[Tlhingan-hol] qo''e' tu'bogh pagh - 'ay' wejmaH

[Steven Boozer]

This is an opportunity to use the slang term {ngup} "authority, power, one in authority, one in charge"... "somebody up there"!

KGT 157:  Literally meaning "cape", this slang term is an example of metonymy, whereby one word (or phrase) stands for another with which it is associated. In this case, the leader of the Klingon High Council typically wears a ceremonial cape. The slang sense of {ngup} does not refer only to this position on the High Council, however, but to anyone in power or even to "the power structure." Someone unsatisfied with the status quo, a rebel, might be said to want to {ngup qaD} (challenge those in charge; literally, "challenge the cape"). Nonslang equivalents of {ngup} are {woQ} (authority, political power) and {qum} (government).

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ghunchu'wI' 'utlh [mailto:qunchuy at alcaco.net]
> 
> >>> MARTIA: Somebody up there wants you out of the way.
> 
> > Qov:
> >> What does the "up" refer to in the English?
> >
> > From: De'vID jonpIn:
> > Actually, I'm not entirely sure.  She's either referring to
> > someone up in space, or up in the hierarchy of the prison,
> > but she's quite vague about it.
> 
> Voragh wrote:
>> Or even higher in the Klingon government.  It was General Chang et
>> al. who orchestrated Gorkon's assassination and framed Kirk.
> 
> I read "somebody up there" as idiomatic for "someone in power". I'd
> translate the line {SunISlaHbe' neHba' ngupHey}.
> 
> -- ghunchu'wI'
>