fiat_knox | Some Klingon musings - "Resistance Is Futile"

"Resistance is futile." This harsh pronouncement from the Borg, coming in over all subspace channels, consistently sent chills up and down the spine of seasoned Starfleet veterans, right up till the assimilation tubules went in and then they'd feel nothing at all.

Well, at least before Janeway came along and blew them all to smithereens.

So what would "Resistance is futile" sound like in Klingon? Considering their penchant for using such a phrase in the past you would imagine they'd have access to such a saying in tlhIngan Hol.

Or do they?

Let's look at some Klingon words and suffixes.

The canon reveals two verbs for "to resist," qaD and 'om:-

qaD (verb)
resist, oppose, confront, face, [challenge]

'om (verb)
resist, fend off

Now some verb prefixes:-

Su- "you (plural)" subject - no object

che- "you (plural)" subject - "us" object

and some verb suffixes:-

-laH (type 5) can, able, have the capability to

-be' (rover) negative, not

-laHbe' (rover) cannot, lack the capacity to

This yields four possibilities:-

SuqaDlaHbe' You cannot resist

cheqaDlaHbe' You cannot resist [oppose] us

Su'omlaHbe' You cannot resist [fend off]

che'omlaHbe' You cannot resist us [fend us off]

However, Su'omlaHbe' does seem ungrammatical, as it lacks an object. "You cannot fend off" requires a "something" to fend off.

So three candidates, then: SuqaDlaHbe', cheqaDlaHbe' or che'omlaHbe'.

I will have you thinking and speaking in Klingon. tuqaDlaHbe'.