Date:  Tue, 21 Oct 1997 18:06:30 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199710212306.SAA06370@locke.ccil.org>
Reply-To: Ilya Ketris <ilya@QUITE.NET>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Ilya Ketris <ilya@QUITE.NET>
Subject:      Re: Dvorak (& Lojban)
Cc:         lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
In-Reply-To:  <E0xNl9r-00056W-00@ferret>
X-Mozilla-Status: 0011
Content-Length: 1535
Lines: 38

On Tue, 21 Oct 1997, John Cowan wrote:

> Ilya Ketris wrote:
>
> >         Why is it another thing?  I touch-type in cyrillic,
> >         and cyrillic A, O, T, E, K etc. are just the same as
> >         their latin counetrparts (they look same, they sound similar)
> >         and still there is no confusion between two different modes.
>
> Because (as the Unicode folks are fond of pointing out) you think
> of them as different characters. If you see "ABC" in an English
> context, you think "ay-bee-cee"; in a Russian context, you think
> "ah-ve-es".  No connection.

        B and C are different letters and I didn't mention those.
        English is not characteristic.  I type in Latvian as well.
        I think of Latvian A, O, T, E, K as of ah, oh, teh, eh, kah,
        exactly as in Russian: esseantialy, these are the same
        letters and sounds.

        As for Unicode folks, I still fail to understand why
        Russian "A" == Ukrainian "A" != English "A", but
        Ukrainian "i" == English "i".

        Similarly, I maintain that Lojban letters just happened
        to have shapes of Latin ones, but being totally different
        from them and from English.

> But in Latin script, a B is a B, and a C is a C, and if you
> have to remember:
>
>         to type a B with left-2nd-finger-down and C with
>         left-3rd-finger-down on QWERTY only

        It's not you but your fingers who remember this
        once your mind is in the different typing mode.

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