On Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 10:06 AM mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote:

ok, I see..

But {ngagh} aside..

In english, do you use the verb "to mate" for humans ?

Or is it primarily used for animals ?

I'd say "to mate" is mostly used for animals. You can use it in reference to people, but to me, it sounds either detached and clinical (as if you were referring to people as some sort of livestock or wildlife),

In English, intransitive mate tends to be used only for wildlife, and it means to copulate. Transitive mate can be used for livestock, meaning the person causes the animals to breed. It is rarely used to refer to people.

In Klingon, from the example of {yIH ngaghwI'}, it seems that you can use {ngagh} to refer to people, but it probably has more vulgar overtones than {nga'chuq}. (For instance, you might use it in the chorus of {Sumqu'} by {vI' jav jav 'uj 'abbogh Hut'Inmey'e'}: {qangagh vIneH, Ha'DIbaH vIrur vIneH.})

I think yIH ngaghwI' is insulting because it brings the target of the insult down to the level of an animal. But whether that's because ngagh is for animals and nga'chuq is for people or just because you're talking about doing it with a yIH, I don't know.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name