[lojban-beginners] Re: Ingersoll's creed - laboriously

["Jorge Llambías" <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 8/20/08, David Cortesi <davecortesi@gmail.com> wrote:
> OK, this is Robert Ingersoll's creed:
>
> [1]   Happiness is the only good.
> [2]   The time to be happy is now.
> [3]   The place to be happy is here.
> [4]   The way to be happy is to help make others so.
>
> [1] lo za'i jmive gleki cu po'o sucta xamgu

That says happiness is nothing but good, not that nothing
but happiness is good. You want {po'o} to mark happiness,
not good. "Only happiness is good".

Or, for a predicate meaning "x1 is the only one with property x2
among x3", there's {se steci}, so you could also say:

    lo nu gleki cu se steci lo ka xamgu

(I think adding {jmive} and {sucta} actually makes it weaker, but
that may be just me.)

> Next problem: "now" as a sumti. {.i za'i jmive gleki fe tcika fa
> caca'o} can't be right...

No, and neither can {caku} or {caca'oku} be put into a numbered slot.
They are terms, but free floating ones. Also, {caku} isn't strictly "now",
it can just as well be "then" or "at the time", "at that time". "Here and
now" is {nauku}. But like {caku} it's a free term, not a sumti for the x1
of {tcika}.

Another way to do "the time to be happy" is {lo jai ca gleki}. This also
has direct parallels for "the place to be happy" and "the way to be
happy" as {lo jai bu'u gleki} and {lo jai ta'i gleki}.

So my version might be:

    .i lo nu gleki cu se steci lo ka xamgu
    .i lo jai ca gleki cu me la'e zo nau
    .i lo jai bu'u gleki cu me la'e zo nau
    .i lo jai ta'i gleki cu nu sidju lo drata lo nu gleki

Or with {co'e} instead of the last {gleki}.

mu'o mi'e xorxes