From cbmvax!uunet!cuvma.bitnet!LOJBAN Tue Jan 14 14:58:42 1992 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9201141638.AA16671@relay1.UU.NET> Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1992 11:33:00 EST Reply-To: "61510::GILSON" Sender: Lojban list From: "61510::GILSON" Subject: Putting hands into pockets X-To: lojban To: John Cowan Status: RO John Cowan writes: >(Note that English is over-specific by Lojban standards in saying "his cousin". >and "his nose". Likewise, English idiomatically says "He put his hands in his >pockets": to speakers of other languages, the question naturally arises >"Whose pockets would he put his hands in?", and even more peculiar, "Whose >hands would he put in his pockets?".) Well, although the normal thing for me to do is move my _own_ hands and put them in my _own_ pocket, if I was a pickpocket, I'd be putting my hands into someone else's pocket. And if I was annoyed with a child waving his hand constantly, I could conceivably grab the child's hand and jam it into his pocket. (I could even jam Billy's hand into Mike's pocket if they were side by side, though that _would_ be a little peculiar!) So "X puts Y's hand into Z's pocket" does not require identity of X, Y, and Z even in practical situations, and Lojban allows even for impractical situations (remember an earlier discussion about "You're looking very Canadian today"?). Bruce