[Tlhingan-hol] keeping "KLI folklore" words in word lists

lojmitti7wi7nuv at gmail.com lojmitti7wi7nuv at gmail.com
Tue Dec 16 11:38:04 PST 2014


As a person who once maintained the New Words List and has been long outspoken against people making up words, I find it deeply ironic that the word {tlhoqo’} has arisen from the grave, proving my point about how dangerous it is to make up new Klingon words if your name isn’t Marc Okrand. It was a joke. It never was a “real” word. It never was meant to be a real word.

That said, {‘I’} was also a joke, but it became a real word because words that need to exist often make their way to Okrand and he approves them and we move on. Meanwhile, looking once again at {tlhoqo’} I realize that it is not a word that needed to exist because to exist, it would need general usage, and I’m delighted to say that in the years since its first utterance, there have been no people here who have fully earned the definition of the word {tlhoqo’}.

So, it never achieved the status of a descriptive noun. At best, it was an informal proper noun with associations that approach myth for those who remember the reference, and cannot be fully understood by those who did not experience it.

lojmIt tI’wI’ nuv ‘utlh
Retired Door Repair Guy

> On Dec 16, 2014, at 7:32 AM, Lieven <levinius at gmx.de> wrote:
> 
> ja' reyutqa':
>> Let's take "tlhoqo' " as an example - I just searched for it (using Google).
> > Judging by the results I got, I have no way to know if it is canon
> > or not, because no source explicitely says either way.
>> boQwI' also doesn't list it, neither does Klingonska.org -
> 
> > so what is the conclusion I'm supposed to draw from that?
> 
> Actually, you should know or see which sources to trust.
> The only true result gives you a page with hundreds of languages and claims to have "native" klingon speakers. (well, actually, we know most of these). I'm not sure how much to trust this.
> 
> You don't find it in boQwI'.
> You don't find it in the klingon dictionary.
> You don't find it in klingonska.org.
> You don't find it in kli.org's new word list.
> You don't find it in qepHom.de's new word list.
> You don't find it in KAG Hol 'ampaS.
> You don't find it in the KLI's wiki.
> You don't find it in Memory Alpha.
> You don't find it in Memory Beta.
> You don't find it in GerDic Dictionary.
> You don't find it in mu'ghom.Wikia.
> You don't find it in Glosbe.com dictionary.
> 
> If you have difficulties finding a word in the web, there must be a reason for this. For instance, note the Wikipedia policy: They explicitely do NOT set up pages for incorrectly spelled words, just to make clear for the user that the word is just not existing. Only very frequent misspellings are shown ("Diphtong" forwards to "Diphthong", but "diftong" does not give an answer), but if the word does not exist in proper english (or proper Klingon), it's just not listed.
> 
> What I want to say is that one should not spread fake words, which people will learn, then use, and then Okrand must vet them because they have become common slang terms. We don't want to have a day when people say that Okrand created a klingon word for asshole which is tlhoqo'. It's a negative image for both Okrand and for Kloko.
> 
> See what happened with "qaqItlhneS"!
> Search for it to find out.
> 
> -- 
> Lieven L. Litaer
> aka Quvar valer 'utlh
> http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
> http://wiki.qepHom.de
> 
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