SuStel:
*pa' SoHtaHbe'chugh vaj meyrI' SoH* *if you are not there then you are a square*
The placement of {-be'} confuses me. If we choose to place it after the {-taH} then doesn't the meaning become "If you aren't there continuously" ? Perhaps this is indeed the intented meaning, the speaker trying to say "if you aren't continuously there, then..". But wouldn't you accept, as a more literal way of saying "If you aren't there.." the {pa' SoHbe'taHchugh..} ? The only reasoning I see for placing the {-be'} after the {-taH}, is if we consider (because of the {pa'}) the {SoHtaH} as an "unable to be separated pair of words", thus leaving as an only option the placement of the {-be'} after it. qunnoq On 6 Jul 2017 4:48 pm, "SuStel" <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
On 7/6/2017 5:32 AM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
lay'tel SIvten ('ej latlhpu')
pa' SoHtaH pagh meyrI' SoHtaH! "Be there, or be square!"
I don't think that grammar-wise the {pa' SoHtaH} can stand for "be there !". Even if one speaks this phrase coloring his voice with an imperative tone, then again the meaning would be "you are there", with the context of "you are being there" (meaning I am making an observation that "you are there"). And all this with an imperative tone, which doesn't make much sense.
If I was to translate the "be there !" in klingon, I would choose something like {pa' yISaH'eghmoH}.
If I were to temporarily accept *meyrI'* as meaning the same thing as the obsolete English slang meaning of *square,* I would pattern this utterance on existing Klingon:
*pa' SoHtaHbe'chugh vaj meyrI' SoH **if you are not there then you are a square*
Using *pa' bISaHbe'chugh* is also acceptable.
If I were to look for an actual bit of Klingon slang, I might say one of these:
*pa' SoHtaHbe'chugh vaj bInatlh **if you are not there then you consume (reprehensible, disguisting, contemptible)*
*pa' SoHtaHbe'chugh vaj Hom SoH **if you are not there then you are a bone (weakling, runt, scrawny one, skinny one)*
*pa' SoHtaHbe'chugh vaj bolwI' SoH **if you are not there then you are a drooler (traitor)*
And so on.
-- SuStelhttp://trimboli.name
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