Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 13:44:53 -0600
Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: (no subject)
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From: Daniel E Huston <musicdreamer@tmail.com>
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As a stage magician, this might be how I indicate to my volunteer to 
pick a card from those spread in my hand.

You're thinking in terms of English; don't be surprised if in Lojban you 
can phrase sentences that aren't easily rendered in English. Lojban 
words do not form the same "parts of speech" as English, so why should 
we expect to marshal them the same way?

This is true in many languages-- not just Lojban.

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 1:36pm, melissa@fastanimals.com wrote:
> My understanding is that Lojban, like Loglan before it, has a goal of
> making irrational statements impossible.  I assume that I could make a
> statement that "green clouds sleep furiously," but that's semantics.
> Purely syntactically, it should be impossible to make a statement which 
> is
> valid yet senseless.
>
> If that is the case, what meaning would be taken from
>
> mi dunda ma ko
>
> It's part question and part command.
>
> One possible translataion might be "Take whatever you want from me, but
> you're required to take something."
>
> Or perhaps "Act in such a way that I will give you the reward of your
> choice."
>
> Or, as a third option, "Behave such that I'll give *what* to you?"  
> with
> the other party supposed to respond "Ice cream!" or some other 
> previously
> promised reward and thereby be reminded of the inspiration for obeying.
>
> Do any of these interpretations make sense?  Is there a better
> interpretation?  Or is this just a goofy statement with no real 
> meaning?
>
> --
> mylisys XOLynswyrt
> mi tadni la lojban
Daniel E Huston
musicdreamer@tmail.com
(651)329-6608

"It is the character that makes the man... not the clay which is its 
abode."
--Edgar Rice Burroughs