During an interview with Marc Okrand, I overwhelmed him and said: "Okay, let's create a new word just now and here, so that people may see how that works. You've got thirty seconds." He immediately started laughing and shook is head, but he was willing to play along. MO: Oh boy! What do we need a word for? Or maybe a verb? ... Verbs are generally easier.... If I only have such a short time, I would probably just make up a single syllable that hasn't been used yet. If I had more than thirty seconds, I would ponder and ponder and see if we could play with it or not. I wouldn't say that every Klingon word is a pun, that's not true at all. I think that's what makes Klingon different from Na'vi and Dothraki. I don't think they have any puns in that way. Okay, now let's start and find a new word... What's the word for this? [shows a pen's cap] LL: I would call that a yuvtlhe', like the lid or the cap of a bottle. But what would you call a cork of a bottle? MO: Oh, yes, what's the word for that? It must be a something-wI'. Is there a word for "block, prevent"? LL: Yes, but that one is used to stop a person or an enemy in a somehow military sense. MO: So you need a different word for "block"? LL: Actually, what we need is a verb for "close a hole" like a keyhole. MO: Where you put the paper in front of it at the hotel... LL: No, it means something like "put inside the hole to close it". MO: Alright, we're making progress... close the hole... So the cork is the "thing which does close the hole (of the bottle)". I was thinking of choq or choQ, that might be a good word... Oh, these already exist - that won't work then. [some long thinking] Hm... What about laj? No, that won't work either. We will probably just end up with an arbitrary syllable... ? [some more long thinking] LL: Wouldn't ghoD "stuff" work here? MO: No, that's more like putting things inside a backpack or a pillow bag... [checks a list of unused syllables] What if it was qorgh? LL: That word does not exist. MO: It does now. qorgh is "to stop up, to fill a hole". You can stop up a hole, but not fill it in with dirt. That would be teb. qorgh is to stop up an opening somehow. It's like filling in, and not put stuff inside. So the word for the cork is a qorghwI'. That took us more than thirty seconds.