[Tlhingan-hol] Expressing gratitude

[David Holt]

ghItlh qunnoQ HoD:


> actually,before sending the "expressing gratitude" mail,I sent a KLBC question but apparently it has been lost in subspace. Hopefully it will reappear
> in the hours to come..

If you are referring to the "Sentences as Objects" email, rest assured that it has gone out to the list and 'arHa has received it.  He just hasn't had time to respond and we are all awaiting his response as the BG before we add in any additional notes.  Please be patient. He will be with you as soon as he can.

janSIy

On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 6:33 PM, Rohan Fenwick <qeslagh at hotmail.com<mailto:qeslagh at hotmail.com>> wrote:
ghItlhpu' qunnoQ, jatlh:
> 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" ?

I feel okay jumping in on this one because it's really not a grammar/KLBC question, and more just one of practical usage that can't be answered based on canon :)

The short answer is: it's complicated.

The long answer is that like lojmIt tI'wI' nuv, I find it difficult to believe that Klingons wouldn't express gratitude if they felt it truly warranted (though as SuStel notes, it's probably not an everyday expression; I thank people too often when speaking Klingon, I know this to be true). Apart from just being a good way to be open about a positive emotion, it also helps to keep the other person feeling positively about interacting with you or doing things for you, so it's not like it's an entirely useless nicety. As for how Klingons would thank each other, to be honest, we don't know; we have no canon for this that I'm aware of.

In practice, Terran Klingon speakers sometimes use {qatlho'} "I thank you" or {Satlho'} "I thank you all", or more simply {tlho'}, which can be interpreted either as a Clipped Klingon version of {qatlho'}/{Satlho'}, or simply as the noun meaning "gratitude". I've both heard and used {tlho'} at qep'a'mey. How I, personally, do it is to use a brief {tlho'} more or less where I'd say "cheers" in my native Australian English (which can be a wide range: having a stranger hold an elevator for me, expressing appreciation to the bus driver as I leave the bus, getting a compliment from a friend... not as in the toast, though). If I want to say a more formal "thank you" or "thank you very much" - if I were being presented with an award or recognition, for instance - then that would warrant the full, unclipped {qatlho'}, or perhaps even {qatlho'qu'} or {qatlho'qu'neS}, depending on the context. (Substitute pronominal prefixes as appropriate, of course.)

Nevertheless, there are other ways to show someone your gratitude or appreciation. It can help to work out what you're thanking the other person for. Did they do something you asked of them? You could say the exclamation {maj} "good" or simple verbs like {jIbel} "I'm pleased", {jIyon} "I'm satisfied", or {jIQuch} "I'm happy". Has someone paid you a compliment? You could say something like {choquvmoH} "you honour me". I find myself using this one often (not least of the reasons why is that I often feel that compliments that are paid me go beyond what I feel I deserve, but that's another story).

QeS 'utlh

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