Bullets in Klingon
I've been thinking for a long time about how to translate the song "Boys like You" (SoH rurbogh loDpu') by Who Is Fancy (ft/ Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande) into Klingon. I thought, after we got *ruH* and *tapqej*, that we'd had all the necessary words. But then I thought about the beginning line: I'm at the deep end, cannonball jump I wondered what Klingons would call a cannonball in the swimming pool. I wondered if the war-ready Klingon people would derive it from their word for a ballistic cannonball, the way English speakers do. So what was the word for "cannonball", I asked myself.. I figured they'd say *tal* plus whatever the word for bullet was, right? But I checked the dictionary -- no word for bullet. No word for projectile. Not even a word for ballista. Considering the Klingons are notorious for talking about battle all the time, I thought we'd just HAVE to already have a word for projectiles -- one we could put after *HIch* to make a word for "bullet" or put after *tal* to make a word for "cannonball". But I can't seem to find one. Am I missing something? Or do people here just use a non-canon derivation like *pengHom*?
On Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 8:09 PM James Landau via tlhIngan-Hol < tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org> wrote:
I wondered what Klingons would call a cannonball in the swimming pool. I wondered if the war-ready Klingon people would derive it from their word for a ballistic cannonball, the way English speakers do.
Maybe not. French calls it "bombe". Spanish is "bomba". Hebrew looks like it calls it either a bomb or a cannon. We don't know what Klingons would call the act of jumping into a pool in order to make a big splash. Worf seems averse to swimming in the first place, so Klingons might not even have pool-related jargon.
So what was the word for "cannonball", I asked myself.. I figured they'd say *tal* plus whatever the word for bullet was, right? But I checked the dictionary -- no word for bullet. No word for projectile. Not even a word for ballista. Considering the Klingons are notorious for talking about battle all the time, I thought we'd just HAVE to already have a word for projectiles -- one we could put after *HIch* to make a word for "bullet" or put after *tal* to make a word for "cannonball". But I can't seem to find one.
Am I missing something?
You're missing the noun {nIch} "ammunition". However, you're also missing the noun {bobDar} "splash". I think {bobDar'a'} would be a perfectly appropriate word to describe a "cannonball jump" -- or at least the relevant result of one. -- ghunchu'wI'
We also have {'aplom} “pellet” which would work for bullet (they may be related in English) and, of course, {moQ} “sphere, ball”. If you’re collecting shooting vocabulary, don’t forget: vI' sharpshooting, marksmanship, aim (n) DoS target (n) Qeq aim (at), target (v) puS sight (with gunsight) (v) Voragh From: tlhIngan-Hol On Behalf Of Alan Anderson via tlhIngan-Hol On Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 8:09 PM James Landau via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org<mailto:tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org>> wrote: I wondered what Klingons would call a cannonball in the swimming pool. I wondered if the war-ready Klingon people would derive it from their word for a ballistic cannonball, the way English speakers do. Maybe not. French calls it "bombe". Spanish is "bomba". Hebrew looks like it calls it either a bomb or a cannon. We don't know what Klingons would call the act of jumping into a pool in order to make a big splash. Worf seems averse to swimming in the first place, so Klingons might not even have pool-related jargon. So what was the word for "cannonball", I asked myself.. I figured they'd say *tal* plus whatever the word for bullet was, right? But I checked the dictionary -- no word for bullet. No word for projectile. Not even a word for ballista. Considering the Klingons are notorious for talking about battle all the time, I thought we'd just HAVE to already have a word for projectiles -- one we could put after *HIch* to make a word for "bullet" or put after *tal* to make a word for "cannonball". But I can't seem to find one. Am I missing something? You're missing the noun {nIch} "ammunition". However, you're also missing the noun {bobDar} "splash". I think {bobDar'a'} would be a perfectly appropriate word to describe a "cannonball jump" -- or at least the relevant result of one. -- ghunchu'wI'
On a side note, note that there's a prefix missing in the title. "Boys like you" should be {SoH nIrurbogh loDpu'}. — André/ Vortarulo On Thu, Jan 26, 2023, 02:09 James Landau via tlhIngan-Hol < tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org> wrote:
I've been thinking for a long time about how to translate the song "Boys like You" (SoH rurbogh loDpu') by Who Is Fancy (ft/ Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande) into Klingon. I thought, after we got *ruH* and *tapqej*, that we'd had all the necessary words. But then I thought about the beginning line:
I'm at the deep end, cannonball jump
I wondered what Klingons would call a cannonball in the swimming pool. I wondered if the war-ready Klingon people would derive it from their word for a ballistic cannonball, the way English speakers do. So what was the word for "cannonball", I asked myself.. I figured they'd say *tal* plus whatever the word for bullet was, right? But I checked the dictionary -- no word for bullet. No word for projectile. Not even a word for ballista. Considering the Klingons are notorious for talking about battle all the time, I thought we'd just HAVE to already have a word for projectiles -- one we could put after *HIch* to make a word for "bullet" or put after *tal* to make a word for "cannonball". But I can't seem to find one.
Am I missing something? Or do people here just use a non-canon derivation like *pengHom*? _______________________________________________ tlhIngan-Hol mailing list tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org http://lists.kli.org/listinfo.cgi/tlhingan-hol-kli.org
On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 3:04 PM André Müller via tlhIngan-Hol < tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org> wrote:
On a side note, note that there's a prefix missing in the title. "Boys like you" should be {SoH nIrurbogh loDpu'}.
It should be {SoH nIrurbog loDHompu'}, qar'a'? Although I'm not sure that "boys" in this context means the same thing as {loDHom}. In English, infantilisation is sometimes used as a form of affection, but Klingon culture would probably view it as insulting. (There's a story here about an unfortunate Terran who tried to flirt with a Klingon by calling her "baby", i.e., {ghu}.) -- De'vID
Yes, the dangers of plug-n-play “translation”. The same words pulled from the lexicon and shoved into a grammatically correct parallel construction in the style of Google Translate won’t always communicate the intended idea. pItlh charghwI’ ‘utlh (ghaH, ghaH, -Daj)
On Jan 28, 2023, at 4:29 AM, De'vID via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org> wrote:
On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 3:04 PM André Müller via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org <mailto:tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org>> wrote:
On a side note, note that there's a prefix missing in the title. "Boys like you" should be {SoH nIrurbogh loDpu'}.
It should be {SoH nIrurbog loDHompu'}, qar'a'? Although I'm not sure that "boys" in this context means the same thing as {loDHom}. In English, infantilisation is sometimes used as a form of affection, but Klingon culture would probably view it as insulting. (There's a story here about an unfortunate Terran who tried to flirt with a Klingon by calling her "baby", i.e., {ghu}.)
-- De'vID _______________________________________________ tlhIngan-Hol mailing list tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org http://lists.kli.org/listinfo.cgi/tlhingan-hol-kli.org
On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 9:04 AM André Müller via tlhIngan-Hol < tlhingan-hol@lists.kli.org> wrote:
On a side note, note that there's a prefix missing in the title. "Boys like you" should be {SoH nIrurbogh loDpu'}.
After that correction, the pronoun {SoH} is redundant. Just make it {nIrurbogh loD} or {...loDpu'} (with or without the explicit plural suffix). That incidentally removes any ambiguity over which is the head noun. -- ghunchu'wI'
participants (6)
-
Alan Anderson -
André Müller -
De'vID -
James Landau -
Steven Boozer -
Will Martin