20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Star Trek
15. Scotty Invented The Klingon Language...
Much like Tolkien's Elvish and George RR Martin's Dothraki, the fictional language of Klingon has been fleshed out so much by Star Trek's various series, movies, ancillary materials and fans who have way too much time on their hands to the point that you can actually learn them. There are people on this Earth who speak fluent Klingon. There are Klingon dictionaries. People have adapted Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol into Klingon. The majority of the language was created by linguist Marc Okrand, who mainly stuck to Star Trek-specific phrases to do with interplanetary warfare, which make it a little cumbersome for everyday use. Orkand didn't originate the language, however. That honour goes to actor James Doohan, who played Scotty in the original series. In previous appearances the bumpy-headed aliens spoke English, before he came up with the Klingon language for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
