[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: nav HablI'

[Steven Boozer]

> Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 27, 2016
> 
> Klingon word: nav HablI'
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition: FAX machine
> Source: HQ (5:2 p20)

(Mark Mandel, HQ 5.2:20):  After we (Dragon Systems) recorded the "native speakers" to make the acoustic models to build the speech recognition for the Language Lab on the Klingon CD-ROM, I got the idea of sending each speaker a formal thank-you letter. I translated our company letterhead into Klingon and, using the KLIpIqaD font, scissors, tape, and a color copier, made a bunch of Dragon Systems stationery with Klingon in pIqaD at the top and transliterated Klingon and English in small type at the bottom. But since this was associated with an official Klingon product, I wanted to be sure my Klingon was correct. I had been working with Marc Okrand by phone and e-mail during the project, and so I sent him the text of my transliterated Klingon letterhead, asking especially about my word for fax, which at the time was a compound word with no space. He wrote back, approximately, that he liked the idea, but he would prefer to express it as a two-word phrase, {nav HablI'}; and he also suggested the corresponding {ghogh HablI'} for telephone. [...] Since my office is in a different building from the company reception desk I prefer to give people the number of the fax machine closest to my desk. I put both numbers on the letterhead, labeling them in English "Klingon fax" and "general fax". Dr. Okrand suggested {le'be'} for "general", and so of course that's what I used.

SEE ALSO:

HablI'  			   data transceiving device (n) (TKD)
   ghogh HablI' 			telephone (HQ 5:2)
   'evnagh Se' HablI' 	subspace radio (device) (KBoP)

As used in a sentence:

  ghogh HablI' mI' yIper 
  What is the telephone number? (TNK)

  HablI', Su': labbeH. 
  Ready to transmit. ST3 

[This is apparently a command to the computer: "Data transceiving device, attention: Prepare to transmit."  (ghunchu'wI', confirmed by Okrand)]


--
Voragh
tlhIngan ghantoH pIn'a'
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons