From LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET  Sat Mar  6 22:57:54 2010
Reply-To: "Steven M. Belknap" <sbelknap@UIC.EDU>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
Date: Wed Nov 29 17:11:50 1995
From: "Steven M. Belknap" <sbelknap@UIC.EDU>
Subject:      the long and the long of it
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR
X-From-Space-Date: Wed Nov 29 17:11:50 1995
X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
Message-ID: <ZWRAlC6rpcH.A.RuB.y50kLB@chain.digitalkingdom.org>

>stivn:
>> >> Actually, I'm not sure what la djan clani means.
>xorxes:
>> >It means: "John is long (in longest dimension, by some standard)."
>stivn:
>> Yes, but it would also seem to mean:
>> "John is short (in longest dimension, by some standard)."
>
xorxes:
>No, that's {tordu}.
>
>"x1 has length" is given by {mitre} or {gutci} or {minli}.
>

I'm confused. The english-lojban dictionary gives this definition:

*long (having length), x1 is | in dimension/direction x2 (default longest
dimension) by measurement standard x3 /:/ /=/ clani (cla)

This explicitly says that <clani> corresponds to "long" in the sense of
having length, not in the sense of being greater in length. If you are
right, the dictionary is wrong. (Not impossible, as lojbab acknowledges,
and as we both know :-)

Hey lojbab, what's the latest on long? Do we need to change the dictionary?

-stivn


Steven M. Belknap, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Medicine
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

email: sbelknap@uic.edu
Voice: 309/671-3403
Fax:   309/671-8413