[Tlhingan-hol] Expressing gratitude

[Robyn Stewart]

I was holding back on this because I thought it should be treated as KLBC, but it looks as though ‘arHa has enough on his plate, but a couple of people have answered and it is the sort of question that merits multiple answers. Mine is long and silly, but it starts with a shot version:

 

In this, as in many situations, the correct answer to “what would a Klingon say in place of ____” is “NOTHING.”  

 

For the long version, in place of telling you what Klingons say, I’m going to provide a passage for would-be Klingon spies, those who want to blend in around Terrans. 

 

You already know that that unless in extremis, Terrans begin and end conversations with phatic speech unlike anything in tlhIngan Hol, but this is not the end of their verbal ritual.

 

It is a cultural practice amongst many humans to accompany requests with a hedging word or phrase to indicate that the request is not a mandatory order. In English “if it so pleases you” is usually abbreviated to “please” but the French still use the whole phrase s’il vous plait. So important is this hedging of requests that even for requests that are someone mandatory, e.g. from a boss to a subordinate, not only is the hedging phrase employed, but the grammar of the sentence will be twisted to avoid the imperative mood. “If you would unpack these boxes before you go,”  “Could you please clean the front windows,” “Why don’t you go ahead and ship this to headquarters,”  “You need to redo this with Canadian spellings.” So reviled is the simple, clear imperative in English that its use is almost synonymous with rudeness or dire emergency. It is acceptable to say “Help me” only if death or injury is at stake.  Phrase all other requests for assistance as obliquely as possible.

 

It’s so important to humans that requests not be regarded as rude or obligatory—even when they are—that they have more words to say after any kind of act is performed on our behalf: opening a door, giving the current time, fulfilling one’s part in an ordinary commercial transaction, admiring one’s weapons, or moving slightly out of the way so we can pass (oh and they even have a special phrase purely for hedging the command “move out of my way”).  Although the words “thank you” can be roughly translated as qatlho’ or Satlho’, for the human they do not convey any type of obligation nor indicate that the person is about to convey any kind of actual thanks. It is simply a verbal ritual. Indeed in many dialects of Federation standard it is close to obligatory for the person who is thanked to respond with a phrase such as “you’re welcome” that indicates that the thanks was unnecessary.

 

Odd and obstructionist as they may seem, failure to employ these conversational tactics results in the speaker being perceived as rude, and even suspicious. Memorize the phrases and learn to employ them as a reflex in any social situation. You literally cannot overuse them.  Terrans themselves occasionally catch themselves using them in situations that even they realize are ridiculous to express thanks. They then resort to the expression “sorry.”  This will be covered in next week’s lecture. Those of you to be stationed in Canada, “please be sure to take particular care to attend. “  (Recall: that would be the proper Terran way to say {peSaH}.)

 

- Qov

 

From: qunnoQ HoD [mailto:mihkoun at gmail.com] 
Sent: November 13, 2015 5:55
To: tlhIngan Hol mailing list
Subject: [Tlhingan-hol] Expressing gratitude

 

I recently read that klingons do not say "thank you". So I wonder.. What does a Klingon say to express gratitude ?

What would he/she say in the place of "thank you" ?

cpt qunnoQ

 

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