Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Klingon Language
7. Everyone Encounters Tribbles Occasionally
rut yIHmey ghom Hoch
This delightful little Klingon proverb is defined by Marc Okrand in The Klingon Way: A Warrior’s Guide as meaning, given the Klingons’ distinct dislike of tribbles (and vice-versa), that "[…] from time to time, everyone has to deal with intolerable situations". It’s basically the Klingon equivalent of 'sh*t happens'.
When Okrand was first devising the standard grammar of Klingon, he had to decide on certain crucial features whilst keeping in mind that this was meant to be an alien language. His choice of word order for Klingon as OBJECT-VERB-SUBJECT, the least common found in the world, is just one example of his extra-terrestrial efforts in this regard.
Cleverly, Okrand also incorporated non-standard grammatical functions into the language from the start (often to officially account for deviations that occurred during filming). As such, for a Klingon, certain tribbling situations may make themselves manifest in their use of language, or what is known as 'Clipped Klingon'.
In a moment of "duress," "great danger" or in battle (amongst other reasons), it is common in Klingon to shorten (or 'clip') a phrase, often by dropping various prefixes. In this way, for example, yIbaH [fire (a torpedo)!] might lose the imperative prefix yI to become baH with the same effective meaning.
For those who don’t speak Klingon as a first language, avoiding certain linguistic tribulations or "gaffes," as Okrand puts it in Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, might be a matter of life or death. For example, distinguishing between the sounds H and Q in Klingon may prove difficult for the neophyte, especially if they have Federation Standard as a first language. However, the difference in pronunciation between the two sounds may be crucial to meaning, such as in the phrases bIjeH and bIjeQ: "You are absent-minded" and "You are self-confident" respectively. Any mispronunciation in this instance might result in a dramatic shortening of your stay in The Empire.