From lojban@cuvmb.bitnet Sat Jul 27 00:58:52 1996 Received: from punt4.demon.co.uk by stryx.demon.co.uk with SMTP id AA13352 ; Sat, 27 Jul 96 00:58:45 BST Received: from punt-4.mail.demon.net by mailstore for ia@stryx.demon.co.uk id 838397585:10038:1; Fri, 26 Jul 96 17:13:05 BST Received: from cunyvm.cuny.edu ([128.228.1.2]) by punt-4.mail.demon.net id aa09508; 26 Jul 96 17:12 +0100 Received: from CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R3) with BSMTP id 6605; Fri, 26 Jul 96 12:11:29 EDT Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Mailer R2.07) with BSMTP id 7239; Fri, 26 Jul 96 12:11:14 EDT Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 17:11:00 PDT Reply-To: Andrew Smith Sender: Lojban list From: Andrew Smith Subject: Re: may the wind.... X-To: Lojban List To: Multiple recipients of list LOJBAN Message-ID: <838397526.9508.0@cunyvm.cuny.edu> Status: R la bob. uais. cusku lu "As I understand Lojban, the literal translation of these aphorisms contains no more than their literal meaning, e.g., either that there should be some wind in back of a person (now what could that mean?) or that some wind should be blowing towards his back. " li'u Absolutely. We should of course translate "may the wind..." first into what it means, something like ?? "I hope always/most of the time you are helped (by something)" ?? and then into lojban .a'o roroi sidju do or .a'o so'aroi sidju do or whatever. There is a mechanism for making something figurative, by using pe'a and a closing marker which I can't remember. But this begs the important questions: 1) What does "pe'a .a'o roroi brife le do trixe" actually MEAN in lojban? 2) How can pe'a be understood by lojbo without reference to their (non-lojban) culture(s)? 3) And, underlying these two: is there any point in using or even having pe'a? co'o mi'e andruc. [adms@yco.leeds.ac.uk]