Talk:Qapla'

Notes on the creation of the article

Please refer to this page: [1]. I believe that this article has a valid reason to exist and hope that others agree. — This unsigned comment was added by Matthew Matic~enwiktionary (talk • contribs) at 21:43, 28 November 2005 (UTC).

RFV discussion 1

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process.

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

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Qapla'

After hearing about the possibility that the sole editor of the Klingon Wiktionary may have all his recent work deleted, I decided to add Qapla' to the English Wiktionary. I have informed the editor at the Klingon Wiktionary of this. I have already found two citations for its use in English; if he can find a third, then Qapla' may very well meet our criteria for inclusion. Would this be the first Klingon-derived word to enter the English language? † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 20:04, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Well, it was thrown about quite a bit in the South Park episode The Passion of the Jew, with rather obvious meaning as an interjection. Spellings vary. bd2412 T 04:57, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

I added it, with a note concerning the spelling. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 17:19, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Great! What is pUnknown though? And what spelling can be verified for the use in the show? Is there an official (or at least durable) script, or do any of the media have subtitles or closed captioning? DAVilla 22:28, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

The transcript was found here. It is realistic to assume that differnet transcripts give different spellings. However, that is irrelevant, as its use in South Park was spoken, rather than written, and as such the spelling in the script does not matter. As for “pUnknown”: it means that the page number from which the quotation was taken is not known; leaving “pUnknown” there encourages whoever knows what the number is to add it to the entry. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 22:35, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

There are rougly 50 Trek-licensed books in b.g.c that contain this term. Do these books meet WT:CFI's requirement for independence of sources? CFI talks about a "narrow community" -- how narrow is narrow? Cynewulf 03:40, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Don’t forget the citation from the episode of w:South Park; that broadens the community somewhat. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 09:58, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Citations of its use outside of a narrow community must be found, but we may also cite an example of its use by that community as well, correct? — Beobach972 15:33, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

With four citations, it seems to rfvpass. — Beobach972 15:33, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation

Does anyone actually pronounce Qapla' with those vowels? — 128.119.127.137 19:50, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

With short A as in "apple"? Sure. I'm not certain about the glottal stop at the end though. DAVilla 04:49, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

I've added the Klingon pronunciation, as well as an additional English pronunciation that I've often heard from English-speakers who either

1. don't speak any Klingon
2. or are just beginning to study it
3. or who may be well advanced in their study of Klingon but have not mastered the uvular stop /q/ and affricate /qχ/ (written Q).

Thnidu 02:18, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

We don't include Klingon in Wiktionary, and I'm sure that would extend to pronunciations. The only pronunciation that should be given is the one that corresponds to the language section it's under, and it should only use phonemes from that language. DAVilla 06:12, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Removed Quotation

I've removed the following quotation from the page:

• 2004: South Park, "The Passion of The Jew, episode 114 (season 8, ep. 3), March 31, 2004:

  Driver: What the hell?

  Mel:    HAAAA! K'PLAAAH!

  Driver: Hey! That’s Mel Gibson!

  Stan:  Yeah. I told you that!

It included the following note:

The spelling “k'plaaah” attempts to denote a lengthened /æ/. “K'plah” is an alternative spelling of “Qapla'”, but the latter is the conventional Klingon spelling in the Roman alphabet. As this citation is an example of its spoken, rather than its written, use, the spelling in the episode’s transcript is not relevant in this context.

That's all well and good, but it's not clear that from the context that this is even a reference to the same word. DAVilla 04:49, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

RFV discussion 2

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process.

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

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March 2009

Qapla'

This passed RfV before the current WT:CFI#Fictional universes policy. I just removed two citations that did not pass the policy's requirement (one was in-universe, one was introduced as a Star Trek quote in the text before its use). Of the remaining citations, the South Park one doesn't seem to have anything to do with the sense being cited. I haven't seen the video, but the transcript makes it seem just like an attempt to represent a scream in writing, not this specific word. This needs further verification. Dominic·t 10:16, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

If someone has access to the script of Team America: World Police, I think you'll find Qapla' used there. Angr 11:56, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Is this it? [2] I couldn't find that word in it. Equinox ◑ 22:24, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but missing the ending apostrophe. bd2412 T 23:15, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

I presume that the Team America web transcript doesn't qualify as an attestation of the spelling Qapla!, but it does serve as evidence for us of the spoken attestation in the movie. —Michael Z. 2009-03-25 00:11 z

Good point. I don't think anyone doubts the spelling, given the language is artificial, so what we really want are instances where the term is used. Being spoken would be superior in some ways, no? DAVilla 23:30, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Why on Earth would you remove citations? Just because they don't meet the CFI requirement does not mean the quotation can't be listed on the page. 72.177.113.91 10:10, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, good point. We can be clear that a given quotation does not meet the CFI citation requirement; but if illustrative (and an in-universe quotation, particularly the first use, is good) they should stay. Likewise, CFI-meeting citations that don't help illustrate the term can or should be relegated to the Citations: page. There is seldom any reason to delete them entirely, unless weeding out heaps of them. Robert Ullmann 12:28, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

That makes sense, and I wasn't thinking about it when I removed it. (But if we want an in-universe citation a more illustrative and certainly an earlier use could be found.) Dominic·t 12:45, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

The two quotations that remain seem to indicate different use. One is a proclamation of success, the other is wishing success. Either way the single word "success" doesn't really cover it as a definition. DAVilla 23:30, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Not convinced - if I shout "Success!" before the match, I am wishing success; if I do so afterward, I am proclaiming it. Either way, it's the same word, and I'm not sure the nuance would justify a separate sense. bd2412 T 18:35, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Would anyone really shout "Success!" before it happened? Equinox ◑ 18:46, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

“To success!” “Wishing you success!” “To our success!” —Michael Z. 2009-03-27 20:10 z

Only if they're native speakers of Klingon. ;-) —Ruakh_TALK 20:19, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Added more cites, some where the word is explained as being Klingon but not used in the same Star Trek universe, others where the word is not explained but I don't have access to the surrounding context, e.g. the movie mentioned above. DAVilla 05:35, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

It seems to have sufficient citations, but I was the one to RFV-pass it the last time it was challenged, so I'd rather someone else check it this time and determine if it passes or fails, particularly according to the new CFI of fictional universe terms. — Beobach972 05:19, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Struck as passed. — Beobach 04:44, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

capitalization

Shouldn't the English usage of this word as a general salutation to fellow Klingonophiles be in lowercase? Nicole Sharp (talk) 06:00, 8 September 2016 (UTC)

The citations on the page suggest "no". —suzukaze (t・c) 06:14, 8 September 2016 (UTC)

Q and q are separate letters in Klingon orthography: Q stands for the uvular affricate /q͡χ/ found in this word, while q stands for the voiceless aspirated uvular stop /qʰ/. The orthography Marc Okrand came up with for romanized Klingon is very clumsy, but it's recognized as standard among those who use Klingon. —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 12:10, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

I agree with Nicole and Angr. And the citations suzukaze mentions aren't present. I'm moving it. Mckaysalisbury (talk) 21:29, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

I misread somethings, and whilst editing the article after the move, noticed my mistake. I am unable to move it back. Capital Q is very much correct. Mckaysalisbury (talk) 21:40, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

@Mckaysalisbury: Fixed. In the future, do not move entries — ask for help instead. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 21:48, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

@Metaknowledge I apologize. I've moved quite a few entries before on Wikipedia. So I don't think I'm going to stop moving, but I will probably be more careful. Again, thanks. Mckaysalisbury (talk) 21:50, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

@Mckaysalisbury: Unlike on Wikipedia, moving is a rare phenomenon here. Please consider that you are on a different project, and that there's nothing wrong with asking for help. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 23:54, 25 March 2021 (UTC)