In English we can say: "something good has happened", and in case
someone wonders we can say *exactly* the same in Greek too.
And now suppose we want to say this in Klingon..
Option A: {qaSpu' QaQbogh vay'}.
Option B: (qaSpu' vay' QaQ).
As far as option A goes, all's good. But there's something weird with
option B; if I read {vay' QaQ} without translating it in english I
"feel" it ok. But if I translate it as "good something", it "feels"
weird.
So, I'd like to ask:
Meaning-wise, is the {qaSpu' vay' QaQ} a "normal" construction, or is
this klingon phrase as weird as saying "(a) good something has
happened" ?
I see nothing weird about qaSpu' vay' QaQ. Would you have
any problem with Haghpu' loD Sagh The serious man has
laughed? They have exactly the same grammar. If you have a
problem with one and not the other, your problem is with your
choice of translations, not the Klingon sentence. Always translate
the meaning of a sentence, not the individual words. If
the best translation doesn't match the original word for word, so
be it.
-- SuStel http://trimboli.name