[lojban-beginners] Re: Mr. Data

[Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org>]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 06:53:57PM +0100, Philip Newton wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:33:29 -0500, Matt Arnold <mattarn@123.net>
> wrote:
> > If I wish to refer to Mr. Data from Star Trek: The Next
> > Generation, would I be able to say {la datni} since {datni} is
> > Lojban for data, or would I have to say {la deitas.}? Or is this
> > purely a matter of style and preference?
> 
> If I wanted to refer to the man Israelis call Binyamin Netanyahu,
> would I be able to say "Mr. Son-of-the-right-hand God-has-given",
> since that is the translation of those words, or would I have to
> say "Mr. Benjamin Netanyaho"? Or is this purely a matter of style
> and preference?
> 
> I think you'll find that the answers are similar. Names are names.
> Sometimes it makes sense to translate them; often, it doesn't.

Full agreement.  In the case of "Mr. Data", I would use "la datni",
because he was named Data as a word-with-meaning, rather than just a
name.  For most modern humans, I would transliterate, because the
opposite is true.

-Robin

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