PORTLAND (May 13) -- Sorry, potential Klingon interpreters.
Officials have said they won't be needing your services, after all.
The office that treats mental health patients in Multnomah County had included Klingon on a list of 55 languages that could be spoken by incoming patients.
But the inclusion of the Star Trek language drew a spate of tongue-in-cheek headlines.
And now the county has rescinded its call, stressing that it hasn't spent a penny of public money on Klingon interpretation.
``It was a mistake, and a result of an overzealous attempt to ensure that our safety net systems can respond to all customers and clients,'' Multnomah County chair Diane Linn said in a news release.
County officials had previously said that no patient had ever come in speaking only Klingon, but that the county would pay a Klingon interpreter in the unlikely case one was actually needed.
In recent years, Klingon has gone from being a fictional tongue for the Star Trek television and movie series to a complete language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary.
05/13/03 09:28 EDT
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