Hasta La Gadget!

ThinkGeek came prepared for April Fools’ Day this year, with a number of fake items that are silly but not too outrageous that they can’t ever exist. A cynic would say that they’re using the holiday to drive interest up in products that they already plan on making. But one of their joke items doesn’t need to be real, because such is the demand for it that it actually already exists, though not in this exact form. I’m talking about the Rosetta Stone: Klingon edition.

They even had Worf himself pitch in on the joke:

The thing is, if you really want to learn Klingon, you already have a variety of educational books and software to choose from. Because that’s the kind of world we live in. Our civilization is so advanced we get to have the punchline before the setup.

Klingon love isn’t just about fighting each other with bat’leths and breaking bones in the bedroom. It has a sweet side too. Although it is mostly violence and growling.

Some of them actually exchange Valentine’s Day cards though. Like these, that NeatoShop artist Matt Wiley has created. These Valentine’s Day Cards feature Klingon-worthy phrases of love, like “Love is a battlefield / And we will love victoriously,” “You stole my heart / I would have given you mine. I have two,” and “The empire doesn’t seem as mighty without you / Will you fight by my side?”

With these cards you can be sure that you and your mate will love for a lifetime and enter Sto-Vo-Kor together in death. Qapla’!

[via Neatorama]

Apparently, Netflix pulled Star Trek III: The Search for Spock from its instant streaming service. The company has had much criticism over errors in the way it’s streaming movies, especially the subtitles. Specifically, they pulled The Search for Spock to correct the Vulcan and Klingon subtitles.

Apparently, the film had been streaming with English dubbing over the alien languages, but the service will reinstate the original audio and supplement it with English subtitles. But not the ones from the original DVDs – Netflix will use their own subtitles instead, ensuring the accuracy of the Klingon-to-English and Vulcan-to-English translations. I think they must be finished correcting them already, because I am able to pull up the movie on Netflix, though I don’t have the time to watch it right now.

This seems pretty stupid. The subtitles are already on the DVDs. I guess the folks at Netflix have some spare time on their hands.

[via THR via Flavorwire]

Though some may look down on Star Trek‘s fictional Klingon language and invoke the infamous phrase uttered by William Shatner — “Get a life!” — Microsoft’s Bing translation team doesn’t see it that way at all. As part of a marketing join-up with Paramount Pictures, the service will be offering translation of the fictional tongue to and from its other 41 languages to support the release of Star Trek Into Darkness. According to the LA Times, the translator was developed with the aid of Klingon-fluent Microsoft engineer Eric Andeen, who said that it’s as much about the passion for linguistics as for Star Trek. Originally developed by a language specialist based on a few words ad-libbed in Star Trek: The Motion Picture by ‘Scotty’ actor James Doohan, Klingon has taken on a life of its own thanks to fans and sites who developed full dictionaries and on-line translators. The Bing project will fire up later today, so why not check it out at the More Coverage link? After all, ghojmeH ta’vaD He tu’be’lu’!

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Comments

Source: LA Times

The Klingon Bat’leth is a formidable weapon in the hands of a true warrior. It will slice and dice your enemies with honor. Now you can wear a miniature version on your neck.

I hear ya. If it can’t kill, why would I want that? Well, if you are in a fight and lose your Bat’leth and your opponent and you are rolling around on the ground in hand to hand combat, just rip this small version off your neck and take his eye out. Aside from that, you can give this small version to your action figure and let him disembowel some other figure.

Sadly it has already sold on Etsy, but if you ask its creator, Starbright Silver, maybe she can make you another one. It seems like it would come in pretty handy as a weapon of last resort.

[via Fashionably Geek]