What do you call a group of Klingons?

[Klythe]

    I was listening to a Linux podcast and for some reason he got on the topic of what you would call a group of Klingons.

a parliment of owls
a pod of whales
a gaggle of geese
a murder of crows
an unkindness of ravens

a ______ of Klingons.

    He suggested 'a fist' of Klingons, and his friend suggested 'a clutch' which has all the advantage of a fist plus a bit of alliterative value (first sounds are the same, a clutch of Klingons).

    A 'fist' reminds me of 'a finger-five', which I recall from context was a military formation, perhaps a kind of squad.  I don't remember where I read that though... 

    Yeah, our formal fanclubs are usually called 'ships', but a group of Klingons you encouter is probably not the whole ship.

    What suggestions do you have?   After we take nominations should we start a poll?

 

[SoplaHtaHwI']

a ______ of Klingons.

    A 'fist' reminds me of 'a finger-five', which I recall from context was a military formation, perhaps a kind of squad.  I don't remember where I read that though... 

    Yeah, our formal fanclubs are usually called 'ships', but a group of Klingons you encouter is probably not the whole ship.

    What suggestions do you have?   After we take nominations should we start a poll?

A poll sounds good.
As does a "fist". Not too happy about the clutch. A loose group (eh?), not necessarily belonging to the same ship/family/whatever I'd call a band. A ship's contingent (or part thereof) I'd call a "klingon unit". The tlhIngan Hol name for a group/gathering is ghom...
A gathering (not the group, but the event) is of course a lop. You could always go for the fun factor and call the heap a clod...

Basic thing though: are we talking the not-yet-reality klingon or the fan variety?

[qoSagh]

I also like the idea of calling such groups, a Fist of Klingons. Fist fits for three reasons, that I can think of right away. First of course, fists are used for pounding and punching, two obviously violent acts, which I think is indicative of a group of Klingons. Second of course is the related power that would come with that violence, and and show of power, especially verbal is undoubtedly Klingon. The third is more historical in nature. Fist is (to me, at least) reminiscent of hand, and that harkens back to the FASA days and the klingonasse phrase te kasse or hand of, which has been used in kahless te kasse, mortas te kasse, etc.

I do not like the phrase clutch, simply because the only group I know of that is referred to as a clutch is a coffee clutch, which is that group of gossips that we all have at work. Definitely not a group of warriors.

Since we have all so far come out in favor of fist, have we not done the work of the intended poll? Is a vote really needed at this point?

[Kesvirit]

I do not like the phrase clutch, simply because the only group I know of that is referred to as a clutch is a coffee clutch,

I believe the one is thinking of a coffee klatch. Or perhaps a kafei klatch.

which is that group of gossips that we all have at work. Definitely not a group of warriors]

True. Most warriors prefer to do their gossipping over hard liquor.  :rolleyes:

-=- Kesvirit

[Klythe]

    If you believe that the two of you represent the whole of Klingon thinking on this issue...  Still I think more time may bring forth new opinions.   I'm not big on clutch since it's already use for groups of avians, worse, chickens I think.

    We can take this a number of ways, yes klingons would call a group of themselves a ghom.  ButI guess this is what other people would call a group of Klingons...  Since the funny herd names come mostly from farmers and other people who deal with large semi-permanent groups of animals, maybe we should take this from the view of a terran farmer (although which century is up for grabs).  We can all take a joke and poke fun at ourselves, or be all stuffy and try to sound cool.

    Personally, I'd go with a pack of Klingons, since we are predators who sometimes hunt together...  Perhaps we need multiple words to describe different group dynamics Klingon groups might have.

    Hmmm, or we could go the naughty route and borrow from Kor, "We are all part of one glorious whole".  A glorious whole of Klingons. 

[SoplaHtaHwI']

Humans have different grouping-names too...
a bunch of people, a group of people, a class, etc.
And of course qoSagh and I aren't the only people in the forum...

[qoSagh]

I did say so far, so while I am arrogant, I am probably not enough so to presume to speak for all Klingons.  But I do stand by the fact that a poll was not needed at that time due to there not being many alternates proposed. With the proposition of pack, ghom & glorious whole there may be some value in the poll option. I tend to think that this like most other issues we tackle can bear a bit more discussion instead of or at least along side of a simple vote.

[Abbot Nej vIt]

Of course the simple solution here would be to have (As has been suggested in the past), One or more of us write and publish a novel with all of our wacky Klingon ideals included, then we could claim Published if not CANON status for this stuff...

[Klythe]

    Simple for everyone else but the poor fool who gets stuck writing it.  Ideas have to come from somewhere, and that's what these forums are about.

[Kaptain WanraK]

I like "Fist" as well.

My alternative suggestions are:

Party  ( because its not a party without Klingons)

Grip  ( shows strength and fortification)

[Fleet Admiral toQDuj epetai jonwi]

A wreckage of Klingons!

[Abbot Nej vIt]

A wreckage of Klingons!

I dig the sound of this... My question would be, does this not imply that the Klingons are those who have been "Wrecked"?

Perhaps a "Havoc of Klingons"?

[Klythe]

  Havoc is excellent!  Hmmm... A fracas of Klingons?  A brawl of Klingons?

   I guess it would be an away team of Feddies.  Though a boarding party of Klingons builds off the Klingon party idea.

[elninjo]

A "barrage" of Klingons

[Fleet Admiral toQDuj epetai jonwi]

Well crows have got in first with "A Murder of Crows"!-how about an "Honour of Klingons"?-
 

[Kesvirit]

Many good suggestions have been put forth, but all lack an important consideration: How many Klingons comprise the group? Is it a large group, a small group, or something in between? “A fist of Klingons” is appropriate for groups of...  ::pauses to count fingers::  five. Usually. If one is still in posession of the default factory originals.

The Abbot brings up canon. The canon term for Klingons is, of course, a “swarm”. Which may or may not consist of twelve.

-=- Kesvirit

[qoSagh]

But for at least one character in the Princes Bride a Fist would be six, and to some it might be less. So I would think that the size of the group does not matter as much as if it is a group. There are linguistic ways to signify augmentative and diminutive to make the group large or small.

[Kesvirit]

quoth qoSagh:  But for at least one character in the Princes Bride a Fist would be six, and to some it might be less.

Feh.  Yes, polydactyly (more than five digits per hand/foot), syndactyly (fused digits), and injury would all play a role in determining the numerical size of a “fist of Klingons.” Hence my disclaimer: “Usually. If one is still in possession of the default factory originals.” And for vertebrates, that’s five.

So I would think that the size of the group does not matter as much as if it is a group. There are linguistic ways to signify augmentative and diminutive to make the group large or small.

Yes, but those augmentative/diminutive qualifiers all serve to modify an already-defined word. We do not have that word, and are trying to decide what it is. Only once the term for our group of Klingons has been defined can we modify that term.

[qoSagh]

I agree that one can only modify the word once it is determined, my only point was that such modifications have little to do with the base word itself. I do not need to assign a number to the human (English) word group because I can modify it. Thus the Klingon translation does not need to specify size it only really needs to convey the image of more than one.

[K'orvette Reshtarc]

How about a "pack"?

Reminds me of a wolf pack.

[Canis]

In the episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” 12 klingons were referred to as a swarm.   

Later

[Klythe]

The Abbot brings up canon. The canon term for Klingons is, of course, a “swarm”. Which may or may not consist of twelve.

-=- Kesvirit

In the episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” 12 klingons were referred to as a swarm.   

Later

    Yeah, heheh.  Kesvirit had to explain the joke to me too.  When Niels Barris complained about Klingons swarming his station,  Kirk admitted he was not aware that twelve Klingons constituted a swarm.  Now we will not suffer from such ignorance, not that we all know that a swarm is 12 Klingons. 

[Canis]

I seriously doubt that Klingons refer to their own groups as swarms (even if there are 12 of them  ) but I always thought that the dialog in that episode was hysterical.

Later   

[Klythe]

    Personally, after the TOS novel named "Enterprise", I associated 'Swarm' with Romulans rather than Klingons as the Romulan(pretty sure they were ony called Romulans in that book even though it was after Diane Duane named them the Rihannsu) fleet tactics at the time.

    I teased that we should add a poll to this thread to vote on the ultimate answer...  I think we have more than enough nominations, those feel free to add more.  But I think the canon answer my be the one to beat...