[Tlhingan-hol] TKD surprises

[Steven Boozer]

QeS:
> I also would like to know, have we ever seen {tu'HomI'raH} in
> the wild? 

We can thank the Paramount writers for this one.  It's from the DS9 episode "Blood Oath":

Three very old Klingons (Kor, Kang, Koloth) arrive on DS9 to pick up Curzon Dax for a trip of vengeance he was bound to with a blood oath against a bandit known as "The Albino".  Instead of Curzon they find Jadzia, who feels compelled to take Curzon's place even though the Klingons release her from the oath.  Kor is on her side and eventually she manages to impress Koloth with her skills with the bat'leth, but Kang remains adamant.  At that point Kor asks him, "Why do you dismiss her like some useless *t'ooho'mIrah*?

Okrand adapted it and used in on KCD:

  HurDaq tu'HomI'raHvetlh yIlan! 
  Get that piece of junk out of here! KCD

I've always thought that {tu'HomI'raH} was the Klingon equivalent for "dunsel":  Starfleet Academy slang for an unneeded part that serves no useful purpose (TOS "The Ultimate Computer").

>         It seems so foreign as a root, and I'm still a bit
> baffled as to how it would be used in any way that would be
> more useful (pardon the pun) than {lI'Ha'}.

That would be the best way to look at it:  as a foreign import (i.e. not the current ta' Hol dialect), possibly from some version of *klingonaase*.  Klingons who use it would be like those English speakers who throw words like *Weltanschauung* or *Lumpenproletariat* into their conversation.


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons