Message-Id: <m0pA1gA-0000PbC@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Wed, 15 Dec 1993 13:57:18 -0500
Reply-To:     Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN%CUVMB.bitnet@FINHUTC.hut.fi>
From:         Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Subject:      Now it can be told!
To:           Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Content-Length: 2417
Lines: 50

I have just finished perusing some of the output of LLG's (as yet unreleased)
lujvo-glossing engine.  One of the limitations of this program is that it
cannot tell Lojban lujvo from similarly formed English, Esperanto, or
anything else, so occasional gems pop up.

In particular, the Lojban translation for "Take a flying f* in a rolling
doughnut" is now obvious:

        ko.ionai gurgle
        you-imperative-contempt roll+copulate

(Be sure to give it the proper Lojban pronunciation, of course.)

Rather less useful is "burgle", to brownly copulate (unless "brown" is
given an questionable figurative sense).  On the other hand, "la tangle girzu"
is the Mile-High Club, and its railway equivalent is "la gargle girzu".
And "lei single" are those who appear in "Oh! Calcutta!", the nudie musical
(supposedly, BTW, a garbled form of "Ah, quel cul t-elle!")

Usefully, "lo kristo" refers to constant belief; unfortunately, "kristi"
refers to losing one's faith.  "lo bonsai" is a wave-meal, which I have
trouble grasping (in either sense); and the Lojban word for "is measured
in centimeters" is concisely "centre".

The set of gismu la xorxes. doesn't like he could call "lo'i gimble".
Classes (sets) aren't usually quantified with metric prefixes, but a
picoclass would be "lo pickle".  "lo polski" is a tour-guide in Tahiti,
whereas "lo slovenski" would be Jack London or Robert Service.
"lo presto" is someone whose personality remains unchanged; most appropriately,
"lo sensei" is one who is separated either from, or by, doubt.

Some names take on an odd flavor, too:  "la sergei" would suggest a
person who is made happy by stairs, whereas "la sartre" has the still more
bizarre implication of a sour object one meter long.  (How tall was he?)

"lo stable" is something that remains weak, whereas "lo tackle" is a class
of tongues (coated, clean, or sticky?).  "lei temple" are the time-sheets,
beloved of all good independent contractors; "loi triple", on the other hand,
is fly-paper.

Finally, a rare three-part terfa'ijvo: "lo trustable" is a governor who remains
in office, but fails to assert his authority.

And as a closing holiday note, I must point out to you that a bunch of spherical
bells, the kind that jingle on Santa's sleigh, could be quite properly named
"lai blojab."

--
John Cowan              sharing account <lojbab@access.digex.net> for now
                e'osai ko sarji la lojban.