County scraps mission to seek Klingon speakers

[rah]

Associated Press
Published May 13, 2003

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Sorry, potential Klingon interpreters.

Officials have said they won't be needing your services, after all.

The office that treats mental health patients in Multnomah County had included Klingon on a list of 55 languages that could be spoken by incoming patients.

But the inclusion of the Star Trek language drew a spate of tongue-in-cheek headlines.

And now the county has rescinded its call, stressing that it hasn't spent a penny of public money on Klingon interpretation.

"It was a mistake, and a result of an overzealous attempt to ensure that our safety net systems can respond to all customers and clients," Multnomah County chair Diane Linn said in a news release.

County officials previously had said that no patient had ever come in speaking only Klingon, but that the county would pay a Klingon interpreter in the unlikely case one was actually needed.

In recent years, Klingon has gone from being a fictional tongue for the Star Trek television and movie series to a complete language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

Klingon phrases

The Klingon Language Institute (www.kli.org) teaches the following:

qaStaH nuq? -- What's happening?

naDevvo' yIghoS -- Go away

Hab SoSlI' Quch! -- Your mother has a smooth forehead! (Beware: strong insult).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0305130303may13,1,5059965.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsnationworld%2Dhed

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Yes, incoming MENTAL patients may speak Klingon. What do you think gave them away? As the inductee is claiming, "I'm not crazy" but no one can understand because they don't speak the language. I think Oregon tops California when it comes to loonies.

RAH

[JohnT]

But is it in time to stop the flood of out-of-state overweight, 40-something Star Trek fans coming to Oregon seeking employment?

"People laughed at me in High School, but now I can prove to them that my overarching knowledge of all things Trek can be used for the power of Good!"

[rah]

Isn't there some sort of Klingon community near there? Scary.

[JohnT]

[JohnT]

After some Googling, I found that the University of Oregon has a Klingon Language department in the Yamada Language Center.

There is also the ability to participate in Klingon Karaoke. I refuse to link to those sites.

[TheStinger]

This is clearly discriminatory towards Romulan

[Stefu]

If overweight 40-year-old nerds pretending to be Jedi knights fought overweight 40-year-old nerds pretending to be Klingons, who would win?

[JohnT]

If the Klingon's fight like Worf (whom, iirc, got his ass consistantly kicked) then the Jedi's win easily.

I'm now starting to scare myself.

[Az]

It seems that sense is slowly returning to the universe.

The iLoo is a hoax.

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/05/13/1116206.shtml?tid=109&tid=187

[JohnT]

I KNEW IT!!!!!

[Lancer]

"I think Oregon tops California when it comes to loonies. "

Yuk Foo!

[rah]

Due to population comparisons, I guess it's quality over quantity.

RAH

[Lancer]

rah, there's an Oregonian in a museum somewhere, the rest are mostly Californians, a few texans...and me.

[Kropotkin]

Worst decision - ever!

I can see the point. After all, a person that spends a great amount of time to learn a language that hardly anyone undestands or uses are probably bound to end up in the cuckoo's nest sooner or later. I'm quite sure the same applies to latin students...

[rah]

Originally posted by Lancer
rah, there's an Oregonian in a museum somewhere, the rest are mostly Californians, a few texans...and me.

I've been there a few times and everyone has always been very nice, but a bit strange.