 

{pe''egh} means to "keep score" (lit. "cut oneself"):  "It comes from an old Klingon habit of keeping track of accomplishments by making small cuts on one's skin, usually on the face, as a tally." (TKW 135)

(TKW 191):  playing a game just for fun is an outlandish notion.

Examples of Klingon games and challenges - or Klingon names for Human ones -  include:  the *B'aht Qul* challenge, {ghInaq} KEBH, {Huchmay' Quj} Monopoly (ML), {qa'vaQ}, {qeylIS mInDu'} (KCD), {Qoqe'} croquet (Klingon Alice), {SIQab'el} Scrabble, {tISang) *t'Sang* and (of course) {mu'qaD veS)  curse-warfare.

(De'vID, 5/07/2024 < Saarbrücken qepHom'a' 2014):  Maltz said the card games he'd seen on Earth were all new to him and didn't match up with any Klingon games he was familiar with.  Nevertheless, he'd become rather fond of one game, which he calls {'urghwI'} ("one that jabs or pokes"), a name he made up based on what he thought the Federation Standard name of the game was (but other Klingons probably would not understand this word in this sense).

SEE:
Quj  			play a game (v)
 
SEE ALSO:
qaD  			challenge, test of one's abilities,  contest (n)
ngajrun 		riddle, puzzle (n)
ghol 			opponent (n)
mI' naghmey 		dice (n)
'echlet 			board (n)
'echlethommey 		cards (n)
vey 			pack (of cards) (n)

Qap 			win (eg. a competition) (v)
SuD 			gamble, take a chance (v)
qaD 			challenge (v)
'ov 			compete (v)

"This is war, a game we Klingons play to win." (Kor, TOS "Errand of Mercy") 

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons