[lojban-beginners] Re: geodesic dome

[Robert LeChevalier <lojbab@lojban.org>]

Pierre Abbat wrote:
> Whatever we decide to call a geodesic dome, we need to distinguish it from 
> other kinds of domes, which may be constructed with geodesics, but in a 
> different arrangement.

Why do we *need* to do so?

> A few days ago I watched a video about the
> construction of what is now the Cricket Arena. Its greku consists of a ring 
> of concrete columns, a tension ring, and many great circle arcs which meet at 
> a compression ring near the top. It is a dome, and it contains of geodesics, 
> but it is not a geodesic dome.

But it may be a rekyboldi'u or whatever word becomes the commonly used
word for geodesic dome in Lojban.  English may divide the word into
domes that Bucky Fuller would call "geodesic domes" and other kinds of
domes.  Lojban might divide the world into rekyboldi'u and other kinds
of boldi'u.

If it became critical in some rare instance (a patent translation
perhaps) to refer to the specific concept invented by Fuller, as opposed
to anything else, then it can be "rekybodi'u pe la bykifrl,r" or some such.

Lojban does NOT need to make the same distinctions that other languages
make in normal usage.  It may need to be able to make such distinctions
for possibly rare translation reasons, but those can be both ad hoc and
long-winded if necessary, based on Zipfean principles.

lojbab