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star trek - Do Klingons not bathe or not like to take baths?


In TNG episode "Conspiracy":



TROI: Data, it's just not the same. Have you ever been for a real moonlight swim?


DATA: One can swim in moonlight?


TROI: How about you, Mister Worf?


WORF: Swimming is too much like bathing.



Also in TNG episode "Cost of Living" Worf looks miserable in the mud baths but I just assumed it was mud baths but not baths in general.



Is it just Worf or do all Klingons hate baths? If it's all Klingons do they not bathe at all? Is that dialogue from the "Conspiracy" episode enough to deduce that Worf does not like baths or not bathe?



Answer



Marc Okrand, in his excellent "Klingon for the Galactic Traveler", describes bathing (in the sense of submersion in water) as an "occasional undertaking" and one that is largely avoided. This suggests that most Klingons agree with Worf.



The verb {HaH}, though once restricted to this form of food preparation, is now often used in the more general sense of "soak, drench". It is frequently heard in the reflexive form ({HaH'egh} "soak oneself") in reference to such activities as drinking a great deal, which has positive connotations, and bathing, an occasional undertaking with negative connotations



It's also worth noting that the only other Klingon that we spend any length of time with (Torres) also strongly favours sonic showers over water ones.


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