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DaHjaj Hol 110218 #tlhIngan #tlh

3 comments Written on February 18th, 2011 by
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Hello, and welcome. You’re listening to DaHjaj Hol, your daily dose of Klingon language. I’m your host, Lawrence Schoen.

One of the things I like best about Fridays is picking a word more or less at random from Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, secure in the knowledge that your reaction to that word is going to be confusion at why I gave you such an unlikely word. The challenge for you is to find a way to use that word, not just by repeating the sample sentences I give you today, but by coming up with dozens more on your own. Let’s see if you’re up to the challenge.

Today’s word is bem. B. E. M. And while long time science fiction fans may recognize this as an acronym for “Bug-Eyed Monster,” Klingon speakers know that bem actually refers to the sole of the foot.

And so, on with our challenge. Here are some examples using bem:

rut bemlI’ bIvoqbe’nIS
sometimes you need to not trust the sole of your foot

nIteb SuvDI’ vavlI’ ngIjchoH bemlI’
when your father fights alone, the sole of his foot becomes unruly

romuluSngan bem tIn law’ nov qIvon tIn puS
the sole of the Romulan’s foot is bigger than the alien’s qIvon

cheghlaHbe’ loD bem ‘ach narghlaH loD
the sole of a man’s foot cannot return, but the man can escape


You probably already know that sentences don’t necessarily have to make sense to be grammatical. Meaningfulness is not a requirement of language, only of comprehension. With that in mind, there’s nothing holding you back from exploring the sole of your foot, and using it as a tool to open new worlds. At least you now you know where you stand. qo’mey poSmoH Hol.

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Today’s podcast is brought to you by
Klingon for the Galactic Traveler,
by Marc Okrand.

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3 comments “DaHjaj Hol 110218 #tlhIngan #tlh”

bemlI’?

Hmmm… I don’t suppose you’d believe me when I tell you that the reason I don’t trust my foot is because it sometimes tells lies?

Sigh… HIvqa’ veqlargh

Attention all listeners/readers: Holtej has caught me in a grammatical error. In the first first example from today’s podcast, the day’s word has the suffix -lI’ when in fact, it should have -lIj

So, the example should be:

rut bemlIj bIvoqbe’nIS
sometimes you need to not trust the sole of your foot

And, as if that weren’t shameful enough, I made the same error in the second example, which should be:

nIteb SuvDI’ vavlI’ ngIjchoH bemlIj
when your father fights alone, the sole of his foot becomes unruly

Should it be bemlIj in the second one? Wouldn’t that translate as “sole of YOUR foot” as opposed to “sole of HIS foot”?


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