Return-Path: <cowan>
Message-Id: <m0jbYUv-0001B3C@snark.thyrsus.com>
From: cowan (John Cowan)
Subject: Re: bye, various comments
To: cbmvax!uunet!CS.YALE.EDU!bennetto-jack (Jack Bennetto), lojban-list
Date: Fri, 10 May 91 10:31:07 EDT
In-Reply-To: <9105081708.AA00974@SUNED.ZOO.CS.YALE.EDU>; from "Jack Bennetto" at May 8, 91 1:08 pm
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.2 PL13]
Status: RO
X-From-Space-Date: Fri May 10 10:31:43 1991
X-From-Space-Address: cowan

la djek. benetos. cusku di'e:
> The main reason I'm writting is to ask to be taken off the mailing list.

Done.  Your address will be saved until your return.

> A few weeks ago someone here (I forgot who; sorry) mentioned table legs 
> (jubme tuple, but not in a tanru).  Is this legal or malglico? (malgli?)  
> I suspect (without evidence) that many cultures use the term, but it seems 
> that it fails a more important "similar function" test: the main purpose 
> of legs is locomotion, table "legs" perform poorly here.  What is a leg?  
> And what else to call them?  (I'm not even going to get into clock faces, 
> needle eyes, nose cones, and male and female electrical connectors.)

I believe all of these are legitimate tanru, because the term "leg" is not
really defined.  Joke (attributed to Abe Lincoln):

	Q:  How many legs does a horse have, if you call its tail a leg?
	A:  Four.  Calling its tail a leg doesn't make it one.

> Browsing though my recently aquired draft lessons (3, pp.3-16, if you have 
> it) I noted that time is given in base 12 (using the special cmavo for 
> bases greater than 10).  Makes sense: daucac. == 10'o'clock, feicac. == 
> 11'o'clock.  But since this is (sortof) base 12, whouldn't nocac. == 
> zero'o'clock == 12'o'clock (rather than gaicac.) make more sense?  Ok, a 
> minor point.  Here's another: since we are in base twelve, and pi is a 
> "base point" (not just a decimal point), shouldn't li sopimu ("9.5" p. 
> 3-19) translate as 9:25 (9 and five twelveths) rather than 9:30.  (This 
> makes it easier too say quarter past nine, too: li sopici rather than li 
> sopiremu, although it will confuse the out of many people.)

Arrgh, scream.  I believe this is an excellent >reductio ad absurdum< for
the whole idea of 12-based arithmetic!  Note, however, that the normal
equivalent of the ":" in 12:30 is pi'e (the compound-base point).


-- 
cowan@snark.thyrsus.com		...!uunet!cbmvax!snark!cowan
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban