Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 22:34:36 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199712230334.WAA11445@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jorge_J._Llamb=EDas?=" Sender: Lojban list From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jorge_J._Llamb=EDas?=" Subject: Re: xor questions (was Re: indirect Qs (was Re: On logji lo X-To: lojban To: John Cowan X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 981 X-From-Space-Date: Mon Dec 22 22:34:39 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU Lojbab: >So we are trying simultaneously for a) brevity b)to claim that one >of the two liquids and only one is present and c) insist that the listener >answer with the identity of the liquid and no tricky or evasive answers. Yes, that's more or less it. Perhaps, so as not to bother the listener, II would change the last one to c) ask for each (or for one, which given condition b) would be enough) of the liquids, whether they're present, and not some loosely related question that would probably get us that information anyway. >This sounds less of a Lojban problem, and more of a wordplay problem. Maybe. I would say it's both Lojban and play. >My last try: > >ma du lu'a lo tcati onai lo ckafi lu'u poi se vasru le patxu >what is the identity of [tea XOR coffee] which is contained in the pot. As with all other tries, {lo glare} is a true and unhelpful answer. (Or probably {lo lenku} by now.) Any question with {ma} will suffer from this, I suspect. co'o mi'e xorxes