Classic Klingon Insult has New Connotation?

One of the most well known and biting of the Klingon insults is:

Hab SoSlI' Quch!

Your mother has a smooth forehead!

This is particularly insulting because Klingons take pride in their forehead ridges. We have even seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation that a common tradition among Klingons is to take cast molds of a child's forehead ridges; so to disparage the ridges of a Klingon is a bad insult to be sure.

Recently, I thought of this insult from a new perspective. Has the series Star Trek: Enterprise changed or updated this insult?

The Star Trek: Enterprise episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence" established an explanation for the differences in appearance of the ridgeless Klingons seen in Star Trek: The Original Series and the later films and series in which the Klingons had the familiar forehead ridges: the Klingon augment virus.

In short, Klingons used DNA from embryos of genetically enhanced human "augments" to attempt making their own Klingon augments. Once infused with the augmented DNA, the initial test subjects had their forehead ridges dissolved, their personalities were affected, and ultimately the genetically engineered DNA caused neural system breakdown resulting in death. Klingon scientists continued testing, and ended up using the augment DNA on a Klingon test subject who was unknowingly affected by the Levodian flu. The augment DNA mutated the Levodian flu and the new augment virus spread rapidly, affecting millions in a short time and becoming an epidemic.

It took hundreds of years and several generations for the affects of the Klingon augment virus to be reversed, and it became a sore subject that Klingons do not speak about with outsiders.

So in light of this recent addition to the lore from Star Trek: Enterprise, does this insult now imply that the mother in question is (still) suffering from the Klingon augment virus?

So which would be worse: saying someone's mother is affected by a virus (cooties?) or saying that they just naturally have a smooth forehead (perhaps implying the mother is not even Klingon, such as a non-Klingon alien)?

In any case, using this saying to insult a Klingon warrior is likely to get you a belly full of Daqtagh.

Klingonist Conquers Dyslexia

Today, Ultralingua, makers of software applications for learning and referencing languages, tweeted an interesting and inspirational headline from the Neatorama website:

Man Learns the Klingon Language, Finds That It Helps Him Overcome Dyslexia

Qapla'

Success!

Good Times for Klingonists!

These are good times for Klingonists -- enthusiasts of the Klingon language, tlhIngan Hol. This year we will be getting new canon and new words from a number of new sources.

In August, at this year's qep'a', the annual conference of the Klingon Language Institute, Marc Okrand revealed nine new canonical words!

This November, USAopoly will release the new Monopoly: Star Trek Klingon (a.k.a. Klingon Monopoly) that will include bilingual game cards with translations by Marc Okrand.

EuroTalk is releasing their new computer program, Talk Now! Learn Klingon, which will teach users Klingon language that is useful for everyday situations on Earth (phrases that are unique to Klingon culture are not included). While the KLI has reported some errors in pronunciation, overall this appears to be a very useful and fun program for learning and practicing tlhIngan Hol, and benefits from involvement by Marc Okrand.

Rounding out the new Klingon coming this year, European publisher uitgeverij.cc
will be publishing paq'batlh: The Klingon Epic, the first ever translation of the ancient sacred scrolls that tell the legendary stories of Kahless the Unforgettable. The paq'batlh will be presented in both tlhIngan Hol and Federation Standard (English), with portions to appear in the ancient no' Hol "ancestors' language," -- the first time no' Hol will appear at length in a publication on Earth. paq'batlh: The Klingon Epic is edited by Floris Schönfeld et al., and translated by Marc Okrand.

With these new releases and additions to the Klingon language reference materials, it can clearly be seen that tlhIngan Hol is still expanding, and continues to earn its reputation as "the fastest growing language in the galaxy."

Klingon Karaoke

It was Friday, Friday, we were gettin' down on Friday! Partyin', partyin', fun, fun, fun, fun!

It was Friday, the last day of September, when several Trek Radio DJs and listeners beamed into the station's ventrillo voice chat server for Trek Radio Karaoke Night.

Listeners were treated (or totured) with several songs being sung live by the DJs and participants, including yours truly. A wide variety of songs were sung; some solo, some in pairs, and a few as an ensemble.

For my part, I sang Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance", Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive", and participated in the grand finale, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- but my shining moment was an a capella rendition of the Klingon song Qoy qeylIS puqloD.

Qoy qeylIS puqloD

Qoy puqbe'pu'

yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'

Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw

maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'

nI'be' yInmaj 'ach wovqu'

batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qIjDaq

vavpu'ma' DImuvpa' reH maSuvtaHqu'

mamevQo' maSuvtaH, ma'ov

Hear! Sons of Kahless.

Hear! Daughters too.

The blood of battle washes clean

the warrior brave and true.

We fight, we love, and then we kill.

Our lives burn short and bright.

Then we die with honor and join our father in the Black Fleet where

we battle forever, battling on through the Eternal Fight.

If you missed the epic awesomeness that was the Trek Radio Karaoke Night, DJ King was recording the entire thing and has offered to make clips available upon request. We will be doing another Karaoke Night sooner or later, and this December Trek Radio will air Christmas caroling by DJs and listeners.