I Am A Total Dork

just asked on a mailing list we’re both on if anyone could translate “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming” into Klingon.

Let me just run that by you once again: I am translating a phrase from the Lovecraftian mythos into Klingon. As in the race of honorable warriors from the Star Trek universe.

Why do I enable such hideously wrong crossovers? Why?? , this must be your fault, somehow. All things fandom-related are your fault :oP.

Here’s the translation:

juH’a’DajDaq ro’le’Daq loS najtaHviS qu’tlhuH Hegh
(in his great house) (at R’lyeh) (he waits) (while he is sleeping) (Cthulhu) (dead)

While I was at it, I discovered that the closest word to “Nick” in Klingon is “nIQ”, which means “breakfast”. When translating my name, I use the gloss “guard of the victory of the people”, which isn’t entirely correct, but sounds cool.

In that case, my name is ‘avwI’yayvaDnuvpu’vaD, or yay for short. I win ;o).

This post of massive dorkery is brought to you by Marc Okrand, author of The Klingon Dictionary.

“Earthquakes” from Thornhill by Moxy Früvous

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Nicolas Ward

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11 responses to “I Am A Total Dork”

  1. stormwynd Avatar
    stormwynd

    Why do I enable such hideously wrong crossovers? Why?? allecto, this must be your fault, somehow. All things fandom-related are your fault :oP.

    Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Then again, I”m the guy who once wrote a Harry Potter/Surprise by Design crossover, so perhaps I’m not the best person to comment.

    Reply
  2. crystalpyramid Avatar
    crystalpyramid

    the closest word to “Nick” in Klingon

    Ooh, we can redo the SWILphysicsshirt to say “nIQ, it’s not just for breakfast anymore!” Then we’d have a shirt nobody would understand!

    juH’a’DajDaq ro’le’Daq loS najtaHviS qu’tlhuH Hegh

    Why do I have a suspicion that this has something to do with SWILnews, but didn’t make the cut?

    Incidentally, how is a “D” pronounced differently from a “d”?

    Reply
  3. Nicolas Ward Avatar
    Nicolas Ward

    In Klingon, all ds are D, which means they are retroflex. Instead of putting your tounge on the alveolar ridge behind your teeth, curl it back to your palate (aka hard palate). It’s about where you put your tongue for “sh”. Incidentally, S in Klingon is actually “sh”.

    Yet another lesson in Klingon…

    Reply
  4. crystalpyramid Avatar
    crystalpyramid

    Is the rule somewhat the same for all the other letters?

    Reply
  5. grumpy_sysadmin Avatar
    grumpy_sysadmin

    That is all.

    Reply
  6. Nicolas Ward Avatar
    Nicolas Ward

    No, not really.

    tlh is like the Nahuatl (aka Aztec) lateral dental stop-thingy.

    H/gh are the voiceless/voiced velar fricatives.

    q is the voiceless uvular stop.

    Q is the voiceless uvular fricative (think hock a loogie).

    S is the voiceless palatal fricative.

    I think that covers all of the weird cases…

    Reply
  7. Nicolas Ward Avatar
    Nicolas Ward

    I think you found it entertaining, at the very least.

    Reply
  8. entropydevice Avatar
    entropydevice

    i think i’ll call you “special k” from now on.

    and the proper response to gabe calling you a freak is to call him a freak back. it’s just as applicable.

    Reply
  9. flammifera Avatar
    flammifera

    Nick, you are soooo special. I just had to walk across the hall and tell that in person, because it needed saying. I mean, your dorkiness transcends anything I’ve ever seen before.

    And yet, you know I tease you because I love you. :)

    Reply
  10. god_of_belac Avatar
    god_of_belac

    Ugh, Klingon uses arabic emphatic letters. At least it only has 1.

    Reply
  11. allecto Avatar
    allecto

    *whistles innocently*

    Reply

Nurd Up!