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.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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