Message-Id: <199408012217.AA29167@nfs1.digex.net>
Date:         Mon, 1 Aug 1994 13:16:43 EDT
Reply-To: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: gradu is broken
To: Bob LeChevalier <lojbab@access.digex.net>
Status: RO

la djan cusku di'e

> how do we say something like "the meter is the MKS unit of length"?

I would express that idea as:

        le treci'u cu ckilu loi nu clani ci'e la mykysyc

It is not a literal translation, because it speaks of scales, rather than
the unit, but the idea is the same.

> Changing "gradu"'s place structure will allow it to be used to make
> new units of measurement, but will eliminate the ability to talk >about<
> units of measurement.

Since we don't seem to have a clear way of referring to units of measurment
anyway, that's not a big loss.

How about {le'e mitre} for "the meter"?

> ni'o
>
> I went back to the original article by Scott Layson (TL3/1:70), wherein
> the current measurement place structures were proposed, and noted that
> he made a suggestion which didn't get taken up into Lojban: an x4 place
> for "rupnu", reflecting the date as of which the monetary unit is
> meaningful.  Note that this is not the same as the date attached to the
> entire bridi:
>
>         ca la socinan. le djima be pa xarju cu rupnu
>                 li cinono la merko la zepanan.
>         simultaneous-with 93-year the price of 1 pig is-in-dollars
>                 the-number 300 by-standard named "U.S." as-of 71-year
>         In 1993, the price of a pig was US$300 in 1971 dollars.
>
> I'm not proposing a definite place structure yet, because I don't yet have
> a name for this x4 place; I'm looking into what economists call the 1971-ness
> of a 1971 dollar.

I'm against it. Why not {rupnu fi la merko pe la zepanan}?

If the year is important to determine the value of the unit, then it's
part of the information that goes in the monetary system slot.

Jorge