[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: bochmoHwI'

[Steven Boozer]

> Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, October 26, 2011
> 
> Klingon word:   bochmoHwI'
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition:     sycophant, flatterer (slang)

KGT 146-47:  Literally "shiner, one who shines (something)", this word is all that remains of an earlier expression, {'etlh bochmoHwI'} ("blade shiner"). It was originally used to refer to someone who shined somebody else's blade, as opposed to one's own, suggesting the idea of flattering a superior rather than simply doing one's own work. A nonslang equivalent might be {naDwI'} ("one who praises"), though this lacks the overtones of "self-serving".

KGT 146 (ill.):  Garak... a Cardassian operative in the mirror universe who is a {bochmoHwI'}.

The following proverb may be relevant:
 
  ghIchwIj DabochmoHchugh ghIchlIj qanob 
  If you shine my nose, I will give you your nose. PK

"Power Klingon" says that this is "a common idiom meaning: Don't try to fool me. Do not try to mislead me if you value your life."


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons