Received: from VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (vms.dc.lsoft.com [205.186.43.2]) by locke.ccil.org (8.6.9/8.6.10) with ESMTP id HAA00261 for ; Thu, 12 Oct 1995 07:42:28 -0400 Message-Id: <199510121142.HAA00261@locke.ccil.org> Received: from PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (205.186.43.4) by VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (LSMTP for OpenVMS v0.1a) with SMTP id 1853E9B7 ; Thu, 12 Oct 1995 7:16:21 -0400 Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 02:09:19 -0600 Reply-To: Chris Bogart Sender: Lojban list From: Chris Bogart Subject: Re: tenses X-To: lojban@cuvmb.bitnet To: John Cowan Status: OR X-From-Space-Date: Thu Oct 12 07:42:30 1995 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU >But what's the point of being able to make logical inferences from claims >that we don't want to make? In fact, {pu'o} is probably at its most useful >when the expected event ends up not happening. I'm reluctantly convinced. I still think it might be better to say "on the verge of doing something (which doesn't necessarily happen)" using a more complex phrase, on the grounds that lojban should zipfeanly encourage the more logical usage, and discourage this "on the verge of" stuff which is very subjective. But perhaps that's taking things to an extreme. >ritas: sei co'a xanka ti prane kanro .i le mikce pu pu'o catra ti >ritas: ko ba'e tirna ti .i ba'e na ruble to sei pu'o klaku toi .i .ainai mi > >I think that in both cases the event did not end up happening... >Usage supports my view! :) Clearly substandard usage. The author should be banished from the list and generally ignored and ridiculed. :-)