From: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Message-Id: <200403062222.RAA06858@Sparkle.Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 16:59:49 -0500 (EST)
To: lojban-beginners@chain.digitalkingdom.org
Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: Feedback on phrases
In-Reply-To: <20040306130444.C8729@fresco.Math.McGill.CA>
References: <20040305215120.B8729@fresco.Math.McGill.CA> <20040306165504.92608.qmail@web41906.mail.yahoo.com>
	<20040306130444.C8729@fresco.Math.McGill.CA>
Sender: lojban-beginners-bounce@chain.digitalkingdom.org
Errors-to: lojban-beginners-bounce@chain.digitalkingdom.org
Precedence: bulk
Reply-to: lojban-beginners@chain.digitalkingdom.org
Content-Length: 1036

>>> le mi badgai sivyta'u cu ca se na'e kufra
>>> 	My jockstrap is uncomfortable.
>> {ca} insists on the present time. The English translation is more
>> general [...]
> That was intentional.  These rather silly sentences are supposed to
> be sort of ambiguous.

As I understand it (which is likely wrong in some way), "My jockstrap
is uncomfortable" does not really have a well-defined location in time;
the use of the present ("is") is more an artifact of the impossibility
of expressing that an adjective applies to a particular noun without
using a temporal verb tense than something that is an essential part of
what is being expressed.  I would hazard a guess that "My uncomfortable
jockstrap", while (because unidiomatic) not a good English expression
for this meaning, better expresses the lack of temporal location of
"le mi badgai sivyta'u cu se na'e kufra".

/~\ The ASCII				der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML	       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B