#spaceywaceynerd

This is actually a pretty common misconception, due to translation errors and SWTOR’s mandalorian community’s inability to double check connotations before spreading posts around. Originally, before it was revised in later editions of the mando’a dictionary, K’atini translates colloquially to it’s only pain, not “suck it up.”

K’atini can mean suck it up as a quick-and-easy translation, but when we get down to it, the connotations behind “suck it up” are pretty unfortunate when used by the wrong people or placed in the wrong hands. The fact is that the english translation holds meanings that are separate and different than what it means within mando’a itself. It’s also not a direct translation, and it’s not a good one.

Suck it up, frankly, holds a negative connotation behind it. It’s not inspiring, it’s not interesting, what it is is a slap down when you’re already down, and it’s hugely dismissive of the situation and the suffering that is often the case in that exact moment. But K’atini … is the exact and far opposite. 

K’atini is what you say when your world is ending and you keep going. K’atini is what you say when you get your ass whooped and you stand back up. “It’s only pain [ and pain won’t stop me ].” And that’s the biggest thing that everyone apparently seems to miss or overlook, and it’s deeply disappointing every time I see it lmao.

K’atini comes from atiniir, which means to endure, to put up with, to take it (like a beating). The K’ addition comes from the imperative prefix, ke’, k’ — it’s what you tack on before a word to indicate an order or a command.

The meaning tied into the words is not to just put up with, the meaning behind it is to take a beating and stand back up. The quintessential pivotal moment where the protagonist has been beaten and knocked down and we, the audience, are unsure if they can survive — and then not only do they just survive, no, they get right back up and spit in the face of whoever knocked them down.

It’s what you say when you think you can’t go on, but you do. It’s what you say when you don’t think you can take another step, but you do it anyway. It’s what someone says to someone else when they need to motivate them to keep going.

It’s what Torian Cadera says to the PC when he heals them in SWTOR, and it’s the perfect choice of words.

K’atini — it’s only pain, get up. Keep going. You can and you will survive this.

Here’s Res’Nox kissing @cipherninethousand‘s Nestani and @spaceywaceynerd‘s Berra H’akan! Thanks for loaning me your lovely characters! <3 (Res and I both think they’re gorgeous!)

send me questions you have about my character!