From nobody@digitalkingdom.org Tue May 24 17:13:56 2005 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Tue, 24 May 2005 17:13:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nobody by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.50) id 1DajWs-0001ga-UZ for lojban-list-real@lojban.org; Tue, 24 May 2005 17:13:47 -0700 Received: from rlpowell by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.50) id 1DajWs-0001gT-Kg for lojban-list@lojban.org; Tue, 24 May 2005 17:13:46 -0700 Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 17:13:46 -0700 To: lojban-list@lojban.org Subject: [lojban] Re: railgun Message-ID: <20050525001346.GD2534@chain.digitalkingdom.org> Mail-Followup-To: lojban-list@lojban.org References: <1116961637.9031.0.camel@localhost> <20050524193841.44497.qmail@web81303.mail.yahoo.com> <20050524194634.GP2534@chain.digitalkingdom.org> <737b61f305052416265184a88@mail.gmail.com> <20050524233108.GC2534@chain.digitalkingdom.org> <737b61f305052417114d34fafb@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <737b61f305052417114d34fafb@mail.gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i From: Robin Lee Powell X-archive-position: 10041 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org Precedence: bulk Reply-to: lojban-list@lojban.org X-list: lojban-list On Tue, May 24, 2005 at 07:11:40PM -0500, Chris Capel wrote: > On 5/24/05, Robin Lee Powell wrote: > > On Tue, May 24, 2005 at 06:26:26PM -0500, Chris Capel wrote: > > > Even if you needed to refer to this particular type of gun two > > > or three dozen times in a story, couldn't you just begin with > > > {celxa'i poi cecla lo jimne lo xukmi} > > > > My problem with celxa'i, which I did consider, is that it > > includes rocket launchers, bows & arrows, slings, and on and on > > and on. > > But if you think about it, English "gun" includes things like > electron guns and staple guns. If I want English, I know where to find it. > So celxa'i isn't really all that much broader. celxa'i is a great word for "projectile weapon" (which, I would like to point out, is exactly the same number of syllables as xumjimcelxa'i). It is *not* the right word for gun, though, because if it's defined as gun that means I can't use it in a context where it is clear that crossbows are what is being used. -Robin -- http://www.digitalkingdom.org/~rlpowell/ *** http://www.lojban.org/ Reason #237 To Learn Lojban: "Homonyms: Their Grate!" Proud Supporter of the Singularity Institute - http://singinst.org/