[Tlhingan-hol] tlhIngan cursing

[nIqolay Q]

If I recall correctly, most of the Klingon curses are just gibberish from
the shows, especially the epithets, and MO just transliterated them into
Klingon spelling.

There's been a few attempts at "folk etymologies" for the curse words,
based on similar-sounding words, but nothing definitely authoritative.
Maltz thinks the word {taHqeq} is related to the expression {bItaHrup'a'}
"Do you want to continue?", which is used defiantly before escalating an
argument to the next level (punches or curse warfare). And I think one of
the footnotes in paq'batlh suggests that {petaQ} is derived from {petaQ}
meaning "you (plural) be weird!", though I think that footnote was not
written by Okrand himself. I think there may also be some reluctance on
Okrand's part to get too deep into the R-rated language, so there's no
definite association to actual objectionable topics.

For the most part I think you can just translate the curse words to the
nearest equivalent in the given language based on the context it's been
used in before. {petaQ}, for instance, seems to be roughly equivalent to
"asshole, dumbass, bastard", and I think {ghuy'} was translated as "Damn!"
in a line written for Star Trek 5.

On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 10:46 AM, qunnoQ HoD <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was just reading the tlhIngan epithets and general invectives on the
> subject of cursing. I read the following epithets
> {petaQ,toDSaH,taHqeq,yIntagh,Qovpatlh} and the invectives (va'/Qu'vatlh,
> ghay'cha', baQa', Hu'tegh, QI'yaH, ghuy'cha')
>
> I didn't see anywhere though,any given meaning or translation of the
> aforementioned epithets/invectives..
>
> does this mean that all these epithets/invectives cannot be translated ?
>
> cpt. qunnoQ
>
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