Re: Piss Off - Klingon

> > I've not gotten near swear words either, though I did have one word
with
> > not-so-good connotations that I can picture a native speaker using
to
> > swear at people.
>
> I've never worked out swear words either, but the word
_sutaigagudialá_
> (roughly "pervert" or "fornicator") would probably serve in that
> function.  _Sunagagudí_ would probably also be an acceptable variant.
> The first is based on the noun _gagudialá_ (literally "wrongful
> mating"), and the second on the cognate verb _gagudí_ (literally
> "wrongfully mate").
The only definite swear words I ever worked out for Yivríndil is
_salag(é)_, meaning "bastard/bitch", i.e. someone that you don't like
very much and wish to call a nasty name.  Literally it means neither of
those, of course, as I think it's from a root that means "worthless" or
"stupid."  Another concultural insult is the phrase _lethaya hirn_
meaning "to eat horse", used to indicate that someone or something is
vulgar, evil, rude, or just plain terrible, rather like Eng "it sucks".
It can also be used in the imperative reflexive:

Tolethanyu eth hirn!
To- letha-ny-  u        eth hirn!
IMP-eat-  CAUS-REFLX    OBJ horse!
"Make yourself eat horse!"

This has the same force, I suppose, as English, "(S/F)uck yourself!"
And, of course, _lethahiran_ "horse-eater" is "jerk" or "asshole".

Jesse S. Bangs  jaspax@u.washington.edu