[lojban-beginners] Re: Lo and le...(oh*sigh*)

["Mark" <mark@antelope.nildram.co.uk>]

Ok, so let me check my understanding is right here.  Lojban's not quite as
strict as I thought it was. :)

"lo" means a/any/some/all of a thing, which is specified in a more objective
fashion, although not an absolutely objective one.  Thus, I could describe
the Supermodel Of The Week as "lo melbi ninmu" even though beauty isn't
objective, and even if I personally _don't_ consider her beautiful, because
that's a generally accepted description for her.

"le" means "one particular thing which I'm thinking of, and which is
specified in a subjective fashion".  (It must necessarily be specified in a
subjective fashion because by using le at all I'm asking you to figure out
which particular one I'm specifying, if I wanted to be completely specific
I'd have to use a relative clause I guess.)  So if I am, say, the one person
on earth who finds Nora Random to be beautiful, I can refer to her as "le
melbi ninmu" if I want to.  However, if I refer to the Supermodel Of The
Week as "le melbi ninmu", it doesn't necessarily mean I find her attractive,
because I could just be using the objective description in le, which I am
not debarred from doing.

So if I meet you, and you are out walking your dog, but I also know that you
have another dog who is at home in your yard; nonetheless, if I say "le do
gerku", you may take it to mean the dog you are walking.  The same words
could refer to the dog back in your yard, but "le" necessarily asks for your
common sense in interpreting it.

Is this about right?

Mark


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