From @uga.cc.uga.edu:lojban@cuvmb.bitnet Thu Jun 22 23:27:58 1995 Received: from punt2.demon.co.uk by stryx.demon.co.uk with SMTP id AA3533 ; Thu, 22 Jun 95 23:27:56 BST Received: from punt2.demon.co.uk via puntmail for ia@stryx.demon.co.uk; Thu, 22 Jun 95 01:50:30 GMT Received: from uga.cc.uga.edu by punt2.demon.co.uk id aa10701; 22 Jun 95 2:50 +0100 Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU by uga.cc.uga.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 4263; Wed, 21 Jun 95 21:45:18 EDT Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@UGA) by UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 0572; Wed, 21 Jun 1995 21:34:07 -0400 Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 18:43:15 EDT Reply-To: jorge@phyast.pitt.edu Sender: Lojban list From: jorge@phyast.pitt.edu Subject: Re: mass again X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: Iain Alexander Message-ID: <9506220250.aa10701@punt2.demon.co.uk> Status: R > lo junta be loi remna cu ki'ogra li xa .a li vonono,ki'o,ki'o .a li tu'o > A weight of the mass of humanity is in kilograms "6" or "400,000,000" or > "almost any number you choose". You are claiming that at least one of those is true, which is a weaker claim than what you mean, I think. Using {e}'s instead of {a}'s would not help, because in that case you'd be saying that there is at least one weight that is each and every one of those numbers, but you don't want that. I think that what you meant to say is: li xa e li vononoki'oki'o e li tu'o cu se ki'ogra lo junta be loi remna and I totally agree with the statement, though I read it slightly differently than you. "A weight of some mass of humanity", rather than "of the mass of humanity". > because the default for "loi remna" is that it is the contextually > appropropriate non-0 portion of the mass (i.e. pisu'o), and there is no > context to constrain how much of the mass is being discussed. You are taking {loi remna} as definite. I think it isn't definite, just like {lo remna}. > lo junta be piro loi remna cu ki'ogra li so'a > A weight of all of the mass of humanity is in kilograms a > (specific) very large number. {li so'a} is a bit too much, I think. There are numbers very much larger than the weight of humanity in kilograms. The earth, for example, would weigh much more. I would say {li so'i}. Jorge