So, while reading this, I started thinking, what if you wanted to efficiently say that today, you ate pizza for the first time in your life (a very specific variation on your {wa’Hu’ pItSa’ vISoppu’be’}, and it hit me: DaHjaj pItSa’ vIqIH ‘ej vISop. charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.
On Apr 30, 2020, at 10:01 AM, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote:
SuStel:
If you bring up such fine points of grammar to the ordinary English speaker, most will just shrug and say something like "I dunno. Whatever." I think the ordinary Klingon speaker would do the same thing.
Now you reminded me..
Some years ago, I was asking something similar.. I don't remember exactly what it was, but I think it had to do with me trying to understand which suffix influences which and why.
Then, at some point in the thread, charghwI' replied by saying: "arguing about something like this, would probably get you killed on Qo'noS." Then, I found that so funny, laughing so much that I still remember that incident although 2-3 years or more have passed.
Fun aside, I agree that most native speakers in any language wouldn't care to analyze such details. When I was considering the question of this thread, initially I asked myself how I perceive this matter in klingon. Then I asked myself how I perceive this matter in english.. But as soon as I begun to ask myself how I perceive this matter in greek, immediately the thought appeared in my mind:
Shut up, don't ask me that; I don't care. I just don't. I won't start wondering the differences between the greek equivalent phrases. I don't give a crap.
So, yes; from personal experience I understand that a native speaker doesn't care the slightest, about these details..
And I believe that the average klingon reader, regardless whether he read {wa'Hu', pItSa' vISopbe'}, {wa'Hu', pItSa' vISopbe'pu'}, or {wa'Hu', pItSa' vISoppu'be'}, he wouldn't stop even for a second in order to think if it's historical present, or past tense, or an event completed. He would understand "yesterday I didn't eat a pizza", and that's it - case closed. And I would think exactly the same, since I never stop to analyze whenever I read others' klingon what *exactly* their aspect (or lack of it) means.
However, I do believe that it's always better if we know how things work, even if in the end we tend not to (over)analyze things in the actual everyday use of klingon.
~ mayqel qunen'oS 'Imyaghbogh DoS vIpoQ _______________________________________________ tlhIngan-Hol mailing list tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org http://lists.kli.org/listinfo.cgi/tlhingan-hol-kli.org