Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Mon, 17 Feb 92 13:00 EST Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA16236; Mon, 17 Feb 92 12:31:10 EST Received: from cunixf.cc.columbia.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA04536; Mon, 17 Feb 92 11:53:43 -0500 Received: from cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu by cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (5.59/FCB) id AA23112; Mon, 17 Feb 92 11:52:28 EST Message-Id: <9202171652.AA23112@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.2.1) with BSMTP id 8853; Mon, 17 Feb 92 11:51:00 EST Received: by CUVMB (Mailer R2.07) id 1567; Mon, 17 Feb 92 11:50:11 EST Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1992 11:48:29 EST Reply-To: Guy Steele Sender: Lojban list From: Guy Steele Subject: Response to And on Names X-To: lojbab%GREBYN.COM@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu X-Cc: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann In-Reply-To: Logical Language Group's message of Fri, 14 Feb 1992 23:50:48 -0500 <9202150501.AA18821@Early-Bird.Think.COM> Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Mon Feb 17 13:00:26 1992 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1992 23:50:48 -0500 From: Logical Language Group ... Now it is perfectly possible for me the speaker to be talking about all the people named Bob by anyone when I say "lai bab.", but you could never tell the difference, because something true of a mass component is generally considered true of the greater mass. As it happens, my daughter and I had a debate about this very thing yesterday. I commented, "It's a small world." And she held up a grain of sand and said, "No, *this* is small--the world is big." So then we considered the following argument: The grass is green, and that tree is green, and many others plants are green; the world has many plants, so overall the world is green. The ground here is wet (it had just rained), and clouds are wet, and the oceans are wet, so overall the world is wet. And this grain of sand is small, and insects are small, and there are many other small things in the world, so overall the world is small. --Guy