Return-Path: Message-Id: From: cowan (John Cowan) Subject: Re: response to art protin on 'nu' To: lojban-list Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 12:44:43 EDT In-Reply-To: <9107221427.AA01746@gem.PRC.Unisys.COM>; from "PRC.Unisys.COM!dave" at Jul 22, 91 10:32 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Mon Jul 22 12:45:31 1991 X-From-Space-Address: cowan la deiv. MAtucek. cusku di'e: > English does not readily support the "activity of sleeping", but as > this strikes me as somewhat nonsensical anyway, I feel that in this > case English wins over Lojban by virtue of making it harder to talk > nonsense in English. Sleeping can readily be thought of as an activity: toss, turn over, move covers, snuggle up to bed partner, toss, turn over, ... Anything that has a repetitive component can be viewed as an activity. As for nonsense, one of the design goals of Lojban is the ability to speak crystalline nonsense, of the type "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously", which in Lojban is: lo ke skari claxu ke'e je crino sidbo cu fengu sipna -- cowan@snark.thyrsus.com ...!uunet!cbmvax!snark!cowan e'osai ko sarji la lojban